Xencor develops superior monoclonal antibody therapeutics to treat autoimmune disorders, asthma, allergic diseases and cancer.

Biotechnology

Xencor

Dr. Grunstein joins [Xencor](/org/xencor) from [Amgen](/org/amgen) Inc., where he served in several strategic business development roles. Most recently, he served as executive director, transactions, where he led product and platform technology transactions and managed [Amgen](/org/amgen)’s out-licensing and corporate equity portfolio. Prior to joining [Amgen](/org/amgen), Dr. Grunstein earned an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Molecular Oncology at Genentech, Inc. He earned a Ph.D. in biology from the University of California, San Diego, and a B.S. in biology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Jeremy Grunstein

Dr. Dahiyat has been [Xencor](/org/xencor)’s president and chief executive officer since the Company’s incorporation in August 1997, and is the co-founder of [Xencor](/org/xencor), and co-inventor of [Xencor](/org/xencor)’s breakthrough XmAb® technology. He has led the Company in raising over $700 million in public and private financing, creating a diverse portfolio of monoclonal antibody clinical programs for the treatment of life-threatening and debilitating diseases, and establishing alliances with leading biopharmaceutical companies that generated over $350 million in upfront payments. Dr. Dahiyat holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Caltech and B.S. and M.S.E. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from the [Johns Hopkins University](/org/johns-hopkins-university). He has co-authored numerous scientific papers in the fields of protein design and drug delivery, is an inventor of over 30 US and numerous foreign patents, and has received scientific awards from the American Chemical Society, the Controlled Release Society, the Protein Society and Caltech.

Bassil I. Dahiyat

Dr. Valente has more than 20 years of experience in late-stage biopharmaceutical product development. She most recently served as a senior vice president at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, and as its global head and co-lead of global product development of its oncology and hematology therapeutic area. Dr. Valente was responsible for setting the strategy for the oncology/hematology product development department, including clinical development, collaboration activities and budget management. She played a critical role in the development of new therapies for patients with serious illnesses, including the approvals of Gazyva®, Venclexta®, Polivy® and Hemlibra®. Dr. Valente has held various positions with increasing responsibilities at Genentech and then at Roche after Genentech was acquired by Roche, including vice president for global product development for oncology, hematology franchise and senior group medical director, leader for hematology development. Prior to Genentech, she served in senior-level positions at Anosys, Inc. and Coulter Pharmaceutical, Inc., and earlier in her career, she held academic positions at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Valente serves on the Boards of Directors of Myovant Sciences GmbH and Immatics N.V. Dr. Valente received her M.D. from the University of Missouri and completed her internal medicine training at Oregon Health & Science University, followed by fellowships in hematology at Stanford University and oncology at UCSF.

Nancy Valente

Ms. Sandoz brings 25 years of wide-ranging healthcare experience to Xencor, where she is responsible for leading Xencor’s overall human resources strategy. Prior to joining Xencor, Ms. Sandoz served as Vice President, Human Resources at Surgical Care Affiliates, an OptumCare company, where she led teams in talent acquisition, compensation, and learning & organizational development. Before Surgical Care Affiliates, she held progressively more senior roles in human resources at Amgen, following a role as a program manager on their first oncology BLA submission, for Vectibix® (panitumumab). Earlier in her career, she worked in management consulting at Deloitte and in clinical research at Parke-Davis (now Pfizer). Ms. Sandoz received a B.S. in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.S. in nursing from the University of Michigan.

Jennifer Sandoz

Mr. Gustafson has more than 25 years of diverse experience in corporate finance, with 15 years in senior management roles leading the finance departments of multi-faceted, dynamic and growth oriented biopharmaceutical industry organizations. Mr. Gustafson currently serves as chief financial officer of OmniAb. Previously, he served as chief financial officer Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and prior to that, he served as chief financial officer at Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc., where he managed several successful financings and established a three-year mid-range planning process to align resource allocations to long term strategic goals. Before Halozyme, Mr. Gustafson worked at Amgen for over 18 years, most recently as vice president, finance, with responsibility for financial planning and cost accounting for worldwide manufacturing covering seven manufacturing sites. During his tenure at Amgen, Mr. Gustafson also served as treasurer, vice president, finance and chief financial officer of Amgen International based in Switzerland. Mr. Gustafson holds a B.A. degree in accounting from North Park University in Chicago and an M.B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles.

