Senior Management
John Higgins
Chief Executive Officer
John Higgins is Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Ligand. Prior to joining Ligand, Mr. Higgins served as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Finance and Administration and Corporate Development, of Connetics Corporation, a specialty pharmaceutical company acquired by Stiefel Laboratories in 2006. Before joining Connetics, he was a member of the executive management team at BioCryst Pharmaceuticals. Prior to BioCryst, Mr. Higgins was a member of the healthcare banking team of Dillon, Read & Co. Inc. Currently, he is a Director on the Board of BioTechne Corporation and serves as chairperson of its Audit Committee and member of its Nominating and Governance Committee. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Colgate University with an AB in economics.
Matthew Foehr
President and Chief Operating Officer
Matt Foehr has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, having managed global operations and research and development programs. Prior to joining Ligand in 2011, he was Vice President and Head of Consumer Dermatology R&D, as well as Acting Chief Scientific Officer of Dermatology, in the Stiefel Laboratories, Inc. division of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Following GSK's $3.6 billion acquisition of Stiefel in 2009, Mr. Foehr led the R&D integration of Stiefel into GSK. At Stiefel Mr. Foehr served as Senior Vice President of Global R&D Operations, Senior Vice President of Product Development & Support and Vice President of Global Supply Chain Technical Services. Prior to Stiefel, Mr. Foehr held various executive roles at Connetics Corporation including Senior Vice President of Technical Operations and Vice President of Manufacturing. Currently, he is a Director on the Board of Viking Therapeutics Inc. Mr. Foehr authored multiple scientific publications and is named on numerous U.S. patents. He received a BS in biology from Santa Clara University.
Matthew Korenberg
Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer
Matthew Korenberg has more than 20 years of healthcare business experience across healthcare investing banking and operations. Prior to joining Ligand in 2015, Mr. Korenberg was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of NeuroCircuit Therapeutics, a company focused on developing drugs to treat genetic disorders of the brain with an initial focus on Down syndrome. Prior to founding NeuroCircuit Therapeutics, Mr. Korenberg was a Managing Director and member of the healthcare investment banking team at Goldman Sachs. During his 14-year tenure at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Korenberg was focused on advising and financing companies in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors and was based in New York, London and San Francisco. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Mr. Korenberg was a healthcare investment banker at Dillon, Read & Co. Inc. where he spent two years working with healthcare companies in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors and industrial companies. Mr. Korenberg serves on the board, audit and compensation committees of Qualigen, Inc., a company which develops and manufactures oncology focused therapeutics and diagnostic products. Mr. Korenberg holds a BBA in finance and accounting from The University of Michigan.
Charles Berkman, JD
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Charles Berkman has served as our Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary since April 2007. Mr. Berkman joined Ligand in November 2001 and previously served as Associate General Counsel and Chief Patent Counsel for the Company. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Berkman was an attorney at the international law firm of Baker & McKenzie from 2000 to 2001. Before that he served as an attorney at the law firm of Lyon & Lyon from 1993 to 2000, where he specialized in intellectual property law. Mr. Berkman earned a BS in chemistry from the University of Texas and a JD from the University of Texas School of Law. He is admitted to the State Bar of California.
Audrey Warfield-Graham
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Audrey Warfield-Graham directs Human Resources at Ligand. Ms. Warfield-Graham has worked continuously in the Human Resources department since joining the Company in December 1994. She has held a progression of positions with increased responsibilities during her tenure at Ligand. She was promoted to Senior Vice President, Human Resources in 2018 and to Vice President, Human Resources in 2007. Her previous human resources experience was with Fresh Western, an interstate agricultural business located in Monterey County, California. Ms. Warfield-Graham's management experience includes benefits administration, change management, employee relations, leave management, recruitment, staffing strategies, stock administration and performance management. She received her SPHR certification in January 2007.