Leadership

Jonathan Kil, MD – CEO & CMO

Dr. Kil has led the R&D strategy and financings for SPI. He has served as the principal investigator on several NIH and Dept. of Defense (DoD) awards, and serves as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Kil studied auditory neuroscience at UC Irvine where he graduated with honors and received the Ralph W Gerard Award for outstanding research. He began his MD/PhD studies at Georgetown University where he was an ARCS Scholar and received a Clinical Prize for his work on traumatic injury to the cochlea. He continued his graduate studies in Neuroscience and Medicine at UVA, where he received the Winn Scholarship in Otolaryngology.

Dr. Kil completed his NIH funded post-doctoral research on ototoxicity at the University of Washington, and in 1998, he co-founded Otogene, the first inner ear biotechnology company. As President and CEO, he transitioned its basic research involving p27Kip1 technology into a pre-clinical regeneration platform. In 2002, he co-founded SPI to translate some of his discoveries to investigational products for the treatment of inner ear disease. He is a recognized leader in inner ear drug development and has served as an advisor to the DoD’s Hearing Center of Excellence since 2012.

John Sullivan – CFO

John Sullivan, CPA has served as our CFO since 2017 and is responsible for Sound’s overall financial and strategic management, financial reporting, operations, and HR. Prior to Sound, Mr. Sullivan was the CFO of Vesiflo, a Redmond WA based catheter maker. In addition, he was Vice President and Director of Research at Healthios, a Chicago based healthcare investment bank, and also CFO of a healthcare IT company that focused on chronic disease management. Mr. Sullivan worked as an equity analyst in food and beverage at Lehman Brothers and covered over 15 large cap companies. Mr. Sullivan earned a BS from Georgetown University and an MBA from University of Michigan.

G. Michael Wall, PhD – Vice President, Pharmaceutical Development

G. Michael Wall, PhD has served as our VP of Pharmaceutical Development since 2016 and is responsible for Sound’s chemistry, manufacturing, and analytic controls involving SPI-1005. Prior to Sound, he led Alcon’s development and commercialization of Ciprodex® Otic Suspension for the treatment of acute otitis externa and acute otitis media in patients with tympanostomy tubes which remains the #1 eardrop prescribed by otolaryngologists and pediatricians in the U.S. He also led the development and commercialization of Patanase® Nasal Spray for the treatment of allergic rhinitis in children (including pediatric exclusivity) and adults (#1 intranasal antihistamine prescribed by U.S. pediatricians). Further, he led the development for other otic products such as XTORO® and formulation improvements for CIPRO® HC, and significantly contributed to development of ophthalmic products such as AZOPT®, BETOPTIC®, CILOXAN®, IOPIDINE®, PATADAY®, PATANOL®, TRAVATAN®, VEXOL® and VIGAMOX®. He has directed the conduct of over 40 clinical trials, phase 1-4. Dr. Wall earned his Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy and has completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. (Trademarks are property of their owners.)

Jacqueline Nguyen – Vice President, Clinical Operations

Jacqueline Nguyen, has served as our VP of Clinical Operation since 2021 and leads all of our Clinical Operations including clinical trial site selection, engagement, management and contracting. She has directed over 50 clinical trials, phase 1-3, across multiple indications including SPI-1005 Phase 3 RCT and OLE. She is graduate of Charleston College and has an MBA from the Louisiana State University.

Board of Directors

Stephen Graham

Mr. Graham is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Washington Federal Bank (NASDAQ:WAFD), the largest bank headquartered in Washington ($25 billion in assets). He is partner emeritus at Fenwick and founded the firm’s Seattle office in 2008 and has been recognized as one of the top corporate and mergers and acquisitions lawyers in Washington. In 2019, Stephen was appointed to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Advisory Committee on Small Business Capital Formation and co-chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies from 2011 to 2017. He is currently serving on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and the National Board of Director of Friends of the Children, where he is Chairman. He received his B.S. from Iowa State University and his J.D. from the Yale University School of Law.

Glenn H. Kawasaki, PhD, MBA, JD

Glenn Kawasaki, PhD is a co-founder of SPI and has served as Director since inception and Chairs the Audit Committee. He is the Founder, President and CEO of Accium Biosciences, a Seattle company focused on atomic mass spectroscopy. From 1981-1985, he was the first scientist and the Chair of the Science Board at ZymoGenetics, Inc. From 1989-1998, he was the Founder, President, and CEO of Aptein, Inc., which was acquired by Cambridge Antibody Technology. He was previously the Founder, President and CEO at Catch, Inc., which sold its homocysteine assay to Axis-Shield. Glenn has been a significant supporter of the Pacific Northwest Ballet and Woodland Park Zoo.

