Shirley Clayton brings more than three decades of leadership experience across biotechnology, life sciences, and corporate governance, with a career spanning company formation, executive management, finance, and board service.

She has held senior executive roles at multiple biotechnology companies, including serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of Abmaxis, Inc., an antibody-based therapeutics company that was acquired by Merck & Co. Earlier in her career, Ms. Clayton was Vice President and Treasurer at Genentech, where she played a key role during the formative years of the biotechnology industry.

Ms. Clayton has also served as President and Chief Financial Officer of Raven Biotechnologies and held senior leadership positions at Protein Design Labs (PDL BioPharma), Cygnus, Inc., and CBYON, Inc., contributing to corporate strategy, financing, and growth across a range of life-science enterprises.

In addition to her operating experience, Ms. Clayton has served on the boards of numerous biotechnology and financial services companies, including REGiMMUNE Corp., and brings deep expertise in governance, capital strategy, and scaling innovative science-driven organizations.

She earned an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a B.S. in Chemistry from Smith College.