bluebird bio
Former Celgene executive Nicola Heffron (pictured below, left) has joined bluebird bio as its senior vice president, Europe.
In her new role, Heffron will be based in Zug, Switzerland, where she will aid the launch of bluebird’s first commercial product – its gene therapy Zynteglo.
She will replace Andrew Obenshain, who has now joined the company’s global leadership team in Boston, US.
Heffron’s experience includes over-seeing marketing for Celgene’s myeloid portfolio, as well as its haematology/oncology marketing & portfolio execution across worldwide markets.
Prior to Celgene, she served in a number of roles at Shire, including as group vice president, investor relations.
She also spent 11 years at GlaxoSmithKline, ending her time there as vice president therapy area strategy and operations in the UK. At the start of her career, she worked at Eli Lilly across various roles.
BioNTech
German biotech BioNTech has appointed Ryan Richardson (pictured below, right) as chief strategy officer and managing director.
In his new role, he will support and contribute to the creation and implementation of BioNTech’s long-term growth 
strategy, in collaboration with the management team.
Richardson brings over 15 years of experience in the finance and healthcare industries to BioNTech – previously, he served as an executive director in the global healthcare investment banking team at J.P. Morgan in London.
In that role, he advised companies in the biotech and life sciences industries on M&A, equity and debt capital financings.
Earlier in his career, Richardson spent five years as a management consultant to biopharmaceutical companies in the US and Europe, where he worked on a wide range of strategic and operational projects.
Provention Bio
Provention Bio has appointed Jason Hoitt as its chief commercial officer. He brings 18 years of commercial experience in the biotechnology sector to the role, most recently serving as chief commercial officer at Dova Pharmaceuticals.
In his role as CCO at Provention, Hoitt will be responsible for the development and execution of the company’s global commercial strategy for its type 1 diabetes prevention immunotherapy PRV-031 (teplizumab).
“Jason’s extensive commercial experience, including the planning, preparation and execution of product launches in rare diseases and nascent markets, will be critical as we work to bring teplizumab to type one diabetes (T1D) patients and at-risk individuals and, in parallel, advance our business development efforts for teplizumab,” said Ashleigh Palmer, CEO of Provention Bio.
Prior to Dova, Hoitt was a member of the commercial leadership team at Insmed Incorporated, where he served as a vice president and head of sales.
He has also held sales, marketing and medical affairs leadership roles at Sarepta Therapeutics, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Gilead Sciences.