Leadership and Board of Directors

Fortunato Ron Rocca has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of our board of directors since December 2011. From 2005 to October 2011, Mr. Rocca served as Vice President, Sales and Marketing, and as General Manager, at Prometheus Laboratories Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical and diagnostic company which was acquired by Nestlé© SA in 2011, where he was responsible for leading the commercial organization, strategic planning and implementing projects designed to maximize brand sales. Prior to Prometheus, Mr. Rocca was the General Manager of Alpharma Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company. Earlier in his career, Mr. Rocca served in senior sales and marketing management positions for Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a neuroscience-focused biotechnology company. Mr. Rocca received a B.A. in Marketing and Personnel Management from Towson University.

Kamal Adawi has served as our Chief Financial Officer since June 2017. Kamal previously held the positions of Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Secretary and Treasurer at Pathway Genomics, a global genetic testing company. Prior to joining Pathway Genomics, Kamal served as the Director of Financial Planning and Analysis at Exagen. Kamal previously managed the finance departments for GenMark Dx and Digirad, both publicly traded diagnostic companies. He also served in various capacities in the finance and accounting departments at Becton, Dickinson and Co., a global medical technology company. Kamal’s education includes three degrees in the field of business. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University with a major in finance, an MBA from Oakland University with a focus on management and a master’s degree in finance from San Diego State University.

Debra Jeske Zack, M.D., Ph.D., has served as Chief Medical Officer since March 2020. Dr. Zack is a board-certified rheumatologist with broad experience as a strategic biopharmaceutical executive in the development of therapeutics for autoimmune disease and will oversee the overall strategy and execution of the company’s clinical development plans. She has extensive experience leading research, clinical development and medical affairs teams focusing on autoimmune disorders. Prior to joining Exagen, Dr. Zack served as Vice President, Clinical Development at Xencor, Inc.; Executive Director, Medical Scientific Leader, Biotherapeutics Development Unit at Novartis; and various positions in basic research, clinical development and medical affairs at Amgen. She was an associate professor treating rheumatology patients for 10 years at UCLA prior to joining industry. She received her undergraduate degree from Texas Christian University and her M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas before completing her residency and rheumatology fellowship at the UCLA School of Medicine.

Dr. Kammesheidt has deep experience as a strategic biotech executive in the development of novel testing solutions and will be responsible for the oversight and execution of the company’s research and development plans. Over the course of her career, she has built multiple successful diagnostics companies with direct responsibility for all R&D activities. Prior to joining Exagen, Dr. Kammesheidt served as Chief Scientific Officer at Ambry Genetics and Pathway Genomics, and also held R&D positions at Agendia Inc. and Purdue Pharma. She received her undergraduate degree and Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine, and conducted her post-doctoral training at the University of California, San Diego.

Mark Hazeltine has served as our Senior Vice President of Finance & Corporate Development since 2018, and served in multiple key leadership roles within Finance since 2015. Mr. Hazeltine has been instrumental in financial management, strategic planning and corporate development for the company. Prior to joining Exagen, Mr. Hazeltine served as Director of Financial Planning and Analysis and Director of Financial Business Processes at CareFusion, a medical technology corporation. Mr. Hazeltine also brings valuable experience gained from multiple management roles at multinational organizations including Kyocera and Qualcomm. Mr. Hazeltine received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of San Diego and Master of Business Administration degree from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.

Tami Powell has served as our Senior Vice President of Corporate Payer and Reimbursement Strategy since September 2017, after being our Senior Director, Corporate Payer Strategy, Reimbursement and Government Affairs since 2014. Ms. Powell previously served in various capacities with Prometheus Laboratories from 1999 to 2014 and Novartis from 1986-1999. Tami brings over 25 years of healthcare experience, focused on stakeholder adoption of novel molecular diagnostic and therapeutic products primarily in Rheumatology, Oncology and Gastroenterology. Tami leads Exagen Coverage, Coding and Payment strategy for Exagen legacy and pipeline products to include Policy, Regulatory, Market Access and Revenue Cycle Management. Ms. Powell holds a B.A. in Marketing from Augsburg College.

