ZEVRA THERAPEUTICS INC

INFORMATION ABOUT OUR EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS

The following table sets forth information regarding our executive officers and directors as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Executive Officers

Neil F. McFarlane

Neil F. McFarlane has served as our president and Chief Executive Officer, and as a director of our Company, since October 2023. Mr. McFarlane served as the chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from September 2019 until November 2021, when Adamas was acquired by Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. From August 2016 to May 2019, Mr. McFarlane served as the chief operating officer of Retrophin, Inc. (now Travere Therapeutics, Inc.), a public biopharmaceutical company. From 2011 to 2016, he held positions of increasing responsibility with UCB, Inc., Genzyme Corporation (now Sanofi) and Sangstat Medical Corporation (acquired by Genzyme). Mr. McFarlane currently serves as a member of the board of directors of HCRx Holdings, a private company that invests in biopharmaceutical product royalties, and previously he served as a member of the board of directors of Collegium Pharmaceutical Inc., a public biopharmaceutical company. Mr. McFarlane proudly served as an officer and enlisted soldier in the United States Army Reserves. He received his BS and MS in Nursing from the University of Florida. Our Board believes that Mr. McFarlane’s over 20 years of global biopharmaceutical and life sciences experience provide him with the qualifications and skills to serve as a director of our Company.

R. LaDuane Clifton, MBA, CPA

R. LaDuane Clifton, MBA, CPA, has served as our Chief Financial Officer since June 2015 and as our Treasurer since February 2016; he also served as our Secretary from February 2016 to June 2024. Mr. Clifton is responsible for the Company’s financial and operating activities. Previously, he served as our Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller from April 2015 to June 2015. From August 2009 to February 2015, Mr. Clifton served in a variety of positions, including chief financial officer, secretary and treasurer, with The LGL Group, Inc., a public holding engaged in services, merchant investment and manufacturing business activities. From August 2008 to August 2009, Mr. Clifton served as the chief financial officer of a21, Inc., a public holding company with businesses in stock photography and the online retail and manufacturer of framed art, and as its corporate controller from March 2007 to August 2008. From August 2004 to March 2007, Mr. Clifton served as an auditor with KPMG. From August 1991 to August 2004, he served in a variety of finance, medical cost analysis and managed care provider contracting roles with Aetna, Inc., a publicly-held provider of healthcare benefits. Mr. Clifton is a certified public accountant in the state of Florida and received his BBA in Accounting and MBA from the University of North Florida, as well as a Graduate Certificate in Corporate Finance from Harvard University.

Joshua Schafer

Joshua Schafer has served as our Chief Commercial Officer and Executive Vice President, Business Development, since January 2023. Mr. Schafer has over 25 years of pharmaceutical commercial, new product development and M&A experience. From December 2020 to November 2022, he served as senior vice president and general manager of the Autoimmune and Rare Disease business at Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, he served as Mallinckrodt’s chief strategy and business officer from September 2019 to December 2020 and senior vice president of business development and general manager from January 2018 to September 2019. Prior to Mallinckrodt, Mr. Schafer served as vice president and oncology therapeutic area head, global marketing and strategy at Astellas Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for building the company’s global oncology franchise, and also held senior roles at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Accenture (formerly Anderson Consulting), G. D. Searle & Co. (later acquired by Pfizer) and Cognia Corporation. Mr. Schafer currently serves as a member of the board of Pharnext SA and Shuttle Pharmaceuticals. He received his BA in Biology and German at the University of Notre Dame, and both an MS in Biotechnology and an MBA from Northwestern University.

