Inspire

Christy L. Shaffer, Ph.D. has served as our Chief Executive Officer and as a director since January 1999, as our President since June 2005, and as a member of our Development Committee since March 2009. Dr. Shaffer joined us in 1995 as the first full-time employee and held several senior positions prior to being appointed our Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Shaffer has over 20 years of experience in drug development within the pharmaceutical industry. She previously served in a variety of positions in the clinical research division of Burroughs Wellcome Co. including International Project Leader for cardiopulmonary programs. She served as the Associate Director of pulmonary research in the department of pulmonary/critical care medicine at Burroughs Wellcome immediately prior to joining Inspire. Dr. Shaffer coordinated several IND submissions and one NDA submission at Burroughs Wellcome. Dr. Shaffer received a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Tennessee and completed two years of postdoctoral training in cardiovascular research in the Biochemistry Department at the Chicago Medical School before her one-year postdoctoral appointment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

R. Kim Brazzell, Ph.D. has served as our Executive Vice President and Head, Ophthalmology Business since January 2009. Prior to that he held the position of Senior Vice President of Ophthalmic Research and Development (R&D) from August 2004 until December 2008. In his current capacity, Dr. Brazzell oversees the development and implementation of Commercial, R&D, Business Development, and Legal strategies as they relate to Ophthalmology, to ensure optimal management and growth of this important part of our business. He also serves an important external role in further developing Inspire' s presence and depth in ophthalmology. Dr. Brazzell has 20 years of experience in the ophthalmic pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Inspire, he served as Global Head of Clinical R&D and Senior Vice President, U.S. R&D, of Novartis Ophthalmics from 2000 until 2004. He has extensive experience in the discovery and development of multiple successful ophthalmic products including Visudyne^®, Zaditor^®, Rescula^® and Betoptic S^®. In addition to managing the global clinical R&D group for Novartis Ophthalmics, Dr. Brazzell built and managed the U.S.-based R&D group for Ciba Vision Ophthalmics in Duluth, Georgia, while serving as their Vice-President, R&D, and served as Associate Director, R&D, at Alcon Laboratories, Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas. Dr. Brazzell also has expertise in pharmacokinetics and biopharmaceutics and held positions directing groups in these areas at Alcon Laboratories, Inc. and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., where he managed activities across several therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, pulmonary and ophthalmology. Dr. Brazzell received a B.S. in Pharmacy and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Kentucky.

Joseph K. Schachle has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief, Commercial and Corporate Operations since August 2007. He previously served as our Executive Vice President and Chief, Commercial Operations from February 2007 until August 2007. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales from January 2004 until February 2007 and as Vice President, Marketing and Sales from January 2003 until January 2004. In his current capacity, he is responsible for establishing a marketing and sales infrastructure in North America to commercialize AZASITE^®, to promote ELESTAT^® and to commercialize potential products from our pipeline. Mr. Schachle has over 19 years experience in pharmaceutical marketing and sales, and has had responsibility for the successful launch of major new products including the marketing of GlaxoSmithKline' s Advair^®. His experience includes marketing and sales positions of significant responsibility at The Upjohn Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Inspire and MedImmune, Inc. Prior to joining Inspire, he most recently served as Director of Marketing for infectious disease products at MedImmune from April 2002 until January 2003, where he was responsible for strategic brand management and promotion of Synagis^® and Cytogam^®. From June 1998 until April 2001, Mr. Schachle was Director, Marketing for GlaxoSmithKline. Mr. Schachle originally joined Inspire in April 2001 as Vice President, Marketing and Sales. Mr. Schachle holds a B.B.A. in Marketing from James Madison University and an M.B.A. from Old Dominion University.

Joseph M. Spagnardi has served as our Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary since March 2006. In his current role, he oversees the legal and intellectual property departments. He previously served as our Vice President and Deputy General Counsel from May 2005 to March 2006. Prior to joining Inspire, Mr. Spagnardi spent over ten years at GlaxoSmithKline (and its predecessor GlaxoWellcome), most recently as Assistant General Counsel for R&D Business Development Transactions, where he structured and negotiated strategic transactions relating to the development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products, development compounds and novel research technologies. Mr. Spagnardi began his career at the law firm of Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP), where his practice focused on multi-national transactions in the M&A and Securities area. Mr. Spagnardi received a J.D. with Honors from the University of North Carolina School of Law and a B.S. in Business Administration cum laude from the University of Delaware.

Thomas R. Staab has served as our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer since May 2003. He is responsible for leading the finance, information technology, investor relations, strategic planning/business development and facilities departments. Prior to Inspire, he held senior financial positions with Triangle Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company listed on the NASDAQ national exchange prior to its acquisition by Gilead Sciences, Inc. in 2003. These positions included Vice President and Treasurer and Acting Chief Financial Officer. His experience includes equity financing, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, drug commercialization, SEC reporting, treasury management and investor relations. Before joining Triangle, Mr. Staab spent eight years working for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP providing audit and business advisory services to national and multi-national corporations in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper and communications industries. He currently serves on the Board of the North Carolina Biosciences Organization and is a member of its Audit Committee. Mr. Staab is also a Board Member and Audit Committee Chairman for the Triangle Community Foundation. He was named CFO of the Year in the Small Public Company category in 2009 by the Triangle Business Journal. Mr. Staab is a Certified Public Accountant and received a B.S. in Business Administration and a Masters of Accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Benjamin R. Yerxa, Ph.D. has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief, Research and Development since September 2008. He previously served as our Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President, Strategic Operations from February 2007 to September 2008. Prior to that, he served as our Chief, Scientific Operations and Alliances from December 2005 until February 2007. Before that, he held the position of Senior Vice President, Discovery from March 2003 until December 2005. Dr. Yerxa joined Inspire in August 1995 and has held several additional positions, including Vice President of Discovery and Senior Director of Preclinical Programs. Dr. Yerxa created a novel strategic opportunity for Inspire by developing the concept of ophthalmic uses for Inspire' s core P2Y2 technology. As a Senior Research Chemist his work focused on designing and synthesizing novel P2Y receptor agonists, such as diquafosol. While in chemistry, he was the preclinical project leader for diquafosol. In 2004, Dr. Yerxa received the Southeastern Region American Chemical Society (ACS) Industrial Innovation Award for discoveries related to his work with P2Y2 receptors. Dr. Yerxa received the Triangle Business Journal' s "40 under 40" award, recognizing his contributions in business and leadership. He was also a finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year in NC 2003. Prior to joining Inspire, Dr. Yerxa was a Research Scientist at Burroughs Wellcome Co. Dr. Yerxa also worked at Biophysica, Inc. where he synthesized radiocontrast agents. He developed scale-up procedures for the industrial production of Oxilan, a marketed imaging product. Dr. Yerxa received a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of California, San Diego, and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Irvine.