Board of Directors

  • Richard E. Uihlein
    Chairman of the board from May 2018, Director since December 2017

    Richard E. Uihlein, co-founded Uline, Inc. (a leading distributor of shipping, packaging and industrial supplies) in 1980, and has served as its Chief Executive Officer and Chairman since its’ founding. Prior to founding Uline Inc., Mr. Uihlein was employed at General Bindings Corp., Northbrook, IL from 1967 to 1980. Mr. Uihlein graduated from Stanford University, Palo Alto, California with a BA degree in history in 1967.

    Independent Director
    Chairman of the Board
    • Joel Lewis
      Director since December 2017

      Joel Lewis is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President of Galectin Therapeutics. In this position, Mr. Lewis sets corporate strategy and oversees operations, most importantly Galectin’s global NASH-RX adaptively-designed trial for the prevention of varices in NASH cirrhosis patients using its proprietary galectin-3 inhibiting compound, belapectin (GR-MD-02). Mr. Lewis has served on the Board of Directors for Galectin Therapeutics since 2017 and was previously chair of the Audit Committee. Mr. Lewis is a financial executive with over 25 years of experience, who began his career in public accounting in 1992. From 2007 through 2019, Mr. Lewis acted as the Managing Director of Shareholder Services at Uline, Inc. (a distributor of shipping, packaging and industrial supplies). Prior to his employment with Uline Inc., Mr. Lewis served as a Tax and Accounting Manager for Century America LLC from 2001 to 2006 and a Tax Manager for Deloitte & Touche from 1998 to 2001. Mr. Lewis has a wide range of expertise including working in a variety of industries and disciplines including taxation, restructuring, acquisition and private equity ventures. Mr. Lewis is a registered CPA in the state of Illinois. He holds a B.S. in Accountancy from the University of Illinois and a Masters in Taxation from DePaul University.

      • Gilbert F. Amelio, Ph.D.
        Director since February 2009

        Mr. Amelio began his career at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey. Since January 1, 2012, Dr. Amelio has provided consulting and advisory services through GFA, LLC, a California limited liability company. He was a Senior Partner of Sienna Ventures (a privately-held venture capital firm in Sausalito, California) from April 2001 until the fund closed per plan on December 31, 2011. Dr. Amelio was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Jazz Technologies, Inc. (now a wholly owned subsidiary of Tower Semiconductor Ltd., an independent specialty wafer foundry) from August 2005 until his retirement in September 2008 (when he was named Chairman Emeritus). Dr. Amelio was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Beneventure Capital, LLC (a full-service venture capital firm in San Francisco, California) from 1999 to 2005 and was Principal of Aircraft Ventures, LLC (a consulting firm in Newport Beach, California) from April 1997 to December 2004. Dr. Amelio was elected a Director of AT&T in February 2001 and had previously served as an Advisory Director of AT&T (then known as SBC Communications Inc.) from April 1997 to February 2001. He served as a Director of Pacific Telesis Group from 1995 until the company was acquired by AT&T in 1997. Prior to 1997, he served as Chairman, President and CEO of National Semiconductor (1991-1996) and Apple Computer (1996-1997).

        Independent Director
      • James C. Czirr
        Director since February 2009, Executive Chairman from February 2010 to January 2016, Co-Founder in 2000

        Mr. Czirr is a co-founder of 10X Fund, L.P. and is a managing member of 10X Capital Management LLC, the general partner of 10X Fund, L.P. Mr. Czirr was a co-founder of Galectin Therapeutics in July 2000. Mr. Czirr was instrumental in the early stage development of Safe Science Inc., a developer of anticancer drugs, served from 2005 to 2008 as Chief Executive Officer of Minerva Biotechnologies Corporation, a developer of nano particle bio chips to determine the cause of solid tumors, and was a consultant to Metalline Mining Company Inc., now known as Silver Bull Resources, Inc., (AMEX: SVBL), a mineral exploration company seeking to become a low cost producer of zinc. Mr. Czirr received a B.B.A. degree from the University of Michigan.

        • Kary Eldred
          Director since 2018

          Kary Eldred is a director and Chief Investment Officer for the Living Stones Foundation since July 2015 and has been an active private equity investor for many years. In these capacities, he serves and has served on a number of corporate boards of companies with potential for and driving toward initial public offerings and is currently serving as a board member in Buy It Installed (since 2017), Babywise and Wise King Media (since 2015). Kary Eldred also served on the board and audit committee of GCT Semiconductor. From January 2011 through October 2014, Mr. Eldred was CEO & Chairman of Altadona, S.A. a software integration company based in Europe and prior to that was a principal in Parakletos Ventures, an institutional venture capital firm with several investments in companies that went on to be acquired or become publicly listed on different exchanges around the world including the NASDAQ, KOSDAQ and the GEM market. Mr. Eldred has an Executive MBA from IE Business School and a BA in Foreign Service from Baylor University.

