Georgia Bio Hires Russell Allen as President and CEO

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Georgia Bio announced today the appointment of C. Russell Allen as the new President and Chief Executive Officer of the life sciences industry association. He will officially begin on January 22.

“We welcome Russell back to Georgia, and are confident that he will accelerate the expansion of our life sciences industry in the State,” said Thomas H. Callaway, MD, Georgia Bio Chairman and Founder and President of Life Science Partner.

Mr. Allen comes to Georgia Bio from his role as President and CEO of BioFlorida, the statewide trade association founded in 1997 to advance Florida’s bioscience industry. In this role, Allen directed programs and advocacy initiatives that contributed to the positioning of Florida as one of the leading locations for bioscience research and development in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device sectors.

“The state of Florida owes a debt of gratitude to Russell for his contributions to our state life sciences industry for the past six years,” said Stephanie Warrington, President, TrueMotion Spine, Inc. and Chairman of the BioFlorida Board of Directors. “ Under his leadership, BioFlorida has more than doubled our membership and Florida now represents the fastest growing bioscience state. Russell embraced the challenge of uniting new and existing members across our geographical area by creating seven active regional chapters and engaging our strong volunteer base to continually grow the industry and advocate for our members in both state and federal legislative activities. We are certain he will equally elevate the Georgia biosciences industry profile to enhance the stature of the entire southeast region on the world stage.”

Prior to his role at BioFlorida Mr. Allen served as President and CEO of BioSouth, a nonprofit membership organization representing the southern U.S. bioscience industry; and Vice President of Biosciences at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. Before joining the Metro Atlanta Chamber he served as CEO for Atlanta-based digital marketing agencies, Newton Park and iQuotient.

“I have had a wonderful experience leading BioFlorida for the past six and a half years and am proud of all that we were able to accomplish,” said Allen. “I look forward to serving the members of Georgia Bio, helping to build a strong business climate for growth of the Georgia bioscience industry.”

Mr. Allen received a bachelor's degree in biology from Pepperdine University and a certificate in Biotech Enterprise Management from the Owen Graduate School of Business at Vanderbilt University.

Georgia Bio (www.gabio.org) is the private, non-profit association whose members include pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies, medical centers, universities and research institutes, government groups and other business organizations involved in the development of life sciences related products and services.

Contact:

Georgia Bio

Maria Thacker-Goethe, 404-920-2042

maria.thacker@gabio.org

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