The Alpha-1 Project (TAP) is a wholly-owned for profit subsidiary of the Alpha-1 Foundation singularly focused on providing critical funding and advice to speed the commercialization of therapies for the elimination of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and liver disease caused by Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (Alpha-1).

TAP will focus funding into highly promising drug therapies or devices in the translational research or clinical trial stage of development to speed the commercialization of these therapies. It will leverage the experience and scientific knowledge of the Alpha-1 Foundation as well as the drug therapy and device commercialization expertise of large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Our Business and Scientific Advisory Council will guide the establishment of the therapeutic strategies and ensure that TAP’s investments in various drug and device therapy projects is fiscally sound.

Marcia F. Ritchie

COO

Ms. Ritchie is Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of The Alpha-1 Project, Inc. She is also the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Alpha-1 Foundation where she directs day-to-day operations in the areas of development, communications, programs and administration. Ms. Ritchie was formerly Director, Management Operations, of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in Bethesda, Maryland where she worked from 1989 to 2003. During her tenure at the CF Foundation, Ms. Ritchie created and implemented new marketing strategies, managed fundraising chapters and special projects and oversaw the development and management of an annual $100 million operating budget. Prior to that, Ms. Ritchie worked as a corporate financial analyst for a vertically integrated manufacturer and marketer of paper products. Ms. Ritchie received her BBA and MBA in Marketing Management from Pace University in New York.

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Jean-Marc D. Quach

Executive Director

Jean-Marc Quach is Executive Director of The Alpha-1 Project, Inc. responsible for overall coordination and management activities. Prior to joining The Alpha-1 Project, Inc., his most recent position was Vice President at Bayer Diabetes Care responsible for… managed care, durable medical equipment marketing, reimbursement, government, and contracts.

Prior to Bayer, he was with Express Scripts Inc., where he held various leadership roles in line and staff positions from 1998 to 2006. He was the Vice-President of Strategic Planning and Market Analysis from 2004 to 2006. As the Vice-President and General Manager of the Express Scripts Specialty Distribution Services subsidiary, he presided over the growth of a start-up to a $100 million entity. He also worked at NYLCare Health Plans (now Aetna) as its director of pharmacy, and at American Express Company.

He earned his B.A. in International Business Administration (Magna Cum Laude) in Paris, France, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

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• Gordon E. Cadwgan, Jr., Ph.D.
• Kenneth A. Irvine
• Michael Locke
• John (Jack) McCormick, M.D.
• Albert (Ab) Rees
• Robert A. Sandhaus, M.D., Ph.D.
• John W. Walsh
• Wayne E. (Chip) Withers, Jr.

Gordon Cadwgan was diagnosed with Alpha-1 in 1992. He and his wife, Ruth, seeking information and support for his mysterious condition, attended the first Alpha-1 Association annual meeting in Minneapolis and have missed only two since then. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) in 1967 and holds a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry (1975) from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA. He worked for Union Carbide in West Virginia and DuPont in Wilmington, DE and is now retired on disability. Mr. Cadwgan is a trustee of the Board of Directors of his family's charitable foundation. Since moving to Florida in 2000, he and his wife have been active with the Alpha-1 Foundation and Alpha-1 Association, leading a support group in West Palm Beach and working to raise money to find "the cure." Mr. Cadwgan is a member of the Board of Directors of the Alpha-1 Foundation, The Alpha-1 Project and the COPD Foundation.

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Mr. Irvine is a director of Scotia Capital, the corporate and investment banking arm of the Bank of Nova Scotia, where he designs and works on strategic projects which align the capital markets sectors of Scotia Capital and the new economic environment. This requires a multi-faceted perspective to create the tactical implementation of tracking and forecasting risk-weighted assets, business implications and decisions regarding loan portfolio analysis for marketing plans and funding allocations.

At Scotia Capital, he had also held the position as the head of investor relations and was a portfolio manager for the US investment advisory company, Citadel Hill Advisors which invested in leveraged loans and high yield bonds. He founded the US private placement effort and helped to establish the high yield group.

Mr. Irvine has over 40 years of Wall Street background and expertise in financial engineering, corporate finance, private placements, securitization and portfolio management. He brings a synthesis of investment banking perspectives through his experience at Bank of Nova Scotia and prior securities firms.

Mr. Irvine received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst. Mr. Irvine’s wife, Bettina, has Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency and was the recipient of a double lung transplant. Mr. Irvine is a member of the Alpha-1 Foundation’s Board of Directors and serves as Chair of the Development Committee.

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Michael Locke is Director of Investor Relations of Onex, a leading private equity/LOB firm in Canada. Prior to joining Onex, Mr. Locke was a managing director of Private Equity Sponsor Coverage at Bank of Nova Scotia, where he also held increasing responsibilities in corporate, commercial and investment banking at the bank’s offices in Toronto, New York and San Francisco.

Mr. Locke is co-chair of the fundraising committee at York University’s Glendon College and a member of the college’s advisory committee. He also serves on the Board of the Toronto Chamber Orchestra and is a member of the governor’s council of The Toronto Symphony.

