SRSA

Failed

Sarissa Capital Acquisition Corp.

Underwriter: Cantor Fitzgerald
Raised
$175M
CIK
1821682
SPAC Ticker
SRSAU
Focus
Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals
External link: SEC Filings

SPAC Team

Leadership

Alexander Denner, Ph.D., serves as the Chairman and CEO of the Company. Since April 2012 to the present date, Dr. Denner has served as the Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Sarissa. Furthermore, Dr. Denner has served on the Board of Directors of Biogen Inc. since 2009. From 2006 to 2011, Dr. Denner served as a Senior Managing Director at Icahn Capital LP (“Icahn”), an entity through which Carl Icahn conducts his investment activities. At Icahn, Dr. Denner was responsible for all healthcare investments and engaged in numerous activist campaigns. Prior to Icahn, Dr. Denner served as a portfolio manager at Viking Global Investors and Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Previously, Dr. Denner served as a director of the following healthcare companies: The Medicines Company (where he was Chairman until its sale in January 2020), Bioverativ Inc. (until its sale in March 2018), ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (where he was Chairman until its sale in February 2017), VIVUS, Inc., Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Amylin Pharmaceuticals (until its sale in August 2012) and ImClone Systems (where he was Chairman of the Executive Committee until its sale in November 2008). Dr. Denner received his S.B. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his M.S., M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University.

Mark DiPaolo is a Senior Managing Director of the Company. Since February 2013 to the present date, Mr. DiPaolo has served as the Senior Partner and General Counsel of Sarissa. From 2005 to 2013, Mr. DiPaolo served as a senior member of Carl Icahn’s investment team at Icahn, working on all aspects of Mr. Icahn’s activist investment strategy. During that time, Mr. DiPaolo worked closely with Dr. Denner on many healthcare activist campaigns and achieved many favorable investment outcomes for investors. Mr. DiPaolo worked with Dr. Denner in founding Sarissa and has been instrumental in the development and execution of Sarissa’s investments and strategy. Prior to working at Icahn, Mr. DiPaolo was an M&A attorney at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. Since February 2018 to the present date, Mr. DiPaolo has served on the Board of Directors of Innoviva, Inc. From August 2017 to September 2018, Mr. DiPaolo also served on the Board of Directors of Novelion Therapeutics Inc. Mr. DiPaolo received his B.A. degree from Fordham University and his J.D. degree from Georgetown University.

Eric Vincent is the President of the Company. Since April 2019 to the present date, Mr. Vincent has served as the President of Sarissa. Mr. Vincent has also served on the board of Breaker Resources NL since March 2020. From 2018 to 2019, Mr. Vincent served as the Head of Business Development at Mubadala Capital, the financial investment arm of the sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company and, from 2012 through 2017, as Chief Executive Officer of The Electrum Group. From 2004 through 2011, Mr. Vincent served as President of Ospraie Management and was integral in developing the long-term strategy for the firm and its growth from $1 billion to over $9 billion under management. From 2007 through October 2009, Mr. Vincent also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Managed Funds Association, the principal trade association representing the U.S. hedge fund industry. Previously, he was a partner at Omega Advisors, Inc. He began his career as an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. Mr. Vincent received his B.A. degree from Williams College and his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School.

Odysseas Kostas is a Senior Managing Director of the Company. Since 2016 to the present date, Dr. Kostas has served as a Partner and Senior Managing Director of Sarissa. He most recently served as a Director at Evercore ISI (formerly ISI), where he was employed from 2011 to 2015, covering the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Previously, he practiced internal medicine as part of the Yale New Haven Health system and was engaged as a consultant to various biotechnology companies. Since December 2017 to the present date, Dr. Kostas has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Innoviva, Inc., and since February 2020 to the present date, has served on the Board of Directors of Armata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Kostas has also served on the Board of Directors of Enzon Pharmaceuticals from 2013 to 2020. In addition, from 2010 to 2011, Dr. Kostas served on the Board of Directors of Mast Therapeutics (formerly known as ADVENTRX Pharmaceuticals). Dr. Kostas received his S.B. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his M.D. degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.

