J. Michael French
President and CEO
Mr. French joined Marina Biotech in June 2008 as Chief Executive Officer. He became a Director in September 2008 and President in October 2008. Mr. French was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Sirna Therapeutics from 2005 until 2007 when the company was acquired by Merck. Sirna was well-known as one of the leading RNAi companies. Earlier, Mr. French was Chief Business Officer at Entelos, Inc., a pre-IPO biotechnology company, as well as a variety of other positions at healthcare companies, including Health IQ and Bayer Pharmaceuticals. He also served for 13 years in the United States Army and Army Reserve. Mr. French holds a M.S. degree in physiology and biophysics from Georgetown University and a B.S. degree in aerospace engineering from the United States Military Academy.
Philip C. Ranker
Interim Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Ranker joined Marina Biotech in September 2011 as Chief Accounting Officer and became Interim Chief Financial Officer in October 2011. Mr. Ranker most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Suneva Medical, a start-up aesthetics company, as well as a member of the Board of Directors and Audit Committee Chair of ImaRx Therapeutics, which executed an Initial Public Offering during his tenure on the Board. Previously, Mr. Ranker served as Vice President of Finance at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, supporting the company through a significant restructuring which set Amylin on a path toward positive operating cashflow. Prior to Amylin, Mr. Ranker held the positions of Chief Financial Officer and VP of Finance at Nastech Pharmaceutical Company (predecessor to Marina Biotech) and Director of Finance for ICOS Corporation during the commercialization of Cialis. He also previously served in various positions in corporate accounting, managed care contracting and research and development, including Senior Finance Director, at Aventis Pharma and its predecessor companies during his nearly fifteen year tenure with the organization. Prior to Aventis, Mr. Ranker was employed by Peat Marwick (currently KPMG) as a Certified Public Accountant.
Richard T. Ho, M.D., Ph.D.
Executive Vice President, Research and Development
Dr. Ho joined Marina Biotech in September 2011 as Executive Vice President, Research and Development. Dr. Ho most recently served as Senior Medical Director at Entelos, Inc. from 2008 to 2011 where he oversaw academic and governmental collaborations including a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the FDA. From 2007 to 2008, he was a Principal at Rosa and Co. where he consulted with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies on physiological modeling efforts in several disease areas including metabolic disorders, respiratory disease, and bioterrorism agents. Dr. Ho began his industry career at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development starting as a fellow in Medical Informatics and advancing to the position of Director of Disease Modeling. Over a ten year period at J&J, he built and led a team which championed systems biology and personalized medicine by exploiting model-based analysis and research with global clinical and preclinical teams developing both small and large molecule compounds. Before joining J&J, Dr. Ho completed a residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Rheumatology at Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Ho received his M.D.-Ph.D. (Pharmacology) from the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and the Grace Cancer Drug Center of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and received his A.B. in physics from Harvard College.
Michael V. Templin, Ph.D., DABT
Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
Dr. Templin joined Marina Biotech in December 2004. While at Marina Biotech (and its predecessors) he has served in a variety of management positions leading teams in the areas of discovery research and preclinical development. Before joining Marina Biotech he held research and development positions at Isis Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, and Zymogenetics. Dr. Templin's pharmaceutical development experience includes regulatory toxicology from bench research through IND and NDA filings for small- and large-molecule platforms (oligonucleotides, peptides, proteins, and antibodies). Dr. Templin received a Ph.D. in Pharmacology/Toxicology from Washington State University and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology (RTP, NC Dr. Templin has held certification as a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology since 1998.
June D. Ameen, RN, MBA
Senior Vice President
Ms. Ameen joined Marina Biotech in September 2009. Ms. Ameen has held progressively responsible positions in both public and private life sciences companies for the past 20 years. Prior to joining Marina Biotech, Ms. Ameen served first as Vice President, Alliance Management and then Vice President, Business Development and Alliances of Entelos, Inc., a privately held systems biology company based in Foster City, California. While there, she was responsible for expanding the business from early-adopter technology-based research partnerships to therapeutic focused co-development collaborations with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. As Vice President, Business Development and Alliances, annual revenues increased from less than $3 million to over $21 million in two years. Prior to Entelos, Ms. Ameen was with PAREXEL International Corporation as Vice President and General Manager and in several other positions focused on operations, client relations and alliance management. Ms. Ameen has an M.B.A. from Babson College and a B.S.N. from Boston College.
Michael Houston, Ph.D.
Vice President, Chemistry and Formulations
Dr. Houston joined Marina Biotech in February 2004. While at Marina Biotech (and its predecessors), he led both the RNAi and peptide chemistry efforts including both research and development activities. In June of 2008, he assumed the role of head of Formulations and Chemistry at Marina Biotech. Prior to joining Marina Biotech, he held the position of Director of Chemistry at Cytovax Biotechnologies where he led the research and manufacturing efforts of the company’s peptide-protein conjugate-based vaccine. Dr. Houston received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Waterloo and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Protein Engineering in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Hodges at the University of Alberta.