Biopharma and life sciences companies bolster their leadership teams and board with these Movers & Shakers.
Nurix Therapeutics – Jason Kantor was named senior vice president of finance and investment strategy at San Francisco-based Nurix Therapeutics. Kantor will be responsible for communicating the vision and value of Nurix’s platform, therapeutic programs and strategic initiatives and assist in capital formation. Prior to joining Nurix, he served as a senior biopharma analyst at Artisan Partners, where he covered industry trends for both large and small-cap biotech and pharma companies globally. He also served as board president at Biotech Partners and as managing director, biotechnology analyst at Credit Suisse, RBC Capital Markets and WR Hambrecht + Co.
Cerevel Therapeutics –Kathleen W. Tregoning was named chief corporate affairs officer for Boston-based Cerevel. Tregoning brings more than two decades of healthcare experience leading external engagement, strategy and policy initiatives across both the public and private sectors. In this newly-created role, she will be responsible for communications, government affairs, patient advocacy, and investor relations.
Orchestra BioMed -- Orchestra BioMed announced the appointment of Jagdish Parasrampuria as vice president of Pharmaceutical Development. Parasrampuria most recently served as Scientific Director of Drug Product Development, Janssen R&D. Prior to Janssen, he served as Executive Director of Pharmaceutics at Sunovion Pharmaceuticals.
ViaCyte, Inc. – Brittany Bradrick was name chief financial officer of San Diego-based ViaCyte, Inc. Bradrick joins ViaCyte from Insulet Corporation where she was head of Strategy and Corporate Development. Prior to that, she was director of Business Development and Alliance Management at Abbott Diabetes Care and served life science companies as an investment banker for over ten years with Chase Securities, Credit Suisse, and Piper Jaffray.
Vertex – E. Morrey Atkinson was named head of Commercial Manufacturing and Supply Chain at Boston-based Vertex. The role is a new one created to scale manufacturing of the company’s pipeline. Atkinson’s appointment is part of an effort to assemble an industry-leading team, the company announced.
Toxys BV – Susan Swarte was named a non-executive member of the Toxys board of directors. Swarte currently serves as CFO at Olympia Nederland. Prior to that, she held the position of CFO at Van Hessen Group, Nederlandse Staatsloterij and ReCor Medical Inc.
Sight Sciences – Donald J. Zurbay was named a member of the company’s board of directors. Zurbay currently serves as CFO of Patterson Companies, Inc., a leading dental and animal health products company. Zurbay was previously the CFO of St. Jude Medical, Inc. until its sale to Abbott in 2017.
Recce Pharmaceuticals – Alan W. Dunton was named to the Australian company’s board of directors. Dunton brings more than three decades of senior pharmaceutical experience leading clinical research development efforts, advancing drug candidates including a number of blockbuster antibiotics, through regulatory review and commercialization at companies including Johnson & Johnson and Roche.
Predictive Oncology – Predictive Oncology named three new members to its board of directors. The new members are Nancy Chung-Welch, Charles L. Nuzum and Greg St. Clair.
C4 Therapeutics -- William McKee and Jolie M. Siegel were named to the leadership team of C4 Therapeutics as CFO and chief legal officer, respectively. McKee currently also serves as chief executive officer of MBJC Associates, LLC, a business consulting firm serving the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. McKee served as COO and CFO for EKR Therapeutics, Inc. He also served as CFO and Treasurer of Barr Pharmaceuticals, LLC, a subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceutical. Siegel served as General Counsel and Secretary at Neon Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to Neon, Siegel served as Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Secretary at Intralinks, Inc.
Prescient -- Anuj Gupta, Rob Littlefield and Emmanuel Reyes-Cortes joined Prescient’s Intelligence & Insight team. Gupta joins Prescient after several years in leadership roles across several advisory firms. Littlefield joins Prescient after more than 10 years of biopharmaceutical commercial strategy, market insights, data and analytics, business reporting and competitive intelligence experience. Reyes-Cortes joins Prescient after spending several years supporting preclinical and clinical research as a trial manager in both large U.S. medical systems and within the biopharmaceutical industry.
Avomeen – Hashim Ahmed was named head of Formulation and Manufacturing at Avomeen. Ahmed comes to Avomeen with more than 25 years of experience from the biopharmaceutical and CDMO industries. Most recently, he held a Managing Director position at QLife Pharma. Prior to this, he has held leadership positions at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, GSK-Stiefel and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc.
Hansa Biopharma – Sweden’s Hansa named Katja Margell as new Head of Corporate Communications. Margell brings extensive corporate communications experience as a former partner at Swedish communications agencies Kreab Worldwide and Hallvarsson & Halvarsson where she focused on strategic, corporate and capital markets communication.
Kintai Therapeutics – Cambridge, Mass.-based Kintai and Senda Biosciences are combining and announced new leadership. Guillaume Pfefer, CEO-Partner at Flagship Pioneering, and Scott Plevy, CSO of Senda Biosciences, will serve as CEO and CSO of the newly combined company, respectively. Pfefer is a 25-year veteran of the biotech and pharmaceutical industries who most recently served as Global Vaccine Leader for GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine for the prevention of shingles. Prior to joining Senda Biosciences. Plevy served as CSO at Synlogic, Inc. and previously led the Gastroenterology Disease Area at Janssen Immunology Research & Development. Plevy is a gastroenterologist and molecular immunologist who, prior to his appointment as CSO of Senda, held leadership positions at Synlogic, Inc. and Janssen Immunology Research & Development, LLC.
Arkuda Therapeutics – Pascale Witz was named to the board of directors of Arkuda Therapeutics. Witz currently provides strategic consulting services to investors and life science companies through PWH Advisors. Before that, Witz served as head of Global Diabetes and Cardiovascular of Sanofi S.A. Prior to Sanofi, she held positions of increasing responsibility over a 17-year career at GE Healthcare. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Horizon Therapeutics Plc, PerkinElmer, Inc., Regulus Therapeutics, Inc. and Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA.
EWiB – Executive Women in Bio named the new 21-member class of its Boardroom Ready Program. The candidates selected for this year’s Boardroom Ready program are Brinda Balakrishnan, head of Corporate and Business Development at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Liz Bhatt, Chief Business and Strategy Officer at Applied Molecular Transport; Katherine Bowdish, head of R&D Strategy at Sanofi; Melissa Cruz, a member of the board of directors of eSolutions, Inc.; Becki Filice, head of Portfolio and Product Management at Aimmune Therapeutics; Virginia Finnerty-Brooks, head of Corporate Development and Strategy at Dermira, Inc.; Kirsten Flower, Chief Commercial Officer at Kura Oncology; Kate Hermans, CBO of Pharma at 83bard; Jill Howe, head of Finance and Treasurer at Gossamer Bio; Abigail Jenkins, Business Unit Head of Vaccines at Emergent BioSolutions; Julie Krop, CMO of Freeline Therapeutics; Cristina Larkin, COO of Spero Therapeutics; Philina Lee, head of Marketing, Patient Services and U.S. Precision Medicine at Blueprint Medicines; Alicia Levey, CBO of Pionyr Immunotherapeutics; Christy Oliger, head of Oncology at Genentech; Sumita Ray, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Calithera Biosciences; Deidre Roniger, head of Corporate Development at Ambys Medicines; Susan Sobolov, COO of Caelum Biosciences; Nicki Vasquez, head of Alliance Management, Portfolio Strategy and Operations at Sutro Biopharma; Karin Walker, CAO of Prothena Corporation; and Jane Wright-Mitchell, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Vaxcyte.
