Apollo Endosurgery’s New CEO
Todd Newton joins Apollo Endosurgery as CEO and as a member of the Board of Directors to accelerate the progress of developing invasive endoscopic surgical products. Newton previously worked with ArthroCare Corporation as the Executive Vice President, CFO and COO and held a number of executive management roles for Synenco Energy, Inc. Meanwhile, Apollo’s current President, CEO and Founder, Dennis McWilliams, will assume the role of President and Chief Commercial Officer.
“I’m very pleased to partner with someone of Todd’s caliber, operational experience and track record to help fuel the healthy growth and expansion of Apollo Endosurgery,” says McWilliams. “I’m excited to be able to focus even more of my time now to realize our mission: To provide innovative, minimally invasive solutions that focus on improving patient outcomes in both the bariatric and endoscopic spaces.”
Seres Appoints New CEO and Chairman
Seres Health, a clinical-stage therapeutics company developing products to treat a host of disease conditions based on scientific findings related to the human microbiome, took the next step in drug development by appointing Roger J. Pomerantz, MD, FACP, as its President and CEO. The company’s lead product is currently in clinical testing for the treatment of recurrent C. difficile.
“Roger is a true asset to Seres and will continue to propel the company to its next stage of growth,” says Dr. David Berry, founding CEO and Board Member of Seres and Partner at Flagship Ventures. “Roger’s contributions will accelerate the company’s progress on its path towards commercialization.”
Dr. Pomerantz brings valuable drug discovery and development experience to Seres, having previously led the development of eight approved infectious disease drugs in important indications including HIV, HCV and tuberculosis. He will also remain as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Seres, where he has served since November of 2013.
Amgen
The multinational biopharmaceutical company appointed David W. Meline as the Executive VP and CFO. Meline joins Amgen from 3M Company, where he most recently served as Senior VP and CFO. He will be responsible for Amgen’s finance and investor relations operations and will report to Robert A. Bradway, Chairman and CEO.
Ampio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Gregory A. Gould was named Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, and Corporate Secretary. He has more than 18 years of senior management experience at public pharmaceutical and life sciences companies, where he demonstrated success leading the accounting and finance organization.
Bayer AG
The pharma company announced that CEO Dr. Marijn Dekkers will step down from his position at the end 2016 due to family reasons. To help ensure continuity of the company’s future developments, Werner Baumann, currently CFO, was appointed Chief Strategy and Portfolio Officer, effective October 2014. Meanwhile, Johannes Dietsch, currently Senior Bayer Representative and CFO for Greater China, will become CFO.
Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals
The subgroup of Bayer AG made a recent announcement of its own by appointing Dieter Weinand, former President Global Commercialization & Portfolio Management at Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization Inc., as the company’s new President. Weinand will also join the Executive Committee of Bayer HealthCare.
Digitas Health LifeBrands
Shwen Gwee will bring over a decade of experience in digital strategy, social media, and pharmaceutical marketing as the new VP/Group Director of Social Strategy. Gwee will be responsible for shaping the future of the social media business unit for the New York office.
Giant Creative/Strategy
Diana Witt joins Giant as Senior Vice President, Managing Group Director. Witt brings extensive management experience at both the agency and client levels from previous positions including Group Product Manager for biotech leader Genentech and VP and Account Supervisor at Vicom.
Intouch Solutions
Ron Kane was promoted to Senior Vice President, Client Services. Kane’s service to Intouch includes leading sales for Allora and steering one of the agency’s fastest growing account teams. In his new position, Kane will continue his role as a senior leader supporting account teams in Kansas City in addition to developing strategic alliances with existing and new key partners aligning with Intouch.
LehmanMillet
Paul Balagot will lead LehmanMillet as the new Executive Vice President, Managing Director of the West Coast office and will be responsible for managing the day-to-day operations. He has more than 17 years of medical and consumer marketing experience as Executive Vice President at Ignite Health, and held other leadership positions at EarthLink and Johnson & Johnson.
Ogilvy CommonHealth
The worldwide agency promoted Matt Balogh to SVP, Chief Technology Officer in recognition of his leadership and service to the agency. Balogh will oversee the direction of the Ogilvy CommonHealth Innovation Lab and lead the team of programmers and developers in the New Jersey and New York offices. The agency also promoted Skot Kremen to VP, User Experience Specialist.
PACIFIC Communications
Marlene Magila was appointed the Associate Creative Director, Art for PACIFIC Communications. Magila will oversee art direction for Restasis, Lastacaft, Aczone and Tazorac. Magila joined PACIFIC Communications after working at Palio Communications in New York, where she was Vice President, Group Art Supervisor/Associate Creative Director.
Regulus Therapeutics, Inc.
The innovative biopharmaceutical company added Paul C. Grint, MD to its executive management team as the new Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Grint will be responsible for leading and expanding Regulus’ microRNA clinical portfolio. He joins Regulus from Cerexa, Inc., where he served as President.
Relypsa, Inc.
Kenneth J. Hillan was elected to the company’s Board of Directors in recognition of his expertise in managing public companies through research and development to international commercial operations. Hillan also serves as President, CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of Achaogen, Inc.
