Management | Blue Water Vaccines, Inc.

Joseph Hernandez founded Blue Water Vaccines, Inc. in October 2018 and has been the Chief Executive Officer & Executive Chairman of the Company since inception. He has a background in company creation, early stage technology development, as well as private and public market financing. He brings leadership to the team, backed by a strong educational foundation in biology, medicine, molecular genetics, microbiology, epidemiology, marketing, and finance. Over the course of his career, he has founded or led eight entrepreneurial companies in cutting edge areas of healthcare and pharmaceuticals. After years of building his career at Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) from December 1998 to January 2001 and Digene from 2005 to 2009 (acquired by Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)) from 2005 to 2009, Mr. Hernandez founded and became the President and CEO of Innovative Biosensors from 2004 to 2009. Later, Mr. Hernandez served as the Founder and Chairman of Microlin Bio Inc. from August 2013 to January 2017 and as Chairman of the Board of Ember Therapeutics (OTCMKTS:EMBT) from April 2014 to January 2019. He was also the Chairman of Sydys Corporation from May 2016 to January 2019. In 2018, Mr. Hernandez founded Blue Water Vaccines, an early stage biotechnology company focused on manufacturing a universal influenza vaccine in partnership with the University of Oxford in England. He has served as Chairman of Blue Water Vaccines, Inc. since 2019. Most recently, in January 2020, he founded and in May 2020 sold Noachis Terra, Inc. (acquired by Oragenics (NYSE:OGEN)) a company developing a vaccine for COVID-19. From May, 2020 to September 2021, Mr. Hernandez was also the chairman and chief executive officer of Blue Water Acquisition Corp. (“BWAC”), a special purpose acquisition company which completed its initial public offering in December 2020. On September 9, 2021, Blue Water Acquisition Corp. consummated a business combination with Clarus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (OTCPink:CRXT) (“Clarus”). Mr. Hernandez served as a director of the post-combination entity, Clarus, until August 2022. He completed his undergraduate studies in Neuroscience, M.Sc. in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, M.B.A. all at the University of Florida and is completing his M.Sc. in Chronic Disease Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Yale University.

Jon Garfield served as our interim Chief Financial Officer since September 2021 until the consummation of our initial public offering, February 2022, upon which he became our full-time Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Garfield has over 20 years of financial leadership experience, including with healthcare companies. Mr. Garfield regularly provides consulting services to private equity funds and privately held companies. Mr. Garfield has served as the CEO of Unity MSK since February 2021. He has served as a consultant of Bay State Physical Therapy from June 2018 to February 2019 and also as a director beginning in February 2019. From 2016 to 2017, Mr. Garfield was the CFO of Pyramid Healthcare, also a private equity based healthcare company. Prior to Pyramid Healthcare, Mr. Garfield joined Monte Nido as CFO in 2012 until 2016. Before Monte Nido, he served as CFO of Clearant, Inc., a publicly-traded medical device company, and Network IP and Simplified Development, where he oversaw the finance and treasury functions, implemented systems upgrades, and pursued a number of growth initiatives. Mr. Garfield was previously a Co-Founder and Vice President of Acquisitions for Coach USA, a consolidator of ground transportation entities throughout North America, and was heavily involved in over 50 acquisitions and the eventual IPO of the company. Earlier in his career, he held positions with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Arthur Andersen. Mr. Garfield was the Chief Financial Officer of BWAC from December 2020 until it completed a business combination with Clarus in September 2021.Mr. Garfield received a B.B.A. in accounting from the University of Texas.

Erin Henderson has been the Chief Business Officer for Blue Water Vaccines, Inc. since September 2020 and has extensive experience in program and project management, business operational management, marketing, fundraising and public-private partnership development and implementation. She joined the company in September 2019. Prior to joining Blue Water Vaccines, since 2010, Ms. Henderson was the Founder and Managing Partner for The Aetos Group, a management consulting company working with public, private, governmental and non-governmental organizations focused on operational efficiency, Lean Six Sigma implementation, revenue development strategy and real estate acquisition strategy. Erin began her career at Lockwood Greene Engineers, followed by The Facility Group. She led local, state and federal governmental relations for the University of West Georgia and was responsible for identifying and securing financial support from both the public and private sector. Erin completed her undergraduate studies in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University. Erin serves on the Board of the Greater Gainesville Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Danscompany of Gainesville.