Biopharma and life sciences companies bolster their leadership teams and board with these Movers & Shakers.
Sigrid Therapeutics – Jan Lundberg, an Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca veteran, has joined Sweden-based Sigrid Therapeutics as both an investor and as a member of its Scientific Advisory Board. Jan Lundberg, the former president of Eli Lilly Research Labs and head of R&D for the company, has overseen the development of more than 200 candidate drugs, with 25 approved products across multiple therapeutic areas. Before joining AstraZeneca, he was Professor of Pharmacology at the Karolinska Institute in Solna, Sweden. Lundberg, who retired from Eli Lilly in 2018, serves on the boards of Ardelyx, Metabolon, TB Alliance, Imaging Analysis Group, Anocca and Betagenon. The appointment of Lundberg follows Sigrid’s proof of concept for the company’s medical device, SiPore15, used for the prevention of diabetes and obesity. Sigird Chief Executive Officer Sana Alajmovic told BioSpace that Lundberg’s experience will be vital as the company moves forward with its development plan. Ulf Wlndberg, chairman of the company’s board of directors, also touted the addition of Lundberg. “Dr. Lundberg is one of the leading heads of R&D in the world and has great insights into metabolic diseases. We are delighted that he has chosen to invest and work with Sigrid and look forward to benefitting from his insights and experiences,” Wlndberg told BioSpace.
Gilead Sciences – Mark Genovese has been named Senior Vice President of Inflammation at Gilead Sciences. He will oversee the clinical development of the company’s investigational portfolio of treatments for inflammatory conditions. Genovese comes to the company from Stanford University, where he served on the faculty for 21 years as the James W. Raitt Professor of Medicine and Clinical Chief in the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology.
ImmunoGen -- Stacy A. Coen has been tapped as chief business officer of ImmunoGen, Inc. Coen joins ImmunoGen from Editas Medicine, where she served as vice president of Business Development and was responsible for business development, strategy, transactions, and alliance management. Prior to Editas, Coen served in multiple roles of increasing responsibility at Sanofi Genzyme and currently serves on the board of trustees of Huntington’s Disease Society of America and is a member of MassBio and the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine.
TriSalus Life Sciences – Rajesh B. Mistry was named chief financial officer of TriSalus Mistry brings nearly 15 years of experience to TriSalus, most recently serving as head of Corporate Development at Option Care Health. Before that, he drove strategic finance, capital raising and M&A efforts at Melinta Therapeutics.
H.E.L Group -- Mert Sahin was named general manager of H.E.L. Inc., the company’s North American subsidiary. Sahin He joins H.E.L from GE Healthcare where he held senior executive roles, most recently as chief marketing officer for GE’s Medical Imaging business. Prior to GE, he held roles in the Life Sciences and Diagnostics industries.
Celyad – David Gilham was named chief scientific officer and Peggy Sotiropoulou was named head of research and development at Celyad.
Varian – Michael Hutchison was named chief legal officer of California-based Varian. Most recently, Hutchinson served as Chief Legal Officer and and Advisor to the Chairman and CEO at Stryker. Francis Facchini was named president of Varian’s Interventional Solutions business. Facchini joined Varian as CMO in 2019, and in February 2020 transitioned to interim leader of the IS business.
CalciMedica -- Robert N. Wilson, a former vice chairman of the Johnson & Johnson Board of Directors, was named to CalciMedica’s board. In addition, board member Eric W. Roberts has been named Vice Chairman of the Board and Chairman of the Strategic Transactions and Finance Committee.
SCYNEXIS – Jim Maffezzoli was named vice president of marketing and sales at SCYNEXIS. Maffezzoli will lead marketing and commercialization of SCYNEXIS’s lead clinical asset, ibrexafungerp, pending regulatory approval, for the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), more commonly known as vaginal yeast infection. Most recently, Maffezzoli served as Senior Vice President of Marketing at women’s health company Viveve Medical, and prior to Viveve, Maffezzoli held several commercial leadership roles in Urology and Women’s Health at Allergan plc, Exeltis USA, Inc. and Pfizer.