Adrian Quartel, M.D., FFPM

Adrian Quartel, M.D., FFPM, has served as our Chief Medical Officer since January 2024, and previously served as the chief medical officer of Acer Therapeutics from February 2022 until it was acquired by Zevra at the end of 2023. At Acer, Dr. Quartel played a key role in guiding clinical development, clinical operations, medical affairs and regulatory compliance. Prior to that, he was the chief medical officer at Adamas Pharmaceuticals, a company focused on drug development for neurological diseases, from September 2020 until February 2022. From June 2017 until September 2020, Dr. Quartel served as the group vice president of global medical affairs at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals Inc., where he spearheaded the launch of six treatments for rare diseases or genetic disorders. Before his tenure at BioMarin, Dr. Quartel oversaw clinical development and held senior medical leadership positions at Chiltern, a specialist contract research organization, from September 2006 to July 2007, at Astellas Pharma, Inc., a global life sciences company, from January 2004 until September 2006, and at ICON Clinical Research., a healthcare intelligence and clinical research organization, from August 2001 to January 2004. In addition, Dr. Quartel worked as a clinical research fellow at UCLA Cedar Sinai and as a resident in cardio-thoracic surgery at Erasmus University Medical Center. He holds an M.D. from Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, and has a postgraduate specialization in pharmaceutical medicine from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine in London. Dr. Quartel is board certified by the General Medical Council (GMC) in pharmaceutical medicine in the United Kingdom.

Rahsaan W. Thompson

Rahsaan W. Thompson has served as our Chief Legal Officer, Secretary and Compliance Officer since June 2024. Mr. Thompson has more than 25 years of experience as a business leader and attorney in the biotech industry. He previously served as the chief legal officer at Lyell Immunopharma, a publicly-traded and clinical-stage biotech corporation. Prior to his role at Lyell, he was the executive vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary and chief compliance officer at Gritstone bio, a publicly-traded, clinical-stage biotech company. Before that, he served as general counsel at Opiant Pharmaceuticals and Actelion Pharmaceuticals US. Earlier in his career, Mr. Thompson worked in general and corporate counsel roles at Quarles & Brady, Abraxis Bioscience and McKesson Corporation, as well as being Assistant District Attorney in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. Mr. Thompson currently serves on the board of trustees for the Oakland Museum of California and previously served on the board of the American Kidney Fund. He received his JD from Hofstra University School of Law and his B.Sc. from Southern Methodist University. He has bar admissions in the States of Illinois and Pennsylvania.

Directors

Thomas D. Anderson

Thomas D. Anderson has served as a director of our Company since August 2023 and as chair of the compensation committee since February 2024. Mr. Anderson is a 35-year veteran of the biopharma industry, playing a leading role in high-growth organizations for much of his career. Mr. Anderson served as chief executive officer and director of SwanBio Therapeutics, a clinical-stage gene therapy company, from September 2019 until his semi-retirement in October 2023; subsequently, he resigned his board directorship in March 2024. Prior to that, he served as the chief commercial strategy officer of Sage Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from 2014 to 2018. From 2004 to 2014, Mr. Anderson was a senior executive with Shire Pharmaceuticals Group in a number of operational and strategic roles in both rare diseases and specialty pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career, Mr. Anderson was with Johnson & Johnson companies, Janssen and McNeil Pharmaceutical, in a number of leadership, sales, marketing and business information roles. Mr. Anderson also served as a director of private companies, ExpressCells Inc., from 2019 to 2023, and CEO Trust, from 2018 to 2021. Mr. Anderson received his MBA from the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business Administration. He received his BS in civil engineering from the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering at Lehigh University. Our Board believes that Mr. Anderson’s extensive experience in the biopharma industry, including as senior executive and director of multiple biopharmaceutical companies, qualifies him to serve on the Board as a director of our Company.