Kurt Gustafson

Kevin C. Gorman, Ph.D has over 25 years of experience in biotechnology.  He is a founder of and is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Neurocrine Biosciences.  He previously served as Chief Operating Officer after having served as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer and Senior Vice President of Business Development of Neurocrine Biosciences. From 1990 until joining Neurocrine in 1993, Dr. Gorman was a principal of Avalon Medical Partners, L.P. where he was responsible for the early stage founding of Neurocrine and several other biotechnology companies such as Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Metra Biosystems, IDUN and ARIAD Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Gorman received his Ph.D. in immunology and M.B.A. in Finance from the University of California, Los Angeles and did further post-doctoral training at The Rockefeller University. 

Kevin C. Gorman

Dr. Feigal is a partner at NDA Partners, a strategy consulting firm, where she leads efforts in designing and executing product development and regulatory strategies in the areas of cell therapies, medical imaging, hematology and oncology. She is also adjunct faculty at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University, where she teaches FDA drug law and medical research ethics and law. Dr. Feigal was formerly senior vice president of research and development at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine; executive medical director, global development, at Amgen; and chief medical officer at Insys Therapeutics. She was a founding director of the American Course on Drug Development and Regulatory Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. Prior to UCSF, Dr. Feigal was director of medical devices and imaging at the Critical Path Institute and vice president of clinical sciences at the Translational Genomics Research Institute. From 1992 to 2004, she held leadership roles at the National Cancer Institute, where she directed the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis after serving as deputy director of the division and as a senior investigator in the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program. Dr. Feigal received her M.D. from the University of California, Davis and completed an internal medicine residency at Stanford University and a hematology/oncology fellowship at University of California, San Francisco.

Ellen G. Feigal

Mr. Rosemark brings to Xencor over 25 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience, leading regulatory affairs and quality assurance organizations, developing and registering products with regulatory authorities and supporting them throughout their lifecycles. Prior to joining Xencor, he most recently served as vice president, regulatory affairs at Beigene (USA), where he developed and evaluated regulatory approval strategies for multiple development projects and combinations thereof and held responsibility for 14 INDs. Before Beigene, Mr. Rosemark was vice president, regulatory affairs and quality assurance at CymaBay Therapeutics, where he led the regulatory strategies for several mid-to-late stage programs, several of which with preferential designations with health authorities. From 2003 to 2014, he was vice president, regulatory affairs and quality assurance at Exelixis, where he led to the regulatory team on the Cometriq® program, taking it from discovery through approvals in the U.S. and EU. Earlier in his career he held roles of increasing responsibility in regulatory affairs at Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Ciba Vision and Bausch & Lomb Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Rosemark received a B.S. in chemistry from Cleveland State University.

Kirk Rosemark

Dr. Desjarlais oversees all aspects of discovery and research at the company including technology development, protein and antibody engineering and generation of drug candidates and has served as chief scientific officer since 2014. Prior to joining Xencor in 2001, Dr. Desjarlais was an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Penn State University, where he developed protein engineering methods. He then conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Desjarlais received a B.S. in physics from the University of Massachusetts and a Ph.D. in biophysics from Johns Hopkins University. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley.

John R. Desjarlais

Mr. Kuch has primary responsibility for financial reporting, budgeting, cash-flow management, investments, information technology and facilitiesfor the company. He has served as Xencor’s chief financial officer since 2018. He has extensive experience working with emerging companies through the IPO process. Prior to joining Xencor in 2000, he worked over 15 years in public accounting, most recently as a Director at Price Waterhouse. Mr. Kuch is a C.P.A. and received his B.S. and M.S. in accounting from the University of Illinois.

