Christian S. Schade is currently the Executive Chairman of Aprea Therapeutics (NASDAQ: APRE), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing novel cancer therapeutics targeting DNA damage response pathways. Mr. Schade previously served as Aprea’s President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of its board of directors since June 2016, and was appointed Chairman of the board of directors in September 2020. He serves on the Board of Directors of Integra Life Sciences as a member of its Audit Committee and Chair of its Finance Committee.
Prior to Aprea Therapeutics, Mr. Schade was Chief Executive Officer of Novira Therapeutics Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, until its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson in December 2015. He was previously Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Omthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, prior to its sale in July 2013 to Astra Zeneca. He was EVP and CFO at NRG Energy from March 2010 to September 2011. Mr. Schade joined Medarex Inc., in 2000 and helped it grow to become a leading pharmaceutical development company and, as Senior Vice President of Administration and Chief Financial Officer, played a lead role in the negotiations for Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s $2.4 billion acquisition of Medarex in September 2009 and the subsequent merger-integration process.
He previously served as Managing Director and Head of the European Corporate Funding Group at Merrill Lynch in London and also held various capital markets and corporate finance positions in New York and London for both Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Mr. Schade received an A.B. from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.