NeonMind Biosciences Inc. announced that effective May 30, 2022, Rob Tessarolo has resigned from his role as Chief Executive Officer. Penny White has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of NeonMind. Ms. White continues as a member of the Board of Directors.

Robert Tessarolo has 26 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Most recently, he held the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of NeonMind from January 2021 to May 2022. Prior to that, he acted as President and Chief Executive Officer of Mind Medicine (Mindmed) Inc., a psychedelic drug discovery and drug development company now traded on the NEO exchange, from September 2019 to January 2020.

Prior, Mr. Tessarolo was President and Chief Executive Officer of Cipher Pharmaceuticals Inc., a diversified specialty pharmaceutical company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Mr. Tessarolo has extensive strategic experience and an impressive operational record of scaling high growth organizations in the pharmaceutical industry through product innovation and M&A. Cipher Pharmaceuticals Inc., which focuses on acquisitions, inlicensing, and selective investments in drug development, under his leadership, was restored to positive EBITDA with the execution of seven business development transactions in less than 18 months. He was the first employee of Watson Pharmaceuticals in Canada.

Under his leadership revenue grew from zero to $190 million and he led the Canadian integration of major M&A transactions including Watson integration of Warner Chilcott (~$5 billion global acquisition), Forest Laboratories (~$28 billion global acquisition) and Allergan (~$66 billion global acquisition) in less than 18 months. He has secured tens of millions in financing and hundreds of millions in revenue for companies under his leadership. Penny White has worked in the capital markets for 24 years as a founder, officer, Director, audit committee member and securities lawyer.

She has been recognized on PROFIT Magazine's W100 list of top Canadian female entrepreneurs. Ms. White has raised over $50 million for companies she founded and has executed more than 100 private to public transactions. For the past five years, she has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of Better Plant Sciences Inc. Ms. White was an initial director and officer of Merus Labs Inc., which was acquired by Norgine B.V. in 2017 for $342 million.

She was the President and Chief Executive Officer of NeonMind from September 2019 to January 2021 and has been a Director of NeonMind since September 2019. She was Executive Chairman of NeonMind from January 2021 to May 2022. In 2015 and 2016, under Penny's leadership as CEO, her law firm was included in the PROFIT 500 Fastest Growing companies, based on revenues.

Ms. White has completed the Oxford Leading Sustainable Corporations Programme and the Oxford Climate Emergency Programme at Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. She is a member in good standing of the Law Society of British Columbia in Canada and the Washington State Bar Association.