deCODE genetics - Management

Kári Stefánsson, M.D., Dr.Med.
CEO

Kári Stefánsson, M.D., Dr. Med. has served as our President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director since he co-founded deCODE in August 1996. Dr. Stefánsson was appointed to serve as the Chairman of our Board of Directors in December 1999. From 1993 until April 1997, Dr. Stefánsson was a professor of Neurology, Neuropathology and Neuroscience at Harvard University. In addition, from 1993 through December 1996 he was Director of Neuropathology at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. From 1983 to 1993, he held faculty positions in Neurology, Neuropathology and Neurosciences at the University of Chicago. Dr. Stefánsson received his M.D. and Dr. Med. from the University of Iceland and is board-certified in neurology and neuropathology in the United States.  




Lance Thibault
CFO & Treasurer

Lance Thibault joined deCODE in February 2001 and was named Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer in June 2001. Before joining deCODE he was a Director with the Global Capital Markets practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers in London, England. As a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers Mr. Thibault first began working with deCODE in 1998, advising us through our IPO in July 2000. Mr. Thibault received a B.S. in Accountancy from Bentley College in 1988 and is a CPA.




Jeffrey Gulcher, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer

Jeffrey Gulcher, M.D., Ph.D. has served as our Chief Scientific Officer since October 2003. Prior to that he served as our Vice President, Research and Development. Dr. Gulcher co-founded deCODE in August 1996. Dr. Gulcher was on staff in the Department of Neurology at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts and Harvard University Medical School from June 1993 to October 1998. Dr. Gulcher received his Ph.D. and M.D. from the University of Chicago in 1986 and 1990, respectively, and completed his neurology residency at the Longwood Program of the Neurology Department of the Harvard Medical School in 1996.





Mark Gurney, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Senior VP, Drug Discovery and Development

Dr. Gurney joined deCODE in August 2000. He was formerly Director of Genomics Research at Pharmacia Corporation. Prior to his positions at Pharmacia, Dr. Gurney held academic appointments in the Department of Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences at the University of Chicago and in the Department of Cell, Molecular and Structural Biology at the Northwestern University Medical School. He received his B.A. in Biology from the University of California at San Diego in 1975 and his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1980. In 1994, he completed his M.B.A. at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.





Daniel L. Hartman, M.D.
Senior VP of Product Development

Dan Hartman joined deCODE in July 2005 and leads the company's drug development effort. Prior to joining deCODE he served for several years in senior clinical development positions at Pfizer, including Global Clinical Leader, Allergy and Respiratory Diseases; Clinical Exploratory Head, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases; and Experimental Medicine Therapy Area Leader, Cardiovascular, Metabolism and Anaderm. From 2000 to 2002, Dr. Hartman was Vice President of Worldwide Clinical Development at Esperion Therapeutics. Prior to joining Esperion, he was Director, Clinical Cardiovascular and Therapy Head, thrombosis and Cardiopulmonary Disease at Pfizer. From 1995 to 1999, Dr. Hartman served in senior clinical research positions at Eli Lilly & Company. Dr. Hartman received his M.D. from Wayne State University, held post-doctoral and faculty positions at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He is board certified in internal medicine and is a member of numerous medical societies.  





Jakob Sigurdsson
Senior VP Corporate Development

Jakob Sigurðsson joined deCODE in October 2006 as SVP, Corporate Development. Mr. Sigurðsson was formerly CEO and President of Alfesca, a multinational foods group with major operations in Iceland, the UK, France and Spain. Prior to his position at Alfesca Mr. Sigurðsson held senior positions in the United States and Europe for Rohm and Haas Company, a NYSE-listed specialty materials company. Mr. Sigurdsson holds a B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Iceland and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Axel Nielsen
Chief Operating Officer

Axel Nielsen was named deCODE's Chief Operating Officer in 2007. Previously he was Chief Operating Officer of deCODE´s US operations, overseeing our US chemistry and structural biology subsidiaries where he integrated these businesses into deCODE after the Medichem acquisition in 2002. Prior to that he served as our Chief Financial Officer and VP Investor Relations, playing a leading role in deCODE's IPO and establishing it in the investor community as a public company. Before joining deCODE, Mr. Nielsen held positions with Icelandair Inc. and McKinsey & Co. He holds degrees in computer science and finance from the University of Iceland and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Hákon Gudbjartsson, Ph.D.
VP, Informatics

Hakon Gudbjartsson, Ph.D. serves as our Vice President for Informatics. Dr. Gudbjartsson joined us to direct our Department of Informatics in 1996. He received his B.Sc. in electrical engineering in 1990 from the University of Iceland and his M.Sc. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT in 1992. In 1996, he received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and performed post-doctoral research concerning magnetic resonance imaging at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston until joining deCODE.

C. Augustine Kong, Ph.D.
VP, Statistics

C. Augustine Kong, Ph.D., has served as Vice President of Statistics since January, 2001. Prevously he was Director of Statistics and has served as a full time consultant to deCODE since 1996. Prior to his appointment as VP Statistics, he served on the faculty of the University of Chicago. Dr. Kong received his Ph.D. in statistics from Harvard University in 1986.