John P. Walker
Chief Executive Officer, iPierian, Inc.
Mr. Walker currently serves as senior advisor to iPierian, Inc. (formerly iZumi Bio, Inc.), a company focused on drug discovery based on inducible stem cell technology. From 2006 to 2009, Mr. Walker served as chairman and chief executive officer of Novacea, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, which merged with Transcept Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, in January 2009. Since 2001, Mr. Walker, acting as a consultant, served as an investment advisor to MDS Capital Corp., a venture capital firm; chairman and interim chief executive officer of KAI Pharmaceuticals, Guava Technologies, Bayhill Therapeutics and Centaur Pharmaceuticals, Inc. From 1993 to 2001, he was chairman, chief executive officer and a director of Axys Pharmaceuticals Inc. and its predecessor company, Arris Pharmaceutical Corporation, a pharmaceutical company. Mr. Walker currently serves as chairman of the board of Bayhill Therapeutics and as a member of the board of directors of Transcept Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Aerovance, Ceregene, Inc. and Packard Children's Hospital. Mr. Walker is a graduate of the Advanced Executive Program at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and holds a B.A. from the State University of New York at Buffalo.