Vaxxinity Appoints Jason Pesile as SVP, Finance & Accounting, and George Hornig to Board of Directors

DALLAS, Jan. 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vaxxinity, Inc. (NASDAQ:VAXX), a U.S. company pioneering the development of a new class of immunotherapeutic vaccines, today announced the appointment of Jason Pesile, MBA, CPA, as Senior Vice President, Finance & Accounting. The Company also announced today the appointment of George Hornig, Chairman of Xometry, to its Board of Directors.

Mr. Hornig will be the new independent director to chair the Audit Committee, with current Board members Greg Blatt and Peter Diamandis moving to chair the Compensation Committee and Nominating and Governance Committee, respectively.

"We are thrilled to welcome Jason to our management team and George to the Vaxxinity Board," said Mei Mei Hu, Chief Executive Officer of Vaxxinity. "Jason is a well-regarded financial industry leader with expertise managing financial functions within the biopharmaceutical sector and will undoubtedly help us operationally as we continue advancing multiple vaccine candidates through clinical development. The addition of George to our Board of Directors further strengthens our leadership team by bringing nearly 40 years of senior executive-level experience at large, global financial institutions to Vaxxinity."

Mr. Pesile is a seasoned finance executive with 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical space and most recently served as Vice President Finance, Corporate Controller at BeyondSpring Pharmaceuticals. He has worked at multiple biopharma companies in the past 10 years, where he led various aspects of financial operations, including accounting, financial reporting, audit and financial planning. Earlier in his career, Jason worked in management consulting and as a global project manager at Schering-Plough and Merck focused on post-merger integration. Jason graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. degree in Finance and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School. He is a certified public accountant in the State of New Jersey.

Mr. Hornig is currently Chairman of Xometry (NASDAQ:XMTR), an AI-driven platform for on-demand manufacturing of industrial parts, and Co-Chairman (and Audit Chairman) of Healthwell Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company. Mr. Hornig is also Managing Partner and Co-Founder of The Seed Lab, an early-stage venture fund. From 2010-2016, Mr. Hornig was Senior Managing Director and COO of PineBridge Investments (formerly AIG Investment Management). Prior to joining PineBridge, Mr. Hornig spent 11 years at Credit Suisse Asset Management as Managing Director and Global COO. From 1993-1999, Mr. Hornig was Executive Vice President of Deutsche Bank Americas. Earlier in his career Mr. Hornig was Managing Director and COO of Wasserstein Perella & Co., worked in the M&A group of First Boston and was an Associate with the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. During his career, Mr. Hornig has served as a Director of Forrester Research, Unity Mutual Life, Veridian Group, KBL Merger Corp IV, Office Tiger, Daily Candy and Merchants Preferred. Mr. Hornig received his A.B., J.D. and M.B.A. from Harvard University.

About Vaxxinity

Vaxxinity, Inc. is purpose-driven biotechnology company committed to democratizing healthcare across the globe. The company is pioneering a new class of synthetic, peptide-based immunotherapeutic vaccines aimed at disrupting the existing treatment paradigm for chronic disease, increasingly dominated by monoclonal antibodies, which suffer from prohibitive costs and cumbersome administration. The company's proprietary technology platform has enabled the innovation of novel pipeline candidates designed to bring the efficiency of vaccines to the treatment of chronic diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, migraine, and hypercholesterolemia. The technology is also implemented as part of a COVID-19 vaccine program. Vaxxinity has optimized its pipeline to achieve a potentially historic, global impact on human health.

Forward-looking Statement

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The use of certain words, including "believe," "may," "continue," "advancing," "potentially," and "will" and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties, including statements that are based on the current expectations and assumptions of Vaxxinity's management about the development of a new class of immunotherapeutic vaccines and the innovation and efficacy of Vaxxinity's product candidates. Various important factors could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those that may be expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements. Additional important factors to be considered in connection with forward-looking statements are described in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 23, 2021. The forward-looking statements are made as of this date and Vaxxinity does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

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