Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb has announced changes to its leadership team, following the retirement of its current executive vice president of corporate affairs and investor relations John Elicker.
Kathryn Metclafe (pictured left) has been appointed as executive vice president of corporate affairs, effective 6 January 2020, and Tim Power will take on the role of vice president and head of investor relations, effective 31 March 2020 upon Elicker’s retirement.
Metcalfe joins BMS from CVS Health, where she led communications following the company’s acquisition of Aetna, where she was chief communication officer.
At CVS Health, she oversaw all strategic communications, both internal and external, including reputation and crisis management.
Prior to that, she held several senior communications roles, including chief communications officer at Deloitte, as well as senior roles at Novartis, Pfizer and leadership roles at biotech and healthcare communications firms.
Power joined BMS 13 years ago as a director of portfolio and asset strategy. Since then, he has had various roles of increasing responsibility, culminating in his most recent position as lead for investor relations.
Acceleron
Acceleron Pharma has poached Jay Backstrom (pictured right) from Celgene, where he worked as chief medical officer.
He has been appointed to the newly created role of head of research and development at the company, and brings almost three decades of global clinical and regulatory experience to Acceleron.
Backstrom initially joined Celgene in 2008 as vice president, clinical R&D, with a focus on haematology and oncology. He later advanced to the position of CMO and head of regulatory affairs.
Prior to Celgene, he served as vice president, global medical affairs and safety at Pharmion. He began his career at Marion Merrell Dow, and continued as part of its successor companies including Hoechst Marion Roussel, and held roles in clinical research and global drug surveillance and pharmacoepidemiology.
FerGene
FerGene has appointed David Meek (pictured left) as its new chief executive officer, who moves to the company from Ipsen.
Most recently, he served as CEO of Ipsen, and he brings 30 years of industry experience to FerGene.
While at Ipsen, Meek led a growth strategy of financial results and pipeline advancement and transformed the company into a global biopharma leader.
Prior to Ipsen, he held a number of leadership roles, including executive vice president and president of oncology at Baxalta, and chief commercial officer of Endocyte.
He has also served in various executive leadership roles at Novartis Pharma and Novartis Oncology, and he began his career at Johnson & Johnson and Janssen.