Senior Leadership Team
Vaxcyte’s team of preeminent vaccinologists and vaccine developers is led by biotech and pharma industry veterans who bring decades of experience and a track record of success developing commercially successful healthcare products.
Grant Pickering, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Director and Founder
Grant Pickering, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Director and Founder
Grant is a seasoned pharmaceutical and biotech executive with over 30 years of experience across vaccines and immunotherapeutic drug development and commercialization, as well as the successful formation and financing of multiple platform companies. Prior to founding Vaxcyte in 2013, Grant served as the CEO of Mymetics Corporation, a European-based vaccine company developing a prophylactic RSV vaccine based on a virosomal platform technology. Previously, he was an executive-in-residence at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, while also serving as the CEO at Juvaris BioTherapeutics. Under his leadership, Juvaris’ immunotherapeutic and vaccine adjuvant platform yielded multiple animal health products, launched by its alliance partner Bayer HealthCare, including Zelnate® and Victrio®.
Prior to Juvaris, Grant spent a number of years at Dendreon Corporation, playing a prominent role in the company’s IPO and run-up to commercialization. During his tenure, he led Dendreon’s clinical development, operations, manufacturing, business development and project management functions, culminating in the launch of the therapeutic prostate cancer vaccine, Provenge®. He also led marketing and business development for the pain management platform company, Algos Pharmaceutical Corporation, which was acquired by Endo Pharmaceuticals. Grant began his career at Glaxo and Johnson & Johnson in sales, marketing, and clinical research roles.
Grant currently serves on the board of directors of Athira Pharma, Inc. He earned his BS degree in marketing from The Pennsylvania State University and his MBA from Georgetown University with high honors.
Jim Wassil, MS, MBA
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Jim Wassil, MS, MBA
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Jim brings over three decades of extensive experience developing and commercializing vaccines intended to treat or prevent diseases that impact children and adults around the world. During this time, he held significant leadership positions in the vaccine divisions of Pfizer, Novartis and Merck. Prior to joining Vaxcyte, Jim served as the business unit lead for Pfizer Vaccines with a span of responsibility across market access, policy, pricing, tender negotiations, epidemiology and health outcomes for the entire portfolio, including the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine franchise (Prevnar 13®). Jim was also a long-tenured leader at Novartis where he led the development and launch of Menveo, a meningococcal conjugate vaccine; Bexsero®, a meningitis B vaccine; and the meningococcal ABCWY vaccine candidate. Previously, he led international marketing for the pediatric vaccine franchise at Merck Vaccines where he launched RotaTeq®, a vaccine for rotavirus gastroenteritis in infants, and held other technical and operational roles of increasing responsibility within research, manufacturing, quality, regulatory and technology transfer.
Jim earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry/biology, with high honors, from the University of Notre Dame. He went on to get a Master of Science degree in bio-organic chemistry and a Master of Business Administration degree from Lehigh University. In 2014, James received the VIVA Award as Novartis’ top scientist in 2014 for development and approval of Bexsero®. He also was an ACE Finalist (Secretary of State Award for Corporate Excellence) for his role in conducting an effectiveness study of RotaTeq in Nicaragua.
Andrew Guggenhime, MBA
President and Chief Financial Officer
Andrew Guggenhime, MBA
President and Chief Financial Officer
Andrew’s 30-year career spans the biotech and financial services industries, with broad leadership expertise across strategy, finance, operations, investor relations and corporate development. He also brings significant capital markets and business development transaction experience. Prior to joining Vaxcyte in May 2020, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Dermira, Inc. through its acquisition by Eli Lilly and Company. During his tenure at Dermira, Andrew successfully led a series of private, public and alternative financings and helped scale the company, including through its initial public offering and pivotal transition into a commercial-stage organization. Previously, Andrew served as Chief Financial Officer at several fast-growing biotech companies, including Calistoga Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was acquired by Gilead Sciences, Inc., and Facet Biotech Corporation, which was acquired by Abbott Laboratories.
Earlier in his career, Andrew served as Chief Financial Officer of PDL BioPharma, Inc. until Facet Biotech was spun off from PDL BioPharma. Prior to joining PDL BioPharma, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Neoforma, Inc., which was acquired by Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC. Andrew began his career in financial services at Merrill Lynch & Co. and Wells Fargo & Company.
