- 8, The Green Suite, 12341 Dover,
DE 19901-3618 - info@immgenuity.com
+1-302-321-5844
Immgenuity Inc.
Applying ingenuity and innovation
to improve lives around the world
About Us
Board of Directors
 Sateesh Apte, MD |
 Robert Nagy, CPA |
 Sen. George Allen |
 Maj. Gen. (Retd) Kevin Leonard |
 Dr. Richard Ogden |
 Kevin Phelps |
 Dean Petkanas |
Dr. Apte, in his capacity as senior director of Swiss Pacific Group, Ltd., is the founder of Immgenuity Inc..
Dr. Apte specializes in neurology and has an extensive background in research, teaching and consulting in the field of neurological sciences. The similarities of neurology with the immunology sciences, and his in-depth study in this area, have allowed an easy transport of his medical expertise to the research arena. More recently, as neurological complications of HIV such as HAND and HAD come into focus, Dr Apté's interest is stimulated by the need for structured therapeutic interventions and use of a therapeutic vaccine to reach highly conserved sanctuary regions such as the microgoia and astrocytes in the brain. Antiretrovirals have not been spectacularly effective in addressing neurological complications of HIV.
Dr. Apte's professional appointments have included active staff positions at the VA Medical Center in Livermore, CA; ValleyCare Medical Center in Pleasanton, CA, and directorships with PainCare Medical Clinic, and the Sleep Disorders Center in San Ramon and Pleasanton, CA. He served as President and CEO of multi-speciality groups Northern California Physicians Associates, Inc. and Alpha Medical Group, Inc. (1986-1992) and then served as President and CEO of ImmunoScience, Inc until 2019. He has served in numerous professional medical associations and is currently an active member in the American Academy of Neurology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His current consulting appointments include The National Multiple Sclerosis Society (1991-present) and the Epilepsy League of America (1991-Present). His undergraduate studies were conducted in Pune, India and his graduate training included residencies at Haffkine Institute, Bombay, India in ollaborati on with The Pasteur Institute; Boston University Medical Center; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; and a senior fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center.
Dr. Apté has authored and co-authored a number of articles for medical publications and has several publications pending. He has been awarded several patents for the therapeutic vaccine.
Mr. Nagy is Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer at Immgenuity, Inc.. Prior to this, he has been actively involved with another biotech company, helping to pursue and secure capital funding for the company. He has extensive experience in domestic and international tax; merger and acquisition evaluation and planning; capital acquisition and structuring; strategic planning and business analysis, finance, and operations. He has worked with private placements and public offerings, including SEC compliance and reporting. Prior to coming on board with Immgenuity, Mr. Nagy was President and Managing Director of Meridian Services, Ltd., a boutique public accounting firm providing services in the areas of sophisticated domestic and foreign tax planning and compliance, asset protection strategies, operations and finance. He continues to work in these areas as a partner with a Charleston, SC public accounting firm which Meridian merged into in early 2020.
Throughout his 40 plus year career in finance, he has served as CFO, Owner/Managing Director, Senior Manager and Senior Partner of various private and public companies. He is an active member of the American Institute of CPAs and the South Carolina Association of CPAs, and has been a lecturer and seminar leader for continuing professional education courses with both organizations. He has been a board member of numerous civic organizations, and is active in his church and other civic endeavors. He has been a Certified Public Accountant since 1977. He earned a B.S in Accounting from the University of South Carolina and has over 1,900 hours in various tax, accounting, management and SEC courses.
Mr. Kevin Phelps is a finance and business development professional who has spent his career determining, satisfying and managing the operational needs of a wide range of companies. With greater than 25 years of broad, professional experience, he has been in senior management positions raising capital for startup companies, managing financial organizations and developing new businesses through technology, strategic alliances and acquisition projects.
Mr. Phelps is a General Partner in Trillium Group, LLC; a Rochester, New York based venture capital firm and a founder of Cashel Rock Advisors and FinanciaLink Strategic Alliances, two private wealth management firms specializing in strategies for corporations and high net-worth individuals.
His professional experience began as a CPA with Price Waterhouse, where he consulted with over 20 companies with a principal focus on emerging growth opportunities. In 1987 he was recruited to head financial planning for Eastman Kodak’s BioProducts Divison. He helped spin off the business into an international joint venture and became the Chief Financial Officer of the new entity, Genencor International, Inc. In this role, he created and managed Genencor’s finance and treasury organizations and established the company’s accounting and reporting practices. He raised in excess of $100 million in debt capital to fund Genencor’s operations and expansion. He also served as Vice President of New Business Development.
Dean Petkanas is a corporate finance and executive management professional with over 25 years of investment banking and capital markets experience. In 2010 Mr. Petkanas co-founded Kannalife Sciences, Inc. and for the past 10 years was principally responsible for the creation and execution of the Company’s business model, including the licensing of U.S. Patent #6630507, “Cannabinoids as Antioxidants and Neuroprotectants” from the National Institutes of Health for disease indications Hepatic Encephalopathy (HE) and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). In 2013, he was responsible for securing Series A financing for Kannalife.
