CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 10,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Flagship Pioneering,
the bioplatform innovation company, today announced additions
to its leadership team through key executive appointments and
promotions. Today's personnel announcement accompanies
Flagship's announced expansion of its capital base with a capital
pool of $3.6 billion to support the
origination and growth of an estimated 25 breakthrough platform
companies in human health, sustainability, and AI.
Lovisa Afzelius, Ph.D., has
been promoted to General Partner. Afzelius joined Flagship in 2020
after leading Pfizer's systems immunology function, where she
served as executive director of clinical programs. A computational
scientist by training, Afzelius came to Flagship with twenty years
of leadership experience. Afzelius' past roles included CEO,
co-founder, president, chairperson of the board, and executive
director in both emerging biotech and large pharma companies.
"Lovisa has showcased her exemplary leadership, vision, and
commitment to pioneering original science, as evidenced by her
instrumental role in the creation and scaling-up of Alltrna,
Apriori Bio, Metaphore Biotechnologies, and Prologue Medicines,"
said Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., Founder
and CEO of Flagship Pioneering. "I am pleased with the promotion of
Lovisa to General Partner, and look forward to her continued
dedication to our mission."
Paul Biondi has also been
promoted to General Partner. Biondi joined Flagship in 2019
following nearly two decades at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), where
he most recently served as Senior Vice President of Strategy and
Business Development. As President of Flagship's Pioneering
Medicines, Biondi has grown the initiative into a robust drug
development unit with a leading team of experts who bring a broad
set of capabilities to Flagship and its platforms. Under Biondi's
leadership, Pioneering Medicines has established strategic
partnerships with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Novo Nordisk, and
Pfizer.
"In just four years since he joined Flagship, Paul has
transformed then nascent Pioneering Medicines into an innovation
powerhouse, where thanks to his vision and leadership, we boast an
R&D unit full of experts who bring an array of drug research,
design and development capabilities to our organization," said
Afeyan. "The strategic partnerships he has established signify not
just a tremendous opportunity for patient impact and value
creation, but represent a new, innovation supply chain model for
collaborations within the broader biopharma ecosystem. Beyond this,
Paul has provided instrumental leadership in various capacities
across Flagship and has positively impacted our growth
trajectory."
Dina Ciarimboli has been
appointed as General Counsel and Executive Partner to oversee
legal, corporate, IP, compliance, and related matters for Flagship
Pioneering and its ecosystem of internally-operated companies. She
was most recently General Counsel at EQRx, and brings over 30 years
of experience advising life sciences companies and venture capital
funds on corporate strategy and operations spanning company
creation, early research, clinical development, and commercial
launch. Ciarimboli leads legal, corporate, IP,
compliance, and related matters for Flagship Pioneering and its
early stage, wholly owned companies.
"We are pleased to have Dina
Ciarimboli on board as our General Counsel," added Afeyan.
"Dina's impressive track record includes over three decades of
invaluable experience advising life sciences companies and venture
capital funds, which makes her a great fit for this role. Dina's
expert guidance and counsel have quickly become an asset to
Flagship and its wholly-owned companies."
Marcello Damiani has been
appointed Senior Partner with a responsibility for guiding and
supporting Flagship and its ecosystem companies on digital, IT
strategy and operations. Damiani joins Flagship from Moderna where
he served as Chief Digital and Operational Excellence Officer,
developing and leading a digitization strategy using cutting edge
technologies such as robotics, automation cloud computing, and
artificial intelligence/machine learning in support of Moderna's
transition from preclinical through to commercial therapeutics.
"Marcello executed a potent digitization strategy during his
time at Moderna, using advanced technologies like robotics,
automation, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence/machine
learning, and his expertise makes him an invaluable addition to our
team," added Afeyan.
Gary Pisano, Ph.D., a long-time contributor to Flagship and
for the last year an academic partner while on sabbatical from
Harvard Business School, has joined
Flagship full time as Executive Partner and Chief Strategist.
Pisano most recently served as the Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor
of Business Administration at the Harvard
Business School, where he served as Senior Associate Dean
for Promotions and Tenure and has taught MBA, executive, and
doctoral courses. As Chief Strategist, Pisano is tasked with
tackling the broad strategic and business model choices facing
Flagship with a focus on operating effectively and efficiently at
scale. Pisano will also be an important resource to Flagship
companies on strategy and business model design.
"We have long valued Gary's insight and strategy at Flagship,
and we are pleased to welcome him as our Chief Strategist," added
Afeyan. "Gary's counsel and singular understanding of the Flagship
model will allow him to tackle the broad strategic and business
choices facing Flagship with a focus on operating effectively and
efficiently at scale. A key part of his role will be helping us
leverage the company's nearly 25 years of experience, and ensuring
that Flagship operates on the leading edge of management, strategy,
and leadership practice."
Enhancing Flagship's Leadership Team
Flagship further enhanced its leadership team with the following
executive appointments and elevations:
- Junaid Bajwa, M.D., will join
Flagship in early September as Senior Partner and Head of
United Kingdom, and Science
Partner for Pioneering Intelligence. He will focus on advancing new
strategic opportunities and partnerships in the region for Flagship
and its companies. Bajwa will join Flagship from Microsoft Research
where he has been serving as Chief Medical Scientist focusing on
how trusted, reliable, and human-centered AI can transform the
practice of medicine. He will bring over two decades of experience
across primary care, secondary care, and public health settings,
and has worked as a payer and policymaker in the UK, specializing
in informatics, digital transformation, and leadership.
- David Khougazian was recently promoted to Executive Partner,
Growth and Head of Global Engagement. David brings more than 25
years of leadership experience in the global healthcare industry
including over two decades at Sanofi.
- Justine Levin-Allerhand, Ph.D.,
was recently promoted to Executive Partner, Origination and
Corporate Development to maximize the effectiveness of Flagship's
origination teams, thereby fueling its ecosystem with exceptional
company generation and novel, durable scientific platforms.
- Mark Stevenson joined Flagship
as Senior Partner. In this role, he will help advance Flagship's
new Enabling Technologies Initiative (ETI) and focus on driving our
external partnerships. Mark brings over 30 years in the life
science industry to this role, including as Executive Vice
President and Chief Operating Officer of Thermo Fisher.
- Flagship has also expanded its rank of origination partners
through the promotions of Kyle
Chiang, Molly Gibson,
Scott Lipnick, Armen Mkrtchyan, and Jacob Rubens.
"Flagship is dedicated to hiring and nurturing world-class
executives with a history of extraordinary performance, and with
these additions to our already robust leadership team, I believe we
are in the strongest place we've been in our nearly 25-year
history," added Afeyan. "We are pleased to congratulate our
colleagues on their new and expanded leadership roles. We look
forward to their collaboration as we build on our mission to invent
transformative technologies and companies that improve human health
and the sustainability of our planet."
About Flagship Pioneering
Flagship Pioneering invents and builds bioplatform companies,
each with the potential for multiple products that transform human
health or sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has
originated and fostered more than 100 scientific ventures,
resulting in more than $75 billion in
aggregate value. To date, Flagship has deployed over $3.8 billion in capital toward the founding and
growth of its pioneering companies alongside more than $27 billion of follow-on investments from other
institutions. The current Flagship ecosystem comprises 40
companies, including Foghorn Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FHTX),
Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Sana Biotechnology (NASDAQ:
SANA), Generate Biomedicines, Inari, Indigo
Agriculture, and Tessera Therapeutics.
Media Contact
press@flagshippioneering.com
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/flagship-pioneering-expands-leadership-team-with-key-appointments-and-promotions-302192734.html
SOURCE Flagship Pioneering