Ron Rocca, President & CEO

Ron Rocca came to Exagen Diagnostics with 26 years of in-depth experience building strong market presence and generating record profitability in highly competitive markets in the diagnostic and pharmaceutical industries. His specialties include developing organizational strategic focus, new business development and cultivating sales management achievements. He has a proven history of successfully exceeding corporate goals. Before joining Exagen, Mr. Rocca served as General Manager at Prometheus Labs where he was responsible for leading the commercial organization, strategic planning and implementing projects designed to maximize brand sales. During his tenure, Prometheus grew from ~30 million to ~400 million in annual revenue which enabled the successful acquisition by Nestle. Prior to Prometheus, Mr. Rocca was COO at Alpharma Inc. where he drove the organizational turnaround which led to a lucrative acquisition from King Pharmaceutical. Earlier in his career Mr. Rocca was with Élan Pharmaceuticals where he held several senior sales and marketing management positions and prior to that with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a division of Johnson & Johnson. Mr. Rocca has worked in multiple specialty areas including Gastroenterology, Neurology, Oncology, Palliative Medicine and Emergency Care and holds his B.A. in Marketing and Personnel Management from Towson University.

Wendy Swedick, CPA, CFO

Ms. Swedick has over 20 years of executive finance experience providing leadership in both corporate and entrepreneurial organizations. She was part of the senior management team at Media One Group, a $3 billion telecommunications company, which was successfully sold to AT&T for $44 billion. Ms. Swedick is currently a senior mentor for the New Directions Institute and graduated with honors with a B.A. in Business Administration & Accounting from the University of New Mexico and the Leadership New Mexico program.

Dr. Thierry Dervieux, Senior Vice President Research & Development, Medical Director, New York

Dr. Thierry Dervieux has nearly 20 years’ experience with the development of cutting edge drug monitoring and molecular diagnostic assays in partnership with academia and diagnostic industry. Prior to joining Exagen, Dr. Dervieux was Vice President of Research and Development with Cypress Bioscience where he developed Exagen's current portfolio in the rheumatology space. He was also Principal Scientist and Director of Research at Prometheus Laboratories prior to joining Proprius Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Cypress Bioscience in 2008). Dr. Dervieux is board certified by the American Board of Clinical Chemistry and holds certificate of qualification as medical laboratory director in the categories of cellular immunology, clinical chemistry, drug monitoring, genetic testing, diagnostic immunology and molecular oncology. Dr. Dervieux has authored over 50 publications, abstracts and book chapters, and is the inventor on multiple patents and patent applications in the field of personalized medicine and companion diagnostics. Dr. Dervieux holds PharmD and PhD degrees from Claude Bernard University (Lyon, France), a degree in biostatistics from the University of Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris, France), and trained at St Jude Children's Research Hospital (Memphis, TN).

Dennis Takasugi, R.Ph., Vice President Business Development

& Marketing

Mr. Takasugi comes to Exagen with almost 30 years of experience as a pharmaceutical and diagnostic commercialization executive launching several products involving big pharma, small emerging biotechnology and specialty diagnostic companies. Previously, he spent 6 years leading Prometheus's Business Development efforts and was instrumental in the closure of several major licensing deals. Prior to that he held the position of Senior Director of Marketing supporting promotion and managed care at Santarus, Inc. Mr. Takasugi spent the first 15 years of his career with Eli Lilly and Company and holds a B.S. in Pharmacy from Idaho State University where he graduated with honors.

Claudia Ibarra, Senior Director Laboratory Operations

Mrs. Ibarra has over 20 years of experience in the clinical diagnostic field. Before joining Exagen, she was the Director of the Molecular Oncology Laboratory at Genoptix, a Novartis Company where she expanded laboratory capacity twenty-fold in five years. While there, she was also in charge of the validation and transfer of more than seventeen molecular assays. Mrs. Ibarra also acted as the coordinator of the California State Clinical Genetics Molecular Scientist Training Program. Prior to Genoptix, she has worked in a variety of cutting-edge clinical laboratories in the areas of Clinical Chemistry, Endocrinology and Immunology. Mrs. Ibarra holds a degree in Biochemistry with specialization in Clinical Laboratory Science from University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and holds a Clinical Chemistry license from the State of California and a Molecular Biology license from ASCP.

Blythe Lawton, Director of Marketing & Communication

Ms. Lawton has over 15 years of experience in marketing, business development, interactive development, organizational management and brand strategy. At Exagen, Ms. Lawton has been instrumental in the launch of 4 of our proprietary diagnostics brands. Prior to Exagen she worked for several top notch marketing agencies, such as Meredith Corporation and O’Grady Meyers where she led the brand marketing for PowerBar Global and grew the account from $2 to $10 million in 4 years. While in that position she also developed strategy and contributed to the Nestle, Stouffer’s and Farmer John accounts. Prior to her focus in consumer package goods, Ms. Lawton was a key member of the internal marketing teams at American Honda Motor Company and Toyota Motors, North America. Ms. Lawton holds a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from the Walter Cronkite School at Arizona State University.

Derren Barken, PhD, Director of Bioinformatics

Dr. Barken came to Exagen from Prometheus Laboratories and has five years of experience developing diagnostic and prognostic tests as an R&D scientist. As an algorithm designer, he helped develop multiple genetic and molecular tests. His tests have received regulatory approval and are now commercially available. Dr. Barken’s publications include papers in Science and Nature Molecular Systems Biology, as well as three US & European patent applications filed. He holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Stanford University and a doctorate in Bioinformatics from the University of California at San Diego. Prior to graduate school, Dr. Barken worked for six years as a programmer in Silicon Valley and Boston. He is an avid technologist with particular interests in machine learning and immunology.

Jon Buncab, National Director of Managed Markets

Mr. Buncab brings 14 years of broad managed markets, analytic, sales, and commercial experience involving specialty pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies to Exagen Diagnostics. Mr. Buncab has secured formulary wins and diagnostic coverage determinations with major health plans including Kaiser Permanente, Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Cigna, HealthNet, Premera Blue Cross and Regence Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Prior to joining Exagen, he spent 12 years with Prometheus in multiple roles, supporting the growth of all pharmaceutical brands (including Helidac®, Proleukin® and Entocort EC®), in addition to the commercialization and promotion of all diagnostic product platforms (IBD SGI, Crohn’s Prognostic, Thiopurine Management Dx, Celiac Genetics Dx). Mr. Buncab spent the first 2 years of his career at Elan and graduated with a dual major in Political Science and Law & Society from the University of California, Riverside.

Tom Macpherson, National Sales Director

Mr. Macpherson has over 15 years experience in the pharmaceutical and diagnostic industries serving in different capacities including sales, corporate sales training and commercial management. He has successfully launched multiple diagnostic and pharmaceutical products in Rheumatology and Gastroenterology. He led training for Prometheus Laboratories during a time of rapid growth and expansion that saw the salesforce increase from 30 to 180 people. Mr. Macpherson spent the first 10 years of his career with Moore Business Forms and Systems/RR Donnelly in corporate and government sales. He has proven success in sales management by developing strategies and tactics at the corporate level to support overall growth and sales objectives. Mr. Macpherson holds a B.A in Marketing from Texas State University.