Dr. Sands co-founded Lexicon and has been the president and chief executive officer and a director since September 1995.  At Lexicon, Dr. Sands pioneered the development of large-scale gene knockout technology for use in drug discovery in an effort to bring innovative drugs to patients.  He has overseen the evolution of Lexicon from a research-stage company to a drug development company, including implementing the strategy to integrate chemistry capabilities with Lexicon's powerful genetics platform to create a unique drug discovery engine.  Dr. Sands was also instrumental in establishing Lexicon's major alliances with pharmaceutical companies such as Genentech, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and N.V. Organon as well as implementing the company's financing strategy.  He is the coauthor of several scientific articles focusing on gene knockout technology and drug discovery.  Before founding Lexicon, Dr. Sands served as an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine.  He received his B.A. in economics and political science from Yale University and his M.D. and Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Main has been executive vice president of pharmaceutical research since February 2007 and served as senior vice president from July 2001 to February 2007.  Dr. Main established the Medicinal Chemistry operations based in Princeton, New Jersey which are responsible for the design, synthesis, and preclinical testing of all of Lexicon’s small molecule drug candidates that may enter human clinical trials.  In addition, Dr. Main has played a key role the design and implementation of the company's scientific strategy and prioritization of Lexicon's small molecule drug discovery portfolio.  Prior to joining Lexicon, Dr. Main was president and chief executive officer of Coelacanth Corporation, a leader in using proprietary chemistry technologies to rapidly discover new chemical entities for drug development.  Lexicon acquired Coelacanth Corporation in July 2001 to bring together the powerful biology and chemistry technologies necessary to create a revolutionary new pharmaceutical company.   Prior to Coelacanth, Dr. Main spent more than 20 years in the discovery and development of novel drugs at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation where he was formerly senior vice president, U.S. Research.  Dr. Main holds a B.S. from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Liverpool, England and completed postdoctoral studies with the Nobel Laureate Prof. R.B. Woodward, at the Woodward Research Institute in Basel, Switzerland.

Mr. Wade was appointed executive vice president and chief financial officer in May 2010.  He previously served as executive vice president and general counsel since February 2000 and was Lexicon’s senior vice president and chief financial officer from January 1999 to February 2000.  During his tenure with the company, he has played an instrumental role in designing and negotiating corporate finance and securities transactions including the company’s initial public offering in April 2000 and private equity financing with Invus, L.P. in August 2007; the acquisition of Coelacanth Corporation that established the basis for the company’s small molecule drug discovery efforts; and collaborations and licenses including strategic alliances with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Genentech, Inc., N.V. Organon and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and a product financing collaboration with investors led by Symphony Capital, L.P.  Before joining Lexicon, Mr. Wade was a partner with the law firm of Andrews & Kurth L.L.P., where he represented companies in the biotechnology, information technology and energy industries, as well as venture capital and investment banking firms.  His practice at the firm consisted primarily of corporate finance and securities transactions, including public offerings, strategic alliances and joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital financings.  He served as principal outside counsel for numerous public and private companies, with responsibilities including general corporate, SEC reporting, employment and technology transfer matters.  Mr. Wade is a member of the boards of directors of the Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute and the Texas Life Science Center for Innovation and Commercialization.  In 2007, he was appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry to serve on the Governor’s Competitiveness Council.  He received his B.A. and J.D. from The University of Texas. 

Dr. Zambrowicz has been executive vice president and chief scientific officer since February 2007.  Dr. Zambrowicz served as executive vice president of research from August 2002 to February 2007, senior vice president of genomics from February 2000 to August 2002, vice president of research from January 1998 to February 2000, and senior scientist from April 1996 to January 1998.  Dr. Zambrowicz has been instrumental in setting the overall scientific direction of the company, including the development of Lexicon's proprietary gene knockout technology and small molecule drug discovery.  Under his direction, Lexicon has knocked out and analyzed nearly 5,000 genes resulting in more than 100 potential drug targets and produced the world's largest collection of mouse embryonic stem cells for use in drug discovery.  He has authored numerous scientific and drug development publications focusing on gene knockout technology and drug discovery.  Prior to joining Lexicon, Dr. Zambrowicz served as a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington, where he studied gene trapping and gene targeting technology.  He received his B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin.  He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Washington, where he studied tissue-specific gene regulation using transgenic mice.

Dr. Brown has been senior vice president of clinical development since February 2008, having served as vice president of clinical development since April 2003.  Before joining Lexicon, Dr. Brown was vice president of clinical development for Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc. (formerly Texas Biotechnology Corporation), where he was responsible for compound development activities, including gaining marketing approval of Argatroban, a direct thrombin inhibitor for use in heparin-induced thrombocytopenia.  Prior to his work at Encysive, Dr. Brown held a variety of management positions within contract research organizations.  He has managed drug programs from initial regulatory filings through product approval and commercialization and has over 19 years of experience managing medical affairs, drug safety, and clinical programs in multiple therapeutic areas.  Over the course of his career, Dr. Brown has conducted over 200 clinical trials as an investigator.  Dr. Brown is a fellow of the American College of Legal Medicine.  He received his M.D. from Texas Tech University School of Medicine, his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, and his B.A. from Hendrix College.

Mr. Tessmer has been our vice president of finance and accounting since November 2007.  He previously served as our senior director of finance from February 2004 to November 2007 and director of finance from April 2001 to February 2004.  Mr. Tessmer is currently responsible for the financial reporting and analysis, accounting, risk management, treasury and tax functions for the company.  Prior to joining Lexicon, he was assistant controller for Mariner Health Network, Inc. from January 1997 to April 2001, and prior to that, he served in a variety of financial and accounting management positions for HWC Distribution Corp. and American General Corporation.  Mr. Tessmer is a certified public accountant and received his B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and his M.B.A. from the University of Houston.