Mark P. Lappe
Founder, Chief Executive Officer
Founder, Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Lappe co-founded Inhibrx in 2010 and has served as Chief Executive Officer since our inception. He also serves as the Chairman of our board of directors. Mr. Lappe has extensive expertise in the biotechnology industry with over 30 years of experience in executive management, investment management, and executive recruiting, having built the executive teams of over 40 start-up biotechnology and medical device companies. Prior to founding Inhibrx, Mr. Lappe was the founder and Managing Partner of Efficacy Biotech Fund, a fund focused on strategic investment in public biotechnology companies.
Founder, Chief Scientific Officer, EVP Corporate Strategy
Dr. Eckelman co-founded Inhibrx in April 2010 and currently serves as our Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy. From August 2015 to November 2018, he served as our Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Biotherapeutics. From 2010 until August 2015, Dr. Eckelman served as our Vice President of Scientific Operations. He has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2018.
Dr. Eckelman is the head of our research team, overseeing several key functional areas spanning discovery to therapeutic development. In addition, he has critical responsibilities in corporate strategy and operations. Prior to co-founding Inhibrx, Dr. Eckelman was a Research Investigator in the biotherapeutics group at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation. He conducted his graduate research at the Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and received a Ph.D. in Molecular Pathology from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), School of Medicine. Dr. Eckelman received his B.S. in Molecular Biology and his M.S. in Biology from UCSD.
Founder, EVP Early Research
As one of our co-founders, Dr. Deveraux leads target identification and validation, as well as therapeutic lead selection, and oversees our pipeline development strategy. Prior to founding Inhibrx, he spent 10 years at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF). Dr. Deveraux led groups of Ph.D./M.D. level investigators in the conception and generation of novel target identification and validation platforms. He was a key member of the team that transitioned the first GNF therapeutic antibody from bench-top to clinical trials. His research on cell death at the Stanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute has been highly cited. Dr. Deveraux received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Utah School of Medicine.
EVP Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Wagner has served as our Chief Medical Officer since August 2015 and leads the clinical translation of our biotherapeutic pipeline. From November 2012 until August 2015, Dr. Wagner served as a medical oncologist at Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center and as Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Thoracic, Head & Neck Medical Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he led cancer immunotherapy trials as the local principal investigator. From July 2009 until September 2011, he trained at MD Anderson Cancer Center as a fellow in Medical Oncology.
Dr. Wagner’s scientific work at Genentech Inc. and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation focused on drug discovery and predictive biomarker development. He received the highest academic honors and was a scholar of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation. Dr. Wagner received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen in Germany.
Chief Financial Officer
Ms. Deck leads our accounting and finance team and is responsible for all internal and external reporting requirements, as well as day-to-day accounting activities. She joined Inhibrx in October 2018, bringing over 15 years of experience in the life science industry. Prior to joining our team, Ms. Deck held various accounting and finance positions of increasing responsibility with Apricus Biosciences Inc., Hologic Inc., Gen-Probe Inc., and Cytori Therapeutics Inc. Ms. Deck holds a B.S. and M.S. in Accounting and is an active licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of California.
EVP, Chief Technical Operations Officer
Dr. Amanullah is responsible for the late-stage activities required for the commercialization of our programs. He brings more than 20 years of experience in process development, technical operations, cGMP clinical manufacturing, commercialization and life cycle management of antibody therapeutics, vaccines, gene therapy, cell-based therapeutics, and recombinant proteins.
Prior to joining Inhibrx, Dr. Amanullah held executive and senior-level positions with aTyr Pharma, Gilead Sciences, Genentech, and Merck. He’s the author of 55 peer-reviewed publications, and his work has been presented at over 120 conferences. He’s on the editorial board of the Biotechnology & Bioengineering and mAb journals. Dr. Amanullah received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Birmingham (UK) and conducted postdoctoral studies with the University of Birmingham, Novo Nordisk, Merck Sharpe & Dohme, and University College London.
EVP Translational Research
Dr. Heidt leads our translational research and is responsible for non-clinical research in support of multiple IND filings annually. Prior to joining Inhibrx, she spent 10 years at Novartis in biologics drug discovery in multiple roles, from oncology target validation through candidate optimization for varied therapeutic modalities, including antibody-drug conjugates and immune-activating agents. Dr. Heidt received her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and completed her postdoctoral research at the Genomics Institute for the Novartis Research Foundation.
EVP Clinical Operations
In 2020, Mr. Jensen joined our team as Executive VP of Clinical Operations and is responsible for the success of clinical programs through leadership, strategic oversight, and team direction. From 2016 through 2019, he served as Senior VP of Clinical Development at La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co, where he led the clinical and global safety teams, achieving FDA and EMA approval for an investigational synthetic human peptide (Giapreza®).
Mr. Jensen has over 30 years of experience in drug development at biotech and pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. and Europe. Previously, he was Vice President of Clinical Operations and Clinical Lead at Pfizer, leading the development operations team for axitinib (Inlyta®), and held senior positions at several biotech and contract research companies (e.g., Metabasis, Excaliard, Syneos, PPD, Quintiles). He specializes in managing global teams and leading partnerships with research investigators and key opinion leaders. Mr. Jensen received his B.S. in Biochemistry and Biophysics from Oregon State University.
VP Protein Engineering
Dr. Timmer leads many aspects of our research, including protein engineering, assay development, and new technologies. He has been instrumental in developing our multi-specific antibody formats for conditional immune activation and generally oversees single-domain antibody discovery projects. Prior to joining Inhibrx in 2010, Dr. Timmer completed his postdoctoral training in Jack Dixon’s laboratory in the Department of Pharmacology at UCSD. Dr. Timmer received his Ph.D. from the UCSD Biomedical Sciences Program, performing his thesis research in the laboratory of Guy Salvesen at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute.