          Independent Director
        • Kevin D. Freeman, CFA
          Vice Chairman of the board from May 2018, Director since May 2011

          Mr. Freeman holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is Chief Executive Officer of Cross Consulting and Services, LLC, an investment advisory and consulting firm founded in 2004. He is also author of a New York Times bestselling book about the stock market and economy. Formerly he was Chairman of Separate Account Solutions, Inc. and held several offices at Franklin Templeton Investment Services from 1991 to 2000. He holds a B.S. in business administration from University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

          Independent Director
        • Gilbert S. Omenn, M.D., Ph.D
          Director since September 2014
          Dr. Omenn previously served on the board of directors of Amgen Inc. for 27 years and of Rohm & Haas Company for 22 years. He currently serves on the boards of Oncofusion Therapeutics and MedsynBio LLC of Ann Arbor, MI. Dr. Omenn is the Harold T. Shapiro Distinguished University Professor of Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics, Internal Medicine, Human Genetics, and Public Health and Director of the university-wide Center for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics at the University of Michigan. Dr. Omenn served as executive vice president for medical affairs and as chief executive officer of the University of Michigan Health System from 1997 to 2002. Prior, he was dean of the School of Public Health and Community Medicine and professor of medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of Washington and Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Earlier he was Associate Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and of the Office of Management and Budget. He is the author of 600 research papers and scientific reviews and author/editor of 18 books. Dr. Omenn received his B.A. summa cum laude from Princeton University, M.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School, and Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Washington.
          Independent Director
        • Marc Rubin, M.D.
          Director since October 2011, Chairman of the board from January 2016 to May 2018, Lead Director from May 2015 to January 2016

          Dr. Rubin is Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (TTNP: OTC BB) and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer from October 2007 to January 2009. Until February 2007, Dr. Rubin served as Head of Global Research and Development for Bayer Schering Pharma, as well as a member of the Executive Committee of Bayer Healthcare and the Board of Management of Bayer Schering Pharma. Prior to the merger of Bayer Pharmaceuticals and Schering AG in June 2006, Dr. Rubin was a member of the Executive Board of Schering AG since joining the company in October 2003, as well as Chairman of Schering Berlin Inc. and President of Berlex Pharmaceuticals, a division of Schering AG. From 1990 until August 2003, Dr. Rubin was employed by GlaxoSmithKline where he held positions of responsibility in global clinical and commercial development overseeing programs in the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America. From 2001 through 2003 at GlaxoSmithKline, he was Senior Vice President of Global Clinical Pharmacology & Discovery Medicine. Dr. Rubin holds an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College and is board certified in internal medicine with subspecialties in medical oncology and infectious diseases. Dr. Rubin is a member of the Board of Directors of Curis Inc. (Nasdaq: CRIS) and formerly served on the Board of Directors of Medarex, Inc., now a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.

          Independent Director
        • Elissa J. Schwartz, Ph.D.
          Director since September 2020

          Elissa J. Schwartz, Ph.D. is a disease modeler with extensive experience in clinical research, biomathematics and biostatistics. She is currently a professor of biological sciences and mathematics at Washington State University (WSU). She received a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from Mount Sinai–NYU, a BA in Mathematics from UC Berkeley, and interdisciplinary postdoctoral training in Biomathematics and Biostatistics from UCLA. She is also affiliated with the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine in microbiology and pathology, and she is currently on the WSU COVID-19 modeling task force. Dr. Schwartz is the author of over 30 scientific publications on infectious disease, immune response, and biological modeling. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Society for Mathematical Biology, and she previously served as a consultant for Pharmerit International, LP, a pharmaceutical economics company. Dr. Schwartz has held fellowships with the Mathematical Biosciences Institute (Ohio State University) and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (Cape Town, South Africa), and she served on the teaching faculty for courses in British Columbia, India, and Nepal.

          Independent Director
          • Harold Shlevin, Ph.D.
            Director since December 2019

            Dr. Shlevin is the retired former chief executive officer (CEO) and president of Galectin Therapeutics, now working with the Company on a consulting basis to help guide the Company’s ongoing Phase 2b/3 NASH-RX clinical trial. He is a bioscience industry executive with 25 years of senior management experience in the development and commercialization of pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and vaccines. Before joining Galectin Therapeutics as chief operating officer (COO) in 2012 and assuming the role of CEO and president in 2018, Dr. Shlevin led Georgia Institute of Technology’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) as principal and manager of bioscience commercialization efforts, where he served as a catalyst for new bioscience startup companies. His leadership roles have included president and chief executive officer of Solvay Pharmaceuticals, where he oversaw the successful launch of the first topical testosterone gel product in the US; co-founder of CIBA Vision Ophthalmics, a specialty ophthalmic drug company, where he headed efforts leading to the approval of the first non-steroidal agent for treatment of ocular inflammation and several other drug products; founder, president and chief executive officer of Tikvah Therapeutics, a company focused on clinical development of therapeutics for treatment of neurological diseases; and vice president and head of operations and commercial development for Altea Therapeutics Corporation, a clinical-stage drug delivery company with platform technology applicable to the transdermal delivery of biologics. Dr. Shlevin earned his B.A. from Boston University and M.S. and Ph.D. in physiology from the University of Rochester Medical School. He completed post-doctoral training in pharmacology at Mayo Clinic where he subsequently served as assistant professor of pharmacology and physiology. He is a member of scientific and business societies including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Licensing Executives Society, American Physiological Society, American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and is an inventor on several issued and pending patents.

            • Richard A. Zordani
              Director since September 2020

              Richard A. Zordani is a seasoned financial executive with extensive public accounting and Family Office experience. He has been the Director of Shareholder Services at Uline, Inc. (a distributor of shipping, packaging and industrial supplies) since 2013. Prior to joining Uline, Mr. Zordani served as a Director and Vice President for Diversified Financial Management Corp. (Pritzker family office) where he advised on complex legal and tax structures for domestic and foreign entities and trusts from 2003 through 2013 and an Audit Manager for Altschuler, Melvoin & Glasser LLP (now RSM McGladrey) from 1996 through 2003. Mr. Zordani received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign and is a Registered CPA in the state of Illinois.

              Independent Director