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JESSE SHEFFERMAN

Jesse Shefferman

Co-founder, Director, Chief Executive Officer

Jesse Shefferman is a co-founder of Protara and has led the Company since its inception through the addition of two late-stage assets, the establishment of multiple late-stage development programs and its listing on NASDAQ in early 2020…

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JESSE SHEFFERMAN

Co-founder, Director, Chief Executive Officer

Jesse Shefferman is a co-founder of Protara and has led the Company since its inception through the addition of two late-stage assets, the establishment of multiple late-stage development programs and its listing on NASDAQ in early 2020. Mr. Shefferman has spent over twenty years in the biopharma industry holding several strategic leadership and financial roles.

Prior to co-founding Protara, Mr. Shefferman was Vice President and Head of Business Development at Retrophin Inc., a leading rare diseases company where Jesse was a member of the executive leadership team and executed a number of company-defining transactions.

Prior to Retrophin, Mr. Shefferman served as Director, Strategy and Business Development at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he focused on hepatology and rare disease programs. Mr. Shefferman previously served as an investment banker with Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers Inc., where he focused on providing strategic and financial advice to the management teams and boards of directors of numerous biopharmaceutical companies.

Mr. Shefferman holds an MBA and Certificate in Health Sector Management from Duke University and a B.A. in Accounting from Gordon College.

JACQUELINE ZUMMO

JACQUELINE ZUMMO, PhD, MPH, MBA

Co-founder, Senior Vice President, Chief Scientific Operations Officer

Dr. Jacqueline Zummo is a co-founder of Protara and has served as Senior Vice President, R&D Operations since March 2019 and previously served as the Company’s Vice President, Research Operations since November 2017…

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JACQUELINE ZUMMO, PhD, MPH, MBA

Co-founder, Senior Vice President, Chief Scientific Operations Officer

Dr. Jacqueline Zummo is a co-founder of Protara and has served as Senior Vice President, R&D Operations since March 2019 and previously served as the Company’s Vice President, Clinical Research and Medical Affairs since November 2017. Dr. Zummo has over 15 years of experience in senior leadership roles in the biopharma industry, with a strong track record of streamlining clinical development programs and driving successful regulatory outcomes. In addition to her work in clinical development, Dr. Zummo has been instrumental in the launch and commercialization of multiple products through strategic relationship building with KOLs, generating HEOR analytics, and communicating real-world value to managed care organizations.

Prior to joining Protara, Dr. Zummo was Assistant Vice President, Medical Affairs at Vyera Pharmaceuticals, LLC, with prior clinical development, operations and medical affairs roles at Alkermes, Inc., Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc. (later acquired by Pfizer, Inc.).

Dr. Zummo holds a BA from Penn State University, an MBA in Healthcare Marketing from Benedictine University, an MPH in Epidemiology from Benedictine University, and a PhD in Global Health Sciences from Nova Southeastern University.

Patrick Fabbio CFO

Patrick Fabbio

Chief Financial Officer

Pat Fabbio is the Chief Financial Officer at Protara. Mr. Fabbio joined Protara in 2023 and brings more than 30 years of experience in financial, operational and transactional leadership in both publicly traded and privately held life science and pharmaceutical companies…

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Patrick Fabbio

Chief Financial Officer

Pat Fabbio is the Chief Financial Officer at Protara. Mr. Fabbio joined Protara in 2023 and brings more than 30 years of experience in financial, operational and transactional leadership in both publicly traded and privately held life science and pharmaceutical companies. Prior to joining Protara, he served as President and Chief Financial Officer at Rafael Holdings, Inc. Previously Mr. Fabbio was Chief Financial Officer at WindMIL Therapeutics Inc., Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., electroCore Medical, LLC, and Ikano Therapeutics, Inc. Vice President of Finance at NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Vice President of Finance, Innovation and Growth at Catalent Pharma Solutions, Inc. He also held roles in financial positions at Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC, UniPath Diagnostics Co., BioMatrix, Inc. and Coopers & Lybrand LLP. Mr. Fabbio is a board member of BeyondSpring Therapeutics, Inc.

Mr. Fabbio holds a BBA in Accounting from Pace University and an MBA in Finance from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Leonardo Viana Nicacio

Leonardo Viana Nicacio, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Leonardo Viana Nicacio is the Chief Medical Officer at Protara. He joined Protara in April 2025 and brings extensive experience in oncology clinical development and global medical affairs, with a focus on solid tumors. Prior to joining Protara…

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Leonardo Viana Nicacio, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Leonardo Viana Nicacio is the Chief Medical Officer at Protara. He joined Protara in April 2025 and brings extensive experience in oncology clinical development and global medical affairs, with a focus on solid tumors.

