Management Team

Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer

Lawrence M. Blatt, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer

Julian Symons, D.Phil.
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Lesley Ann Calhoun
Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Officer

Matthew W. McClure, M.D.
Executive Vice President, Chief Development Officer

Sushmita M. Chanda, Ph.D., DABT
Executive Vice President, Head of Chemical Operations

David B. Smith, Ph.D.
Tse-I Lin
Vice President, Early Compound Development, Belgian Site Head

Tse-I Lin, Ph.D.
Kristina Engeseth
Vice President, Head of People & Culture

Kristina Engeseth

Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer

Lawrence M. Blatt, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Lawrence M. Blatt, Ph.D., M.B.A., has served as our Chief Executive Officer and a member of our board of directors since February 2018. Prior to co-founding the Company, Dr. Blatt served as the Global Head of Infectious Diseases and Vaccines at Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, a pharmaceutical company, from November 2014 to February 2018. Dr. Blatt co-founded Alios BioPharma, Inc., a biotechnology company, and served as its Chief Executive Officer, President and Director from January 2009 until its acquisition by Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson in November 2014. Prior to Alios, he served as Chief Scientific Officer at lnterMune, Inc., a biotechnology company, from 2002 to 2008. Dr. Blatt previously served on the board of directors of ReViral Ltd. and Alveo Technologies, Inc., which he co-founded in 2014, and Meissa Vaccines, Inc. Dr. Blatt received a B.S. in Microbiology from Indiana University Bloomington, an M.B.A. from California State University, Northridge, and a Ph.D. in Public Health Administration from the University of La Verne.

Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer

Julian Symons, D.Phil.

Julian A. Symons, D.Phil., has served as our Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer since May 2018. Prior to joining the Company, from January 2010 to March 2015, Dr. Symons served in various roles at Alios BioPharma, Inc., which was acquired by Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, a pharmaceutical company, in November 2014, including Senior Director, Product Development from January 2013 to March 2015, and Vice President, Disease Area Research & Development Leader, Respiratory Infections from March 2015 to April 2018. Prior to his time with Alios BioPharma, Inc., Dr. Symons held positions with the Pharmaceutical Division of F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd (1999 – 2010) and the Departments of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh (1986 – 1990), University of Sheffield (1990 -1994) and the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford (1994-1999). Dr. Symons received a B.Sc. (Hons) I in Biochemistry and Physiology from the University of Central Lancashire, UK and a D.Phil. in Immunology and Autoimmunity from the University of York, UK.

Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Lesley Ann Calhoun

Lesley Ann Calhoun has served as our Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer since June 2020. Ms. Calhoun has served as a Director of Tango Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company since March 2021, and also serves as the Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. From August 2016 to June 2020, Ms. Calhoun served in various roles at Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc., a drug discovery, development, and commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, including most recently as Senior Vice President, Finance & Administration and Chief Accounting Officer. Prior to these roles, Ms. Calhoun served as Vice President of Finance at Hyperion Therapeutics, Inc., a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company, from January 2013 to September 2015, continuing in her role after it was acquired by Horizon Pharma pie, a pharmaceutical company, in May 2015. Ms. Calhoun also previously served as Senior Director of Finance, Corporate Controller at lnnoviva, Inc. (formerly Theravance, Inc.), a biopharmaceutical company, from August 2005 to January 2013. Earlier in her career, Ms. Calhoun was a member of the audit practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP from 1989 to 2001. Ms. Calhoun received her B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from San Francisco State University, College of Business and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive).

Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Officer

Matthew W. McClure, M.D.

Matthew W. McClure, M.D., has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer since August 2019. Prior to joining the Company, Dr. McClure served as Chief Medical Officer at Second Genome, a biotechnology company, from March 2018 to June 2019. From November 2012 to March 2018, Dr. McClure served as Senior Director at Alios BioPharma. Dr. McClure received a B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from the University of California, San Diego, and an M.D. from Duke University.

Executive Vice President, Chief Development Officer

Sushmita M. Chanda, Ph.D., DABT

Sushmita M. Chanda, Ph.D., serves as our Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer. Prior to joining the Company, from February 2010 to July 2018, Dr. Chanda served as Vice President, Preclinical Development at Alios BioPharma, Inc., which was acquired by Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, a pharmaceutical company. Dr. Chanda was at F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd, a multinational healthcare company, from 2000 to 2010, where over the years she served in various roles of increasing responsibilities, including Senior Director and Head of Nonclinical Safety. Prior to Roche, she was a toxicologist at Sugen Inc., a pharmaceutical company (bought by Pfizer), from May 1998 to January 2000. Dr. Chanda is a Diplomate of American Board of Toxicology (DABT). Dr. Chanda received her B.S. and M.S. from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, India and a Ph.D. in Toxicology and Pharmacology from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship in Toxicology at USEPA through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Executive Vice President, Head of Chemical Operations

David B. Smith, Ph.D.