Jonathan Kil, MD

Jonathan Kil, MD is a co-founder of SPI and has served as Chairman since inception and currently serves as member of the Board of Life Sciences Washington and the Woodland Park Zoo. He served on the Board of Trustees at Harborview Medical Center/UW from 2014-2025. He has served as a past President for the Academy for Precision Learning, an independent K-12 autism inclusion school in Seattle. Dr. Kil is an advisor to the DoD Hearing Center of Excellence, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and Seattle Children’s Hospital.

David Guyer, MD

David Guyer, MD is currently an employee of Merck following its acquisition of EyeBio for $3.0 B in 2024, a mid-stage ophthalmologic biotech that he co-founded and lead as CEO. He was the Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Ophthotech (NASDAQ:OPHT) from 2007-2015. In 2019, OPHT became Iveric Bio a late-stage ophthalmologic biotech that was acquired by Astellas for $5.9B. In 2023, Iveric Bio received approval for Izervay for the treatment of retinal geographic atropy. Dr. Guyer co-founded and served as CEO and Director at Eyetech Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:EYET) where he developed Macugen, the first FDA-approved anti-VEGF treatment for wet AMD. In 2005, EYET was acquired by OSI Pharmaceuticals for $1.0B. David was a Venture Partner at SV Life Sciences and Professor and Chairman of Ophthalmology at New York University School of Medicine.

James Towne

James Towne is an accomplished entrepreneur, executive and director who has worked for some of the most successful private and public technology companies in the Pacific Northwest including Tektronix and Microsoft. He is the former CEO, Board Chair or Board member of two biotech spinouts (Presage Biosciences and Blaze Biosciences) from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. He and his wife Bonnie Towne have contributed significantly to the Hutch and the CFF of Washington State and are actively involved in other non-profit charities. Jim received his BA and MBA from Stanford University.

Bruce Montgomery, MD

Dr. Montgomery has more than 35 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical leadership experience in drug development, operations, financing, and corporate strategy. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Avalyn Pharma and founded both Cardeas Pharma and Corus Pharma, which was acquired by Gilead Sciences in 2006. Following the acquisition, he served as Senior Vice President of Gilead, where he led the development of Cayston® for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. Earlier in his career, Dr. Montgomery held leadership roles at PathoGenesis Corporation and Genentech. He has served on the boards of several public biotechnology companies, including Xencor, Alder BioPharmaceuticals, ZymoGenetics, and CytoDyn. Dr. Montgomery received his B.S. in Chemistry and M.D. from the University of Washington and is a board-certified internist and pulmonologist.

Advisors

James M. Roberts, MD, PhD

Dr. Roberts is the former Director of the Basic Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He is an expert in cell growth and division, and a past collaborator on SPI’s regenerative technology involving p27Kip1. Dr. Roberts is currently the Founder and CSO for MatrixGenetics, a Seattle biotechnology company focused on biofuels.

Chad Robins

Mr. Robins is the Co-Founder, President and CEO of Adaptive Biotechnologies in Seattle, WA. He has lead Adaptive’s development and finance strategy since its inception in 2008. Mr. Robins has held executive-level positions in real estate, investing, and medical technology, and has been recognized as one of the most successful biotechnology executives. In 2012, he was a “40 Under 40” Seattle Leaders honoree. In 2015, he was honored as one of Goldman Sachs 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of the Year. In 2016, Mr. Robins was also a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Award in the Pacific Northwest.

Philip S. Schein, MD

Dr. Schein founded U.S. Bioscience, a pharmaceutical company focused on cancer and AIDS. While serving as Chairman and CEO he brought three products, Ethyol, Hexalen and Neutrexin, through regulatory approval in the US and Europe. Dr. Schein has served as President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and Chaired the Food and Drug Administration’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee. He is a recipient of numerous scientific and medical awards including the Harvey W. Wiley Medal from the FDA and the Wainwright Award for Excellence in Medical Education.

Albrecht Wendel, PhD

Dr. Wendel has made significant contributions to the understanding of selenoproteins such as glutathione peroxidase and novel selenoorganic compounds such as ebselen. He co-founded the Interfaculty Center for Pharmacogenomics and Pharma Research at the University of Tübingen. From 2009 to 2014, he lead collaborative research teams involving patients, clinicians, and scientists to advance basic discoveries to translational medicine. Dr. Wendel is a member of the SAB for the Berlin-Brandenburger Center for Regenerative Therapies and was Chair of Biochemical Pharmacology at the University of Konstanz from 1988 to 2008.