John Schmid

Mr. Schmid brings more than 35 years of financial and senior management experience in the biotechnology industry. As a Chief Financial Officer, he has raised over $900 million through private and public equity and debt financings. He has guided two companies through successful IPOs as a CFO, and over the course of the last ten years, he has been involved in six additional IPOs as an independent board member. 

He currently serves on the Boards of AnaptysBio (Nasdaq: ANAB), Design Therapeutics (Nasdaq: DSGN), Poseida Therapeutics (Nasdaq: PSTX), and Xeris Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: XERS), as well as the SPAC Helix Acquisition (Nasdaq: HLXA), acting as Audit Chair for each. He is also a Board Member of Forge Therapeutics and Speak, Inc.

Previously, Mr. Schmid was CFO of Auspex Pharmaceuticals, which he took public in 2014 and later sold to Teva for $3.5 billion. He also co-founded Trius Therapeutics in 2004, serving as CFO through its IPO and eventual acquisition by Cubist Pharmaceuticals for over $700 million. Before Trius, he was CFO of GeneFormatics and Endonetics (acquired by Medtronic) as well as an Associate with Idanta Partners, a venture capital firm, Vice President at HomeFed Bank and a Financial Analyst for Manufacturers Hanover (now part of J.P. Morgan) in New York. He is a past President and a past board member of the San Diego Venture Group. Mr. Schmid received a BA in Economics from Wesleyan University and an MBA from the University of San Diego.