Bertrand C. Liang, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A.
Chief Executive Officer
Bert Liang is a serial entrepreneur, scientist and clinician who has led efforts in the academic, industry and private equity/venture settings. He is CEO of Pfenex Inc., a protein company providing solutions for lead therapeutic, reagent, biodefense and biosimilar product needs via strain engineering and production expertise. He is also a General Partner at Forward Medical Sciences/Forward Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in health care investments particularly partnered with industry. He was previously Vice Chairman at Paramount Biosciences, where he led the private equity activities globally (from Shanghai to Frankfurt), President and CEO of Tracon Pharma (an oncology-focused portfolio company), and Vice President and Site Head, Development (Pre-clinical and Clinical), as well as Vice President, New Ventures (partnered with MPM Capital), at Biogen Idec. Dr. Liang joined Idec from Amgen, where he led the development to approval of various cytokines, including Neulasta® whose sales have eclipsed $8B since introduction into the market in 2002. Dr. Liang serves on the Board of Directors of several organizations, including Tracon Pharma and La Jolla Pharmaceuticals, and he previously held academic positions at the National Cancer Institute, University of Colorado and University of Vermont, where he headed Human Medical Genetics.
Dr. Liang received his medical degree from Northwestern Medical School, his doctorate in molecular biology from the University of Bolton, and attended business school at Regis University and the MIT Sloan School of Management. Dr. Liang trained in internal medicine at Brown University, Neurology and Oncology at the University of Michigan, with post-doctoral studies in molecular biology and genetics at the National Center for Human Genome Sciences and National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
Patrick K. Lucy
Vice President of Business Development
Mr. Lucy played a leadership role on the original team that developed Pfēnex Expression Technology™ and subsequently led the successful commercial launch of the platform in 2004. He has led the negotiation and completion of numerous technology partnering, licensing, manufacturing and collaboration agreements with the federal government and pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Mr. Lucy is experienced in the areas of alliance management, licensing, intellectual property, biopharmaceutical operations, and biopharmaceutical facility design, construction and validation.
Prior to his role in Pfenex Inc., Mr. Lucy was employed by The Dow Chemical Company for nine years in business development roles for the Dowpharma business unit. Mr. Lucy has been in the biotechnology industry for over eighteen years and was previously employed by Collaborative BioAlliance, Inc., Lonza Biologics, Celltech Biologics and Repligen Corporation.
Mr. Lucy holds a B.S. in Biology from Villanova University.
Henry W. Talbot, Ph.D.
Vice President of Research and Operations
Dr. Talbot received his Ph.D. degree from Oregon State University in microbiology. His experience in the biotechnology industry is focused on process development and manufacturing.
Dr. Talbot initially worked in industrial enzyme discovery and fermentation/recovery development at Novo Nordisk (now Novozymes) on the development of novel alpha-amylases, proteases and lipases, where he was Group Leader of Microbiology. He subsequently joined Mycogen Corporation and served as Director of Fermentation and Manufacturing, leading process development and 150,000 liter manufacturing of insecticidal proteins produced in Pseudomonas fluorescens. In 1998, Mycogen was acquired by The Dow Chemical Company, and Dr. Talbot assumed the role of Director of Bioprocessing and later as Site Leader for Dow’s biotechnology facility in San Diego, leading a variety of industrial biotechnology and biopharmaceutical projects as well as site operations.
Charles H. Squires, Ph.D.
Vice President of Discovery and External Partnerships
Dr. Squires received his Ph.D. in biology from Purdue University and was a post-doctoral associate at Cornell University studying microbial gene regulatory mechanisms. Dr. Squires held a number of research and leadership positions at Synergen Inc., later acquired by Amgen, in the area of discovery and development of protein pharmaceuticals. Later he joined Energy Biosystems where he led biocatalyst development. He joined The Dow Chemical Company in San Diego in 1999 as senior director for biotechnology research and development. During the period 1999-2004 he led the development of the Pseudomonas fluorescens gene expression platform for its application to the production of human pharmaceuticals and vaccines. In 2004 he assumed the R&D leadership upon the launch of the Pfēnex Expression Technology™ by the Dowpharma business unit. At Pfenex Inc. Dr. Squires leads discovery research as well as the Company’s research partnerships with both pharmaceutical developers and governmental agencies.
Patricia Lady
CPA, MBA, CMA
Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller
Ms. Lady was appointed Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller in January 2011 after having served as Director of Finance and Corporate Controller of Pfenex Inc. since 2009. She is responsible for Finance and Accounting. Prior to joining Pfenex, Ms. Lady had experience in finance, corporate development, business development and corporate accounting of companies ranging in size from start-ups through Fortune 500. Most recently she was with Neurocrine Biosciences Inc., a product-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative pharmaceutical products, where she served as Director of Finance. Ms. Lady also served as Corporate Controller of Avanir Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on novel therapeutic products for the treatment of central nervous system disorders.
Ms. Lady holds an M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Bachelor's in Accounting from California State University, Fullerton. Ms. Lady is a licensed certified public accountant in the state of California, a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and a certified management accountant.