Management Team

Paula Brown Stafford, MPH, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Novan. Ms. Stafford also serves as Chairman of the Novan Board of Directors. Prior to joining Novan in March 2017, Ms. Stafford was President of Clinical Development at Quintiles (now IQVIA). In this role, Ms. Stafford was responsible for global clinical development services. While at Quintiles, Ms. Stafford was a member of the Executive Committee, the Technology Investment Committee, and a Board Observer. In addition to her role at Novan, Ms. Stafford is an adjunct professor in Public Health Leadership at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ms. Stafford holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Public Health, both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a specialization in Biostatistics.

John Donofrio serves as the Company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. He has over 25 years of experience in leading US and International teams in the pharmaceutical industry and brings a proven track record of business, operations, strategic, and financial leadership. Prior to EPI, Mr. Donofrio was CFO at TrialCard, and earlier was CFO and Head of Business Development for Merz North America. In addition to his executive positions, Mr. Donofrio spent over 20 years with GSK in various US and international roles, including Global Vice President of finance for the dermatology business unit, Stiefel, a GSK company. He is also a board member and audit chair for Aytu Bioscience, serves on the board of directors of the Children’s Skin Disease Foundation and Alliance Medical Ministries. Mr. Donofrio is a graduate of North Carolina State University, with a degree in accounting.

John M. Gay serves as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Gay joined Novan in May 2018 and previously served as the Vice President, Finance and Corporate Controller. Prior to Novan, Mr. Gay held director-level positions, including at Maxpoint Interactive, a digital marketing technology company, and Furiex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical development company. Prior to joining Furiex, Mr. Gay served in roles of increasing responsibility at Deloitte and Arthur Andersen, registered public accounting firms. He is a certified public accountant and holds Bachelor’s degrees in Economics and History and a Master’s in Accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Carri Geer, PhD, leads drug substance, drug product, device and analytical development for Novan’s drug candidates. Additionally, Dr. Geer serves as the technical liaison for collaborative partnerships. Dr. Geer has more than 10 years of experience in pharmaceutical product development, and a background in analytical and bioanalytical chemistry. During her tenure at Novan, Dr. Geer has been responsible for establishing and growing the analytical capabilities of the company. Prior to joining Novan, Dr. Geer was employed at Merck and bridged the interface between R&D and cGMP analytical testing. Dr. Geer received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Tomoko Maeda-Chubachi, MD, PhD, MBA, provides medical input to help drive the strategy, design, and execution of Novan’s development programs. Most recently, she served as senior medical director at GSK, leading clinical development projects for psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, pemphigus, and androgenic alopecia. Prior to GSK, she held clinical and medical affairs roles at Eli Lilly and Company and Pfizer, Inc. Dr. Maeda-Chubachi was an academic physician and dermatologist for ten years before entering the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Maeda-Chubachi received her MD and Ph.D. from Osaka University.