Pharma and life sciences companies bolster their executive leadership teams and boards with these Movers & Shakers.
Akcea Therapeutics – Michael D. Price was named chief financial officer of Boston-based Akcea, a division of Ionis Pharmaceuticals. Price will oversee financial operations at the company including managing financial strategies and activities related to clinical and regulatory functions, commercial sales, marketing, manufacturing and supply chain. Before joining Akcea, Price served as CFO and was elected to the company’s board of directors of Novelion Therapeutics. Before that, Price served as CFO at Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to Noven, he was at Bentley Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 1992 to 2006, serving as vice president, CFO, treasurer and secretary.
WAVE Life Sciences – Kenneth Rhodes was named head of Therapeutics Discovery at Cambridge, Mass.-based Wave Life Sciences. In this newly created position, Rhodes will be responsible for defining the strategy and guiding discovery research to design new therapeutic candidates and advance them to the clinic, with an initial focus on neurological diseases. Prior to joining Wave, Rhodes was chief scientific officer and co-founder of Yumanity Therapeutics. Prior to Yumanity, Rhodes was head of Neurology Discovery at Biogen. Before that, he spent a combined 15 years as a discovery research leader at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, LLC and Wyeth.
Locate Bio – U.K.-based Locate Bio Ltd. tapped John von Benecke as its new chief executive officer. von Benecke has served as chief operations officer and CFO for Locate since September 2019. Before Locate, his previous experience includes serving in an executive role at ApaTech Ltd.
Horama – French gene therapy company HORAMA announced Benedikt Timmerman will be the company’s new chairman of the board of directors. Benedikt is currently a part-time Venture Partner at IRDI SORIDEC Gestion and a board member of such companies as Cell-Easy and Horama. He serves on the board of various portfolio companies, including Ixaltis, Antabio and Aelis Farma.
Exo – California-based Exo named Simon Prakash as its new head of product engineering. Prakesh most recently served as the chief technical officer at AliveCor and previously held senior leadership positions at Google and Apple.
NanoViricides – Former U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita joined the board of directors of NanoViricides, Inc. He is currently co-owner and General Counsel and Vice President of External Affairs, Apex Benefits Group, Inc. Most recently, Rokita has been nominated by President Trump to the board of directors of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (aka Amtrak).
Science 37 – Mike Zaranek was named CFO of Science 37. He will oversee all aspects of finance, accounting, and strategic pricing as the company prepares for its next stage of growth. Zaranek joins Science 37 from IQVIA’s Contract Sales and Medical Solutions, where he served as vice president of finance for the global business unit. Previously, Zaranek spent almost two decades in corporate development roles, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions as well as capital market transactions.
OLIGOMERIX – William Erhardt was named CMO of New York’s Oligomerix. Most recently, Erhardt was head of Clinical Development & Operations at Pfizer, Inc. He oversaw Pfizer’s Clinical, Clinical Sciences, Clinical Project Management and Study Management functions as well as Pfizer’s Internal Phase I Clinical Research units in New Haven and Brussels, Belgium. Additionally, privately-held Oligomerix named former Pfizer executive Robert Foerster as CFO. At Pfizer, Foerster held multiple roles, including Senior Director Commercial Development for Emerging Markets, Senior Director Business Development – Japan, where he was responsible for the entire development portfolio, numerous business alliances, strategic planning, and was a member of the Leadership team. He was also Director/Team Leader - Neuroscience for New Product Development.
Taurus Therapeutics – Taurus boosted its board of directors with the appointments of David R. Epstein and C. David Nicholson. Epstein is executive partner at Flagship Pioneering and Chairman of Axcella Health, Rubius Therapeutics and Evelo Biosciences. Before Flagship, He was CEO of Novartis Pharmaceuticals, a division of the Swiss pharma giant. Nicholson has held senior leadership roles at Allergan, Bayer CropScience, Schering-Plough, Organon and Merck. He was chief R&D Officer at Allergan prior to its acquisition by AbbVie and also serves on the Board of Directors of Science Exchange and Actinium Pharmaceuticals.
Atreca – Kristine M. Ball was appointed to the board of directors of Bay Area-based Atreca, Inc. Ball most recently served as head of Corporate Strategy and CFO of Menlo Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to joining Menlo in 2017, Ball served as CFO of Relypsa, Inc. Before Relypsa, Ball previously served as CFO of KAI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
