Life science and pharma companies strengthen their leadership teams with this week’s appointments.
Biogen -- Biogen’s Michael D. Ehlers has resigned from his role as head of research and development and he will take over as chief executive officer of gene therapy startup Limelight Bio effective Oct. 21. In addition to that role at Limelight, Ehlers was named the new chief scientific officer and venture partner at Apple Tree Partners, a life sciences investment fund. With Ehlers’ departure, Biogen said Chief Medical Officer Alfred Sandrock was named head of R&D. He will continue to serve as CMO. Alphonse Galdes was named head of pharmaceutical operations and technology. Sandrock was named CMO in 2012. He joined the company in 1998 and has held multiple leadership roles. Galdes joined Biogen in 1995 and has held numerous executive positions, including head of technical development.
Deciphera Pharmaceuticals -- Matthew L. Sherman has been named chief medical officer of Waltham, Mass.-based Deciphera. Since 2006, Sherman served as CMO of Acceleron Pharma where he led medical research, clinical operations, biostatistics, data management, clinical pharmacology, medical writing, outsourcing and pharmacovigilance. Before joining Acceleron, Dr. Sherman was CMO of Synta Pharmaceuticals (now Madrigal Pharmaceuticals). Prior to Synta, Sherman spent over a decade at Wyeth-Ayerst Research/Genetics Institute. He currently serves as a director of Pieris Pharmaceuticals, Pulmatrix, and NewLink Genetics. He also serves on the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth Board of Advisors and Alumni Council.
Dyne Therapeutics – Joshua Brumm was named president and chief executive officer of Waltham-based Dyne Therapeutics, a company focused on targeted therapies for serious muscle diseases. Prior to Dynne, Brumm served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Kaleido Biosciences, where he led the company’s financings including its initial public offering and helped bring the lead program into Phase II development. Before joining Kaleido, Brumm was COO and CFO at Versartis. His previous roles include serving as executive vice president of finance and principal financial officer at Pharmacyclics; CFO at ZELTIQ; and director of finance at Proteolix, Inc., assisting in the sale of the company to Onyx Pharmaceuticals. He also held investment banking roles at Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. and Morgan Stanley.
Halloran – Life sciences consulting firm Halloran Consulting Group made several changes to its leadership team. Greg Dombal, the company’s COO, was named president. He will continue in his role as COO, Halloran said. Tania Zieja was promoted to CFO and Katie McCarthy was promoted to chief development officer. Dombal joined Halloran Consulting Group in 2007 as head of regulatory affairs and was promoted to COO in 2008. Prior to joining Halloran, he led the clinical, regulatory and quality functions for ArQule. Prior to ArQule, he held positions of increasing responsibility at Burroughs Wellcome, DepoTech Corporation, Genzyme and Antigenics. Zieja joined Halloran in 2012 as acting controller, with increasing responsibility and was named CFO in 2019. Prior to joining Halloran, Zieja worked at Cambridge Biomarketing, Baystate Health and IBM. McCarthy joined Halloran in 2011 from Biogen, where she had been responsible for program and alliance management. Beyond the executive leadership promotions, Halloran has increased its headcount to over 90 full-time employees with key principal hires in the regulatory, clinical and quality practices.
Zimmer Biomet -- Carrie Nichol joined the company as controller and chief accounting officer. Before joining Zimmer, Nichol served as controller and CAO of Endo International plc. Prior to Endo, Nichol served as controller of Haas Group Inc., which is now part of Wesco Aircraft Holdings, Inc. Before Haas Group Inc., Nichol was with IKON Office Solutions.
Sangamo Therapeutics – Bettina M. Cockroft was named CMO of California-based Sangamo Therapeutics. Cockroft will oversee all clinical development activities and operations. Cockroft has 23 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and joins Sangamo from Cytokinetics, Inc., where she was a member of the senior leadership team. Before that, Cockroft served as CMO of Auris Medical AG. Cockroft also held roles of increasing responsibility at Merck Serono S.A., Novartis Consumer Health and Menarini Ricerche.
Kitov Pharmaceuticals – Israel-based Kitov Pharma named Eric K. Rowinsky as chairman of its board of directors. Rowinsky has held executive leadership and board roles at leading public companies, including ImClone Systems Inc., Stemline Inc., Biogen Inc., Verastem Oncology, Inc. and Fortress Biotech, Inc. Most recently, Rowinsky served as executive director and president of RGenix, Inc. since June 2016. He also served as chief scientific officer of Clearpath Development Co. since June 2016.
Tridek-One – French biotech company Tridek-One tapped Regis Olivier as CFO, Jorge Kirilovsky as CSO Joyeux as chief development officer. Prior to joining Tridek-One, Olivier was CEO of Axess Vision Technology. Previously he was CFO of Echosens. Kirilovsky was the former general manager of GlaxoSmithKline’s research center in France. He led a group of more than 100 biologists, chemists, pharmacologists and clinicians working together to identify new drug candidates for development. Prior to joining Tridek-One, Joyeux was COO at Minka Therapeutics. Before that, she held various positions related to regulatory affairs and product development at Onxeo in France, Agouron-Pfizer in the United States and Servier in France.
Verve Therapeutics -- Physician and scientist Andrew Bellinger joined Verve as its new CSO. Bellinger joins Verve from Lyndra Therapeutics where he was co-founder and CSO. Bellinger is a general cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is board-certified in cardiovascular medicine and internal medicine. Before Lyndra, Bellinger served as CSO of Cocoon Biotech.
