Foundation Medicine: Lucas Dennis, Michael Kling, Annie Murphy, Jennifer Romans, Troy Schurr
Foundation Medicine this week announced several changes to its executive leadership team:
Lucas Dennis has been appointed senior VP, head of R&D, overseeing the company's cancer diagnostic portfolio. Dennis joined Foundation Medicine in 2018 to lead product development form the company's liquid biopsy diagnostic portfolio.
Michael Kling has been named chief technology officer. He joined the company in 2019 and most recently served as senior VP, engineering. He has over 20 years of technology leadership experience in the healthcare and biotech spaces, and joined Foundation Medicine from UnitedHealth Group.
Annie Murphy is the new chief commercial officer, overseeing the development and execution of the company's global clinical commercial strategy. Murphy joined the company in 2015 and has held various commercial, global product strategy, and medical roles.
Jennifer Romans has been appointed senior VP, corporate affairs. She joined the company in 2020 to build a strong governmental affairs and public policy function. Prior to Foundation Medicine, Romans was the principal government affairs liaison for Lilly Oncology within Eli Lilly.
Troy Schurr has been named chief biopharma business officer, and will lead the company's collaborations with biotech and pharmaceutical partners. He joined Foundation Medicine in 2022 as VP, biopharma marketing and solutions. He has also previously held global marketing, product development, and sales leadership roles at several companies including Johnson & Johnson and Astellas Oncology.
Personalis: Kenneth Widder, Alan Colowick
Personalis has appointed Kenneth Widder to its board of directors. Widder currently serves on the boards of QuidelOrtho and Evoke Pharma. He has over 40 years of experience working with biomedical companies, including Sydnexis, OrphoMed, Sytera, NovaCardia, Santarus, and Molecular Biosystems. He was also a general partner at LVP Life Science Ventures and Windamere Venture Partners. He holds an MD from Northwestern University and was trained in pathology at Duke University.
The company also announced that Alan Colowick has resigned his position as a director of the company, effective June 12.
Agendia: Ronald Andrews, David Schreiber
Agendia has appointed Ronald Andrews and David Schreiber to its board of directors. Andrews most recently served as a board member, president, and CEO of Oncocyte. Prior to that he held senior roles at Thermo Fisher and was CEO and vice chairman of the board of Clarient. Andrews also founded consulting firm The Bethesda Group and held management positions at Roche Molecular Diagnostics, Immucore, and Abbott Diagnostics. He has served on the boards of Insight Genetics, Precipio, and Oxford ImmunoTec, and is a member of the board of governors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology's CancerLinQ.
Schreiber boasts close to 40 years of experience in the laboratory diagnostics space, working for over two decades as a consultant to private equity firms focused on healthcare companies in their portfolios. Prior to this, he served as CFO of Dianon Systems and worked at Quest Diagnostics. He holds an MBA and a BS in finance from Northern Illinois University, and has served on the boards of several companies including Specialty Labs, Nanogen, Response Genetics, and Aspira Women's Health.
BioMérieux: Alexandre Mérieux, Pierre Boulud
BioMérieux has altered its governance to separate the functions of chairman and CEO.
The firm has appointed current Chief Operating Officer Pierre Boulud as CEO, effective July 1. The current Chairman and CEO, Alexandre Mérieux, will assume the role of executive chairman with extended responsibilities and focus on developing the firm's global strategy. Boulud joined the company in 2016 and has served as COO for the past three years. Mérieux joined BioMérieux in 2005 and became CEO in 2017.
The change in governance was proposed by Mérieux and approved by BioMérieux's board of directors on June 13.
Genetic Signatures: Karl Pechmann
Molecular diagnostics firm Genetic Signatures has appointed Karl Pechmann as chief operating officer and CFO, as well as company secretary. Pechmann has extensive experience at publicly traded companies including OncoSil Medical, Lyckr, and Immutep. He is a qualified chartered accountant and chartered secretary.
For additional recent items on executive appointments, promotions, and departures in the omics and molecular diagnostics space, please see the People in the News page on our website.