David B. Smith, Ph.D., has been our Head of Chemical Operations since August 2018. In this position, Dr. Smith serves as a member of our Senior Leadership Team and is responsible for all chemistry related functions of the company at our South San Francisco location, including basic and applied chemical research in the areas of Process, Analytical, Nucleos(t)ide and Oligonucleotide Medicinal Chemistry and all related chemical outsourcing efforts. He is also responsible for the coordination and management of Aligos Intellectual Property across our sites. From May 2015 to August 2018, he served as Vice President at Janssen Pharmaceuticals and was the Global Disease Area Stronghold Leader for Hepatology in the Infectious Diseases Therapy Area. From February 2010 to April 2015 he held positions as Associate Director, Director and Senior Director of Product Development at Alios and Janssen. Dr. Smith started his industrial career as an Associate Research Scientist at Syntex in 1991, where he held positions as Research Scientist and Research Scientist II. Following the acquisition of Syntex by Roche in 1995, he continued in this role rising to Principal Research Scientist in 1998, a position he held until February 2010. During the period from 1993 to 2000, while at Syntex and Roche, he held a simultaneous annual position during winter quarter as Consulting Associate Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University, teaching a Special Topics course in Organic Chemistry. Dr. Smith was an NIH post-doctoral scholar at Stanford University from 1989 through 1991. He earned his BS in Chemistry from UC Berkeley in 1984, graduating with highest honors. His graduate work was initiated at Yale University, where he earned the MS and MPhil degrees in 1988, and he completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1989. Dr. Smith has been a Medicinal Chemist, Project Team Lead Chemist, Discovery Team Leader and Development Team Leader and has worked in the area of Infectious Diseases for over 20 years, helping to advance multiple small molecule, nucleos(t)ide and oligonucleotide drug candidates into clinical trials. He is a co-inventor on 75 issued US patents and a co-author on more than 45 peer reviewed scientific publications.

Tse-I Lin

Vice President, Early Compound Development, Belgian Site Head

Tse-I Lin, Ph.D.

Tse-I Lin, Ph.D., is currently Vice President, Early Compound Development and Site Head of Aligos Therapeutics at our site in Leuven, Belgium. In this position, Dr. Lin serves as a member of our Senior Leadership Team. Tse-I started his professional career as a Post-Doc at Bayer Pharmaceutical in Germany. He subsequently joined JNJ/Tibotec BVBA in 2003 and worked for over 12 years at Janssen Pharmaceutical in antiviral drug discovery and development, focusing on HBV and HCV, including the HCV protease inhibitor, Simeprevir, which was launched in the US in 2013. In 2010, Tse-I took a leadership position in Shanghai, China for JNJ where he built the Antiviral R&D group. In 2013 he joined Roche as the Head of Molecular Virology Group and led discovery groups in both Shanghai and Basel, Switzerland. In 2015 he became the Leader of the China Acceleration Strategy for the Roche Infectious Disease group. In 2016 he re-joined Janssen’s Infectious Disease group and continued to work on HBV, as an Early Development Project Team Leader. Dr. Lin obtained his B.S. in Public Health from National Taiwan University, Masters and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Freie Berlin University in Germany.

Kristina Engeseth

Vice President, Head of People & Culture

Kristina Engeseth

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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Lawrence M. Blatt, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer

Lawrence M. Blatt, Ph.D., M.B.A., has served as our Chief Executive Officer and a member of our board of directors since February 2018. Prior to co-founding the Company, Dr. Blatt served as the Global Head of Infectious Diseases and Vaccines at Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, a pharmaceutical company, from November 2014 to February 2018. Dr. Blatt co-founded Alios BioPharma, Inc., a biotechnology company, and served as its Chief Executive Officer, President and Director from January 2009 until its acquisition by Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson in November 2014. Prior to Alios, he served as Chief Scientific Officer at lnterMune, Inc., a biotechnology company, from 2002 to 2008. Dr. Blatt previously served on the board of directors of ReViral Ltd. and Alveo Technologies, Inc., which he co-founded in 2014, and Meissa Vaccines, Inc. Dr. Blatt received a B.S. in Microbiology from Indiana University Bloomington, an M.B.A. from California State University, Northridge, and a Ph.D. in Public Health Administration from the University of La Verne.

Jack B. Nielsen

Lead Independent Director

Jack B. Nielsen has served as a member of our board of directors since August 2018. Since August 2017, Mr. Nielsen has also served as a Managing Director at Vivo Capital LLC, a healthcare focused investment firm and was promoted as a Managing Partner in March 2021. Prior to joining Vivo Capital, Mr. Nielsen worked within the Novo Holdings A/S organization and its venture activities since 2001 in several roles, most recently being employed as a Senior Partner based in Copenhagen, Denmark. From 2006 to 2012, Mr. Nielsen was employed as a Partner at Novo Ventures (US) Inc. in San Francisco, where he established the office which provides certain consultancy services to Novo Holdings A/S. Mr. Nielsen is currently a member of the board of directors of Harmony Biosciences Holdings, Inc., ALX Oncology Holdings Inc., Instil Bio, Inc., and IO Biotech, Inc., all of which are publicly traded companies, and several other private companies. Mr. Nielsen, in the past, has served on the boards of directors of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Merus N.V., Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Apollo Endosurgery, Inc., each of which is, or has been, publicly traded. Mr. Nielsen received a M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark and a Masters in Management of Technology and Economics from the Center for Technology, Economics and Management, Technical University of Denmark.

