Changing Faces: May and June 2024 supplier and digital hires

In the pharma-adjacent, pharma supplier, and digital health worlds, we saw a significant number of hires in May and June.

Benchling nabs two heavy-hitters for C-Suite. San Francisco-based R&D cloud vendor Benchling made two significant appointments. Ron Gill, who previously grew NetSuite to nearly $1 billion in revenue during his tenure as CFO, joined as chief financial officer. The company also brought on Parm Uppal as chief revenue officer, leveraging his 20 years of sales and leadership experience from roles at AppDynamics and Luminary Cloud.

New head at brain-on-a-chip firm. AxoSim, a life sciences company supporting neurological disease research through its "brain on a chip" platform, appointed Alif Saleh as CEO. Saleh was formerly CEO of Scipher Medical Corporation. The previous CEO, Lowry Curley, steps into the role of chief scientific officer.

Genomics company locks in leadership. Enhanc3D Genomics, a Cambridge, UK-based developer of a genome-wide 3D sequencing platform, appointed Hazel Jones as CEO. Jones had been serving as interim CEO and COO since November. Prior to that, she held leadership positions at AstraZeneca and Cancer Research UK.

Bionical makes two hires, including top job. Bionical Solutions, a provider of technology-enabled engagement and healthcare services to global pharmaceutical, biotech, healthcare companies, and the NHS, made appointments in two of its three business units. Gareth Williams, whose career includes time at Sciensus, Janssen, IQVIA, and Healthcare at Home, was named CEO of Bionical Health. Tom Tacon was appointed as business unit director of Bionical Virtual Engagement. Tacon's sales and marketing experience spans Daiichi Sankyo, Coloplast, Boehringer Ingelheim, and GSK.

Three more CEO appointments. A trio of additional appointments bring the CEO count to six.

ERS Genomics, the Ireland-based CRISPR/CAS-9 licensing company, appointed John E. Milad as CEO. Milad comes from kidney care, where he led Quanta Dialysis Technologies for nearly a decade.
AES Clean Technologies, a Pennsylvania-based provider of modular cleanroom facilities, named Chris Miller as CEO. Miller, a US Air Force veteran, previously led Exyte's biopharma and life sciences global business unit.
Pittsburgh-based global Medtech CRO RQM+ named John Potthoff as CEO. Potthoff was co-founder and former CEO of Elligo Health Research and had been a member of RQM+'s board since 2021.

Torbray names two C-Suite hires. Torbay Pharma, a UK-based sterile injectable contract manufacturer and licence holder, made two significant hires. Mohammed Nazir was named chief operating officer, bringing operational expertise from his time at Pantheon and Pfizer. The company also appointed Tara Slivey as chief people officer. Slivey is an experienced HR professional who has worked for multiple pharmaceutical manufacturing businesses in the past.

New faces at Newcells. Newcells Biotech, a Newcastle, UK drug discovery partner with a focus on in vitro models, made several appointments. Dr Valeria Chichagova, who established the ocular platform at iPSC Technology was named director of technology. Colin Brown, who has served as Newcells' chief innovation officer since 2018, was appointed chief scientific officer. Finally, founder Lyle Armstrong moved into a new role as scientific advisor.

Making the jump from energy to pharma. Two companies made hires from the energy sector: SHINE Technologies, a Wisconsin-based fusion company and supplier of medical isotopes, appointed Derek Kramer as chief operating officer. Kramer most recently ran operations at Archaea Energy, a renewable natural gas company. And Alfa Laval, a UK-based industrial technology company that supports pharma and biotech with equipment and services, hired Rachel Bridges as managing director, UK. Bridges previously spent 20 years at Cummins Inc, a global power technology company.

Three more tech hires. A few more notable hires came from companies in the AI and digital spheres.

MVision AI, an AI software provider for radiotherapy treatment planning and imaging, hired Antti Pirskanen as chief financial officer. Pirskanen previously worked as CFO for Newil & Bau and as an investor with Vaaka Partners.
Amsterdam-based myTomorrows, which uses AI to connect patients with treatment options, including clinical trials, brought on Marshall Van Beurden as chief technology officer. Van Beurden's background includes engineering and leadership experience from Miro and Amazon Web Services.
German mental healthcare platform developer neurocare group named Tariq El-Titi as SVP for the MENA region. El-Titi, the founder of Janus Ventures, has been focused on bringing digital health innovation to the Middle East and North Africa region.

CDMOs strengthen leadership across the board. Contract development and manufacturing organisations (CDMOs) saw numerous high-level appointments:

German CDMO Rentschler Biopharma promoted a pair of Patricks in May and June. Patrick Cushing was named VP operations for the company’s US subsidiary. Cushing had been serving as senior director of manufacturing operations at the Milford plant since 2021. The company also appointed Patrick Meyer as global head BD sales and alliance management, a newly-created position. Meyer has been with Rentschler for some time in various roles.
Asymtech, a Paris-based CDMO and manufacturer of pharmaceutical ingredients, hired Franck Mevellec as senior director, BD. Mevellec boasts broad experience in sales and business development at Bayer, Tea, and Seqens.
Onyx Scientific, a small molecule CDMO specialising in process R&D and small molecule API manufacturing, brought on Courtnie Thomas Wilks as business development manager for UK and Europe. Wilks has worked in BD at Citeline, Reckitt, and Perrigo.

