Jennifer Ruddock is Senior Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Affairs of Nektar Therapeutics, a biotechnology company headquartered in San Francisco. In this role, Ms. Ruddock oversees and leads investor relations, business development, corporate marketing, corporate and employee communications, and public and government affairs functions.
Ms. Ruddock’s professional experience spans over 25 years in biotechnology, technology and finance. Prior to joining Nektar, Ms. Ruddock held leadership roles in investor relations, financial communications and corporate marketing at a number of public companies, including Catellus Development Corporation (acquired by ProLogis) and Tumbleweed Communications (acquired by Axway). Prior to that, she worked at Montgomery Securities (acquired by Bank of America), a San Francisco-based investment bank which specialized in high technology and healthcare sectors.
Jennifer has dedicated significant time to non-profit volunteer work and has served as a leader in the biotechnology industry for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. At Nektar, she leads the company’s relationships with a number of DEI non-profit organizations in San Francisco that benefit under-represented and low income populations, including Young Community Developers, NexGene Girls, Cristo Rey Academy and Women in Bio. Jennifer sits on both the board of directors of the California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) and the San Francisco Foster Youth Fund.
Ms. Ruddock began her career in medical device sales at Curtin Matheson Scientific, Inc. (acquired by Fisher Scientific). Ms. Ruddock received her undergraduate degree in neuroscience from Colgate University in 1991.