Biotech and pharma companies strengthen their leadership teams with new appointments.
Eli Lilly – Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly is making several changes to the company’s executive committee. Mike Harrington, the company’s general counsel, will retire at the end of the year and Christi Shaw, president of Lilly Bio-Medicines, will leave the company at the end of August. Patrik Jonsson, currently president and general manager of Lilly Japan, will succeed Shaw. Harrington has been a member of Lilly’s executive committee for seven years. A search is underway for Harrington’s successor. Harrington joined Lilly in 1991 after working as a litigator at Baker & Daniels in Indianapolis. Shaw returned to Lilly in 2017 after serving as president of Novartis USA and North American region head of Novartis Oncology. In the 2000s, she held roles in the Janssen and Ethicon divisions of Johnson & Johnson. Jonsson joined Lilly in 1990 as a sales representative in Sweden and has held numerous positions within the company since then. He was promoted to his current position as president and general manager of Japan in 2014.
Skyhawk Therapeutics – Tyler Jacks joined Waltham, Mass.-based Skyhawk’s scientific advisory panel and Tai Wong has also joined Skyhawk as vice president of oncology biology. Jacks is the director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT and co-chair of the White House’s Cancer “Moonshot” Blue Ribbon Panel. Wong most recently served as head of biology at Peloton Therapeutics, which is being acquired by Merck. At Peloton, he led the team responsible for advancing the preclinical and translational biology for the company’s novel small molecule therapeutic candidates targeting hypoxia-inducible factor-2α (HIF-2α) for the treatment of patients with cancer. Prior to Peloton, Wong was at Bristol Myers Squibb for 19 years, most recently as group director in Oncology Drug Discovery.
InveniAI Corporation – Connecticut-based InveniAI tapped Amit Agrawal, global head of Portfolio Strategy and Management for Global Drug Development at Novartis, for its board of directors. InveniAI has also established a European headquarters in Basel, Switzerland as the company’s platform, AlphaMeld, continues to see rapid adoption in the US and internationally. Agrawal joined Novartis in October 2018 from Amgen where he was the head of Corporate Strategy.
OncoCell MDx -- Christopher Thibodeau was named chief operating officer at Michigan-based OncoCell. He joins Mark McDonough, who was recently tapped as OncoCell’s, president, chief executive officer and member of the Board of Directors, in strengthening the company’s executive leadership team. Thibodeau most recently served as chief operating officer for MDxHealth. Previously, he held various leadership positions at Agendia, Numira Biosciences, LabCorp and Ventana Medical Systems, a Roche company.
Annexon Biosciences – South San Francisco-based Annexon made multiple appointments to its leadership team. Sanjay Keswani was named chief medical officer, Jennifer Lew was named chief financial officer and Lesley Stolz was named chief business officer. Keswani previously served as global head of Neuroscience, Ophthalmology and Rare Diseases Research & Development at Roche. Prior to Roche, Keswani held senior roles at other global pharmaceutical companies, including BMS and Eli Lilly. Lew previously served as CFO of Aduro Biotech and previously held various finance leadership roles at Dynavax Technologies Corporation. Stolz was previously with Johnson & Johnson Innovation, where she negotiated transactions and ran the West Coast JLABS business. Prior to that, Stolz held leadership roles at BioTime, Sutro Biopharma and Sunesis Pharmaceuticals.
Yumanity Therapeutics-- Richard Peters was named CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based Yumanity. He is succeeding founding CEO Tony Coles, who will transition to the role of executive chairperson of the board of directors. The appointment will take effect on Sept. 3. Peters is joining Yumanity Therapeutics from Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, where he served as its president, CEO and a member of the board of directors. Prior to Merrimack, Peters served as global head of rare diseases and senior vice president at Genzyme (Sanofi).
AZTherapies, Inc. – Jay Mohr was named CBO and head of commercial operations of Boston-based AZTherapies. Mohr comes to AZTherapies from Locust Walk Partners, where he was a co-founder and Managing Director and continues on as Partner Emeritus. Previous to Locust Walk, he was co-founder and CEO of Gloucester Pharmaceuticals (now Celgene), Mohr also served in executive positions at EMD Serono and at Schering-Plough.
IPOEF – Mercedes K. Meyer, life sciences patent partner at Drinker, Biddle & Reath, has been elected to the board of directors of the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation (IPOEF). Meyer previously served on the Intellectual Property Owners Association Women in IP Committee.
Start Codon – U.K.-based life science accelerator Start Codon named Daniel Rooke as partner and head of operations, and Sakura Holloway as partner and head of diligence. Founded earlier this year, Start Codon is a strategic initiative, which offers significant funding and support to start-up companies. Rooke was previously the general counsel and member of the management team at, Cycle Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Holloway joins Start Codon from Merck KGaA.
AblaCare – Paris-based AblaCare announced the appointment of seasoned medical device executive Jodie Fam as CEO. Fam has held top management roles at Concentric Medical, Medina Medical and CardioKinetix, as well as senior sales and marketing positions with Johnson & Johnson, Guidant Corporation and Mallinckrodt Medical.
Avenda Health -- Michael S. Klein, chairman and CEO of iCAD, will serve as an independent director for Santa Monica, Calif.-based Avenda. Simon Stertzer, a cardiologist, professor and investigator, will serve as a medical advisor. Klein’s experience in the commercialization of artificial intelligence and machine learning in imaging will be promising for Avenda. Stertzer, a well-known innovator in cardiovascular intervention, has spent his career improving treatment modalities in cardiovascular disease.
