Business Board
Quintessence Biosciences, Inc. has assembled a Business Board to draw upon their managerial and scientific experience to provide input on the scientific and business direction of Quintessence Biosciences. The business board consists of Dr. Laurits Christensen, Mr. Walter Dewey, Mr. Chris Hornung, Mr. Ralph Kauten (who serves as chairman), Dr. Laura Kiessling (a founder of the Company), Dr. Ronald Raines (a founder of the Company) and Mr. Theodore Rolfs.
Dr. Laurits Christensen
Dr. Christensen is Chairman of Laurits R. Christensen Associates, Inc. an economic and engineering analysis and consulting firm. In his twenty years as an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison, he published over sixty articles and established himself as an authority on applied microeconomics, economic evaluation, and econometric modeling. Mr. Christensen obtained his Bachelor degree in economics from Cornell University and his Masters and PhD degrees in Statistics and Economics from University of California-Berkeley.
Mr. Walter Dewey
Mr. Dewey is a Senior Portfolio Manager and Principal of Reinhart Partners, Inc., an Investment Advisory Firm headquartered in Mequon, WI. In his role there he manages portfolios for individual and institutional clients. He is also involved in the research process of individual security selection, and the overall asset allocation process for the firm. Previously, he spent 21 years with US Bancorp where he managed portfolios for individual and institutional clients, working with the largest clients and prospects of the Private Asset Management Group at US Bank. He was the manager of the Firstar Growth Fund and Firstar Balanced Fund, and managed two model portfolios used by portfolio managers of U.S. Bank throughout the United States. Walter also has over 15 years of experience co-managing companies that invest in a variety of alternative type investments. Walter is currently serving as a co-manager for multiple other businesses and funds, and is a board member of several technology companies in various stages of development. Mr. Dewey received a B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, and is a member of the CFA Institute. Walter is also a board member and vicechairman of St. Colette Foundation in Jefferson, WI; the vice president of the Edgewood Campus Grade School Board of Trustees; and an Advisory Board member of the Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Mr. Chris Hornung
Mr. Hornung is the C.E.O. of Next Testing LLC. He is the founder and retired C.E.O. of Pacific Cycle. Mr. Hornung chairs the Nomination and Governance Committee of Methode Electronics (NYSE: MEI) and sits on the board of Paragon Manufacturing (China). Mr. Hornung is also a limited partner in Wind Point, a Chicago based private equity firm. He is actively involved with the Grainger School of Business at the University of Wisconsin.
Mr. Ralph Kauten, Chairman
Since December 2001, Mr. Kauten has served as C.E.O. of Quintessence Biosciences, Inc. Mr. Kauten has served as co-founder and leader in a number of biotechnology companies including Promega Corporation, PanVera Corporation, and Mirus Corporation. Designated as an Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young, Mr. Kauten serves on Boards of Directors and Advisory Boards for companies in the biotechnology industry and in other industries. Mr. Kauten holds an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BBA, from the University of Iowa.
Dr. Laura L. Kiessling, Founder
Dr. Kiessling, a founder of the Company, is a leading expert on the chemistry and biology of nucleic acids and carbohydrates. Receiving a Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry from Yale University, Dr. Kiessling did postdoctoral work in chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. In 1991, she joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she is now a Hilldale Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Laurens Anderson Professor of Biochemistry. Dr. Kiessling serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Company and also as a consultant for numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
Dr. Kiessling is Editor-In-Chief of ACS Chemical Biology, and she has served on numerous Editorial Boards including those of the scientific journals Chemistry & Biology, the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and the Annual Reviews of Biochemistry. She has received numerous national awards for her research, Dr. Kiessling received in 1999 a MacArthur Fellowship for the discovery of the Neobiopolymer™ technology, the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award in Organic Chemistry, and the Horace Isbell Award in Carbohydrates from the American Chemical Society. Industry Week magazine in 1999 noted Dr. Kiessling as one of the “50 R&D Stars to Watch”. She also is a recipient of the Harrison Howe Award (2004), the Garvan Award (2007), the Wilbur Cross Medal from Yale University (2008). She is a member of the American Association of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Ronald T. Raines, Founder
Dr. Raines, a founder of the Company, is a leading expert on the chemistry and biology of proteins. As inventor of the EVade™ Ribonuclease technology licensed exclusively to the Company, Dr. Raines continues to provide guidance and serves on the Company Scientific Advisory Board. He received A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in organic chemistry from Harvard University and did postdoctoral research in biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco. In 1989, Dr. Raines joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is now Henry Lardy Professor of Biochemistry and Professor of Chemistry.
Dr. Raines has been a Scientific Advisory Board member and consultant for numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and has been a Visiting Scientist at Chiron Corporation. He is on the Editorial Boards for the scientific journals ACS–Chemical Biology, Protein Science, Peptide Science, and Protein Engineering, Design & Selection. Dr. Raines has won numerous awards for his research, including the 1998 Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry, a 2001–2002 Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2004 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award in Organic Chemistry, the 2005 Emil Thomas Kaiser Award in Protein Chemistry, the 2007 Rao Makineni Lectureship Award in Peptide Chemistry and the 2010 Repligen Award in Biological Chemistry. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is an author of over 350 scientific articles and abstracts, and an inventor on 22 US patents.
Mr. Theodore Rolfs
Mr. Rolfs is Owner/Partner of Red Top Capital LLC a private equity investment partnership since 1993. Prior to joining Red Top Capital LLC, Mr. Rolfs was with Arthur Andersen specializing in tax matters. Mr. Rolfs serves as a member of the Board of Directors for all portfolio companies held by Red Top Capital LLC.
In a capacity unrelated to Red Top Capital LLC, Mr. Rolfs served as a director of PanVera Corporation. Mr. Rolfs holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, an MBA and a JD all from the University of Notre Dame and is currently admitted to practice law in the State of Wisconsin. He is a member of the University of Notre Dame Law School Advisory Council.
Mr. Rolfs is Founder and Director of the Tall Pines Land Conservancy. He is Trustee and Executive Vice Chair for The Nature Conservancy – Wisconsin Chapter. From 2003 to 2006 Mr. Rolfs was appointed Public Service Prosecutor for the Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office; and in 2006 he was elected to, and continues to serve on the Waukesha County Board.
Quintessence Biosciences, Inc. 