Simos Simeonidis is a Senior Managing Director of the Company. Since January 2017 to the present date, Dr. Simeonidis has served as a Partner and Senior Managing Director of Sarissa. Prior to joining Sarissa, he was a Managing Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in New York, where he was employed from 2014 to 2017. Since June 2019 to the present date, Dr. Simeonidis has also served on the Board of Directors of Regulus Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Simeonidis spent more than a decade covering the biotechnology sector as an analyst at a number of investment banks, including Cowen and Company, First Albany Capital and Morgan Stanley. In addition to his investment management and financial expertise, Dr. Simeonidis combines both biopharmaceutical industry and biomedical research expertise, having worked at Novartis in Business Development and Strategic Planning, and prior to his corporate career, having served as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Simeonidis received his B.S. degree in Biology from Loyola University Chicago, and his M.A., MPhil and PhD degrees in Cellular, Molecular and Biophysical Sciences from Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons. He completed his Postdoctoral Fellowship at the laboratory of Professor Tucker Collins at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he worked on the transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Dr. Simeonidis also holds an MBA in Healthcare Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Patrice Bonfiglio is the Chief Financial Officer of the Company. Since March 2014 and February 2017 to the present date, Ms. Bonfiglio has served as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer of Sarissa, respectively. From 2013 to 2014, Ms. Bonfiglio was also Manager of Accounting and Operations of Sarissa. From 2012 to 2013, Ms. Bonfiglio served as the Head of Operations for Arbalet Capital Management, LP, where she was responsible for managing the firm’s spinout from Arrowhawk Capital Partners, LLC, covering operations, accounting, and compliance. Prior to the spinout of Arbalet, Ms. Bonfiglio was the Operations Manager at Arrowhawk Capital Partners, LLC from 2010 to 2012, managing all aspects of the firm’s day to day operations and contributing to the accounting and compliance teams of the multi-strategy hedge fund. From 2008 to 2010, Ms. Bonfiglio served as Senior Accountant at Ridgefield Capital Asset Management, where she was responsible for the operations and accounting of the portfolio funds and managed accounts. From 2006 to 2008, Ms. Bonfiglio was an Associate and Fund Accountant at Pequot Capital Management, Inc. Ms. Bonfiglio received her B.S. degree from Temple University.

Louis J. Paglia, also known as Lou, serves on the Board of Directors of the Company. Mr. Paglia is the founding member of Oakstone Capital LLC, a private investment firm, where he has served in that capacity from January 2016 to the present date. Mr. Paglia has also been on the board of directors of Arch Capital Group Ltd. from June 2014 to the present date. He was also on the board of directors of Bioverativ Inc. from January 2017 to March 2018, NorthStar Asset Management Group from June 2014 to January 2017, and NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. from February 2006 to January 2017. He previously founded Customer Choice LLC in April 2010, a data analytics company serving the electric utility industry, where he served as Founder until December 2015. He served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of UIL Holdings Corporation, an electric utility, contracting and energy infrastructure company, as well as President of its investment subsidiaries, from April 2002 to July 2006. Prior to joining UIL Holdings, Mr. Paglia was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of eCredit.com, a credit evaluation software company, from 1999 to 2001. Prior to that, Mr. Paglia served as the Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President and Treasurer for TIG Holdings Inc., a property and casualty insurance and reinsurance holding company, from April 1993 to 1999, and Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Emisphere Technologies, Inc., a biotechnology company, in 1992. Mr. Paglia’s qualifications for service on our Board include his strong financial background, experience serving on boards of directors, and extensive executive management and operating experience in a variety of industries. He holds a B.S. in Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Mark Timney serves on the Board of Directors of the Company. From August 2020 to the present date, Mr. Timney has served as Chairman of the board of directors of Blade Therapeutics Inc. In 2017, Mr. Timney founded Anfield Road, LLC, an advisory and consulting company for senior pharmaceutical executives, where he has served as Founder and Chief Executive Officer since 2017 and through which he recently has advised multiple pharmaceutical companies on COVID-related treatments and prophylactics. From December 2018 to January 2020, Mr. Timney served as the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of The Medicines Company until its sale to Novartis AG, and from January 2020 to March 2020, he provided transition services in connection with the sale. Mr. Timney is a healthcare leader with over 25 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience in multi-national companies. At Merck & Co, where he served from 1999 to 2014, Mr. Timney led divisions of increasing importance and size, including President US, President Japan and President of Global Primary Care. In these roles, Mr. Timney launched multiple products, many in the cardiovascular therapeutic area, led large divisions of up to 8,000 employees, and was involved in a number of important strategic transactions. After leaving Merck, Mr. Timney served as the CEO of Purdue Pharmaceuticals from January 2014 to June 2017. Before joining Merck, Mr. Timney spent eight years working at numerous multinational pharmaceutical companies, including Zeneca Group, ICI Pharmaceuticals and Roussel Labs. Mr. Timney received a bachelor’s degree in Sports Studies (majoring in Marketing) from Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University) in Newcastle in the United Kingdom.