Mr. Locke holds an M.B.A. from York University and a B.A. from York University. He also attended executive education programs at Stamford University.

Mr. Locke is affected with liver disease related to Alpha-1.

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Dr. John (Jack) McCormick recently retired from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. For the past 20 years, Dr. McCormick served in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and then was appointed Deputy Director of the Office of Orphan Product Development. Currently Dr. McCormick sits on the Board of Directors for Centric Health Resources.

Most recently, Dr. McCormick supervised the designation team and represented the office director in meetings with patient groups, regulatory officials and pharmaceutical industry executives. He received his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia and was in private practice before joining the Food and Drug Administration in 1986.

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Ab Rees is a retired senior executive of several Fortune 500 Companies, most recently from Railworks Corporation, a $500 million revenue railroad construction, products and services company. Mr. Rees has 35 years of broad, international and domestic general management experience with major achievements in productivity, cost reductions, restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, business growth and customer service. Ab Rees holds a B.S. in Business from the University of Central Arkansas and a degree in Program for Management Development (PMD) from Harvard Business School. He is a member of numerous industry, joint ventures, and in-house Board of Directors. Mr. Rees was also diagnosed with Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, and currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Alpha-1 Foundation and as a Board member of the COPD Foundation.

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Robert A. (Sandy) Sandhaus, M.D., Ph.D., received his bachelor degree in molecular biology from Haverford College, followed by a Ph.D., in cell biology from Stony Brook University in New York, where he also obtained his M.D. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and a pulmonary fellowship at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). He was then appointed to the UCSF medical faculty and subsequently joined the faculty at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado where, starting in 1981, he developed the Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Program.

In addition to his ongoing academic career, he worked for a decade in research and development in the biopharmaceutical industry running clinical development programs at Cortech, Inc., NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Gilead Sciences. Dr. Sandhaus has served on the Boards of Directors of the Alpha-1 Association, the Alpha-1 Foundation, AlphaNet, and the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation. For the past eight years, he has been the Executive Vice President and Medical Director of AlphaNet and the Clinical Director of the Alpha-1 Foundation.

Dr. Sandhaus is board certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease, and critical care medicine.

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Mr. Walsh is the co-founder, President and CEO of the Alpha-1 Foundation in Miami, Florida. Under his leadership, the organization has become internationally recognized and has invested millions of dollars to support Alpha-1 research and research-related projects worldwide. Mr. Walsh is also co-founder and President of AlphaNet, Inc., a not-for-profit disease management services company providing comprehensive care exclusively for individuals with Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. AlphaNet, Inc., currently provides services to over 2,500 individuals with Alpha-1 in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. As a result of the infrastructure and support provided by the Foundation and AlphaNet, several companies have drugs in development for the treatment of Alpha-1. In 2002 Mr. Walsh’s contribution to pioneering collaboration in orphan drug development was recognized by the FDA with the Commissioner’s Special Citation. Mr. Walsh has an extensive background in business management and government relations and regularly testifies before Congress and advisory groups as a patient advocate. Mr. Walsh serves on the following organizations:

• Member of the NIH Director’s Council of Public Representatives
• Past Chairperson of the National Health Council’s Board of Directors (2005-2006)
• Past Chairperson of the American Thoracic Society Public Advisory Roundtable (PAR)
• Presidential Appointee of the American Thoracic Society’s Board of Directors (2004-2005)
• Trustee on the Foundation of the American Thoracic Society (2006-2008)
• Completed his third term on the DHHS’ Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability (1997-2006)
• Member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Genetic Research Ethics And Law (CGREAL) at Case Western Reserve University
• Member of the US COPD Coalition Executive Committee
• Past Chairperson of the International COPD Coalition (2006-2008)
• Co-Founder and Member of the COPD Foundation Board of Directors and serves as President

Mr. Walsh was diagnosed with Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency in 1989.

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Chair of the Board of Directors

Mr. Withers is the president of Withers Transfer & Storage of Coral Gables, Florida, Withers Worldwide Forwarders, Inc. and Withers Transportation Systems. Withers Worldwide is a multi-dimensional organization with satisfied clients on six continents. Mr. Withers, who is serving his fifth term as a Coral Gables Commissioner, is a graduate of the University of Florida (UF) and is a member of the UF Foundation Board and the UF Gator Booster Organization. Before being elected to office, Commissioner Withers held appointed positions on the City of Coral Gables' Planning and Zoning, Economic Development, Code Enforcement, Youth Advisory and Parks and Recreation Boards. A fourth generation Miamian, he is also active on the boards of many local and civic charitable organizations, such as the Alpha -1 Foundation. He is a past-president of the Pan American International Mover's Association and is a member of the University of Florida Alumni Association. Mr. Withers served as the Governor's appointee to the small Business Council of the State of Florida and was recently honored as one of Ronald McDonald House's Twelve Good Men.

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For more information on The Alpha-1 Project, contact us at: info@thealpha-1project.com.