Randall C. Schatzman, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Schatzman has been Alder's President and CEO since its founding in January, 2004.     

Prior to co-founding Alder, he was Senior Vice President of Discovery Research at Celltech R&D Inc., where he led a group of 95 scientists responsible for much of the therapeutic antibody pipeline for Celltech. Before Celltech, he was Director of Gene Discovery at Mercator Genetics helping to solve the gene responsible for hereditary hemochromatosis and advancing the Del-1 angiogenesis factor into preclinical models and partnering Del-1 with Valentis. Prior to Mercator, he was at Syntex/Roche Bioscience where he helped found the Cancer and Developmental Biology Institute and served as Preclinical Team Leader for Cytovene and Team Leader for Valcyte, and was responsible for preclinical studies on Cellcept. Dr. Schatzman received his Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology from Emory University before completing an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of J. Michael Bishop at the University of California, San Francisco.
John A. Latham, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Latham is an Alder co-founder and the company's Chief Scientific Officer, a position he has held since Alder's founding in 2004.     

Previously he was Vice President of Gene Function and Target Validation for Celltech Group plc. In 1994 he joined Darwin Molecular, a first-generation gene-to-drug Biotechnology Company, as a founding director. His responsibilities included translating novel genes into therapeutic targets and ultimately providing a first-generation therapeutic agent. His efforts were centered in inflammation, autoimmune diseases, and osteoporosis, and provided important components to Celltech's therapeutic pipeline. The osteoporosis research led by Dr. Latham provided the underpinning for the Amgen/Celltech collaboration for the development of novel therapeutics to treat bone disorders. Prior to working at Darwin Molecular, he was one of the first scientists hired by Gilead Sciences and a member of a core group established to exploit novel oligonucleotide-based technologies. As a member of this team, he played a critical role in developing and implementing technology that enabled Gilead Sciences to establish itself as a leader in the field of random oligonucleotide selection biochemistry. Dr. Latham received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the laboratory of Professor Christopher Walsh and conducted post-graduate research with Professor Thomas Cech at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Mark J. Litton, Ph.D., MBA
Chief Business Officer and Treasurer

Prior to co-founding Alder in 2004, Dr. Litton was Vice President of Business Development for Celltech Group plc.     

At Celltech, he was responsible for securing, commercializing, and partnering numerous novel discoveries and therapeutic opportunities. In this role, he focused on building alliances and collaborations with Amgen, Abgenix, Neogenesis, Biogen-IDEC, Seattle Genetics, and Schering-Plough as well as numerous academic and non-profit organizations. He originally joined Celltech as a Chiroscience employee and was promoted to VP Business Development after the merger in 1999. Prior to working at Celltech/Chiroscience, Dr. Litton was the Manager of Business Development for Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals Inc. (now Sirna Therapeutics) in Boulder, Colorado, where he helped form relationships with Eli Lilly, Roche, and GlaxoWellcome. Prior to RPI, he worked for DNAX Research Institute, a research facility of Schering-Plough. Dr. Litton received his Ph.D. in Immunology from Stockholm University and his MBA from Santa Clara University.
Jeffrey T.L. Smith, M.D., FRCP
Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Smith brings extensive clinical development experience and familiarity with FDA approval processes to Alder in his role as Chief Medical Officer.     

Prior to joining Alder in April 2004, he was Senior Director of Medical Research for Celltech R&D Inc., where he was responsible for planning and managing the CDP870 anti-TNF clinical trials for Rheumatoid Arthritis as well as several other key autoimmune clinical development programs. Prior to Celltech, he was Head of Clinical Pharmacology at Hoechst Marion Roussel Ltd, Senior Clinical Physician at The Proctor and Gamble Company, and Senior Research Physician in the Clinical Pharmacology Department at Glaxo Research and Development Ltd. He has been responsible for the early development of numerous important drugs including Zantac®, Lotronex®, Arava®, and the later stage development of CDP870, CDP484, and Metadate CD®. He remains active in the Rheumatology community and is a research member of the American College of Rheumatology. He also serves on the planning board of the Innovative Therapies in Autoimmune Diseases Meeting. Dr. Smith received his medical degree from Westminister Medical School in London and has post-graduate training in Gastroenterology at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
Larry Benedict
Vice President, Finance

Mr. Benedict joined Alder Biopharmaceuticals in June 2008 as Vice President of Finance, bringing over 25 years of financial experience to the company.     

Prior to joining Alder, he served in various positions at Seattle Genetics, Inc., most recently as Director of Finance and Controller in charge of all accounting and finance activities to take Seattle Genetics from a pre-IPO to a post-IPO NASDAQ publicly traded company. Other previous positions include CFO at Sensible Solutions, Inc., a financial software consulting company; Finance Manager at SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories; and various finance roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Mr. Benedict received his Certified Public Accountant Certification from the State of Washington; however, he is no longer an active CPA. He received a B.S. in Accounting from Central Washington University.
Mark D. Young, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President of Pharmaceutical Operations

Dr. Young has spent the past 25 years refining processes for turning protein-based biopharmaceuticals into human therapeutics.     

Prior to joining Alder, he held senior executive positions at Zymogenetics, Biomira, Protein Design Labs, and Synergen. In each of these positions, Dr. Young had primary responsibility for managing the process development and manufacture of protein-based biopharmaceuticals for use as human therapeutic products. He has also had responsibility for Regulatory Affairs and Quality in several of these positions.

Dr. Young received his MSChE at Columbia University and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan. He spent 10 years doing process research and manufacturing support for fermentation-derived antibiotics at Hoffmann La Roche and Upjohn (now part of Pfizer) before joining the biopharmaceutical industry. He is also a Registered Professional Engineer.
Geri Harris, MS
Vice President, Clinical Operations

Ms. Harris joined Alder in July 2008, bringing more than 25 years clinical operations experience in oncology, RA, and other indications.     

Prior to joining Alder, she worked at Seattle Genetics, Cell Therapeutics, and Cypress Biosciences, where her responsibilities included clinical operations, data management, and overall global study conduct of clinical trials in oncology and rheumatoid arthritis. She was Director of Genomic Services at Qiagen Genomics from 2001 to 2002, where she was responsible for SNP genotyping, extraction, and sequencing. Prior to this, she worked with Bard Diagnostics and MicroProbe, where she focused intensively on medical diagnostics. She has experience in 14 therapeutic areas and has conducted clinical trials to support NDA, IND, PMA, and 510k regulatory submissions. During her tenure at various companies, 19 programs have been cleared for marketing. She brings additional medical marketing experience from Syntex. Ms. Harris received her masters in immunology and B.S. in microbiology and immunology from the University of Washington.