Dennis Fenton was born and raised in Mineola on Long Island, New York. He attended Manhattan College in the Bronx and later received his PhD in microbiology from Rutgers University in 1977. Motivated by his father’s cancer diagnosis, Fenton was interested in becoming an industrial microbiologist. For his thesis, Fenton purified enzymes for the degradation of a polymer on the fungi cell wall, which had applications during the Vietnam War to prevent fungal infections in burn wounds. Fenton’s graduate advisor, Dr. Douglas E. Eveleigh, landed him an interview with Pfizer, where Fenton worked for three years. During that time, Fenton became interested in biotechnology while reading about recombinant DNA and Genentech. He began working for Amgen in California; the company was in its early years, and Fenton was working on fermentation. While he was working as a laboratory head, Amgen successfully cloned erythropoietin [EPO], which led to the product Epogen. Despite his science background, Fenton was promoted to the vice president of sales and marketing, though he also remained active in process development. In this role, Fenton helped to raise sales and marketing from three hundred million to roughly one billion dollars. He also dealt with the ongoing legal battles between Amgen and Genetics Institute and Johnson & Johnson. In 1995, Fenton left sales and marketing and took over as head of operations, where he oversaw the creation of manufacturing plants in Puerto Rico and Rhode Island. He lives in California, where he enjoys an active lifestyle and travels with his wife.