Chris has served as our Chief Business Officer since the company’s inception. He also serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Oppilan Pharma and the Chief Business Officer of Zomagen Biosciences.
Chris brings more than 20 years of experience in the life science industry with operational responsibility and leadership for multiple functional areas, including business development, legal affairs, finance, alliance management and operations. Chris has negotiated a broad range of equity and debt financings, strategic partnerships, acquisitions and licensing transactions.
Previously, Chris served as an executive at Akarna Therapeutics (acquired by Allergan for up to $1.2B), Ardea Biosciences (acquired by AstraZeneca), Xencor (Nasdaq: XNCR), X-Ceptor Therapeutics (acquired by Exelixis) and Aurora Biosciences (acquired by Vertex Pharmaceuticals). Earlier in his career, he was a lawyer at Cooley LLP. Chris received a JD and MBA in Finance from the University of Southern California and a BA in Economics from the University of California, San Diego.