Neal Hunter
Chief Executive Officer 

​Neal was the founding investor of Novan, Inc. and served as the Company’s Chairman for eight years, personally orchestrating the fund raising of over $100M in private financing. His 25 year track record of successfully raising capital for technology companies in both the public and private sectors began as a Co- founder of Cree, Inc. (NASDAQ:CREE). Mr. Hunter served multiple roles at Cree, including as the public company CEO and Chairman from 1994 to 2001 and then Chairman until 2005. Mr. Hunter has been either co-founder, founder, co-founding investor or founding investor in over ten significant start-up ventures in the areas of semiconductor materials and devices, aesthetic materials, software, gourmet food service, commercial and residential real estate, LED lighting systems and life sciences. Mr. Hunter’s proven expertise in technology transfer, from inception of innovations to the creation of market-changing products, has led to the transition to his new role as Managing Director of KNOW Bio, LLC, an RTP based incubator for platform based medical technology and biotechnology companies. Vast Therapeutics, Inc. and REVIAN, Inc. are two companies that have emerged from the KNOW Bio platform.

Stephen DeCherney, M.D., M.P.H.
Chief Medical Officer​

Stephen DeCherney is both a Director of KNOW Bio and serves as the company’s Chief Medical Officer in addition to being a Professor of Medicine specializing in Endocrinology.  Prior to his faculty clinical appointment, Dr. DeCherney served in a number of positions at Quintiles Transnational Corp (now IQVIA) including President of Global Clinical Research and Chief Innovation Officer.  Prior to Quintiles, he held research positions at the National Institute of Health as well as a number of management roles in the Christiana Care Health Systems in Wilmington, Delaware until he joined PRA International.  In addition to serving on several Boards of Directors for companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology markets, he has been advisor to several medical colleges and hospitals, including at the University of London, and the University of Delaware.  Dr. DeCherney has been the author or co-author of over 100 publications.

Mark Schoenfisch, Ph.D. 
Chief Scientific Officer
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​A Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he has developed a dynamic research program in the field of nitric oxide. With nearly 20 years of experience as a chemist, he has published >100 peer-reviewed articles on nitric oxide-related technologies. He has a long-standing interest in developing macromolecular scaffolds that store and release nitric oxide for drug delivery and disease management applications. 

John C. Oakley 
Chief Financial Officer 
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​Mr. Oakley joined Vast Therapeutics in July 2017 as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Oakley also currently serves KNOW Bio, LLC, Vast’s parent company, and all its group companies as Chief Financial Officer. Throughout his career, Mr. Oakley has served in senior financial positions and as a Director for both publicly traded and privately held companies such as Cleaver-Brooks, Inc., Flanders Corporation, and Home Meridian International. Mr. Oakley began his career in the audit division with Arthur Andersen, LLP after earning a B.S. degree in accounting from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Bill Saxelby
Chief Commercialization Officer

Bill Saxelby is a proven leader with diverse general management experience as a CEO and Board member of global public and private companies. Bill has a track record of creating shareholder value in global healthcare manufacturing and services businesses with a majority of his career being spent in the medical device segment. Bill has a strong background in strategy development and global product commercialization.

Tammy B. Carrea, MS
Vice President of Quality, Regulatory and Clinical Affairs

Tammy Carrea has over 30 years of experience in medical device development and commercialization, both domestically and internationally, and has been responsible for submissions and registrations for Class 1, 2, and 3 medical devices including De Novo and orphan devices. Ms. Carrea holds a B.S. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from North Carolina State University and a M.S. degree in Quality and Regulatory Affairs from Temple University with a concentration in medical devices and clinical research.

Darlene Dendy 
Vice President of Administration
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​Darlene Dendy is the Vice President of Administration at KNOW Bio. She manages daily operations to ensure the business runs smoothly and operates efficiently. She creates and implements Human Resource policies, manages investor relations, and manages corporate communication for KNOW Bio CEO and CFO. Before joining KNOW Bio she served as the Executive Assistant for the Chairman and CEO of Cree, Inc. Darlene studied Business Administration at Western Carolina University and holds a North Carolina Real Estate Broker’s License.

Nathan Stasko, Ph.D.
​Strategic Advisor
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Dr. Nathan Stasko, Senior Strategic Advisor, is an expert in the field of nitric oxide and a key inventor of many technologies in the KNOW Bio portfolio. Dr. Stasko was part of the entrepreneurial vision to develop and optimize a proprietary platform that enables the delivery of nitric oxide as a drug. As President & CEO, he led Novan Inc. an early embodiment of this vision, from biotechnology startup to publicly traded clinical stage leader in nitric oxide treatments.