Mr. Brian Beard serves as Chief Legal Officer at Colossal Biosciences. He is a Co-Founder and serves as Chief Legal Officer at Colossal. He serves as Chief Global Legal Officer and Board Member at Hypergiant. He served as a Partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He joined the firm from the Austin office of Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, which he co-founded in 1997. He practices corporate and securities law with a focus on the representation of start-up and emerging growth companies, representation of issuers and underwriters involved in public offerings, and representation of companies involved in merger and acquisition transactions. He helped build one of the leading technology practices in Texas, assisting emerging growth companies to raise billions of dollars in private and public offerings. He also has handled several billion dollars in mergers and acquisitions transactions and has represented leading venture capital firms in Texas and throughout the country. He helps facilitate strategic company growth and execute the long-term vision of the company with speed and precision including the various partnerships and licensing. Over the span of his 35+ year legal career, including 15 years as managing partner of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati, he has served as outside corporate counsel to public and private companies, advising them on a wide range of significant corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, and private equity and venture capital financings. He has successfully orchestrated and closed thousands of technology transactions as well as hundreds of public offerings for companies and underwriters. In addition to his legal role, he has advised a number of management teams and Boards of Directors on their corporate strategy, with a focus on corporate governance issues.