World Class Team
Sauvie’s team is highly experienced in oncology development and commercialization.
Executive Team
Ken Suh
Chief Executive Officer
Prior to being appointed as the CEO of Sauvie Inc., Ken founded Willow Biopharma Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, in 2015 and served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a Board Director. In 2018, Willow was acquired and became a subsidiary of VIVUS, Inc. a biopharmaceutical company at the time listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Ken was subsequently appointed as president of VIVUS. Today, VIVUS is a subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises L.P. (NASDAQ: IEP). Prior to establishing Willow, he founded KRIM Biopharma Inc., where he served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a Board Director. Before establishing KRIM, Ken held multiple roles of increasing responsibility for Novartis Pharma Canada as well as being part of various global commercial operations teams. He received a Bachelor of Commerce, Honors Program from the University of Guelph, Ontario.
Brian E. Jahns
Chief Operating Officer
Brian is an accomplished senior executive whose extensive experience spans pharma and biotech, mature organisations, and start-ups. During his career, Brian fulfilled progressive roles at Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, ultimately leading the Canadian oncology commercial franchise. He then went on to become Senior Vice President, Commercial and Business Development of Trillium Therapeutics (NASDAQ/TSX:TRIL), Global Vice President Marketing for Zyus Life Sciences, and Chief Business Officer at Entheon Biomedical. His expertise spans operational and commercial excellence, formulation of strategy, licensing, partnering, and scientific affairs, with a focus in oncology. Brian has a Doctor of Pharmacy degree and taught and delivered patient care before entering pharma.
Audrey Haukioja
Chief Development Officer
Audrey is a globally experienced senior pharmaceutical executive with extensive experience in the product development. Audrey spent 20 years with Hoffmann-La Roche and Genentech where she was the Global Vice President of Clinical Operations responsible for the conduct of Phase II-Global IV clinical programs across Oncology and numerous other therapeutic areas. Prior to this Audrey spent 7 years at Glaxo in roles of increasing responsibility in Clinical Operations. Prior to being appointed Chief Development Officer at Sauvie Inc, Audrey led Haukioja Consulting Inc. working with a number of mid-sized and small cap pharmaceutical companies to deliver on high quality pre-clinical and clinical programs as well as to help optimize their organizational effectiveness. Audrey is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Zyus Life Sciences Inc. She received her Masters of Science (Pharmacology & Toxicology) degree from the University of Toronto.
Board of Directors
John Canan
Chairman
John is an accomplished business Senior Executive with extensive global and domestic experience across multiple industries, including many years in Pharmaceutical and Healthcare. John has served on the Boards of REV Group (NYSE:REVG), Acasti Pharma (NASDAQ, TSX:ACST), Lectra Group S.A. (Euronext Paris:LSS), Angkor Hospital for Children, Siam Reap, Cambodia, and others. With progressive assignments with Price Waterhouse and Merck & Co., he leadership roles in multiple strategic mergers and acquisitions. John has and continues to be involved in both public and private companies, utilizing the rich set of senior financial, strategic, business development and operational leadership experiences developed throughout his career. John is an alumnus of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and is a Canadian CPA.
Scott Oehrlein
Independent Board Member
Scott is an accomplished senior commercial leader in the pharmaceutical industry. Most recently he served as Otsuka America Pharmaceutical Incorporated US VP of Commercial Excellence and was instrumental in leading a two year go to market transformation and acceleration of top and bottom line performance. Prior to that Scott was the Chief Operating Officer of VIVUS, Inc. where he rebuilt their commercial strategy and organization. Scott has experience in biopharma startup serving as Chief Operating Officer for Willow Biopharma Inc. prior to their acquisition by VIVUS, Inc. Scott also worked as US VP and Head of Sales for both Sanofi and Novartis and has worked internationally as Novartis Canada VP and Primary Care Business Unit Head and Pharmacia Head of Neurology Marketing in Europe and Latin America. Through his career Scott has demonstrated industry leadership in commercial strategic planning, brand marketing & launch, sales leadership and driving highly engaged & highly effective cultures. Scott has a B.A. of Biology and Pre-Medicine from Franklin and Marshall College.
Ken Suh
Board Director
Prior to being appointed as the CEO of Sauvie Inc., Ken founded Willow Biopharma Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, in 2015 and served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a Board Director. In 2018, Willow was acquired and became a subsidiary of VIVUS, Inc. a biopharmaceutical company at the time listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Ken was subsequently appointed as president of VIVUS. Today, VIVUS is a subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises L.P. (NASDAQ: IEP). Prior to establishing Willow, he founded KRIM Biopharma Inc., where he served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a Board Director. Before establishing KRIM, Ken held multiple roles of increasing responsibility for Novartis Pharma Canada as well as being part of various global commercial operations teams. He received a Bachelor of Commerce, Honors Program from the University of Guelph, Ontario.
Advisory Board
Bob Uger, PhD
Board Advisor
Dr. Uger has spent 20+ years developing novel agents targeting the immune system. He began his industry career in cancer vaccine research with Aventis Pasteur, and then joined start-up Trillium Therapeutics as Director, Research & Development, later serving as Vice President, Research & Development, and then Chief Scientific Officer until the company was acquired by Pfizer in 2021 for $2.3B. At Trillium, Dr. Uger was responsible for the company’s scientific strategy and guided several compounds from concept to clinic. His expertise spans both innate and adaptive immunology, and he has overseen programs in the fields of immuno-oncology, autoimmunity and transplantation. He received his PhD in immunology from the University of Toronto.
Albert Agro, PhD
Board Advisor
Albert is the CEO and President of Colomba Therapeutics Inc., a US-based biotech developing novel therapeutics in Celiac Disease. Most recently, Albert was the CEO of Sublimity Therapeutics and previous to that the Chief Medical Officer for Cynapsus Therapeutics, where he was instrumental in initializing the company’s IPO, NASDAQ listing, and $841 million acquisition by Sunovion Pharmaceuticals.
Dr Agro is also the Co-Founder of GRi Bio, a clinical-stage company in IPF and has held executive positions at Kalgene Inc (CMO), PurMinds Inc (CMO), Versanum (CEO), Ironshore Pharma (CMO), Trillium Therapeutics Inc. (CMO), Stem Cell Therapeutics (CMO) and TransTech Pharma (EVP, Clinical Development).
He has maintained a position as Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario since September 1996. Albert was the recipient of a Michael J. Fox Foundation Clinical Scholarship for his work on Apomorphine.
