Management

The company’s administration and control are divided between the shareholders, the Board of Directors and the CEO. The Management Team assists the CEO in the development and operational management of Faron’s business operations.

The Chief Executive Officer is responsible for implementing the strategy of the Board and managing Faron’s day-to-day business activities. The Chief Executive Officer, reviewing the operating results regularly to make decisions about the allocation of resources and to assess overall performance, is the chief operating decision-maker.

Management Team

Dr. Juho Jalkanen, M. Sc, M.D., PH.D.

CEO and Founder

Dr. Juho Jalkanen is an experienced biopharmaceutical industry executive with extensive leadership experience across key functional areas including operations, business development, clinical development, medical and regulatory affairs.

Dr. Jalkanen earned a Master´s degree in economics and business administration from the Turku School of Economics and both his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Turku. He is a fully licensed general practitioner and specialist in vascular surgery.

Relevant work experience

Faron Pharmaceuticals, CEO, 2024-
Faron Pharmaceuticals, COO, 2022-2024
Faron Pharmaceuticals, CDO 2018-2022
Faron Pharmaceuticals, Vice President, Business Development 2017-2018

Positions of trust

Faron Pharmaceuticals, Member of the Board, 2013–2018

Shareholdings

1,112,015 shares and 767,040 stock options, entitling to same amount of shares in the company.

Jurriaan Dekkers, M. Sc.

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Dekkers has more than 20 years of experience in biopharma and healthcare companies. Most recently, he has been the CFO at ProQR Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing RNA therapies for severe unmet medical needs. Prior to that, he served as CFO of AstraZeneca in the Netherlands and CEO of Acerta Pharma (part of the AstraZeneca Group). He has also held global and European finance roles at DaVita Medical Group, a US-listed international healthcare provider, and Sandvik, amongst others.

Mr. Dekkers holds a MSc. in Economics from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and is a Certified Public Auditor (Register Accountant, RA) graduate from the Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Relevant work experience

Faron Pharmaceuticals, CFO, 2025-
ProQR Therapeutics, CFO
AstraZeneca in the Netherlands, CFO
Acerta Pharma (part of the AstraZeneca Group), CEO

Positions of trust

Stichting Kinderpostzegels, Netherlands, Supervisory Board member and Audit Committee Member

Shareholdings

180,000 stock options, entitling to same amount of shares in the company.

Dr. Petri Bono, M.D., Ph.D.

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Petri Bono, M.D, Ph.D, is a seasoned senior pharmaceuticals executive with a background in oncology and various leadership positions.

Dr. Bono has participated in numerous oncology trials from Phase 1 to 3, including early phase immuno-oncological trials and published 102 peer reviewed papers in international journals including New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Oncology, JAMA as well as Cancer Cell.

Relevant work experience

Faron Pharmaceuticals, Chief medical Officer 2024-
Terveystalo, Chief Medical Officer 2019-2024
Helsinki University Hospital, Chief Medical Officer 2016-2019
Helsinki University Hospital, Director and Physician-in-Chief of the Comprehensive Cancer Center 2010-2016
Helsinki University Hospital, Head of Department 2006-2009
Post-doctoral fellow, Centrer for cancer Research, MIT 1998-2000

Positions of trust

TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Member of Scientific Advisor Board 2015 –
Oncorena AB, Member of Scientific Advisor Board 2018 –
CurifyLabs, Member of Medical advisory Board 2024-
GostaLabs, Member of Medical Advisory Board 2025-

Shareholdings

4,500 shares and 130,000 stock options, entitling to same amount of shares in the company.

Dr. Maija Hollmén, Ph.D.

Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Maija Hollmén joined Faron as Chief Scientific Officer in December 2022. Dr. Hollmén will oversee preclinical and support clinical development for Faron. Her priority will be the further development of Bexmarilimab, Faron’s wholly owned, novel precision cancer immunotherapy candidate.

Dr. Hollmén earned both her Ph.D. and MSc degrees from the University of Turku.

Dr. Hollmén’s post-doctoral studies were conducted at ETH Zurich alongside Professor Michael Detmar, focusing on tumor immunology and how cancer cells educate macrophages to support tumor growth. Dr. Hollmén returned to Turku and formed her own laboratory to develop strategies to resolve immunosuppressive cells and pathways and during this time, concentrated working on Clever-1.

Relevant work experience

Faron Pharmaceuticals, Chief Scientific Officer 2022-
University of Turku, Faculty of Medicine, Adjunct Professor of Tumor Immunology and Principal Investigator 2014-

Positions of trust

–

Shareholdings

807,542 shares and 18,000 stock options, entitling to same amount of shares in the company.

Vesa Karvonen, LLM

General Counsel

Mr. Vesa Karvonen is a legal professional with more than 25 years of experience.

Mr. Karvonen holds a Master of Laws from the University of Turku, Finland.

Relevant work experience

Faron Pharmaceuticals, General Counsel 2022-
Deloitte Finland, Director and Head of Legal 2019-2022
Owens Corning, Director 2018-2019Paroc Group, General Counsel 2002-2019

Positions of trust

–

Shareholdings

104,000 shares and 120,000 stock options, entitling to same amount of shares in the company.

Ralph Hughes, M.Sc., B.Sc.

Chief Business Officer

Mr. Hughes has extensive experience in commercial due diligence, market access and business development processes through his various roles in the pharmaceutical industry. At Mundipharma, he was responsible for the commercial launch strategy for pipeline assets and commercial assessment of new assets. At Pfizer, he developed global commercial, market access and pricing strategies across multiple disease areas for early-stage and in-market assets.

Mr. Hughes holds an MSc in Public Health and Health Economics from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a BSc in Biomedical Sciences from Newcastle. Throughout his career, Mr. Hughes has developed a strong understanding of what it takes to overcome access hurdles and commercialize novel therapeutics.

Relevant work experience

PharmaVentures, Senior Vice President, 2022-2025
Mundipharma, Commercial Development Director, 2021-2022
Mundipharma, Global Market Access, 2019-2021
Pfizer, Various positions, 2013-2019

Positions of trust

Healthwatch Islington, Chair, 2024-2025
Healthwatch Islington, Board Member, 2019-2023

Shareholdings

0 shares and 100,000 stock options, entitling to same amount of shares in the company.

Heikki Jouttijärvi, M.Sc

Chief Technical Officer (CTO)

Heikki Jouttijärvi is a seasoned biopharma executive with extensive expertise spanning manufacturing operations, supply chain management, and commercial business functions. He most recently served as Senior Vice President of Commercial Business Operations at Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc., which was subsequently acquired by Eli Lilly. Before joining Adverum, Mr. Jouttijärvi accumulated broad international experience through a series of senior leadership positions at Menlo Therapeutics, Inc. and Santen Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd. He holds a Master of Science degree in Pharmacy from the University of Helsinki.

Relevant work experience

Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc (Acquired by Eli Lilly), SVP, Commercial Business Operations, 2020–2026
Menlo Therapeutics, Inc, Global Leadership Roles, 2017–2020
Santen Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd, Global Leadership Roles, 1999–2017

Shareholdings