John Wegener has served as our Vice President, Sales and Managed Markets since November 2013. Prior to joining Exagen, Mr. Wegener served in various capacities with Prometheus Laboratories from 1999 to October 2013, including as the National Director, Managed Care and a Regional Sales Director. During his time at Prometheus, Mr. Wegener launched five new diagnostic tests and managed diagnostic channels with national general reference laboratories. Prior to Prometheus, Mr. Wegener worked in sales for Novartis. Mr. Wegener holds a B.S. in Business from the University of Arizona.

Brian Birk has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2008. In 2006, Mr. Birk co-founded Sun Mountain Capital, a boutique private equity firm focused on the Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions which currently manages direct investment funds and funds of funds vehicles. Prior to forming Sun Mountain Capital, Mr. Birk was a Vice President and Director of Private Equity at Fort Washington Capital Partners, a professional investment management services company. Mr. Birk was also a senior executive at MetaWeb Technologies, Inc., a technology and web development company acquired by Google Inc. in 2010, the vice president of technology commercialization at Applied Minds, LLC, a technology consulting company, and the president of a division at BiosGroup Inc., a company which commercialized complex science software. In addition, Mr. Birk held a senior manager position at the Boston Consulting Group, Inc., a global management consulting firm, and finance manager positions at General Electric Company and GE Capital Corporation. Mr. Birk is currently a member of the board of directors of several private companies, including Aspen Avionics, Inc., an aircraft avionics manufacturer, and American Clay Enterprises, LLC, a plaster manufacturing and sales company. Mr. Birk received a B.S. in Economics from Carleton College and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Ebetuel Pallares, Ph.D. has served as a member of our board of directors since October 2012. Dr. Pallares founded Joseph Advisory Services, LLC, a strategic consulting firm, in 2006, and has served as its manager since that time. In June 2009, he co-founded Cottonwood Capital Partners, the general partner of Cottonwood Technology Fund, a seed and early-stage venture fund with headquarters in El Paso, Texas, and he has served as its managing partner since that time. Dr. Pallares also serves on several corporate and non-profit boards, as an advisor to the UT Horizon Fund, the venture capital investment fund of the University of Texas system, as an Investor in Residence for New Mexico State University's Arrowhead Center and on the limited partnership advisory committee for several venture funds. He received a B.A. in economics from Brandeis University, an M.B.A. from The University of Texas at El Paso, or UTEP, and a Ph.D. in International Business from UTEP.

Fortunato Ron Rocca has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since October 2011 and as a member of our board of directors since December 2011. From 2005 to October 2011, Mr. Rocca served as Vice President, Sales and Marketing, and as General Manager, at Prometheus Laboratories Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical and diagnostic company which was acquired by Nestlé© SA in 2011, where he was responsible for leading the commercial organization, strategic planning and implementing projects designed to maximize brand sales. Prior to Prometheus, Mr. Rocca was the General Manager of Alpharma Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company. Earlier in his career, Mr. Rocca served in senior sales and marketing management positions for Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a neuroscience-focused biotechnology company. Mr. Rocca received a B.A. in Marketing and Personnel Management from Towson University.

Jim Tullis founded Tullis Health Investors (“THI” or “Tullis-Dickerson & Co., Inc.”) in 1986 and has a career of over 40 years in health care investing. Prior to establishing Tullis Health Investors, Jim was a Senior Vice President of E.F. Hutton & Co. (1983-1986) and a Principal at Morgan Stanley & Co. (1974-1983), where he led health care investment research and, later, healthcare investment banking. During his tenure at Morgan Stanley, he received recognition 14 times on the Institutional Investor All-Star list of Wall Street’s top securities analysts and listing as a top home run hitter. He was twice named #1 Drug Analyst and was featured on the Wall Street Week television program. From 1972-1974, Jim was Vice President of Putnam Funds researching health care industry equities. Under Jim’s direction, THI has managed several venture capital funds investing into the health care industry. Winning portfolio companies of those funds include Adams Respiratory and Sirion (with innovative concepts in pharmaceuticals); Synageva and BioRexis (biotechnology); Atritech and Vidacare (medical devices); PSS World Medical and Impulse Monitoring (medical services); and Intelliclaim and QuadraMed (health care information technology). Jim is a graduate of Stanford University and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. He currently sits on the Boards of the Lord Abbett family of mutual funds, Crane Corporation (NYSE: CR), SupplyPro, Inc., Exagen Inc., and electroCore, LLC.

