Our Management Team
- Howard W. Robin, President and Chief Executive Officer
- Nevan Elam, Senior Vice President, Head of the Pulmonary Business Unit
- Gil M. Labrucherie, General Counsel and Secretary
- John Nicholson, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
- John S. Patton, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief Research Fellow
- Dorian Rinella, Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Facilities
- Tim Warner, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Affairs
Howard W. Robin
President and Chief Executive Officer
Howard Robin joined Nektar Therapeutics in January 2007. He has more than 25 years of successful biopharmaceutical experience managing clinical development and commercial operations. Most recently, Mr. Robin served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sirna Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering RNAi-based therapies for serious diseases and conditions, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), hepatitis C, asthma, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Huntington’s disease. During his tenure at Sirna, Mr. Robin successfully re-launched the company and created significant shareholder value that led to its acquisition by Merck for $1.1 billion.
Prior to Sirna, Mr. Robin spent 20 years at Berlex Laboratories, the U.S. pharmaceutical subsidiary of the German pharmaceutical firm Schering AG. From 1991 to 2001, he served as corporate vice president and general manager of their U.S. Therapeutics division and was responsible for the development of drugs, such as Betaseron® (Interferon beta-1b) for multiple sclerosis and Fludara® (fludarabine phosphate) for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, generating annual global sales in excess of $800 million. He also served as a member of the Executive Committee. Prior to that, he was vice president of Finance and Business Development and CFO of Berlex. Earlier in his career, Mr. Robin was a senior associate with Arthur Andersen and Co.
Mr. Robin holds a B.S. in Accounting and Finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.
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Nevan Elam
Senior Vice President, Head of the Pulmonary Business Unit
Nevan Elam joined Nektar in January 2005 as Senior Vice President, Corporate Operations and General Counsel. In this role he ran one of Nektar’s strategic business units as well as all legal affairs of the company. Previously, Elam was Chief Financial Officer of E2open, Inc., a technology corporation with operations in six countries. Elam was initially responsible for corporate and business development before he became E2open’s Chief Financial Officer and ran the company’s infrastructure including finance, legal, human resources and facilities. Prior to his management roles at E2open, Elam was a corporate partner in the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he represented corporations in the life sciences as well as emerging growth companies in other industries.
Mr. Elam holds a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School in Cambridge Massachusetts, and a bachelor of arts from Howard University in Washington D.C.
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Gil M. Labrucherie
General Counsel and Secretary
Gil M. Labrucherie joined Nektar in September 2005 as Vice President of Corporate Legal. Prior to joining Nektar, from October 2000 to September 2005, Mr. Labrucherie was Vice President of Corporate Development at E2open, Inc., where he was responsible for global corporate alliances and merger and acquisition activity. Prior to E2open, he was the Senior Director of Corporate Development at AltaVista Company, an Internet search company, where he was responsible for merger and acquisition transactions. Mr. Labrucherie began his career as an associate in the corporate practice of the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Graham & James (DLA Piper Rudnick).
Mr. Labrucherie received his Juris Doctorate from University of California Boalt Hall School of Law, where he was a member of the California Law Review and Order of the Coif, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Davis.
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John Nicholson
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
John Nicholson was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the company in December 2007. Mr. Nicholson reports to Nektar’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Howard W. Robin. Previously, Mr. Nicholson was Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Business Operations at Nektar. Prior to joining Nektar, he served in a number of leadership roles at Bayer Schering Pharma AG, including Vice President, Corporate Development and Treasurer of Schering Berlin Inc., President of Schering Berlin Insurance Company, President of Bayer Pharma Chemicals Inc., and President of Schering Berlin Capital Corporation. Mr. Nicholson also served as Treasurer of Berlex Inc.
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John S. Patton, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Chief Research Fellow
John S. Patton, Ph.D., our co-founder, has served as Chief Research Fellow since April 2008 and a director since July 1990. Prior to that he was Chief Scientific Officer since November 2001. John S. Patton is a world-renowned expert in the delivery of peptides and proteins. Before co-founding Inhale Therapeutic Systems, he led the drug delivery group at Genentech, Inc., where he demonstrated the feasibility of systemic delivery of large molecules through the lungs.
Prior to joining Genentech, Inc., Dr. Patton was a tenured professor at the University of Georgia. He has published a wide range of scientific articles, presented his work in national and international arenas, and been awarded numerous awards in recognition of his contributions to pharmaceutics and drug delivery. Dr. Patton received his Ph.D. in biology from the University of California, San Diego, and held post-doctoral positions in biomedicine at Harvard Medical School and the University of Lund in Sweden.
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Dorian Rinella
Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Facilities
Dorian Rinella joined Nektar in April 2007. Her experience spans 16 years at biotechnology companies leading strategic and tactical aspects of human resource functions, including managing issues surrounding mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Nektar, Rinella headed the human resource programs at Sirna Therapeutics, where she was part of the diligence team during the acquisition process by Merck. She was also part of the team that started SUGEN and transitioned it from start-up through two acquisitions initially by Pharmacia and then by Pfizer Inc. In addition, she served as Vice President, Human Resources and Facilities at Kosan Biosciences and Corgentech/Anesiva.
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Tim Warner
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs
Tim Warner joined Nektar in March 2007 as Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs. He is a seasoned corporate communications professional with a background in investor relations, government affairs and corporate communications. Prior to joining Nektar, Mr. Warner served as a senior vice president with Hill & Knowlton, where he led a large portion of the firm’s U.S. healthcare practice, focusing on clients in the biopharmaceutical, medical device, consumer products and clinical research industries. Previously, Mr. Warner served as the director of Corporate Communications for Immunex Corporation and senior vice president of Marketing for Widevine Technologies, both based in Seattle, Washington. Prior to his work in the private sector, Mr. Warner worked in the U.S. Congress, primarily in his position as Communications Director for U.S. Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the current chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.
Mr. Warner holds a B.A. from The American University in Washington, D.C.
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