Our Board of Directors

At Inspiration, we have a dedicated Board of Directors who share our aspiration to broaden treatment choices, expand global access to care, and advance innovative therapies for people living with hemophilia.  Our co-founders, John Taylor and Scott Martin, through their personal experiences with hemophilia were the catalyst for the founding of Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals.  Their vision and continued guidance, input and determination help make us the unique and focused company we are today. 

John Taylor’s journey with hemophilia began 23 years ago when he and his wife found out their son had inherited hemophilia B. Dissatisfied with the treatment options available for his son, Mr. Taylor dove in to learn everything he could about the condition and potential treatments in development.  Eventually, he decided to continue his desire to be an agent of change for people with hemophilia and co-founded Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals.

Mr. Taylor is Co-founder and Chairman of Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals as well as Chairman, CEO, and CIO of FX Concepts, an investment management company with $12.2 billion in assets. He has over 35 years of experience in the foreign exchange and related fixed-income markets. Prior to founding FX Concepts, Mr. Taylor was a Vice President at Citibank, where he headed the bank's foreign exchange marketing and advisory services. He has been actively involved with the hemophilia community, both as a patient advocate and in the search for improved factor therapies. He was a founder of US Transgenics (currently American Integrated Biologics) and of The Coalition for Hemophilia B, and is the recipient of two issued US patents for coagulation protein drug delivery. Mr Taylor is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University.

Mr Evans-Freke is Co-founder and Managing General Partner of Celtic Therapeutics Management, L.L.L.P., and Co-founder and Managing Principal of Celtic Pharma Management, L.P., both global private equity firms focused on the pharmaceutical industry. Mr Evans-Freke was also a Founder or Co-founder of Fibrogen, Inc., Royalty Pharma AG, Selectide Corporation, and SUGEN. During the 1980s, he was lead investment banker to Genentech, Amgen, Centocor, and a number of other leading biotech companies. He structured and placed over $500 million of highly successful research and development partnership financing and he served on the development boards of those companies. He currently serves on the boards of Elbion AG, Montier Asset Management, Ltd., and International Bioscience Managers, Ltd. Mr Evans-Freke holds a law degree from Cambridge University.

Mr Frankel is the Founder and Managing Partner of Frankel Group, a management consulting firm that has served the life-science industry and related segments since 1993. Previously, he was President of SJ Weinstein Associates, a healthcare marketing strategy and advertising firm, where he formulated marketing and communications strategies for leading life-science companies. Mr Frankel's earlier experience included strategic planning for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, as well as senior marketing positions at Pfizer targeting the anti-infective, multisource pharmaceutical, and diagnostic markets. In addition, he was an investment research officer for life-science investments at Citibank. Mr Frankel holds an MBA degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BS degree in engineering from Rutgers University.

Mr Butler, Chief Executive Officer of Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, has more than 20 years of experience commercializing innovative therapies, most recently leading businesses that serve rare disease patient populations. From 1997 to 2011, Mr Butler held various positions at Genzyme Corporation, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies. While at Genzyme, he most recently served as President of the company’s rare genetic diseases business, which has developed and commercialized first-to-market, transformative therapies for small patient populations. Mr Butler also led the company’s renal, endocrinology, and cardiovascular businesses, growing the division to $1 billion in revenue. Earlier in his career, he held sales and marketing positions at Amgen and Hoffmann-La Roche. Mr Butler received his BA degree in Chemistry from Manhattan College and his MBA degree from Baruch College. He currently serves on the board of the American Kidney Fund and the Boys and Girls Club of Metrowest.

Ms Dawes is the President and Founder of Knowledgeable Decisions, LLC, a management consulting firm. She served 10 years at Pfizer, where she gained increasing responsibility in product management, development, and strategy, leading to her position as Vice President, Marketing, Pratt Division. Ms Dawes then joined Genetics Institute (GI) where, as Vice President, Commercial Operations, she and her team successfully launched two products including BeneFIX^® for factor IX replacement in hemophilia. When GI was acquired by Wyeth, Ms Dawes moved to the new parent company as Senior Vice President, Global Strategic Marketing. In 1998, she joined Bayer Corporation as SVP/Division Head for the company's $2 billion US Pharmaceuticals Division. Ms Dawes holds an MBA with a concentration in marketing & corporate strategy from Harvard University and an MA and BA from Simmons College.

Scott A. Canute has over 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He has most recently served as the President of Global Manufacturing and Corporate Operations and Executive Vice President of Genzyme Corporation from March 2010 to July 2011, leading a major turnaround effort for the manufacturing division of the global biotechnology company. Prior to that, Mr. Canute spent 25 years at Eli Lilly and Company in a variety of positions culminating in his becoming President of Manufacturing in 2004. Mr. Canute is currently a board member of Oncobiologics, Inc. and has been a past board member of the Indiana Manufacturers Association and the National Association of Manufacturers. Mr. Canute holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.

Gino Santini is a senior advisor for venture capital, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. He is currently a board member of AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Horizon Pharma, SORIN SpA, Allena Pharmaceuticals and Collegium Pharmaceuticals. He retired from Eli Lilly and Company in 2011 as Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development after 27 years with the company, where he had been a member of the Executive Committee since 2004. From 1999 to 2004, he was President of U.S. Operations. Mr. Santini is a past Chairman of the Board of the National Pharmaceutical Council. He also served on the Board of Directors of the United Way and the Executive Committee and Board of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Santini holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Bologna and a Master of Business Administration from the Simon School of Business, University of Rochester.