Chet Burrell has held numerous CEO level positions and chairmanship roles in the US healthcare system for nearly 40 years in both the public and private sectors covering the for-profit and non-profit arenas. He has led major private payers providing healthcare coverage to millions of subscribers, as well as start-up and mid-stage health technology companies backed by private equity and venture partners. Along the way, he has successfully overseen investments in over 40 healthcare technology and service companies especially in his leadership role as the CEO of the largest private payer and health benefits management company in the mid-Atlantic area (CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield). Through much of his career, Mr. Burrell has led pioneering efforts to reform financing approaches to healthcare involving financial incentives for providers and value-based payment models to reward more cost effective, higher quality care. These efforts have been marked by joint efforts with government policy makers and regulators as public-private initiatives in attempts to find solutions to increasingly unaffordable healthcare costs in the United States. Currently, Mr. Burrell is the Managing Member of Silavon Healthcare Holdings, LLC, an entity he established to pursue investments in the healthcare field. In this capacity, Mr. Burrell is now engaged in finding and overseeing highly selective investments in healthcare companies in the United States that are believed to offer both high social-impact value and high investment value potential.

Tina S. Nova, Ph.D. has extensive experience growing dynamic commercial organizations in new markets within the molecular diagnostics field. Since August 2018, she has served as president and chief executive officer of Decipher Biosciences, Inc., a diagnostics company focused on urologic cancers. Previously Dr. Nova was president and chief executive officer of Molecular Stethoscope, Inc., and served as senior vice president and general manager of Illumina’s oncology business unit. Dr. Nova was a co-founder of Genoptix, a medical laboratory diagnostics company, and served as its president and chief executive officer from 2000 to 2014. Genoptix was acquired by Novartis AG in 2011. Dr. Nova was co-founder of Nanogen, a provider of molecular diagnostic tests, and served as its chief operating officer and president from 1994 to 2000. She previously served as chief operating officer of Selective Genetics, and held various positions with Ligand Pharmaceuticals and Hybritech. Dr. Nova serves as the chair of the board of directors for Arena Pharmaceuticals and as a member of the board of directors of Veracyte, a diagnostics company. Dr. Nova received a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of California, Irvine, and a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of California, Riverside.

Jeffrey Thomas Elliott, CFA is the current Chief Financial Officer for Exact Sciences where he leads all elements of the company’s financial functions, including accounting, financial reporting, planning & analysis, internal audit, investor relations, treasury, commercial & operational data analytics and risk management. Prior to Exact Science, Mr. Elliott served as the Senior Analyst, Life Sciences Tools and Diagnostic at Robert W. Baird & Co. He created industry and company research, financial models, and stock recommendations to support institutional clients’ investment decisions. While at Baird, Mr. Elliott was recognized as a top three earning estimator by StarMine. Mr. Elliott graduated from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business with a Master of Business Administration. He received his undergrad Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Illinois.

Bruce Robertson, Ph.D. is a Managing Director of H.I.G. BioHealth Partners, the healthcare affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, a private equity firm with over $31 billion under management. Dr. Robertson has been active in the life sciences sector for more than 30 years. Prior to joining H.I.G., he served most recently as Managing Director at Toucan Capital, a venture capital fund focusing on healthcare investments. Prior to his private equity career, Dr. Robertson was Director of Business Development at IGEN International, where he was responsible for formulating and implementing IGEN's partnering and M&A strategies. Dr. Robertson started his career as a Research Manager at W.R. Grace & Co., focusing on medical devices. Dr. Robertson currently serves on the boards of Apollo Endosurgery, RxSight, CardioFocus, Clarus Therapeutics, Iconic Therapeutics, and Intact Vascular. Dr. Robertson holds a BSE in Chemical Engineering and BA in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania, a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware, and an MBA with High Distinction from Harvard Business School.