About Us

Jeffrey A. Bailey has served as chair of our board of directors since March 2018. Since January 2018, Mr. Bailey has served as chief executive officer and director of IlluminOss Medical, Inc., a medical device company. From December 2015 until March 2017, Mr. Bailey served as chair and chief executive officer of Neurovance, Inc., a biotechnology firm acquired by Otsuka Pharmaceutical in 2017. Previously, from January 2013 through June 2015, Mr. Bailey served as president and chief executive officer and as a director of Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc., a public medical diagnostic company. Prior to 2013, Mr. Bailey held various leadership positions with several public and private pharmaceutical and medical device companies, including operating unit president at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, a multinational pharmaceutical company, and a 22-year career with Johnson & Johnson, multinational medical devices, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods manufacturing company (including Janssen Pharmaceutica NV). Mr. Bailey has also served as a director of Madison Vaccines, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, since October 2017. Mr. Bailey received a B.S. from Rutgers University.

Reinhard Ambros has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2013. Dr. Ambros retired from Novartis Venture Funds after serving as global head from August 2005 until September 2017. He previously served as head of group strategic planning for Novartis AG, a multinational pharmaceutical company, from 2001 until 2005, and as global head of business development and licensing for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases at Novartis Pharma AG. Dr. Ambros received an M.S. from the University of Regensburg, Germany, and a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry and pharmacology from the University of Regensburg, Germany.

Mr. McKee joined Aileron’s board of directors in June 2019 and is a seasoned pharmaceutical industry executive and consultant. Currently, Mr. McKee serves as the Chief Executive Officer of MBJC Associates, LLC, a business consulting firm serving the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Prior to joining MBJC Associates, Mr. McKee served as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer for EKR Therapeutics, Inc. from July 2010 until June 2012, when EKR was sold to Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc. From December 2008 until March 2010, Mr. McKee served as the executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer of Barr Pharmaceuticals, LLC, a subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceutical and the successor entity to Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was acquired by Teva in December 2008. Mr. McKee was also executive vice president and chief financial officer of Barr prior to its acquisition by Teva, after having served in positions of increasing responsibility at Barr from 1995 until its acquisition. McKee serves as a member of the board of directors and chairman of the audit committee of Assertio Therapeutics, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, and Agile Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. Mr. McKee received a B.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.

Jodie Morrison has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2017. Her most recent operating role was Chief Executive Officer of Cadent Therapeutics where she led the growth of the company from early-stage clinical trails through the successful acquisition by Novartis in 2021. Prior to Cadent, Ms. Morrison served as interim Chief Executive Officer at Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (leading the successful merger with Akebia Therapeutics) and Acting Chief Operating Officer at Syntimmune (acquired by Alexion). Prior to Syntimmune she served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Tokai Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (led IPO in 2014 and merger in 2016) and held other senior positions including Chief Operating Officer and VP/Head of Clinical and Program Operations. Prior to joining Tokai, Ms. Morrison held roles in clinical operations and medical affairs at Dyax Corporation, Curis, Inc., and Diacrin, Inc.

In addition to serving on our board of directors, Ms. Morrison currently serves as Chair of the Ribon Therapeutics board. She previously served on the Cadent board and the pre/post-merger boards for Keryx/Akebia Biopharmaceuticals and Tokai/Novus Pharmaceuticals. Ms. Morrison received her business training through the GBEP program at the MIT Sloan School of Management, her clinical research certification from Boston University School of Medicine and her B.A. in neuroscience from Mount Holyoke College.

Dr. Nolan Sigal has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2019. Dr. Sigal currently serves as a partner at Satter Management Co., L.P., a private investment firm, a position he has held since January 2018. From March 2008 to December 2017, Dr. Sigal was Founder and CEO at Tunitas Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to Tunitas, Dr. Sigal’s biotechnology experience included President of Trellis Bioscience, Inc., EVP of Research and Development and Chief Science Officer at Cytokinetics, Inc., and SVP, Research at Pharmacopeia, Inc., where he was one of Pharmacopeia’s founders. He served at Merck & Company Inc. as Executive Director of the Department of Immunology Research. Prior to Merck, he was an assistant professor at University of Toronto. Dr. Sigal graduated from Princeton University with an A.B. in Chemistry, and he completed an M.D./Ph.D. program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. von Rickenbach joined Aileron’s board of directors in June 2019. He has built a long and successful career in the drug development industry. Last year, he retired after 35 years as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PAREXEL, one of the world’s largest biopharmaceutical service providers with about 19,000 employees and operations in more than 50 countries. Mr. von Rickenbach co-founded PAREXEL in 1982, led the company through its IPO in late 1995 and more than 40 mergers and acquisitions. Pamplona Capital Management, a private equity firm, took PAREXEL private for approximately $5 billion in September 2017. Mr. von Rickenbach started his career at Schering-Plough, Inc., and held positions at 3M (East), a division of 3M Company, and ERCO (later ENSECO), Inc. Currently the Managing Director of stet vision LLC, Mr. von Rickenbach recently was co-Founder, President & CEO of Helio Vision, Inc., a Boston-based ophthalmic biopharma company developing a therapy for proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR), that merged into Aldeyra, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALDX) in early 2019. Mr. von Rickenbach serves on the Board of Trustees of McLean Hospital and on the Board of Directors of NEHI (Network for Excellence in Health Innovation). Mr. von Rickenbach received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Business Economics from Lucerne University in Switzerland.