Steve B. Warnecke, Chief Executive Officer/Chair of the Board
Mr. Warnecke has served as a member of the board of directors of Evolutionary Genomics since September 2010 and was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in November 2010. Mr. Warnecke continues to serve part-time roles as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Financial Officer for VetDC, Inc. since November 2012. He previously served as Chief Financial Officer and on the Board of Directors of CereScan Corp. from 2016 through 2018 and as Senior Vice President of Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation from 2001 through 2016 . He also served as Lead Independent Director and Audit Committee Chair for Evolving Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVOL, an international telecom software company) from 2003 to January 2011, as Chief Financial Officer of Targeted Medical Pharma, Inc. from January 2011 to May 2011, as Chief Financial Officer and member of the Board of Directors for Bacterin International, Inc. (NASDAQ: BONE), a biologics and medical device company from 2008 to 2010, Chief Financial Officer for The Children’s Hospital Foundation from 2003 to 2008, member of the Board of Directors of Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc. in 2011, member of the Board of Directors of Boppy Company from 2005 to 2008, Senior Vice-President of Strategic Planning for First Data/Western Union (NYSE: FDC) from 2001 to 2002 and Chief Financial Officer for Frontier Airlines (former NASDAQ company acquired by Republic Airways) from 1999 to 2001. Mr. Warnecke graduated from the University of Iowa with a BBA in Accounting, Finance and Management and passed the Certified Public Accountant exam in 1979.
Walter Messier, Ph.D.,Chief Technology Officer and Founder
Walter Messier is a Founder of Evolutionary Genomics and has served as its Chief Technology Officer since 2000 and has served as its Secretary since 2007. Dr. Messier has published in such prestigious scientific journals as Nature, Nature Medicine, Current Biology, and Science. Dr. Messier is recognized as an authority on the use and interpretation of Ka/Ks algorithms. Dr. Messier’s research on the detection of molecular-level positive selection in primates is well known. In addition to the research programs Dr. Messier developed and spearheads at Evolutionary Genomics, he is currently collaborating with colleagues in several areas, including identification and validation of novel targets for breast cancer therapeutics, identification and validation of novel targets for HIV/AIDS therapeutics, the role of molecular Darwinian selection in human speciation, and creation of more powerful algorithms for the detection of molecular Darwinian selection. Dr. Messier received his Masters of Science from the State University of New York at New Paltz, and his Ph.D. from the University of Albany (State University of New York).
Virginia Orndorff, Director and Founder
Virginia Orndorff has served as a member of the Evolutionary Genomics board of directors since 2000. Ms. Orndorff is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Sieyax, LLC of Colorado. From February 2015 to 2019, Ms. Orndorff was Executive Director, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Colorado Institute for Drug, Device and Diagnostic Development. From February 2012 to February 2020, Ms. Orndorff served as Chief Executive Officer of SixOne Solutions, LLC, an early-stage oncology company. She served on Colorado’s State Board of Pharmacy from March 2012 March 2016. She served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Evolutionary Genomics from its founding in 2000 to November 2010. From 1997 to 2000, Ms. Orndorff served as Vice President then President and Chief Executive Officer of GenoPlex, Inc. of Denver and served as Director of Technology/Business Development of NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, from 1993 to 1997. From 1989 to 1993 she served as the Director of Biotechnology Programs for the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute in Denver. Ms. Orndorff was employed by the Georgia Institute of Technology as Manager of a biotechnology start-up incubator (the Health Science Technology Center) from 1987 to 1989 and; prior to that, served eight years at Genex Corporation of Gaithersburg, Maryland, first as a Laboratory Supervisor then as Manager of Technology Assessment. From 1975 to 1979, Ms. Orndorff had served as a Microbiologist at Stanford Research Institute (now, SRI International). She received a BA in Biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz, an MA in Microbiology from California State University at San Jose, and an MBA from Loyola College (where she graduated second in her class).
Mark Boggess, Ph.D., Director
Mark Boggess has served as a director of Evolutionary Genomics since 2010. Dr. Boggess has a diverse background in the animal sciences and animal industries. Born and raised on a typical Iowa farm, Boggess spent his early career as a swine and beef cattle extension specialist with the University of Idaho in Twin Falls; and as President of Salmon Creek Farms, LLC where he was responsible for development of the Salmon Creek Farms Natural Pork program and branded product line, at Independent Meat Company in Twin Falls, ID. Later, Dr. Boggess has served Director of Animal Science for the National Pork Board where he was responsible for program direction and industry funding coordination for research in pork quality; nutritional efficiency; sow lifetime productivity; genomics-genetics; alternatives to antimicrobials; production-management systems and bio-technology; and as the National Pork Board liaison for animal science to producers, academia, media, regulators and the National Pork Producers Council and directed numerous pork industry based advisory groups. Dr. Boggess then served as the National Program Leader for Food Animal Production and the National Program Leader for Pasture, Forage and Rangeland Systems for the USDA Agriculture Research Service in Beltsville, Maryland. In this role, Dr. Boggess directed ARS research for diverse programs in genetics and genomics, nutrition, reproductive physiology, animal welfare and meat quality. Dr. Boggess also directed research to improve pasture and rangeland management practices and land-use strategies, improve and restore the ecology of western rangelands and improve the capacity and efficiency of forage based food animal production systems. Dr. Boggess more recently served as the Director of the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison, WI. This research laboratory is unique in the world in that research programs are fully integrated and include research and expertise in soil science/ecology, forage breeding and management, forage handling and environmental engineering, animal nutrition, animal genetics/genomics, nutrient cycling/waste management, and dairy systems sustainability and management. Dr. Boggess is currently serving as the Director of the US Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) for the USDA-ARS in Clay Center Nebraska. USMARC is the largest research center of its kind in the world and focuses on improvement of the productivity, efficiency, animal well-being, meat quality and safety, and the sustainability of the meat animal industries in the US. Dr. Boggess attended Iowa State University receiving a BS degree in Animal Science in 1983. After receiving an MS degree from Cornell University with a major in Animal Breeding in 1985, Dr. Boggess returned to Iowa State University, receiving his PhD in 1990, also in Animal Breeding.