Andrew serves as the Board Chair of Caribou Biosciences, Inc. and is a member of the board of directors of Metacrine, Inc. He earned his BA in international politics and economics from Middlebury College and his MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Karen Alderete
Executive Director, Human Resources
Karen Alderete
Executive Director, Human Resources
Nathan Cracraft
Vice President, IT and Facilities
Nathan Cracraft
Vice President, IT and Facilities
Nathan has spent more than 25 years dedicated to IT predominately within the life sciences industry. He brings significant technology leadership expertise focused on building scalable and compliant IT strategies, blueprints, solutions and operational organizations. Additionally, in recent years, Nathan has broadened his responsibilities to include facilities planning and management.
Prior to joining Vaxcyte, Nathan served as the Vice President of IT and Facilities of Dermira, Inc. through its acquisition by Eli Lilly and Company. In this role, he helped scale the company’s IT technology infrastructure and support operations ahead of a successful commercial product launch. Previously, Nathan held technology leadership roles at Gilead Sciences, Inc., Johnson and Johnson and Ernst and Young. Nathan received his BS from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
Harp Dhaliwal, MBA
Senior Vice President, Commercial Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Harp Dhaliwal, MBA
Senior Vice President, Commercial Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Mr. Dhaliwal has 25 years of experience in engineering, operations strategy, manufacturing and supply chain, with significant expertise in the healthcare industry. During his career, he has led commercial manufacturing and supply chain for multiple products. Most recently, Mr. Dhaliwal served as Senior Vice President of Supply Chain, Manufacturing and Procurement at Dermira and transitioned to Eli Lilly following the company’s acquisition. In this role, he supported Dermira’s first product launch and successfully transitioned the cGMP manufacturing network from clinical to commercial. Previously, Mr. Dhaliwal was the Head of Manufacturing and Supply Chain at Medivation, an oncology-focused company. Following Pfizer’s acquisition of Medivation, Mr. Dhaliwal led the operations integration. Previously, Mr. Dhaliwal had a long career at Biogen where he ultimately served as Biogen’s Chief Procurement Officer, responsible for managing $3 billion of enterprise-wide spend. While at Biogen, he was also instrumental in transforming the manufacturing network, initiating the biosimilar business and other strategic initiatives.
Mr. Dhaliwal has an MBA in Science and Technology from Queen's University and a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from the University of British Columbia.
Mikhail Eydelman, JD
Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary
Mikhail Eydelman, JD
Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary
Jeff Fairman, PhD
Vice President of Research and Founder
Jeff Fairman, PhD
Vice President of Research and Founder
Jeff has over 25 years of experience in the biotech arena and has led research at several platform companies that delivered multiple clinical candidates as well as approved vaccines and immunotherapeutics. Prior to Vaxcyte, Jeff was the founder and Vice President of Research at Juvaris BioTherapeutics where he advanced the immunotherapeutic and vaccine adjuvant platform to yield multiple animal health products, including Zelnate® and Victrio®, that were ultimately launched by Bayer HealthCare. While at Juvaris, Jeff was the recipient of major grant funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute to support substantial preclinical programs and multiple clinical studies. He was also responsible for research activities that resulted in a number of clinical candidates and approved animal health products. Prior to Juvaris, Jeff was the Director of Pharmacogenomics at Clingenix and Senior Scientist at Valentis. He has a PhD in Chemistry and completed his postdoctoral training in the genetics of leukemia at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Janet Graesser
Vice President, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations
Janet Graesser
Vice President, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations
Janet brings over 20 years of healthcare communications experience across a variety of areas, including corporate communications and strategy, public relations and organizational communications. Prior to joining Vaxcyte, she established her own consulting practice that successfully supported integrated communications for both large and small biotech companies. Previously, she held an operating role at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) with responsibility for global internal and external communications across seven J&J medical device companies, including Cordis. Janet remained with Cordis following its acquisition by Cardinal Health, serving as the Vice President of Global Communications and Strategy Implementation. Janet also dedicated 13 years of her career working at leading healthcare communications firms, ultimately serving as an Executive Vice President, delivering communications strategy and implementation to biotech, pharmaceutical and consumer health companies, including Amgen, GSK, J&J, Pfizer and Merck.
In her early career, Janet followed her interest in public policy and government by working at the California State Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. and on political campaigns. Janet earned her BA in communications, with an emphasis in print journalism, and a minor in political science from Santa Clara University.