John B. Bode

John B. Bode has served as a director of our Company since April 2023 and as chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee since May 2023. Since February 2015, Mr. Bode has been the owner and managing director of Aerie Investments, LLC, a management consulting and investment company focused on assisting legacy media companies and digital media start-ups with business development and strategic initiatives. Mr. Bode currently serves as the chief financial officer and chief transformation officer of Postmedia Network Canada Corp., a publishing company whose shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Since September 2022, Mr. Bode has served as the interim chief executive officer of FISION Corporation, a provider of cloud-based digital asset management, sales enablement and agile marketing technologies; and, he has served as a member of its board of directors since March 2018. Mr. Bode has served on the board of directors of SPAR Group, Inc., a leading global provider of merchandising, marketing and distribution services that is listed on the Nasdaq, since October 2023, and of The McClatchy Company, a leading privately-held publisher of newspapers, since September 2020. Mr. Bode’s past corporate experience includes many years serving as a key executive and/or financial officer for leading public companies. He was the chief financial officer of the Tribune Publishing Company from October 2013 to January 2015. He served as the chief financial officer of Source Interlink Companies, one of the largest enthusiast media companies in the United States and a leading distributor of periodicals, from January 2011 to September 2013, after serving in other accounting and finance roles with Source Interlink since 2002. He was previously employed as a certified public accountant for BDO Seidman. Mr. Bode received a BS in Accounting from Notre Dame University. Our Board believes that Mr. Bode’s experience as an executive and manager of public and private companies, as well as his experience leading commercial and marketing operations for such companies, offers the Board valuable perspective and insight and provides him with the qualifications and skills to serve as a director of our Company.

Douglas W. Calder

Douglas W. Calder has served as a director of our Company since April 2023. Since August 2016, he has served as president and a director of Vycellix, Inc. (including its subsidiaries and affiliates), a private company engineering immune-privileged, T cell and natural killer (“NK”) cell-based cancer therapeutics. Mr. Calder has also served as a member of the board of directors of Renovaro, a public biotechnology company (Nasdaq: RENB), since October 2024, of NextGenNK, Sweden’s NK cell competence center, since June 2019, and of BioFlorida, a private company supporting Florida’s life sciences industry, since September 2018. He also has been a member of the Society for Natural Immunity since July 2018. Mr. Calder has more than 30 years of life science executive experience, having served in various senior executive roles for Florida-based biotechnology companies and research institutes, including Viragen, Accentia Biopharmaceuticals, Biovest International and the Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute of Florida, as well as having formerly served as a registered financial portfolio manager with a focus on life science equities with the New York Stock Exchange member firms, Gruntal & Co. and Dean Witter Reynolds. Mr. Calder received a BA from Florida State University. Our Board believes that Mr. Calder’s experience in biotechnology and life science industries, including as an executive and as director, provide him with the qualifications and skills to serve as a director of our Company.

Wendy Dixon, Ph.D.

Wendy Dixon, Ph.D. has served as a director of our Company since April 2023. Dr. Dixon has more than 40 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience in drug development, with leadership roles in regulatory affairs and commercial capabilities. Dr. Dixon was chief marketing officer and president of global marketing at Bristol Myers Squibb from December 2001 to May 2009. From 1996 to 2001, she served as a senior vice president of marketing at Merck. Earlier in her career, she held executive management positions at West Pharmaceuticals, Osteotech and Centocor, as well as marketing, regulatory affairs, project management and biochemist roles at SmithKline and French (now GlaxoSmithKline). Since leaving Bristol Myers Squibb, Dr. Dixon has served on the boards of directors of numerous biopharmaceutical companies, including Arvinas, Inc. from June 2020 to May 2024, Black Diamond Therapeutics, Inc. from April 2022 to April 2024, and Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. from June 2022 to June 2023. Previously, Dr. Dixon served on the boards of directors of Alkermes plc from January 2011 to May 2022, bluebird bio, Inc. from May 2013 to June 2021, Incyte from May 2010 to May 2022, Sesen Bio, Inc. (formerly Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc.) from October 2014 to February 2020, and Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. from January 2017 to January 2021. She also served on the boards of Ardea Biosciences from 2011 until 2012 when Ardea was acquired by AstraZeneca plc, and Furiex Pharmaceuticals from 2010 until 2014 when Furiex was acquired by Actavis plc. Dr. Dixon holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and an M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Natural Science from the University of Cambridge. Our Board believes that Dr. Dixon’s extensive experience in corporate management, including as a director of multiple public companies, as well as her academic and professional expertise, provides her with the qualifications and skills to serve as a director of our Company.

