
From a Merck production floor to a Brisbane biotech's partnership table, Thomas Lake has followed one practical question for more than 35 years: how do you make vaccination easier to manufacture, distribute and use?
Ryan Spencer is the CEO of Dynavax Technologies, the Emeryville biotech behind HEPLISAV-B and the CpG 1018 adjuvant. He joined as an interim controller in 2005, climbed for fourteen years through finance, IR, and commercial roles, and took the top job in December 2019. Under him, Dynavax supplied adjuvant for nearly a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses and, in December 2025, agreed to be acquired by Sanofi for roughly $2.2 billion.