Tavo Espinoza

CFO at Ligand

Speaker

Tavo Espinoza is the Chief Financial Officer of Ligand Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: LGND), a unique royalty-based biopharmaceutical company with a portfolio of more than 100 partnered programs spanning approved products and clinical-stage assets. Ligand's asset-light model — generating approximately $200 million in annual cash flow with roughly 45 employees — offers a distinctive lens on capital efficiency, royalty monetization, and portfolio construction within the life sciences sector.

In his role, Tavo oversees finance, capital allocation strategy, financial reporting, and investor relations, and has played a central role in shaping the company's approach to deploying capital into royalty acquisitions and structured biopharma transactions. His perspective sits at the intersection of healthcare innovation and investment — navigating how non-dilutive funding structures, milestone-driven deal-making, and royalty streams are reshaping how capital flows through the biopharmaceutical ecosystem.

Prior to Ligand, Tavo held senior finance and accounting leadership roles at Receptos (acquired by Celgene/Bristol-Myers Squibb), Illumina, and Intuit, and began his career in public accounting at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He holds a B.S. in Business Administration from San Diego State University and is a licensed CPA in California.

University and a license as a Certified Public Accountant in the State of California.