Corporate Leadership
Mark Godsy, L.L.B.
Founder, Chairman, & Chief Executive Officer
Mark is a seasoned and successful biotechnology and technology entrepreneur. Mark has started or co-founded many successful companies, including two $1 billion biotech firms - ID Biomedical, which became Canada's largest vaccine company and the fifth-largest vaccine company in the world; and Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, which created the first coated stent, which has gone on to save tens of millions of lives.
Mark is a seasoned and successful biotechnology and technology entrepreneur. Mark has started or co-founded many successful companies, including two $1 billion biotech firms – ID Biomedical, which became Canada’s largest vaccine company and the fifth-largest vaccine company in the world; and Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, which created the first coated stent, which has gone on to save tens of millions of lives.
Mark began his career as a lawyer, having first practiced law for approximately four years in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He subsequently served in a variety of corporate positions with early and mid stage growth companies, acting as CEO, CFO, director, chairman, or advisor, depending upon the need and interest of the venture. These roles covered many sectors, but emphasized the health and wellbeing of people and the planet. Mark is passionate about building teams and realizing synergies that can help create great results. He has also been involved in mentoring programs for CEOs of junior biotechs, as well as law students, and he is frequently approached to do the same for budding entrepreneurs.
Mark Godsy is currently the Chairman and CEO of Naqi Logix Inc., a revolutionary technology platform that transforms our inconspicuous micro-gestures into instant commands to control all the devices where we work. He has also served as Executive Chairman of Exro Technologies, a company whose goal is to improve the efficiency of electric motors and generators. He also serves as Chairman of Code Zero, a technology company focused on developing an IOT platform that allows devices with different architectures to communicate with one another. Mark serves on the advisory board for the Faculty of Law at McGill University. He holds a BA from the University of British Columbia and a law degree from McGill, and is a non practising member of the Law Society of British Columbia.
Alan Shackelford, M.D.
Founder & Director
Dr. Alan Shackelford is a Harvard Medical School trained internist and researcher who is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the clinical uses of cannabis. Over the last 12 years, Dr. Shackelford has consulted with thousands of patients for whom medical cannabis has proven to be beneficial and has worked with government agencies in a number of American states and in several other countries on establishing structures and rules governing medical cannabis programs. In addition to his medical practice, he also serves as a physician member of the Board of Medicine of the state of Colorado.
Kathleen Cantagallo
Director
Kathleen’s 30+ years of experience spans all phases of pharmaceutical product development, from Phase I-IV, across a variety of therapeutic areas. Previous roles include Director of Investigational Products, Director of Planning and Strategy for Neuroscience Therapeutics, Global Product Director, and Global Product Vice President at AstraZeneca plc.
Kathleen’s 30+ years of Life Science Industry experience spans all phases of pharmaceutical product development, from Phase I-IV, across a variety of therapeutic areas. She has held numerous leadership roles ranging from Global Director of Investigational Products, Director of Planning and Strategy for Neuroscience Therapeutics, Global Product Director, and Global Product Vice President at Astra Zeneca plc.
Her work and leadership accomplishments include successful development of portfolio assets including regulatory submissions and negotiations, product approval, launch and commercialization at Astra Zeneca plc.
Currently, Kathleen is the CEO of Drug Development Strategic Consulting, LLC, VP of Alliances at RheoTek Medical, and a Strategic Business Advisor at the University City Science Center in Philadelphia.
Chris Clark
Chief Financial Officer
Chris brings 25+ years finance and accounting experience to Shackelford Pharma. He also continues to hold the role of CFO at Neovasc (TSX, NASDAQ: NVCN) since April 2007. Chris received his CA designation from ICAEW, articling with KPMG before moving to Canada in 1998. He has an honors degree in Economics from Swansea University and pursued post graduate studies at Keble College, Oxford.
Adam George
Strategic Advisor
Bringing nearly two decades of experience in the pharmaceuticals industry, Adam served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for five years at GW Pharmaceuticals, the UK-based drug development company focused on using cannabinoid therapeutics for treating a range of diseases. During this time, he oversaw the company’s initial public offering on Nasdaq, was involved in subsequent fundraisings totaling over $1.4 billion.
Bringing nearly two decades of experience in the pharmaceuticals industry, Adam served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for five years at GW Pharmaceuticals, the UK-based drug development company focused on using cannabinoid therapeutics for treating a range of diseases. During this time, he oversaw the company’s initial public offering on Nasdaq, and was involved in subsequent fundraisings totaling over $1.4 billion.
From 2017-2020, Adam jointly ran GW’s R&D Organization with GW’s Chief Medical Officer and had responsibility for R&D strategy for development of GW’s pipeline of cannabinoid product candidates, with a focus on epilepsy.
Geoff Griffiths
Head of Operations
Geoff Griffiths comes to SPI with 23 years of pharmaceutical experience. He brings a broad spectrum of commercial experience including sales, sales training, sales management, business intelligence, marketing, market access, healthcare policy and commercial development.
Geoff Griffiths comes to SPI with 23 years of pharmaceutical experience. He brings a broad spectrum of commercial experience including sales, sales training, sales management, business intelligence, marketing, market access, healthcare policy and commercial development.
Before joining SPI he was a foundational hire for Mylan’s leading pipeline of biosimilars. As Director of Biosimilar Development for Mylan, Geoff worked to establish the new business inside Mylan coordinating commercial launch activities such as marketing, regulatory approvals, sales forecasts, etc. for Canada, while also supporting the North America, and the Global teams. Geoff is also the former Chairman of the Board of the Down Syndrome Research Foundation.
David Rokoss
Head of Investor Relations
David Rokoss has a twenty five year career as an entrepreneur and consultant, working with a variety of private and publicly listed companies, focusing on concept development, finance and operational management. For the last decade, he has consulted with numerous early stage companies across the biotechnology, clean tech, retail and tech sectors, focusing on business and corporate development opportunities.
David Rokoss has a twenty five year career as an entrepreneur and consultant, working with a variety of private and publicly listed companies, focusing on concept development, finance and operational management. For the last decade, he has consulted with numerous early stage companies across the biotechnology, clean tech, retail and tech sectors, focusing on business and corporate development opportunities.
During this period, he worked with the banking team at a private fund established to find, fund and foster early stage companies across the sustainability space, which included investments in carbon, wind, waste, bio-fuels and energy technologies. He has considerable experience in due diligence, local and cross-border mergers, corporate acquisitions and compliance issues, having worked with companies in multiple jurisdictions including those publicly trading in Canada, the United States and Germany. Mr. Rokoss is currently a director of two companies, one being a TSX venture issuer. He is a partner of Ptolemy Capital.