Mr. Petkanas’ background in pharmaceutical extends to his work as investment banker and subsequently V.P. of Business Development for Xechem International, Inc. where he was principally responsible for Xechem’s IPO and EXIM Bank rounds of financing. Mr. Petkanas was involved with Xechem from 1992 to 2007. While at Xechem, he was involved in the financing of Xechem’s lead target drug candidate (generic paclitaxel) and later on from 2003 to 2007, was the the lead petitioner for Xechem International in steering their federal anti-trust lawsuit against Bristol-Myers-Squibb for their illegal monopoly of the drug market for the anti-cancer drug, Taxol®. Mr. Petkanas also was an integral part of the development team that named, trademarked and commercialized Hemoxin (Nicosan), a phyto-pharmaceutical compound for the treatment of Sickle Cell disease.
Mr. Petkanas is a co-inventor of two US Patents, first in U.S. Patent #9611213 titled “Functionalized 1,3 Benzene-diols and their Method of Use for the Treatment of Hepatic Encephalopathy.” This patent is part of a divisional patent application by the Company to the USPTO whereby the Company sought separate claims for composition of matter, covered in Pat. #9611213 and separate claims for method of treatment in U.S. Patent #10004722 titled “Method for Treating Hepatic Encephalopathy or a Disease Associated with Free Radical Mediate Stress and Oxidative Stress with Novel Functionalized 1,3 Benzene-diols.” Mr. Petkanas is also the co-author or several peer-reviewed publications.
Dr. Ogden joined Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. as a founding scientist at its inception in 1984, where he held positions of Group Leader of Medicinal Chemistry, Principal Scientist, and Senior Director of Scientific Development. He was a team member in the HIV project which led to the discovery and development of Nelfinavir (Viracept®). Responsibilities in Scientific Development included presenting Agouron R&D activities to potential corporate partners and investors, assessing technology and compound acquisitions, organizing the process by which new drug targets were selected and projects initiated, and communicating research and clinical activities to clinicians, other healthcare providers and patient groups.
He served as the scientific liaison for the Agouron/Pfizer commercial and corporate organizations following the merger with Pfizer, and his principal responsibilities have included assisting in the continued support of the protease inhibitor Nelfinavir, by providing medical education, including CME certified presentations, within the HIV/AIDS clinical and patient communities, and in the evaluation of proposals for post marketing clinical research in the HIV/AIDS area. He also supported the pre-marketing activities for many clinical agents in the HIV/AIDS and oncology therapeutic areas. With Pfizer, he had an additional opportunity to work with the Pfizer Foundation in its support of the Academic Alliance and its efforts in Uganda, and with Corporate Philanthropy, in its support of the World Economic Forum and the Global Business Council. He also had the opportunity to advise and brief the CEO, Hank McKinnell, during his membership of the Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV/AIDS. He served with both Agouron and Pfizer as the representative on the International AIDS Society Industry Liaison Forum. In addition to numerous publications, he is co-editor, with Charles Flexner, on a book on Protease Inhibitors in AIDS Therapy and with Gail Skowron, on a book on Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors in AIDS Therapy.
He received his bachelor’s degree in natural sciences and doctorate in synthetic organic chemistry with Dr. Dan Brown at Cambridge University. His academic career started with postdoctoral research studying RNA transcription and processing at the University of California, San Diego in the laboratory of Professor John Abelson, following which he undertook independent research, funded by the National Science Foundation, in the area of protein and RNA structure-function relationships at the University of California, San Diego and the Agouron Institute.
Maj. Gen. (Retd) Kevin Leonard, is a former senior vice president of contingency operations at Vectrus (NYSE: VEC) and a former president and CEO Charleston, South Carolina-based military logistics services provider Technica. Gen. Leonard led the Military Surface Deployment Distribution Command, where he was responsible for deployment and distribution work across expeditionary missions, before he concluded his 33-year military career.
His private sector career also includes leadership roles at Fluor (NYSE: FLR) and Amazon (NYSE: AMZN). The National Defense Industrial Association recognized Leonard with its Logistician Emeritus Award in 2014 for his significant contributions to the U.S. military’s logistical operations.
For Immgenuity, Gen. Leonard will be instrumental in starting a conversation with and developing a relationship with Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) and Military Infectious Diseases Research Program (MIDRP.) Gen. Leonard has led his life and military as well as civilian career with the principles of integrity, respect and responsibility and his leadership skills both in and off the service will be invaluable to Immgenuity, Inc.
As Immgenuity tries to seek a congressional consensus for its research, Gen. Leonard will be a powerful voice on the Capitol Hill to promote research on Immgenuity's IMTV014.
Senator George Allen has had a distinguished career in local, state and federal governments. He served in the Virginia house of delegates from 1983 to 1991. In 1993, he was elected Governor of Virgina until 1998. As governor, he was the architect of a bipartisan welfare reform bill. He was also the prime mover behind "Truth in Sentencing Act" which passed both houses with overwhelming majorities. He was also a visionary in a SOLS program (Standards of Learning), supported enthusiastically by the American Federation of Teachers. The SOLS program was visionary in its emphasis on core subjects - way before anyone thought of STEM. From 1998 to 2000, Senator Allen became a partner in the law firm McGuire Woods LLP. He also served on the boards of Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Xybernaut and Com-Net Ericsson.
In 2000, he was elected to the US Senate. In the senate, he served on the Foreign Relations, Energy and Natural Resources, and Commerce, Science and Transportation Committees. His landmark accomplishment was the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act.
For Immgenuity, Sen. Allen will be able to use his distinguished legal, administration and legislative skills to help the company have excellent corporate governance and help the company fulfill its strategic vision.