Management

Dr. Wagner founded Forte, has served as Chief Executive Officer of Forte since 2018, and has served as a member of Forte’s board of directors since 2017. In 2017, Dr. Wagner was the Head of Corporate Strategy and Development at CANBridge Life Sciences. From 2014 to 2017, Dr. Wagner was the Chief Financial Officer of Pfenex Inc., a biotechnology company. From 2006 to 2014, Dr. Wagner held the positions of Director and Portfolio Manager/Sr. Equity Analyst with Allianz Global Investors, an investment manager where he was responsible for biotechnology and pharmaceutical investments. Prior to that, Dr. Wagner was the Head of Development Licensing at PDL BioPharma, a biopharmaceutical company from 2005 until 2006. Prior to PDL BioPharma, Dr. Wagner held the position of Vice President at Lehman Brothers, a financial services firm, starting in 1999 until 2005. Dr. Wagner received a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Wagner is also a Charted Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder.

Dr. Chen joined Forte Biosciences in June 2022, with R & D leadership experience in multiple therapeutic areas. Previously, he was the chief medical officer of Metacrine, a clinical-stage company focused on the treatment of liver and gastrointestinal diseases. Prior, he was the chief scientific and medical officer of Pfenex, where he successfully designed and executed the clinical, nonclinical, and regulatory approval strategy for PF708, a teriparatide injectable for the treatment of high-risk osteoporosis, leading to NDA approval in 2019 and MAA approval in 2020. Additional experiences include serving as vice president of clinical development at Aileron Therapeutics, vice president of translational medicine at Regulus Therapeutics, and senior director of clinical research at Amylin Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Chen received his medical training at UCSF and Massachusetts General Hospital, M.D. from Columbia University, and B.A.S. in political science and biology from Stanford University.

Mr. Riley has served as Forte’s Chief Financial Officer since March 2020. Prior to joining Forte, Mr. Riley was at Krystal Biotech, Inc., a biotechnology company, from September 2017 to February 2020 where he was the Chief Financial Officer. Previously, Mr. Riley was a founding partner since 2002 of the CFO Network LLC, a consulting firm and was Acting Chief Financial Officer at Avanex Corporation and Corporate Controller at Kosan Biosciences. He also served in numerous capacities at Troy Chemical Corporation from 1997 to 2000. Mr. Riley received a B.Sc. (Honors) from the University of Bristol (England) and an M.B.A. (Honors) from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. Mr. Riley is a CPA (inactive) in the state of California.

Mr. Ruhl joined Forte Biosciences in July 2021 and currently serves as the Chief Technical Officer. In this role, he is responsible for Forte’s technology and scientific needs and issues. He works with management to determine the short- and long-term technical requirements and investments to help the company reach its goals. He has over 35 years of experience in biopharmaceutical development and commercial manufacturing including technical roles with commercializing first in class products and commercial technology transfers associated with large capital projects. Before joining Forte, Mr. Ruhl supported a direct phase 3 transfer of a COVID warp speed monoclonal antibody downstream process at ThermoFisher, contributing to an accelerated PPQ campaign readiness with an external partnership and third-party sending site. Prior to that, Mr. Ruhl held positions of increasing responsibility and leadership at various biopharmaceutical companies, including IDEC Pharmaceuticals as Technical and Commercial Supply Director and Amgen as Commercial Drug Product Executive Director and Amgen Ireland Site Process Development Head. Mr. Ruhl received his B.Sc. in Microbiology and Chemistry from Brigham Young University.

Mr. Roenfeldt joined Forte Biosciences in October 2020 and currently serves as its Chief Operating Officer. He has over 20 years of experience in clinical drug development including process development, engineering, capital construction, alliance and program management. Before joining Forte, Mr. Roenfeldt was an Alliance and Program Manager at Halozyme, overseeing multiple partnerships and development programs. Prior to that, Mr. Roenfeldt held positions of increasing responsibility and leadership at various biopharmaceutical companies, including Pfenex, Genentech, and Amgen. Mr. Roenfeldt received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado.