Changing Faces: Digital and supplier hires – February 2025

Welcome to the digital and supplier edition of our February Changing Faces column, where we summarise the hires at the companies that support pharma and biotech research and manufacturing, as well as select pharma-related digital health and medtech hires.

This was a reasonably busy month for the sector, with plenty of hires at the top of the org chart.

CARBOGEN promotes Fritschi to CEO. CARBOGEN AMCIS, a Swiss service provider offering drug development and commercialisation services, has appointed Stephan Fritschi as its new CEO. Previously serving as chief alliance officer, Fritschi steps in for the departing CEO Pascal Villemagne, who is leaving for a new opportunity after 13 years with the company.

Two drug delivery tech firms install new leaders. A pair of medtechs innovating drug delivery technologies announced new leadership in February.

• At ViCentra, a Netherlands-based medtech company known for its reusable patch pump for insulin delivery, Tom Arnold has taken on the role of CEO. Arnold's notable achievements include his pivotal role at Medtronic, where he helped launch the world’s first hybrid closed-loop insulin pump system during his seven-year tenure.
• VisionHealth, a German health tech company developing app-based offerings to support inhaled therapies, has named Peter Shadday as CEO. Shadday, who was the company's chief business officer, brings experience from his previous roles at Vertex, Gilead, and Novartis. VisionHealth's current CEO and co-founder, Dr Sabine Häussermann, will step into the newly created role of chief scientific officer as the company launches its Kata app.

Glasgow chem-tech nabs Apple vet. Michael Bell has been appointed chief technology officer at Chemify, a Glasgow-based company digitising chemistry to support research, discovery, and synthesis of novel molecules for medicines and advanced materials. Bell brings a wealth of experience from his 15-year tenure at Apple, where he helped launch the iMac and the iPhone.

Two CCOs appointed. This month saw a pair of appointments to the role of chief commercial officer at two life sciences companies.

• Joining Sapio Sciences, Mike Hampton brings a background that includes significant experience with pharma software company IDBS and multiple AI start-ups. Sapio Sciences offers cloud-based technology to improve biopharma development.
• Nikhil Rao takes on the CCO post at Syncell, a commercial stage company focused on subcellular protein purification and spatial proteomics analysis. Rao joined Syncell in August 2024 from 10X Genetics, where he served as SVP commercial.

New financial leadership in the manufacturing space. Several companies in the biotech manufacturing orbit expanded their leadership team with finance, business, and sales appointments.

• Abzena, a San Diego-based CDMO and CRO focused on bioconjugates and complex biologics, has welcomed Taylor Boyd as its new chief business officer. Boyd was most recently head of business development at Longboard Pharmaceuticals, where he managed mergers and acquisitions, transactions, and partnerships.
• Seth Benson has taken on the role of chief financial officer at Nuclera, a Cambridge, UK company with a platform for rapid protein expression and purification. Benson has a strong background in finance and operations, having led Akoya Biosciences through its IPO.
• Promoted to global head of business development at Rentschler Biopharma, Patrick Meyer has been with the company for over eight years, most recently serving as global head BD sales and alliance management. Rentschler Biopharma is a German CDMO with offices in Massachusetts and Stevenage, UK.
• David Ruggiero has joined PacBio as global head of sales and service. Ruggiero previously led North American digital sales for Microsoft and Zoom. PacBio, based in California, designs, develops, and manufactures advanced sequencing products to help scientists and clinical researchers resolve genetically complex problems.

New VPs round out the month’s hires. Sygnature Discovery, an integrated drug discovery contract research organisation based in the UK and Canada with headquarters in Nottingham, has named Fraser McIntosh as vice president of in vivo pharmacology. McIntosh brings a 30-year background spanning the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and CRO sectors. And Mårten Bergström has joined PeptiSystems as VP of quality assurance and engineering. Bergström's 30-year career includes product development and quality assurance roles at Gyros Protein Technologies and Pharmacia Diagnostics. PeptiSystems is a biotech developing new instruments for peptide and oligonucleotide synthesis.

That’s it for this hires round-up, but stay tuned for our other categories and remember, you can send your own hires to editorial@pharmaphorum.com for inclusion in this column.