Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please send the good word—or the bad—from your shop to Conor Hale, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Human Longevity CFO/COO departs after scandal
Human Longevity
CFO/COO Nino Fanlo left the company months after a scandal rocked his former employer.
Human Longevity hired Fanlo as CFO in May 2017 and expanded his role later that year. A New York Times report that later September detailed scandals during Fanlo’s previous tenure at online lending startup Social Finance, describing how he offered female employees thousands of dollars if they lost weight. Sources told FierceBiotech that Fanlo was let go in April, with an interim leadership team taking his place, including chief technology officer Scott Sorensen filling in as COO. FierceBiotech
Sangamo loses another top executive
Sangamo Therapeutics
SVP and Chief Technology Officer Michael Holmes resigned.
After being named CTO earlier this year, Holmes is joining an unnamed biotech startup, just two months after Curt Herberts, Sangamo's chief business officer, left to lead business development at Senti Biosciences. The company named Edward Rebar, who has led development of its zinc finger protein technology, to take Holmes' place. FierceBiotech
McCann Health fires chief creative for conduct violation
McCann Health
Jeremy Perrott was fired after an unspecified complaint and investigation.
McCann Health fired its award-winning chief creative officer, Perrott, who has held the role at the company for 10 years. According to reports, he was let go days before the Cannes Lions Health festival, which he had been scheduled to attend. FiercePharma
> FiercePharma is currently taking nominations for the fiercest women in life sciences, from industry professionals and academics to venture capitalists and regulatory officials.
> Industry veterans George Scangos and Michael Pellini joined the board of MS drug developer Octave Biosciences. Scangos currently leads Vir Biotechnology after serving as CEO of Biogen, while Pellini, former CEO of Foundation Medicine, is now a managing partner at Section 32, which invested in Octave's recent $14 million series A round. FierceBiotech
> Turnstone Biologics brought on Steve Bernstein, M.D., as senior VP of clinical R&D; Adina Pelusio, Ph.D., as VP of clinical operations; and David Stojdl, Ph.D., as senior VP of discovery research. Bernstein previously served as Bristol-Myers Squibb's chair of immuno-oncology R&D and head of integrated science. Pelusio oversaw clinical operations as VP at SillaJen Biotherapeutics, while Stojdl serves as a professor at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario and the University of Ottawa, and co-founded Jennerex Biotherapeutics. Turnstone also hired Jane Pritchett Henderson as chief financial officer. Henderson previously held CFO roles at Voyager Therapeutics and Kolltan Pharmaceuticals. In addition, Kite Pharma's Kristin Gustafson was named senior VP of human resources and facilities. Release
> David Horn Solomon was named CEO of Silence Therapeutics, and joins its board of directors. Solomon served as CEO of Zealand Pharma from 2008 to 2015, as well as CEO of Bionor Pharma and Akari Therapeutics. Release (PDF)
> Roy Ervin Twyman, who recently retired as senior VP and Alzheimer’s disease area leader at Janssen, after first joining the company in 1998, has now joined the board of directors of NeuroVision Imaging, which aims to develop methods of detecting amyloid beta plaque in the eye. Release
> Medical device cybersecurity firm MedCrypt named Vidya Murthy as VP of operations, responsible for business development and strategic expansion. Murthy previously served as senior manager of cybersecurity at Becton Dickinson. Release
> David Lee was named CEO of Paris-based Servier's new U.S. subsidiary. Lee previously led Shire’s global genetic disease and oncology franchises. He has also held roles at Novartis and Baxalta. Release
> Healthcare data analytics company 81qd appointed Susan Abedi as executive VP for commercial solutions. Previously, Abedi was a senior principal in the consulting services arm of Iqvia.
> Geoffrey Kuziemko was named a partner in O’Melveny’s mergers & acquisitions practice, focused on biotech and life sciences transactions and based in the firm's San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices. Kuziemko previously served as VP of legal services at Exelixis. Release
> Bristol-Myers Squibb will lay off 149 staffers as it plans to close a Connecticut R&D site by the end of the year, as part of a broader reorganization of the company's research. FiercePharma
> mRNA developer Moderna Therapeutics opened a $110 million manufacturing plant in Massachusetts with 150 staff, and plans to hire 50 more this year. FiercePharma
> Vivek Ramaswamy's Roivant Sciences debuted another of its 'vant' subsidiaries, Sinovant, aimed at advancing product development in China. FierceBiotech