VP, General Counsel
Ms. Pollema serves as our General Counsel, managing our legal affairs. Prior to joining Inhibrx, she spent 10 years in private law practice with two large full-service law firms where she counseled both public and private companies in a range of transactional and corporate matters, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financings, corporate governance, and general corporate matters. Ms. Pollema received her Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.
Chairman
Mr. Lappe co-founded Inhibrx in 2010 and has served as Chief Executive Officer since our inception. He also serves as the Chairman of our board of directors. Mr. Lappe has extensive expertise in the biotechnology industry with over 30 years of experience in executive management, investment management, and executive recruiting, having built the executive teams of over 40 start-up biotechnology and medical device companies. Prior to founding Inhibrx, Mr. Lappe was the founder and Managing Partner of Efficacy Biotech Fund, a fund focused on strategic investment in public biotechnology companies.
Director
Dr. Eckelman co-founded Inhibrx in April 2010 and currently serves as our Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy. From August 2015 to November 2018, he served as our Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Biotherapeutics. From 2010 until August 2015, Dr. Eckelman served as our Vice President of Scientific Operations. He has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2018.
Dr. Eckelman is the head of our research team, overseeing several key functional areas spanning discovery to therapeutic development. In addition, he has critical responsibilities in corporate strategy and operations. Prior to co-founding Inhibrx, Dr. Eckelman was a Research Investigator in the biotherapeutics group at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation. He conducted his graduate research at the Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and received a Ph.D. in Molecular Pathology from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), School of Medicine. Dr. Eckelman received his B.S. in Molecular Biology and his M.S. in Biology from UCSD.
Director
Mr. Forsyth has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2018. Since 1994, he has served as a portfolio manager, a managing director, and Chief Investment Officer Income & Growth Strategies with Allianz Global Investors (Allianz). Mr. Forsyth is the head of the Allianz Income and Growth Strategies team and a member of its U.S. Executive Committee. He has portfolio management, trading, and research responsibilities, and oversees all aspects of the Income & Growth platform’s business, including product development and implementation.
Mr. Forsyth has been the lead portfolio manager for the Allianz High Yield Bond strategy since its inception in August 1994 and assumed lead portfolio management responsibility for the firm’s convertible strategy in 1998. In addition to management responsibility for institutional clients worldwide, Mr. Forsyth supervises multiple open-end and closed-end mutual funds. Mr. Forsyth has 24 years of investment industry experience. Mr. Forsyth currently serves as a member of the board of directors of LiveStyle, a leading international music event producer, and TicketSauce, an event management solutions software company. Mr. Forsyth received a B.B.A. (Bachelor of Business Administration) from the University of Iowa.
Director
Dr. Kayyem has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2018. He is the founder of GenMark Diagnostics Inc. and is currently a consultant to GenMark’s management and board of directors and participates as the “Founder Observer” on the GenMark board of directors. From May 2010 until February 2018, Dr. Kayyem served in various leadership positions at GenMark including Senior Vice President of Research and Development, Chief Scientific Officer, President, and Chief Executive Officer as the company evolved from Osmetech plc.
In 2006, Dr. Kayyem founded and served as a member of the Board of Directors of privately-held Calimmune Inc. until its acquisition by CSL Behring in 2017. In 1995, he founded Clinical Micro Sensors Inc. to commercialize technical innovations he developed while serving as a Senior Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). In 2000, Clinical Micro Sensors Inc. was sold to Motorola Inc. and was subsequently purchased by Osmetech plc in 2005. From June 2000 until December 2004, Dr. Kayyem served as Vice President of Life Sciences at Motorola. In October 2004, he co-founded the biotechnology fund management company, Efficacy Capital Limited, and, until September 2009, served as a managing partner. Dr. Kayyem received a combined B.S. and M.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Caltech.
Director
Ms. Manhard has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2020. She has been a member of the board of directors of Heron Therapeutics Inc. (Heron) since October 2019 and has served as their Executive Vice President, Drug Development since 2016. Ms. Manhard also served as a director of Heron from 2014 to 2016 until she joined the management team. She has more than 25 years of experience in drug development, regulatory affairs, and pharmaceutical operations.
From 2006 to 2016, Ms. Manhard served as the Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Development Operations at Ardea Biosciences Inc. (Ardea). In her role at Ardea, she was instrumental in the development and 2015 regulatory approval of lesinurad (Zurampic). Prior to joining Ardea in 2006, she was President of her own consultancy firm, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for Exelixis Inc. and held multiple regulatory positions at Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc., a division of the Warner-Lambert Company, supporting development and commercialization of anticancer and antiviral products, including nelfinavir (Viracept).
Ms. Manhard was also previously with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in regulatory affairs, responsible for oncology compounds, including paclitaxel (Taxol) and infectious disease compounds, including didanosine (Videx) and stavudine (Zerit). She began her career in clinical research with Eli Lilly and Company and G.H. Besselaar Associates (Covance Inc.). Ms. Manhard is a member of the board of trustees for the Fleet Science Center. She received a B.S. in Zoology and a B.A. in French from the University of Florida.
With proven track records in biotherapeutics and a commitment to synergistic teamwork, we find that our people are as dynamic as our technology.
Founder, Chief Executive Officer
Founder, Chief Scientific Officer, EVP Corporate Strategy
Founder, EVP Early Research
EVP Chief Medical Officer
Chief Financial Officer
EVP, Chief Technical Operations Officer
EVP Translational Research
EVP Clinical Operations
VP Protein Engineering
VP, General Counsel
Chairman
Director
Director
Director
Director