Tenzing Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (NASDAQ: TZAC), and Reviva Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Delaware corporation and a California-based clinical stage pharmaceutical company developing therapies that address unmet medical needs in the areas of central nervous system, cardiovascular, metabolic, and inflammatory diseases, announced today that Mr. Les Funtleyder will join the Board of Directors of the combined public company following the completion of Tenzing's proposed business combination (the "Business Combination") with Reviva, subject to the approval of his election by Tenzing's shareholders at the special meeting of Tenzing's shareholders that will be held to approve the Business Combination and related matters.
Mr. Funtleyder is a Healthcare Portfolio Manager at E Squared, where he is responsible for conducting fundamental and valuation analysis of public and private companies within the healthcare industry. Prior to E Squared, Mr. Funtleyder was the Director of Strategic Investments for Opko Health. Mr. Funtleyder was a portfolio manager for the Miller Tabak Health Care Transformation Fund. He joined Miller Tabak after managing a healthcare portfolio for Provident Advisors. Before joining Provident, Mr. Funtleyder worked as a medical device analyst at UBS Warburg. He also covered Biotechnology stocks at Bigelow and Company. Mr. Funtleyder's industry experience includes directing clinical and business research at Innovative Health Solutions, a joint venture of Merck and Wyeth, and as a consultant to HMOs and hospitals for Coopers & Lybrand and Health Strategies Group. He started his healthcare career at Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
Mr. Funtleyder is currently a consulting partner to Bluecloud Health (a private equity fund that invests in African healthcare companies) as well as an advisor to Zentinyel (a venture fund that invests in South American Healthcare companies). Presently, Mr. Funtleyder is on the board of Applied Therapeutics where he served as interim CFO from December 2018 to April 2019, Acalis Health, where he sits on the audit committee, and Picket Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Funtleyder wrote Healthcare Investing: Profiting from the New World of Pharma, Biotech, and Health Care Services, which bridges the gap between health reform, innovation and investing. He is widely quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Financial Times, and is a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, and NPR for his perspective on the healthcare sector and its constituent companies.
Mr. Funtleyder earned his Masters of Public Health from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (where he is currently a professor), and studied English and Economics at Tulane University.
"We are fortunate to have Mr. Funtleyder agree to join the Board of Directors, following the completion of the Business Combination with Tenzing," stated Laxminarayan Bhat, Ph.D., Founder, President and CEO of Reviva. "Mr. Funtleyder brings a wealth of knowledge of the healthcare industry, and will enable our shareholders to benefit from his experience and competencies in both public and private markets."
About Tenzing Acquisition Corp.
Tenzing is a blank check company formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. Tenzing's efforts to identify a prospective target business are not limited to a particular industry or geographic region.
About Reviva Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Reviva Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company developing therapies that address unmet medical needs in the areas of central nervous system, cardiovascular, metabolic, and inflammatory diseases. Reviva's primary focus is developing its lead product candidate, RP5063 (brilaroxazine), for the treatment of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. Reviva also intends to develop RP5063 for treating PAH and IPF. RP5063 is a serotonin, dopamine, and nicotinic receptor active compound, which has successfully completed a global Phase 2 clinical trial and has shown clinical efficacy and safety for schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.
