Board Leadership

Amanda Banks is a CEO, physician and entrepreneur with a unique combination of skills and experience
in biotech, software and data analytics, clinical medicine and diagnostics. Amanda is driven by a desire to
work with great people to advance transformative science that can equitably improve lives. She is
constantly striving to make a substantial impact in ways that promote autonomy, access and fairness for
patients and global populations.

Michael R. Dougherty has been involved in the life sciences community over the past four decades, joining Centocor, Inc. in 1983 and later serving as Centocor’s Chief Financial Officer. He has since held senior positions at several biopharma companies, including President and CEO at Magainin Pharmaceuticals and at Adolor Corporation, and most recently Executive Chairman at Celator Pharmaceuticals.

Mike has also served as an independent director at a number of companies in the industry, including Viropharma Incorporated and Foundation Medicine, Inc. He was a founding Board Member of Pennsylvania BIO (now Life Sciences PA), and is currently a Director at Idera Pharmaceuticals, Marinus Pharmaceuticals and Trevena Inc.

Mike is a lifelong resident of the Philadelphia area and a 1980 graduate of Villanova University. He and his wife Eileen are the parents of five children, and have six grandchildren.

Jeff founded and built Spark Therapeutics into the world’s first fully integrated, commercial gene therapy company, serving as co-founder and CEO from 2013 to 2022. Under Jeff’s leadership, Spark developed and launched LUXTURNA® for a rare blinding disorder, the first FDA-approved gene therapy for a genetic disease in the United States, spearheading the creation of novel reimbursement models to ensure patient access to genetic medicines. As CEO, Jeff shepherded multiple gene therapies into the clinic for patients with conditions ranging from inherited retinal diseases to rare bleeding and neuromuscular disorders.

While at Spark, Jeff raised $1 billion and established major partnerships with Pfizer and Novartis. Jeff’s successful orchestration of Spark’s $4.8 billion sale to Roche in 2019 marked a 100-fold increase in the company’s market value over six years and delivered financial returns of $750 million to Spark’s non-traditional founding investor, CHOP. At the time of his departure, Spark had grown to 850 employees and was named #5 in Science magazine’s rankings of top employers across the biopharmaceutical industry.

Jeff currently serves on the boards of multiple non-profit organizations, including Life Science Cares Philadelphia and The Rendell Center for Civics and Civic Engagement. In 2022, Jeff and his wife founded the Marrazzo Family Foundation to support arts-integrated education within Philadelphia.

Jeff holds two bachelor’s degrees in systems science and engineering and in economics from the University of Pennsylvania as well as two master’s degrees in business and public administration from Wharton and Harvard University, a dual-degree program which he founded.

Vincent Milano served as Idera’s President and CEO from 2014-2022. Prior to joining Idera, Mr. Milano served as Chairman, President, and CEO of ViroPharma Incorporated, a pharmaceutical company that was acquired by Shire in 2014. Prior to being appointed CEO of ViroPharma, he served in increasing roles of responsibility in finance, administration, and operations, including as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining ViroPharma, Mr. Milano served in increasingly senior roles, most recently senior manager, at KPMG LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, from 1985 to 1996.

Mr. Milano has also served on the boards of directors of Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. since 2020, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., since 2021, and VenatoRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., since 2013. Mr. Milano previously served as a member of the boards of directors of Spark Therapeutics and Vanda Pharmaceuticals from 2014 to 2019 and 2010 to 2019, respectively.

Mr. Milano is also the Chairman of the Board for Life Science Cares Philadelphia, a collective effort of the life sciences industry to reduce the impact of poverty on its neighbors, and is a former member and chair of Life Sciences Pennsylvania, the state biotechnology industry association. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Rider College.

As president & CEO of Life Sciences Pennsylvania, Christopher Molineaux serves as the chief advocate and spokesman for the life sciences industry that calls Pennsylvania home. Molineaux oversees the strategic direction for the association, assuring Life Sciences Pennsylvania continues to be the catalyst that makes Pennsylvania the top location for life sciences companies.

Molineaux brings to Life Sciences Pennsylvania more than 25 years of experience in the bio-pharmaceutical and health care industries, with front-line experience in developing and executing strategies to navigate a shifting economic and political environment.

Prior to joining Life Sciences Pennsylvania in September 2009, Molineaux served as worldwide vice president of pharmaceutical communications and public affairs for Johnson & Johnson. He began his Johnson & Johnson career as vice president of corporate communications at Centocor in Malvern, PA, and was later promoted to vice president for communications of Johnson & Johnson’s global Biotechnology, Immunology & Oncology (B.I.O.) business unit.

Molineaux previously served as vice president of public affairs at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). Prior to his role at PhRMA, he was vice president, communications and marketing at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, developing public awareness and education strategies related to commercial and government payer systems. Molineaux also worked as a public affairs executive for the federal Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture, and as a press officer on the White House staff of President George H. W. Bush.

In addition to leading Life Sciences Pennsylvania, Chris Molineaux serves as a non-executive Director of Aclaris Therapeutics, a non-executive Director of NexEos Diagnostics, on the Chester County Economic Development Council and the Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of BioAgilytix of Durham, NC and St. John Vianney Church of Gladwyne, PA.

Felicia Rinier is the executive director of GreenLight Fund Philadelphia. In this role, Felicia works with community stakeholders to identify the most pressing challenges for families experiencing poverty, then leads a selection process that guides resources to Philadelphia that will address unmet needs in the community. Felicia comes to GreenLight with over a decade of experience leading and expanding grass-roots community engagement efforts across the Philadelphia metro area. She is a firm believer that the most sustainable and innovative solutions to social challenges are established through collaborating with community partners and centering the voices of those most underserved. Prior to joining GreenLight Fund, Felicia served as the Director of the Philadelphia Collaborative for Health Equity (P-CHE) at Thomas Jefferson University/Jefferson Health. In this role, she led the daily operations of P-CHE and worked across the Jefferson enterprise to implement the Collaborative’s strategic vision. Felicia is most proud of the partnerships she was able to build with dozens of community-based organizations and residents that helped to launch three multi-million-dollar projects aimed at reducing health disparities. The first of these projects was P-CHE’s inaugural Community Catalyst Grants program where Felicia designed and facilitated the granting process that invested$600,000 into 12 community serving organizations in East North Philadelphia. Throughout her career, Felicia has remained committed to ensuring community members have complete agency in identifying and addressing their highest priority challenges. She has held a range of non-profit leadership positions at prominent Philadelphia based organizations, including Big Brothers Big Sisters, where she was the officer of community engagement, and Reinvestment Fund where she was the special assistant to the CEO and then a research analyst for the institution. Felicia graduated with honors from King’s College, London with a master’s degree in Public Policy and she holds a BA in Political Science from Rutgers University. Since 2018, Felicia has been the Chair of the Board of Directors for Saint Joseph’s Carpenter Society – a Camden, NJ based community development organization focused on providing affordable, safe housing to lower-income residents. In her free time, Felicia can be found training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at SJBJJ with her husband, Matt, or spending time with their three Chihuahuas: Hugo, Taco and Daisy.