Jeff Ajer has served as a Nektar Director since September 2017. Mr. Ajer was the former Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at BioMarin, a global biotechnology company that develops and commercializes innovative therapies for people with serious and life-threatening rare disorders. Mr. Ajer has more than 25 years of experience driving commercialization for rare diseases and specialty medicines, including leading commercial planning for late-stage pipeline programs, product marketing, reimbursement, and sales operations. Since joining BioMarin in 2005 as one of the first sales and marketing employees, he has held roles of increasing responsibility including Vice President, Commercial Operations, The Americas; Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer; and Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. Mr. Ajer has been integral in establishing BioMarin’s commercial infrastructure and global footprint and has played a leadership role in the launches and growth strategies for BioMarin’s commercial brands including Brineura™, Vimizim®, Kuvan® and Naglazyme®. Prior to his time at BioMarin, Mr. Ajer served as Vice President, Global Transplant Operations at Genzyme Corporation and held positions in sales, marketing, and operations at SangStat Medical Corporation and ICN Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Ajer serves on the board of directors of Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. a publicly traded clinical stage biopharmaceutical focused on medicines for serious and rare diseases. He also serves on the advisory board of Serna Bio, a private preclinical biotech company working in the field of RNA-targeted therapeutics. He received his B.S. degree in chemistry and MBA from the University of California, Irvine.