Exact Therapeutics – Rafiq Hasan was named CEO of Norway-based Exact Therapeutics AS. Hasan most recently served as Global Head of Ophthalmology at Bayer.
Confo Therapeutics – Belgium-based Confo Therapeutics tapped Paolo Vicini for the newly-created position of chief development officer. Vicini joins Confo from his most recent position as head of Development Sciences at Kymab. Before Kymab, Vicini worked at MedImmune as senior director of Translational Sciences, Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacometrics and Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics at their Cambridge, U.K. site. Prior to that, Vicini was a Research Fellow, Biotherapeutics and Translational Research, with Pharmacokinetics, Dynamics and Metabolism at Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development in California for seven years.
22nd Century Group – James A. Mish was named CEO of 22nd Century Group. John Franzino has been appointed Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining 22nd Century, Mish served as CEO of Noramco. Mish led the creation and spinoff of Purisys from Noramco during his tenure. Prior to joining 22nd Century Group, Franzino served as CFO of the West Point Association of Graduates.
Aligos Therapeutics -- Lesley Ann Calhoun was named CFO of Aligos Therapeutics. Calhoun most recently served as senior vice president of finance & administration and chief accounting officer at Global Blood Therapeutics. Before that, Calhoun served as vice president of finance at Hyperion Therapeutics Inc. Calhoun has also held roles of increasing financial responsibility at Cell Genesys, Inc., Snap Appliances, Inc., Inktomi Corporation and Silicon Graphics, Inc. and was a member of the audit practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP.
Cytovia Therapeutics -- Wei Li was named acting Chief Scientific Officer at Cytovia. Most recently, Li was CDO at OliX Pharmaceuticals. She also served as head of Product Development at Boston Biomedical, Inc. Li started her career at ArQule.
Nevro Corp. -- Roderick MacLeod was named CFO of California-based Nevro Corp. MacLeod succeeds Andrew Galligan, who is retiring but will remain with the company during a transition period.
Alcami Corporation – Walter J. Kaczmarek III was named CEO of N.C.-based Alcami Corporation. Kaczmarek has served in executive roles at multiple pharmaceutical companies, including as president of the Multisource Pharmaceuticals division of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, COO of Aceto Corporation, and most recently, as president and CEO of Cosette Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Immatics Biotechnologies – Cedrik Britten was named CMO of Immatics. Britten will join Immatics with more than a decade of experience in clinical development including his most recent position as Vice President and Head of the Oncology Cell Therapy Research Unit at GlaxoSmithKline. He will be responsible for the management and global development of Immatics’ clinical pipeline. In parallel, Carsten Reinhardt, MD, PhD, the current Chief Medical Officer at Immatics, will assume the newly created role as CDO to lead Immatics’ product development strategy. Carsten will also continue to lead the TCR Bispecifics platform and pipeline and the Immunology and Translational Development functions at Immatics. Stephen Eck, the current CMO at Immatics US in Houston, will step down and remain with the company until the end of June to support the transition.
IFM Therapeutics – Maegan E. Deare was named head of legal and Christopher M. Lindblom was named head of finance at IFM Therapeutics.
Angion Biomedica – Jennifer J. Rhodes was named General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary of Angion Biomedica. Prior to joining Angion, Rhodes served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Inc. She also held the roles of Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Business Officer during her time there. Additionally, Allen R. Nissenson, Gilbert S. Omenn, and Karen J. Wilson have joined the company’s Board of Directors.
Moderna, Inc.– David Meline was named Moderna’s new CFO. He will assume his new role on June 8. Meline joins Moderna from Amgen, where he served as CFO since 2014. At Amgen, he was responsible for all finance, information systems and global business services activities across 100 countries. In this role, Meline led enterprise-wide transformation while increasing growth and productivity and reducing development cycle time. Prior to Amgen, Meline spent six years as CFO at 3M Company. Previously, Meline held numerous leadership positions at General Motors, including CFO for GM North America.