John J. Kuch

Ms. Rosa-Bjorkeson was most recently executive vice president and chief strategy and development officer at [Mallinckrodt](/org/mallinckrodt) Pharmaceuticals, where she was responsible for corporate and therapeutic area strategy, business development and new product commercialization. Before assuming this role, she was senior vice president of new product commercialization, in which she was responsible for shaping the company’s pipeline programs for optimal patient benefit and access. Prior to joining [Mallinckrodt](/org/mallinckrodt), Ms. Rosa-Bjorkeson was executive vice president and president of biosimilars at [Baxalta](/org/baxalta), a role in which she developed the biosimilars strategy, managed post spin-off efforts from Baxter and oversaw a fully integrated unit including program management, research, clinical development, manufacturing, commercialization and business development. Before joining [Baxalta](/org/baxalta), she held various roles of increasing responsibility at [Novartis](/org/novartis), including vice president and head of its multiple sclerosis business unit; vice president, business development and licensing, U.S.; vice president, respiratory, U.S.; and country head and president for [Novartis](/org/novartis) Sweden. Throughout her 17 years at [Novartis](/org/novartis), Ms. Rosa-Bjorkeson’s experience spanned sales, marketing, general management and country operations, and she led multiple launches including the successful launch of Gilenya®. She is a member of the board of directors for Deirdre’s House, a Morris County, New Jersey center for children who are victims of abuse or neglect and for children who have witnessed domestic violence, and she also serves on the board of the New Jersey City University Foundation. Ms. Rosa-Bjorkeson earned an MBA, an M.S. in chemistry and a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Texas, Austin.

Dagmar Rosa-Bjorkeson

Eric P. Kowack

Ms. Eckert joined Xencor as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary in September 2019. Previously she served as vice president, corporate legal at Synthetic Genomics, Inc. In that role she negotiated licensing and financial transactions and supported other corporate legal matters. Prior to Synthetic Genomics, Ms. Eckert served as associate general counsel at Sequenom and as senior director, legal affairs at Prometheus Laboratories. At Prometheus, she structured transactions, managed substantial patent litigation and supported the growth of the company’s commercial organization. Earlier in her career, she was an associate at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and at Jones Day. Ms. Eckert earned a B.A. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings School of Law.

Celia Eckert

Allen Yang

Mr. Ranieri has more than 20 years of senior level biopharma human resources leadership and currently serves as executive vice president of human resources and corporate affairs at BioMarin, where he manages and directs human resources worldwide. Prior to this role he served as executive vice president, human resources at Dendreon Corporation, and executive vice president, human resources & administration at Sepracor, Inc. Earlier in his career, Mr. Ranieri served in executive positions at Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc., Genencor International, and Smithkline Beecham. He received a B.A. from Villanova University, and an M.A. in organizational development from Rider University.

Richard Ranieri

A. Bruce Montgomery, M.D., has more than 30 years of drug development, operations and financing experience, including positions at Genentech, Inc., Pathogenesis Corporation, Corus Pharma, Gilead Sciences, and Cardeas Pharma. He is currently Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of Avalyn Pharma. Dr. Montgomery served 4 years as Senior Vice President of Gilead and 6 years as Chief Executive Officer of Corus Pharma, a specialized biotechnology company that he founded, and which was acquired by Gilead in 2006. While at Gilead, Dr. Montgomery successfully led the development of Cayston (aztreonam) as a treatment for cystic fibrosis patients. Dr. Montgomery also served as Executive Vice President of Research and Development at PathoGenesis Corporation until its acquisition by Chiron Corporation in 2000. Dr. Montgomery is a board certified internist and pulmonologist. Montgomery received his B.S. in Chemistry (Magna cum Laude, Outstanding Chemistry Major [Merck Award]), and M.D. (Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society) from the University of Washington, Seattle. 

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