Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated In conjunction with the spin-off announced Executive management appointments. Matt Korenberg and Tavo Espinoza are expanding their responsibilities within Ligand, and company is pleased to have Andrew Reardon join executive leadership team. Matt has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer. He has led the financial and strategic efforts at Ligand over the previous seven years as Chief Financial Officer. Andrew joins the team as Chief Legal Officer and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in royalty transactions.
Andrew Reardon joins Ligand's executive leadership team as Chief Legal Officer. Prior to joining Ligand, Mr. Reardon was the Chief Legal Officer at HealthCare Royalty Management, a manager of investment funds investing in biopharmaceutical products primarily through royalty and structured credit transactions. Before joining HealthCare Royalty, Mr. Reardon was a senior associate with the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, where he focused on corporate transactions, including finance and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Reardon is a former officer with the United States Army National Guard. He earned his J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law and received his B.A. from the State University of New York College at Old Westbury. As part of the planned business separation, in connection with the closing of the business combination, Jennifer Cochran, Ph.D., Sarah Boyce and Sunil Patel stepped down from the Ligand board of directors and joined the OmniAb board. These changes reduce Ligand's number of directors to eight.