Applied Therapeutics, Inc. announced the following leadership changes, effective immediately: Dr. Shoshana Shendelman has stepped down as CEO; and Les Funtleyder, Applied Therapeutics? Chief Financial Officer, has been named Interim Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Johnson is a biopharmaceutical industry veteran with 40 years of transformational leadership experience at global healthcare organizations, including Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly & Company, ImClone, and Pfizer, Inc. He brings to Applied Therapeutics a multi-decade track record of implementing turnaround plans that enable growth and value creation for shareholders.
He has served as the CEO of Reaction Biology and before that served as CEO of Strongbridge Biopharma plc prior to its acquisition by Xeris Biopharma Holdings. He is also an experienced Director having served on numerous boards across biotech and biopharmaceutical services companies. Les Funtleyder, 55, has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2016 and since November 2023 has served as our Chief Financial Officer.
Mr. Funtleyder has served as a healthcare portfolio manager at E Squared Capital Management, LLC since January 2014, a role from which he is currently taking a sabbatical, as a senior external advisor with McKinsey and Co. since June 2017, and as a consulting partner at Bluecloud Health, a private equity healthcare fund, from December 2013 to April 2020. Mr. Funtleyder previously served as the director of strategic investments and communications of OPKO Health Inc., a publicly traded healthcare company.
Mr. Funtleyder currently serves on the board of directors of several private healthcare companies and foundations while also serving on the board of directors of Nasdaq-listed Reviva Pharmaceuticals and as an advisor at Zentynel Frontier Investments. Mr. Funtleyder is an adjunct professor at Columbia University Medical Center and an adjunct professor of healthcare investors at the Columbia University School of Public Health. Mr. Funtleyder received his B.A. from Tulane University and MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.