ALTP

Withdrawn

Altamont Pharma Acquisition Corp.

Raised
$100M
CIK
1845136
SPAC Ticker
ALTPU
Focus
Biopharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Technology
External link: SEC Filings

SPAC Team

Leadership

Mark Pearson, our President and Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of our Board of Directors , is the Founder and CEO of Altamont Pharma, a biotech investment firm. Mr. Pearson has been investing in startup life science and technology companies for over 20 years. Mr. Pearson is the Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of the Board of Drawbridge Realty, a San Francisco based real estate development and investment company, which owns 6 million square feet of commercial real estate leased to technology and life science companies predominantly in the western United States. Drawbridge Realty’s portfolio exceeds $1.6 billion in asset value. In December 2014, Drawbridge formed a partnership with international asset management firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, LP (“KKR”) which made a significant investment in the company to substantially grow the platform. Mr. Pearson is the Co-Founder, Co-CEO and Co-Chairman of Cessation Therapeutics, LLC, a preclinical stage biopharmaceutical company with laboratories in San Diego, California. Mr. Pearson served on the Board of Directors of publicly traded biopharmaceutical company Soligenix, Inc.(NASDAQ: SNGX), a late stage company focused on developing and commercializing products to treat rare diseases. Mr. Pearson currently serves on the Board of Trustees of The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, a world-renowned biomedical research institute employing over 2,400 scientists and support staff. Scripps Research Institute has created 80+ spin-off biotech companies, 10 FDA approved drugs, and currently has 30 drugs in its pipeline. Mr. Pearson was the founding donor of The Pearson Center for Alcoholism and Addiction Research, which was founded in 2003 on The Scripps Research Institute campus in La Jolla, California by Mark Pearson, Dr. George Koob, Ph.D., and Dr. Barbara Mason, Ph.D. Mr. Pearson earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics from the University of San Francisco and a Masters degree in Management from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business where he was a Sloan Fellow.

Rhozel Ocampo, our Senior Director of Finance , is a skilled finance professional having analyzed financial statements and developed financial models for asset valuation using discounted cash flows for multiple companies. She is adept at using public and private databases to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the competitive landscape as it relates to the biotechnology industry. Ms. Ocampo’s academic research was focused on constructing asset portfolio performance under the risk-return framework. Ms. Ocampo earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance, with honors, from the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona as a cum laude graduate.

Yitai Tang, Ph.D., our Senior Investment Officer and Analyst , is an experienced biological scientist with a deep understanding in various fields within biomedical sciences, including neurodegenerative diseases, regenerative medicine and oncology. His research is published in top peer-reviewed journals. Prior to joining Altamont Pharma and Altamont Pharma Acquisition Corp, Dr. Tang was a postdoctoral scholar at the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he combined stem cell biology and mouse genetics to study brain development and brain degeneration. He received comprehensive training in Regulatory affairs and Clinical Research at Stanford and University of California San Francisco. He was also actively involved with the Stanford Consulting Group (SCG). SCG investigates economic issues of concern to business or government entities and offers conceptual as well as analytical solutions. At Altamont Pharma and Altamont Pharma Acquisition Corp, Dr. Tang focuses on identifying and researching potential investments in companies in the central nervous system space. Dr. Tang earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from the Rice University, Houston, Texas, where he proposed and experimentally verified novel models of tissue size regulation.

Gayathri Srinivasan, our Senior Analyst , is a circadian biology and cardiology specialist. Ms. Srinivasan’s research focused on developing cardiac ion channel models to identify the gender-related differences in the initiation and the progression of atrial fibrillation. She has also researched the impact of genetic modifications to neuropeptides on circadian neural circuits and regulation of the sleep cycle. At Altamont Pharma and Altamont Pharma Acquisition Corp, Ms. Srinivasan researches and analyzes potential investment opportunities. Ms. Srinivasan earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Science Degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Boston University.

Sharon Tetlow, a member of our Board of Directors , has served as Managing Partner of Potrero Hill Advisors since January 2016. Potrero Hill Advisors provides strategic and operational financial support to life science companies through its team of chief financial officers and controllers. Ms. Tetlow was previously the Managing Director of Danforth Advisors from April 2013 to January 2016. She served as Chief Financial Officer of Pathwork Diagnostics, Inc, a privately held biotechnology company, from 2011 to 2013. From 2005 to 2009, she served as Chief Financial Officer of Cell Genesys, Inc.(CEGE) a publicly traded biotechnology company. In connection with her role as managing partner of Potreto Hill Advisors, Ms. Tetlow has led the finance function at several biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including 4D Molecular Therapeutics Inc, and Ocera Therapeutics, Inc., two privately held companies and Allakos, Inc. and CytomX, Inc., two publicly traded companies. Ms. Tetlow was previously on the Board of Directors of Armetheon, Inc, a privately held company. Ms. Tetlow currently serves on the Board of Catalyst Biosciences (NASDAQ: CBIO). Ms. Tetlow holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from the University of Delaware and a Masters degree in Business from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