Sam Iki
Senior Vice President, Project Management
Sam Iki
Senior Vice President, Project Management
Paul W Sauer, MBA
Senior Vice President, Development and Manufacturing
Paul W Sauer, MBA
Senior Vice President, Development and Manufacturing
Paul has over 30 years of experience industrializing biologics for numerous biotechnology companies. Prior to joining Vaxcyte, Paul was VP of Process Sciences & Manufacturing at Igenica Biotherapeutics, where he initiated the company’s development activities and built its supply chain network for GMP manufacturing of its antibody drug conjugates. Prior to that, Paul was Senior Director of Process Development at OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, where he contributed to multiple IND filings for the company’s antibody-based oncology therapies. He also held various process, engineering, scale-up, and manufacturing positions at Protein Design Labs, Scios, and Genentech. Through the years, Paul has contributed to numerous approved biologics, including Genentech’s Activase® and Pulmozyme®. He also contributed significantly to the development of the patented high-yield process that formed the basis for production of Abbvie and Biogen’s ZinbrytaTM, a humanized antibody approved for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis. Paul earned an MBA at Santa Clara University and a BS in Genetics from the University of California, Davis.
Jakub Simon, MD, MS
Chief Medical Officer
Jakub Simon, MD, MS
Chief Medical Officer
Mark Wiggins, MBA
Chief Business Officer
Mark Wiggins, MBA
Chief Business Officer
Board of Directors
Carlos Paya, MD, PhD
Former CEO and President, Immune Design Corp Chairman, Vaxcyte
Carlos Paya, MD, PhD
Former CEO and President, Immune Design Corp Chairman, Vaxcyte
Annie Drapeau
Chief People Officer, Toast
Annie Drapeau
Chief People Officer, Toast
Halley Gilbert, JD
Chief Legal Officer, NeoGenomics, Inc.
Halley Gilbert, JD
Chief Legal Officer, NeoGenomics, Inc.
Peter Hirth, PhD
Former Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Plexxikon, Inc.
Peter Hirth, PhD
Former Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Plexxikon, Inc.
Michael E. Kamarck, PhD
Former Chief Technology Officer, Vir Biotechnology, Inc.
Michael E. Kamarck, PhD
Former Chief Technology Officer, Vir Biotechnology, Inc.
Teri Loxam
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Kira Pharmaceuticals
Teri Loxam
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Kira Pharmaceuticals
Heath Lukatch, PhD
Founder and Managing Partner, Red Tree Venture Capital
Heath Lukatch, PhD
Founder and Managing Partner, Red Tree Venture Capital
Grant Pickering, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Director and Founder
Grant Pickering, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Director and Founder
Grant is a seasoned pharmaceutical and biotech executive with over 30 years of experience across vaccines and immunotherapeutic drug development and commercialization, as well as the successful formation and financing of multiple platform companies. Prior to founding Vaxcyte in 2013, Grant served as the CEO of Mymetics Corporation, a European-based vaccine company developing a prophylactic RSV vaccine based on a virosomal platform technology. Previously, he was an executive-in-residence at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, while also serving as the CEO at Juvaris BioTherapeutics. Under his leadership, Juvaris’ immunotherapeutic and vaccine adjuvant platform yielded multiple animal health products, launched by its alliance partner Bayer HealthCare, including Zelnate® and Victrio®.
Prior to Juvaris, Grant spent a number of years at Dendreon Corporation, playing a prominent role in the company’s IPO and run-up to commercialization. During his tenure, he led Dendreon’s clinical development, operations, manufacturing, business development and project management functions, culminating in the launch of the therapeutic prostate cancer vaccine, Provenge®. He also led marketing and business development for the pain management platform company, Algos Pharmaceutical Corporation, which was acquired by Endo Pharmaceuticals. Grant began his career at Glaxo and Johnson & Johnson in sales, marketing, and clinical research roles.
Grant currently serves on the board of directors of Athira Pharma, Inc. He earned his BS degree in marketing from The Pennsylvania State University and his MBA from Georgetown University with high honors.
Scientific Advisory Board
Jeffrey Almond, PhD
Jeffrey Almond, PhD
Emmanuel Hanon, PhD, DVM
Emmanuel Hanon, PhD, DVM
Tony Ford-Hutchinson, PhD
Tony Ford-Hutchinson, PhD
William Hausdorff, PhD
William Hausdorff, PhD
Thomas P. Monath, MD
Thomas P. Monath, MD
Emmanuel Walter, MD, MPH
Emmanuel Walter, MD, MPH
Careers
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Investors & Media
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