When small research-intensive firms enter R&D alliances with larger firms, they face an expropriation risk, as the larger allies may capture most of the gain generated by the alliance. What is still unknown is the role of CEOs of small firms in the appropriation of value generated by the alliance. We investigate the influence of the CEO reputation of small partners involved in asymmetric alliances on the value created for their shareholders. Our study is based on 606 announcements of successful clinical trials by biotechnological firms from 2011-2017. We show that such announcements contain new information, and the small partners' market value increases. Moreover, the market reaction is significantly larger for small partners involved in asymmetric alliances when the CEO has a good reputation. Overall, we conclude that the reputation of CEOs matters for small firms involved in asymmetric alliances.