K. Peter Hirth, Ph.D.

Director

K. Peter Hirth, Ph.D., has served as a member of our board of directors since August 2018. In 2001, Dr. Hirth co-founded Plexxikon, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, and served as its Chief Executive Officer until April 2013. Dr. Hirth currently serves on the boards of directors of IO Biotech, a publicly traded clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, Vaxcyte, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company, and several private companies. Dr. Hirth holds a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from Heidelberg University, Germany and completed his post-doctoral work at the University of California, San Diego.

Carole Nuechterlein, J.D.

Director

Carole Nuechterlein, J.D., has served as a member of our board of directors since August 2018. Ms. Nuechterlein joined F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. in 2001 and currently serves as Head of the Roche Venture Fund. She currently serves as a member of the boards of directors of a number of private companies, including Enthera S.r.L., Vivet Therapeutics, CiVi Biopharma, Inc., and Mission Therapeutics Ltd. Ms. Nuechterlein previously served as a member of the board of directors of Entrada Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company from April 2020 to June 2023, Millendo Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded clinical stage biopharmaceutical company from March 2017 to June 2021, BCTG Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company from September 2020 to August 2021, and AveXis, Inc., a publicly traded gene therapy company from October 2014 to May 2017. She received a B.A. in English and Humanities from Valparaiso University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan.

James Scopa

Director

James Scopa has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2021. Mr. Scopa served as a Managing Director of MPM Capital from May 2005 to June 2017. Mr. Scopa spent the prior 15 years working at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown and Thomas Weisel Partners advising growth companies in biopharmaceuticals and medical devices. At Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown, Mr. Scopa served as Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking, and at Thomas Weisel Partners, Mr. Scopa served on the Investment Committee for TWP’s Health Care venture fund as well as Co-Director of Healthcare Investment Banking. Mr. Scopa currently serves on the board of directors of various biotechnology companies, including Neuron23, Inc., and Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. He previously served on the boards of DICE Therapeutics (sold to Eli Lilly), Semma Therapeutics, Inc. (sold to Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated), True North Therapeutics, Inc. (sold to Bioverativ Inc.), and iPierian, Inc. (sold to Bristol-Myers Squibb). Mr. Scopa also currently serves as a member of the Investment Advisory Committee and Advisory Board of One Ventures, an Australian based venture capital firm. Mr. Scopa holds an A.B. from Harvard College, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Bridget Martell, M.A., M.D.

Director

Bridget Martell, M.A., M.D. has served as a member of our board of directors since November 2021. Dr. Martell has also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Artizan Biosciences, Inc., a biotechnology company from July 2021-August 2023, a part-time Healthcare Venture Partner with AlleyCorp, an early stage venture capital company, from June 2021-May 2023, and an independent board director of Achieve Life Sciences, since March 2020,  POINT Biopharma (now a wholly owned subsidiary of Lilly, Inc.), from June 2023-December 2023, and Ayala Pharmaceuticals, since October 2023,  all public biopharmaceutical companies. Under the auspice of her consulting practice, BAM Consultants LLC, Dr. Martell has held various leadership positions in early stage, private companies, including Chief Medical Officer of Nobias Therapeutics from August 2020 to August 2021, Verseau Therapeutics from October 2020 to September 2021, and RRD International, a boutique Contract Research Organization, from April 2018 to January 2020. Concurrently, Dr. Martell held various full and part-time positions at Kura Oncology, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, including VP, Clinical Development from October 2017 to January 2020, as Acting Chief Medical Officer from January 2020 to August 2020 and as Senior Scientific Advisor from August 2020 to December 2021. From January 2015 to September 2017, Dr. Martell served as Senior Vice President, New Product Development at Juniper Pharmaceuticals, a publicly-held specialty pharmaceuticals company. From October 2011 to April 2013, she was Executive Director, Head Medical Affairs at Purdue Pharma L.P., a privately-held pharmaceutical company. Prior to that, Dr. Martell held leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Pfizer, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, from 2005 to 2011. Dr. Martell received her B.S. in microbiology from Cornell University, her M.A. in molecular immunology from Boston University and her M.D. from the Chicago Medical School. She completed her internship and residency in internal medicine and was an internal medicine chief resident and RWJ Faculty Clinical Scholar at Yale University. Dr. Martell is board certified in both internal and addiction medicine.