Several new hires in the CRO world. The contract research organisation (CRO) space also saw some notable hires:

Avallano, a South Carolina AI-enabled research company, hired Michael A. Ibara as chief strategy officer. Ibara was formerly chief data officer at Elligo Health Solutions.
Dr. Vince Clinical Research, a Kansas-based full-service CRO, appointed Dr Sheldon Preskorn as SVP neuroscience. Preskorn is a renowned physician, researcher, and educator who has consulted with the FDA, EMA, and NIH and lectured in 55 countries.
Celerion, a Nebraska-based CRO focused on early clinical research services, appointed Jo Goodman as VP bioanalytical services. Over her 29-year career, Goodman has risen through the ranks of AstraZeneca, MedImmune, and GlaxoSmithKline.

More miscellaneous supplier hires. A number of companies that support pharma and biotech announced hires over the two months, including a few C-Suite hires:

Particle Dynamics, a leader in particle processing, delivery technology, and dose manufacturing for pharma and related industries, named Mike Kanan as chief financial officer. Kanan’s 30-year finance career includes terms at Avadel Pharmaceuticals and Sigma Aldrich, now part of Merck Group.
Ascential Medical & Life Sciences, a provider of 3ommercialization services for medical and life sciences devices, hired Vinod Mirchandani as chief technology officer. Mirchandani joins from Thermo Fischer Scientific, where he played a role in transforming the company's R&D operation.
CN Bio, a leading organ-on-a-chip company based in Cambridge, UK, hired Lydia Seymour as VP of people and culture. Seymour is a longtime HR professional who has worked at AbCam, TTP Labtech, and Evonetix.
Sphere Fluidics, a Cambridge-based manufacturer that creates microfluidic tools to enable cell therapy, brought on Curtis Nicholson as director of sales for the EMEA region. Nicholson brings extensive sales experience in the med tech industry, including positions at Bio-Techne and Becton Dickinson.
Origin, a UK designer and manufacturer of healthcare packaging, appointed Michael McSorley as managing director. McSorley most recently headed up business development at AAH Pharmaceuticals.

Three diagnostics companies update Boards. Many more Board appointments below, but first we’re spotlighting a few from the world of diagnostics:

Newfoundland Diagnostics, a UK provider of diagnostic tests and medical devices, brought on well-known doctor, broadcaster, and author Dr Hilary Jones as an advisor.
deeppull, a Barcelona-headquartered company developing culture-free diagnostics for sepsis and acute infections, added Didier Deltort to its Board of Directors. Deltort is a senior advisor at Mérieux Equity Partners whose former leadership experience spans GE Healthcare, Boston Scientific, Zimmer Biomet, and HP Inc.
Axithra, a Belgian diagnostics company developing a platform to monitor and measure drug concentrations in blood, appointed Dr Alain Pluquet and Michael Tillman to its Board of Directors. Pluquet has held a variety of leadership positions at bioMérieux, specialising in in vitro diagnostics. Tillman is the former president and CEO of Roche Diagnostics.
BrightHeart, a Paris-based medical device company using AI to analyse foetal heart ultrasound exams and look for congenital heart defects, appointed Michael Butchko as Chairman of the Board. Butchko was formerly senior vice president and general manager of ultrasound at GE Healthcare.

More Board appointments. Finally, we close out with our main Board round-up:

Closed Loop Medicine, a TechBio firm working on drug-app combination products for personalised dose optimisation, added Paul Johnson as non-executive director. Johnson co-founded Lemonaid Health and led it through its acquisition by consumer genomics giant 23andMe.
H1, a health tech company in New York focused on connecting people to the right doctors, added Karen Walker to its Board of Directors. Walker is a board member at Eli Lilly and former chief marketing officer for Intel and Cisco Systems.
Mark Bamforth, a serial entrepreneur who has founded, built, and sold three CDMOs, was appointed Board Chair of Kincell Bio, a Florida-based CDMO focused on the burgeoning cell therapy market.
Frontier Science Scotland, a non-profit clinical data research organisation based in the Scottish Highlands, welcomed Bjoern Schelter to its Board of Trustees. Schelter is CEO of GT Diagnostics (UK) Ltd, chief analytics officer of TauRx Therapeutics, and a Professor for Applied Mathematics at the University of Aberdeen.
Lindus Health, a self-described "anti-CRO" using technology to run faster and more reliable clinical trials, welcomed Dr Tim Garnett, former chief medical officer at Eli Lilly, to its advisory board.

That’s it for this super-sized edition of Changing Faces. Remember, if you’ve had a recent appointment and you work in or around the pharma space, we want to hear about it. Please send your press releases to editorial@pharmaphorum.com to be included in future editions of Changing Faces.