13 February 2020 - - US-based Omeros Corp. (NASDAQ: OMER) has appointed Kurt Zumwalt, former global treasurer of Amazon.com, Inc., to Omeros' board of directors, the company said.

He will also serve in a consulting role at Omeros. Zumwalt brings significant expertise in developing comprehensive business relationships with major banks and financial institutions.

A 15-year veteran of Amazon, Zumwalt was responsible for managing the company's cash, investments and debt financings, in addition to other finance-related duties.

During his tenure, he led his team in raising short- and long-term financings in excess of USD 40bn for Amazon.

Zumwalt built and scaled Amazon's treasury and financing capability as the company's revenue grew from USD 8bn to over USD 250bn on an annualised basis. Zumwalt managed Amazon's relationships with more than 45 banks globally.

He left Amazon in August 2019.

Prior to joining Amazon in 2004, Zumwalt was Assistant treasurer at PACCAR, treasurer at ProBusiness Services until its acquisition by ADP in 2003, and has also held various financial roles at Wind River Systems, Intel Corp. and Bank of America.

An avid tennis player, Zumwalt is on the board of directors of both the United States Tennis Association and the USTA Foundation.

He played an instrumental role in securing USD 750m of financing for the USTA from 2014 to 2018 to complete the funding for the organisation's strategic transformation.

He earned his B.A. degree in economics and political science from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.B.A. in finance and accounting from the University of Washington.

Omeros is an innovative biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering, developing and commercialising small-molecule and protein therapeutics for large-market as well as orphan indications targeting complement-mediated diseases, disorders of the central nervous system and immune-related diseases, including cancers.

In addition to its commercial product Omidria (phenylephrine and ketorolac intraocular solution) 1%/0.3%, Omeros has multiple Phase 3 and Phase 2 clinical-stage development programmes focused on complement-mediated disorders and substance abuse, as well as a diverse group of preclinical programs including GPR174, a novel target in immuno-oncology that modulates a new cancer immunity axis recently discovered by Omeros.

Small-molecule inhibitors of GPR174 are part of Omeros' proprietary G protein-coupled receptor platform through which it controls 54 new GPCR drug targets and their corresponding compounds. The company also exclusively possesses a novel antibody-generating platform.