Kristina Engeseth, MBA,  joined Aligos in 2021 and is currently the Vice President, Head of People & Culture. In this position, Ms. Engeseth serves as a member of our Senior Leadership Team and is responsible for the human resources and facilities functions. She brings more than 20 years of diversified HR experience from a variety of different sectors. Prior to joining Aligos, Ms. Engeseth served in various HR leadership and diversity, equity, and inclusion roles at companies such as Nike, Electronic Arts, and Google. She began her career in the healthcare space, working for companies such as the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. Ms. Engeseth obtained her Bachelor’s and MBA degrees from University of Wisconsin-Madison with specializations in Strategic Human Resource Management and Healthcare Administration.

Tse-I Lin, Ph.D., is currently Vice President, Early Compound Development and Site Head of Aligos Therapeutics at our site in Leuven, Belgium. In this position, Dr. Lin serves as a member of our Senior Leadership Team. Tse-I started his professional career as a Post-Doc at Bayer Pharmaceutical in Germany. He subsequently joined JNJ/Tibotec BVBA in 2003 and worked for over 12 years at Janssen Pharmaceutical in antiviral drug discovery and development, focusing on HBV and HCV, including the HCV protease inhibitor, Simeprevir, which was launched in the US in 2013. In 2010, Tse-I took a leadership position in Shanghai, China for JNJ where he built the Antiviral R&D group. In 2013 he joined Roche as the Head of Molecular Virology Group and led discovery groups in both Shanghai and Basel, Switzerland. In 2015 he became the Leader of the China Acceleration Strategy for the Roche Infectious Disease group. In 2016 he re-joined Janssen’s Infectious Disease group and continued to work on HBV, as an Early Development Project Team Leader. Dr. Lin obtained his B.S. in Public Health from National Taiwan University, Masters and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Freie Berlin University in Germany.

David B. Smith, Ph.D., has been our Head of Chemical Operations since August 2018. In this position, Dr. Smith serves as a member of our Senior Leadership Team and is responsible for all chemistry related functions of the company at our South San Francisco location, including basic and applied chemical research in the areas of Process, Analytical, Nucleos(t)ide and Oligonucleotide Medicinal Chemistry and all related chemical outsourcing efforts. He is also responsible for the coordination and management of Aligos Intellectual Property across our sites. From May 2015 to August 2018, he served as Vice President at Janssen Pharmaceuticals and was the Global Disease Area Stronghold Leader for Hepatology in the Infectious Diseases Therapy Area. From February 2010 to April 2015 he held positions as Associate Director, Director and Senior Director of Product Development at Alios and Janssen. Dr. Smith started his industrial career as an Associate Research Scientist at Syntex in 1991, where he held positions as Research Scientist and Research Scientist II. Following the acquisition of Syntex by Roche in 1995, he continued in this role rising to Principal Research Scientist in 1998, a position he held until February 2010. During the period from 1993 to 2000, while at Syntex and Roche, he held a simultaneous annual position during winter quarter as Consulting Associate Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University, teaching a Special Topics course in Organic Chemistry. Dr. Smith was an NIH post-doctoral scholar at Stanford University from 1989 through 1991. He earned his BS in Chemistry from UC Berkeley in 1984, graduating with highest honors. His graduate work was initiated at Yale University, where he earned the MS and MPhil degrees in 1988, and he completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1989. Dr. Smith has been a Medicinal Chemist, Project Team Lead Chemist, Discovery Team Leader and Development Team Leader and has worked in the area of Infectious Diseases for over 20 years, helping to advance multiple small molecule, nucleos(t)ide and oligonucleotide drug candidates into clinical trials. He is a co-inventor on 75 issued US patents and a co-author on more than 45 peer reviewed scientific publications.

Sushmita M. Chanda, Ph.D., serves as our Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer. Prior to joining the Company, from February 2010 to July 2018, Dr. Chanda served as Vice President, Preclinical Development at Alios BioPharma, Inc., which was acquired by Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, a pharmaceutical company. Dr. Chanda was at F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd, a multinational healthcare company, from 2000 to 2010, where over the years she served in various roles of increasing responsibilities, including Senior Director and Head of Nonclinical Safety. Prior to Roche, she was a toxicologist at Sugen Inc., a pharmaceutical company (bought by Pfizer), from May 1998 to January 2000. Dr. Chanda is a Diplomate of American Board of Toxicology (DABT). Dr. Chanda received her B.S. and M.S. from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, India and a Ph.D. in Toxicology and Pharmacology from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship in Toxicology at USEPA through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Hardean Achneck is a seasoned clinical development executive with extensive experience across multiple therapeutic areas, including hepatology and infectious diseases.

Most recently, Dr. Achneck served as the Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Development at Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PLRX) where he oversaw all clinical programs, including those in hepatic diseases. Before joining Pliant, Dr. Achneck was the Vice President of Clinical Development and Clinical Research at Dicerna Therapeutics (Nasdaq: DRNA). Following its acquisition by Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO; Nasdaq: Novo-B) in 2021, he continued his role at the Novo Nordisk Dicerna Transformational Research Unit. He successfully advanced liver-targeted oligonucleotide assets from early to late-stage development, notably xalnesiran for chronic hepatitis B. Prior to his tenure at Dicerna, Dr. Achneck led Medical Affairs and Clinical Development at Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE: HAE). Before this, he served as Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Hemostemix Inc. (TSXV: HEM).

Prior to his industry roles, Dr. Achneck was an Assistant Professor of Surgery and in Pathology at Duke University School of Medicine, with a co-appointment as Assistant Professor of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Disorders at Duke-National University of Singapore. Dr. Achneck holds an M.D. from Yale University School of Medicine and a B.A. in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, magna cum laude, from Yale University. Licensed to practice medicine in the U.S. and EU, he has authored over 30 peer-reviewed publications and was named an inventor on several patents.

Lesley Ann Calhoun has served as our Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer since June 2020. Ms. Calhoun has served as a Director of Tango Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company since March 2021, and also serves as the Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. From August 2016 to June 2020, Ms. Calhoun served in various roles at Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc., a drug discovery, development, and commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, including most recently as Senior Vice President, Finance & Administration and Chief Accounting Officer. Prior to these roles, Ms. Calhoun served as Vice President of Finance at Hyperion Therapeutics, Inc., a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company, from January 2013 to September 2015, continuing in her role after it was acquired by Horizon Pharma pie, a pharmaceutical company, in May 2015. Ms. Calhoun also previously served as Senior Director of Finance, Corporate Controller at lnnoviva, Inc. (formerly Theravance, Inc.), a biopharmaceutical company, from August 2005 to January 2013. Earlier in her career, Ms. Calhoun was a member of the audit practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP from 1989 to 2001. Ms. Calhoun received her B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from San Francisco State University, College of Business and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive).

Julian A. Symons, D.Phil., has served as our Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer since May 2018. Prior to joining the Company, from January 2010 to March 2015, Dr. Symons served in various roles at Alios BioPharma, Inc., which was acquired by Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, a pharmaceutical company, in November 2014, including Senior Director, Product Development from January 2013 to March 2015, and Vice President, Disease Area Research & Development Leader, Respiratory Infections from March 2015 to April 2018. Prior to his time with Alios BioPharma, Inc., Dr. Symons held positions with the Pharmaceutical Division of F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd (1999 – 2010) and the Departments of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh (1986 – 1990), University of Sheffield (1990 -1994) and the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford (1994-1999). Dr. Symons received a B.Sc. (Hons) I in Biochemistry and Physiology from the University of Central Lancashire, UK and a D.Phil. in Immunology and Autoimmunity from the University of York, UK.