Tamara A. Favorito

Tamara A. Favorito has served as a director and chair of the audit committee of our Company since August 2021 and as our Board chair since May 2023. Ms. Favorito has more than 30 years of life sciences industry experience, including 20 years as a chief financial officer. Her extensive experience includes leading multiple private and public financings and M&A transactions as well as leading public companies’ finance, investor relations, human resources, administration and managed care functions. She currently serves as a board member and audit committee chair of Artelo Biosciences, Inc., a publicly-traded clinical development stage company, since March 2021. Ms. Favorito served on the board of directors of Kintara Therapeutics, Inc. from 2021 until its merger with TuHURA Biosciences, Inc. in October 2024, and on the board of directors of Beacon Discovery, Inc. from 2018 until its acquisition by Eurofins Scientific in March 2021. Ms. Favorito was interim chief financial officer of Immunic, Inc., a publicly-traded clinical-stage drug development company in 2019. She served as chief financial officer of Signal Genetics, Inc. (now Viridian Therapeutics, Inc.), a publicly-traded molecular diagnostics company, from 2014 to 2017, HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a venture-backed clinical-stage drug development company, from 2010 to 2014, and Favrille, Inc. (now MMR Global, Inc.), a publicly-traded clinical-stage drug development company, from 2001 to 2009. Earlier in her career, she spent eight years in public accounting with Deloitte & Touche LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Ms. Favorito is a certified public accountant (inactive). She received an MBA, emphasis in Finance, from Georgia State University, and a BBA, emphasis in Accounting, from Valdosta State University. Our Board believes that Ms. Favorito's extensive experience in corporate management, finance and life science as chief financial officer of multiple public companies provides her with the qualifications and skills to serve as a director of our Company.

Alvin Shih, M.D.

Alvin Shih, M.D. has served as a director of our Company since January 2024. Dr. Shih has broad experience in drug development, spanning multiple therapeutic areas and with a focus on rare diseases, including as the former chief operating officer and a founding member of Pfizer Inc.’s rare disease research unit. Since February 2021, he has served as president and chief executive officer of Catamaran Bio, Inc., a private biotechnology company developing off-the-shelf natural killer (NK) cell therapies to treat cancer. From July 2019 to December 2020, he served as the chief executive officer of Disarm Therapeutics, a biotechnology company that developed therapeutics for both rare and prevalent neurodegenerative diseases, which was acquired by Eli Lilly in October 2020. From November 2016 to February 2019, Dr. Shih was chief executive officer of Enzyvant Therapeutics, where he led the company’s cell/tissue-based therapy development for treating a rare immunological disease. He was also the executive vice president and head of research at Retrophin, Inc., where he worked on therapies for multiple disease indications. Dr. Shih previously worked in management consulting at McKinsey & Company and L.E.K. Consulting, LLC. Dr. Shih also serves on the board of directors of Oaktree Acquisition Corp. III Life Sciences, a blank check company focused on the healthcare sector, and the private companies, Catamaran Bio, Inc., Imbria Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Tenza bio. Dr. Shih received his medical degree from the University of Alabama School of Medicine and completed his residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Shih received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and his BA from Vanderbilt University. Our Board believes that Dr. Shih’s significant leadership experience in the biotechnology industry and his experience in rare disease qualifies him to serve as a director of our Company.

Corey Watton

Corey Watton has served as a director of our Company since April 2023. Mr. Watton has served as president and chief executive officer of Fusion Medical Staffing, LLC, a private company among the fifteen largest medical staffing companies in the US, since September 2023. Prior to his CEO role, Mr. Watton served as chief financial officer of Fusion from August 2019 until September 2023, overseeing finance, project management, operations, facilities and legal operations. From April 2009 through July 2019, he served as the chief financial officer of Home Instead Senior Health Care, a global leader in in-home health care, where he oversaw finance, subsidiary companies and the financial arm of an international subsidiary. He previously was an equity member of Lutz & Company, a regional accounting firm, from 1996 to 2009. Mr. Watton is a certified public accountant and received a BS in Finance and Accounting from University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Our Board believes that Mr. Watton’s senior leadership roles in the medical services industry combined with his expertise in accounting make him well qualified to serve as a director of our Company.