Management Team

Rich Kenley, Ph.D. - CEO & Co-founder

Rich Kenley, Ph.D. is a seasoned scientist, entrepreneur, and business executive with over 25 years experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry for both CRO’s and Pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Kenley served chief and executive roles at Anaborex, Cardinal Health/Catalent, Magellan and Cabrillo labs. He has managed P&L responsibility for $160 million business throughout the US, EU and Asia and hands on experience running virtual drug development company with focus on metabolic disorders (cachexia). Prior to starting Cabrillo Labs, he served as in Senior Management for companies Amylin, Genetics Institute, Baxter, Syntex and SRI International. Kenley received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, San Diego.

Edward Foster - CFO & Co-founder

Edward Foster Founder has over 20 years experience in finance with a variety of contract research organizations and pharmaceutical companies such as Wuxi AppTec, Catalent and Cardinal Health. With Wuxi Apptec, as CFO Ed was responisbile for all finance activities of the organization including oversight for Human Resources. With Catalent (formerly Cardinal Health), Ed had joined organization as Controller for a $630+ million manufacturing business unit of the Pharmaceutical Technologies and Services (PTS) segment and advanced rapidly to Group Controller, then eventually V.P. Finance for all of PTS with $2.8 billion in annual revenues and operations in 13 countries during a period of rapid growth and numerous acquisitions. Mr. Foster received his MT in Taxation from Villanova and a BS in Accounting from Rutgers.

John Alaimo - SVP, Technical Operations & Co-founder

John Alaimo is a founding partner who previously served as Director of Technical Operations with Catalent (formerly Magellan, acquired by Cardinal Health) from 1999 to 2007. Prior to Catalent, John  was Manager of Quality Control with Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp, 1997-1999 and held other senior scientific positions with Gensia, Hybritech and the VA Medical Center in San Diego. John holds a B.A. in Biology from U.C. San Diego.

David F. Hale - Chairman & Co-founder

David Hale is founding partner of Advantar and Chairman & CEO of Hale BioPharma Ventures, a private company focused on the formation and development of biotechnology and specialty pharma companies. Mr. Hale is Chairman of numerous companies including Santarus, Inc., Metabasis Therapeutics, Inc. Conatus, Inc., Elevation, Inc. and a co-founder as well as Executive Chairman of Somaxon Pharmaceuticals. He also serves as Chairman SkinMedica, Inc. and is a co-founder and director of Neurelis, Inc.

Early on Mr. Hale was Vice President and General Manager of BBL Microbiology Systems, a division of Becton, Dickinson & Co. and from 1971 to 1980, held various marketing and sales management positions with Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation, a division of Johnson & Johnson, Inc. After joining Hybritech, Inc., the first monoclonal antibody company, in 1982, he was President & Chief Operating Officer and became CEO in 1986, when Hybritech was acquired by Eli Lilly and Co. From 1987 to 1997 he was Chairman, President and CEO of Gensia, Inc., which merged with SICOR to become Gensia Sicor, Inc., which was acquired by Teva Pharmaceuticals. He was a co-founder and Chairman of Viagene, Inc. from 1987 to 1995, when Viagene was acquired by Chiron, Inc. He was President and CEO of Women First HealthCare, Inc. from late 1997 to June 2000, prior to joining CancerVax in October 2000. As CEO he led the merger of CancerVax Corporation with Micromet, Inc., and became Chairman in 2006.

Brandon Griffin - VP, Sales & Marketing

Brandon Griffin joined in 2011 and was previously Western Regional VP of Sales in the U.S. with RohnerChem, a Swiss based specialty CMO from 2008-2010 heading sales for large-scale custom synthesis services. Prior, Griffin held senior business development and technical sales management roles in the contract services space for Custom Synthesis, GLP/Bioanalytical and GMP/Analytical services throughout the Pharma, Biotech, Nutraceutical and Medical Device markets with such companies as Analytical Bio-Chemistry Laboratories, Irvine Pharmaceutical Services, and Chromadex – Griffin has a B.Sc. in Genetics and Plant Biology from U.C. Berkeley.

Joe Page, Ph.D. - VP, Lab Operations

Joe Page, Ph.D. joined in 2011 and was previously Director, Product Formulation and Analytical Services with Catalent from 2007-2010 and Director of Pharmaceutical Analysis with Cardinal Health (formerly Magellan) from 1999-2007. From 1992 to 1999, he held senior scientist roles with Alliance Pharmaceuticals and Hybritech. Joe earned his Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry from University of Washington, Seattle and completed a Post-doc Fellowship in Protein Chemistry from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.

Mike Hagan - Director, Quality Assurance

Mike Hagan joined Advantar in 2011 and his responsibilities include managing Quality Assurance activities and oversight for department budget, approving expenditures, hiring and supervising Project Directors and Supervisors to ensure compliance is adhered to. Prior to joining Advantar, Mike served as Director of Quality Control with Catalent from 2002 to 2010, Project Director of Analytical Chem from 1999 to 2002 with Cardinal Health/Magellan and Project Director with Hybritech from 1994-1999. Mike holds a B.A. in Microbiology from U.C. San Diego.