James Schmidt

James Schmidt joined Escient as Vice President Finance and Administration in September 2020. He has over 30 years of executive financial experience in the biomedical and technology sectors. Since 2013, he has worked with multiple companies as consulting CFO ranging from private, start-up to publicly traded companies encompassing both financial and operational activities. He served as Vice President of Finance and Administration at Receptos, Inc. from 2009 to 2013, where he was responsible for the finance and certain operational functions. Mr. Schmidt was a member of the team which successfully completed Receptos’ IPO. From 2007 to 2009 he served as Senior Director of Finance and Operations for Apoptos, Inc. which was acquired by Receptos, Inc. in May 2009. He was formerly Senior Director of Finance and Operations at Conforma Therapeutics from 2001 until its acquisition by Biogen Idec in 2006, where he assisted in the transition and integration of the companies. Prior to that, Mr. Schmidt served in various financial and operational roles with multiple companies. He started his career with Coopers Lybrand and received his B.S. in Accounting and Corporation Finance from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.