John D. Harkey, Jr. has agreed to serve on our Board of Directors as of the closing of this offering. Mr. Harkey was Co-Founder, initial and follow on investor, and formerly Executive Chairman of the Board of AveXis, Inc.(NASDAQ:AVXS, acquired by Novartis for $8.7 billion in 2018), which develops proprietary gene therapies for rare neurological genetic diseases. John has over 25 years of experience as a private investor, chief executive and director in both public and private companies. He has merged, acquired, operated and/or served on the Board of Directors of eight public companies in biotech, energy, technology, aerospace, telecom, restaurants, and private companies in healthcare, real estate, agricultural products and software. He previously served nine years on the Board of Directors of the Baylor Health Care System Foundation. John D. Harkey, Jr. is the Founder and Principal of JDH Investment Management, LLC, which is focused on investing and leading biotech, gene therapy, non-opiate pain and pharma/therapeutics spaces. He was also a lead investor and served on the board of CerSci Therapeutics, Inc, which was acquired by Acadia Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(NASDAQ: ACAD) for up to $939.5 million in 2020. He is formerly the Chairman of the Board of Regency Gas Partners, LP (NYSE: RGP, sold to Energy Transfer for $18 billion). He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Loral Space & Communications, Inc.(NASDAQ: LORL), and also serves on the Board of Directors of Emisphere Technologies, Inc.(NASDAQ: EMIS). Mr. Harkey serves as Consolidated Restaurant Companies, Inc’s (CRC) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. He is the majority shareholder of privately-held CRC. Philanthropically, he serves on the Board of Directors of The University of Texas System Chancellor’s Council Executive Committee, the University of Texas Development Board and is Vice Chairman of the McCombs School of Business Advisory Board at the University of Texas at Austin. He was elected to a three-year term on the State Fair of Texas Board of Directors in 2018. Mr. Harkey grew up in Brownwood, Texas, obtained a Bachelor Degree in Business with Honors, a Juris Doctorate Degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Jay Shepard has agreed to serve on our Board of Directors as of the closing of this offering. Mr. Shepard served as Executive Chairman of Versartis, Inc., from December 2013 to 2015. In May 2015, Mr. Shepard joined Versartis as President and CEO. In 2018, Versartis merged with Aravive (NASDAQ: ARAV) and he served as the President and Chief Executive Officer from May 2018 to January 2020, when he retired. From 2008 to 2015, Mr. Shepard was the Executive Partner at Sofinnova Ventures. Previously, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of NextWave Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), President and Chief Executive Officer of Ilypsa (acquired by Amgen), interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Relypsa (Ilypsa’s spin-out company, which was acquired by Galencia), and Vice President of Commercial Operations at Telik and Oncology Business Unit Head of Alza Pharmaceuticals (Alza was acquired by Johnson & Johnson). He has over 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and drug delivery arenas. He has participated in or led over 16 product launches by preparing markets and establishing sales and marketing operations. Mr. Shepard currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. He is a board member of Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INO), Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IRWD), Esperion (NASDAQ: ESPR) and Craig Hospital. Mr. Shepard is an operating partner at Catalys Pacific, a venture group focused on licensing drug programs and creating new companies in the US and Japan. Mr. Shepard holds a B.S. in business administration from the University of Arizona.

Lisa Walters-Hoffert has agreed to serve on our Board of Directors as of the closing of this offering. Ms. Walters-Hoffert was a Co-Founder of Daré Bioscience, Inc. and following the company’s merger with Cerulean Pharma, Inc.in July of 2017, became Chief Financial Officer of the surviving public company (NASDAQ: DARE). Ms. Walters-Hoffert also serves on the Board of Directors of Flux Power Holdings, Inc.(NASDAQ: FLUX) and as chair of its Audit Committee. For over twenty-five years, Ms. Walters-Hoffert was an investment banker focused on small-cap public companies in the technology and life science sectors. From 2003 to 2015, Ms. Walters-Hoffert worked for Roth Capital Partners as Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division. Ms. Walters-Hoffert previously held various positions in the corporate finance and investment banking divisions of Citicorp Securities in San José, Costa Rica and Oppenheimer & Co, Inc.in New York City, New York. Ms. Walters-Hoffert currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of The Elementary Institute of Science in San Diego. She previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego Venture Group, as chair of the University of California San Diego Librarian’s Advisory Board and as chair of the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest. Ms. Walters-Hoffert graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Management Sciences, magna cum laude.