Prior to joining Protara, Dr. Nicacio served as Senior Vice President, Head of Clinical Development and Global Medical Affairs at Stemline Therapeutics, a subsidiary of the Menarini Group, where he was responsible for establishing and executing global strategies for solid tumor development. From 2017 to 2023, he held roles of increasing responsibility at Seagen (acquired by Pfizer in December 2023), most recently as Vice President of Clinical Development, overseeing programs across a range of cancers, including bladder, breast, gynecologic, lung, colorectal, and head and neck cancers.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Nicacio served as Senior Global Medical Lead in Global Medical Affairs at AstraZeneca, where he played an integral role in clinical, regulatory, and launch preparation activities leading up to the approval of durvalumab in bladder cancer. He also held leadership roles at Flatiron Health, where he was instrumental in building the first health technology platform focused on organizing real-world oncology data. Additionally, Dr. Nicacio held positions at Sanofi and YM Biosciences.

Dr. Nicacio holds a Medical Degree from Faculdade de Ciências Médicas de Minas Gerais and completed a molecular biology fellowship at the New York Blood Center. He is board-certified in internal medicine and medical oncology and has published extensively in top medical journals. Dr. Nicacio is an active member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the European Society of Medical Oncology.

William “Bill” Conkling

William “Bill” Conkling

Chief Commercial Officer

William “Bill” Conkling is the Chief Commercial Officer at Protara. He joined Protara in June 2025 and brings to the team more than two decades of experience developing and commercializing novel cancer and rare disease therapeutics…

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William “Bill” Conkling

Chief Commercial Officer

William “Bill” Conkling is the Chief Commercial Officer at Protara. He joined Protara in June 2025 and brings to the team more than two decades of experience developing and commercializing novel cancer and rare disease therapeutics. Mr. Conkling most recently served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Rafael Holdings, Inc., a holding company with interests in clinical and early-stage pharmaceutical companies. Prior to assuming his role as Chief Executive Officer, he served as the company’s Chief Commercial and Business Officer where he was responsible for building the commercial organization and developing the go-to-market strategy for the company’s assets.

Prior to joining Rafael Holdings, Inc., Mr. Conkling served as Vice President of Commercial at Immunomedics (acquired by Gilead Sciences in October 2020), where he built and led the U.S. commercial organization for the launch of Trodelvy, a breakthrough treatment for patients with triple negative breast cancer. Prior to Immunomedics, he spent more than a decade at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, most recently as Vice President, Global Commercial Head for CAR-T, where he held key leadership roles in the development and commercialization of several oncology products, including Kymriah, the first CAR-T therapy approved in the U.S.

Mr. Conkling holds an MBA with distinction from the Stern School of Business at New York University and a BA in Economics from Fordham University.

Shane Williams

Shane Williams, PhD

Chief People Officer

Shane Williams is the Chief People Officer at Protara. He joined Protara in April 2025 and brings over 25 years of life science industry experience in strategic and operational roles. Prior to joining Protara…

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Shane Williams, PhD

Chief People Officer

Shane Williams is the Chief People Officer at Protara. He joined Protara in April 2025 and brings over 25 years of life science industry experience in strategic and operational roles. Prior to joining Protara, he was the Chief People Officer at Century Therapeutics, where he drove the talent strategy, scaling the Team from three to several hundred Colleagues. He also established the core People systems and initiatives to support Century’s evolution into a public company and numerous inorganic expansions. Previously, Mr. Williams held leadership positions at QIAGEN, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), EgonZehnder, and Elan Pharmaceuticals.

He received his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge and conducted postdoctoral research at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST).

Mary Grendell

Mary Grendell

General Counsel, Corporate Secretary

Mary Grendell is the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Protara. Ms. Grendell joined Protara in October 2021 and brings over 15 years of experience on a range of strategic legal matters, including advising senior management and board of directors at life sciences…

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Mary Grendell

General Counsel, Corporate Secretary

Mary Grendell is the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Protara. Ms. Grendell joined Protara in October 2021 and brings over 15 years of experience on a range of strategic legal matters, including advising senior management and board of directors at life sciences companies. Previously, Mary served as Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Intercept Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Intercept, Mary served as Senior Counsel, Global Business Development, and Securities Group at Mylan (now part of Viatris) and as Senior Counsel, Transactions Group, in the Law Department at Amgen. She began her legal career at law firms Sullivan & Cromwell and Covington & Burling specializing in mergers and acquisitions.

Mary holds a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a BA from Yale University.

Justine O'Malley

Justine O’Malley

Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs

Justine O’Malley is the Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs at Protara. Ms. O’Malley joined Protara in 2020 and brings over 20 years of experience in investor, advocacy, and media relations as well as global, corporate, and internal communications…

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JUSTINE O’MALLEY

Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs

Justine O’Malley is the Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs at Protara. Ms. O’Malley joined Protara in 2020 and brings over 20 years of experience in investor, advocacy, and media relations as well as global, corporate, and internal communications at life sciences companies. Prior to joining Protara, Justine served as Vice President, Corporate Affairs at Intercept Pharmaceuticals; Vice President, Corporate Communications at G&W Laboratories; Vice President, Global Corporate Communications at PTC Therapeutics, and Head, Global Corporate Communications at NPS Pharmaceuticals (now Shire). Prior to joining NPS, Justine held roles of increasing responsibility at Merck.

Justine holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA from Northwestern University.

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