Board of Directors

Mr. Riggs is a co-founder and board member of Cibus; CEO & founder of Locus Analytics LLC and Syntax LLC; chairman and co-founder of Royalty Pharma, the largest investor in revenue producing intellectual property (principally royalty interests in marketed and late stage development biopharmaceutical products); and co-founder and board member of Fibrogen. In addition, he is a board member of Intra-Cellular Therapeutics, Inc., Nuredis, GeneNews and eReceivables. He is the former president and board member of Biomatrix, Inc., a NYSE-listed biotechnology company that developed and launched Synvisc®, an injection used to treat knee pain caused by osteoarthritis and a partner in New Ventures, LLC.

Mr. Riggs received an MBA from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts from Middlebury College.

As a key part of Cibus’ founding team, Peter took a lead role in developing the core technologies associated with the Rapid Trait Development System (RTDS®). He led the research and product development teams at Cibus before taking on the role of CEO in July 2014.

Possessing a passion for moving technology to commercial application, Peter has over 30 years of experience in agriculture. Prior to joining Cibus, Peter was Research Director of the Plant and Industrial Products Division at ValiGen. Part of his extensive research experience was at the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University, where he was a postdoctoral scientist and one of the pioneers of the early work that led to the Cibus RTDS technology.

During his eight-year tenure at the Victorian Department of Agriculture (Australia), Peter led a team that provided clean planting materials for root crops for many countries in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. His efforts helped increase crop yields and improve farmer economics.

Peter received a PhD in Plant Molecular Virology from Queensland University of Technology and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Botany/Plant Biology Zoology from Monash University.

Mr. Finn serves as an independent director on the Legg Mason Partners Fund Board. He is a member of the advisory board for Auven Therapeutics, a private equity fund focused on life sciences. Mr. Finn is also a co-founder of New Ventures Select LLC, a fund focused on royalties, and New Ventures LLC and New Ventures III, both early stage venture capital funds. New Ventures LLC is a lead investor in Cibus.

Mr. Finn served as a Trustee of the Virginia Retirement System and Chairman of its Investment Advisory Committee and as Chairman of the Investment Operations Advisory Committee for the State of Alaska. He was also a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s Advisory Committee on Managed Futures.

Mr. Finn has taught investments at the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business and lectures on investments at the Mason Graduate School of Business at the College of William and Mary, where he received an MBA.

Mr. Lehmann has been a private investor for most of his professional life. He oversees a diversified portfolio in venture capital projects, hotels, and commercial and residential real estate in the United States. Prior to becoming a private investor, in 1992 Mr. Lehmann resided in Geneva, Switzerland, where he managed portfolios for Morval Bank and its holding company. He previously oversaw a diversified holding for Edmond de Rothschild.

Mr. Lehmann received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales.

Dr. Prante has been a strong proponent for the integration of biotechnology into agribusiness. He has served as a member of several industry associations including the German Crop Protection and Fertilizer Association, the European Crop Protection Association, the Global Crop Protection Federation, and the Global Plant Science Industry Federation. Since 2002, he has been an active consultant to the industry.

Dr. Prante began his career in 1970 with Hoechst AG and was eventually named head of the agricultural division in 1985. This was a leadership role he held until 1994, when he formed and became CEO of AgrEvo, a company of Hoechst and Schering. AgrEvo was merged into Aventis CropScience at the end of 1999, of which he was the deputy CEO until the company was acquired by Bayer AG and became part of Bayer CropScience. Dr. Prante served as a member of the SVB of Bayer CropScience until 2012.

Dr. Prante received a PhD in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Kiel.

With over 40 years in agricultural biotechnology, Dr. Walker’s career spans the development of the field. This veteran of the gene editing industry was instrumental in transforming the Plant and Industrial Products Division of ValiGen, which he headed, into what is now Cibus. Retiring as Cibus CEO in 2014, Dr. Walker started Valley Oils to focus on delivering healthy, non-GMO oils and meals for the food, feed, and industrial products industries.

Prior to starting Cibus, Dr. Walker worked at Agrigenetics before it was acquired by Mycogen, after which he held a variety of management positions at Mycogen. He was also a co-founder, director, and vice president of research at Plant Genetics, Inc. (PGI). Before founding PGI, Dr. Walker served in a variety of research roles with Monsanto.

Dr. Walker is former chairman of the Gordon Conference in Plant Cell and Tissue Culture and was also associate editor of Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture Journal. He received a PhD in Biology from Yale University and a Bachelor of Arts from the College of Wooster.