BIO Elects New Chair, Officers, and Board Members

Philadelphia, Penn. (June 15, 2015, 11:30 AM) — The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) is pleased to announce the election of Ron Cohen, MD, President & CEO, Acorda Therapeutics, as the new Chair of its Board of Directors for the 2015-2016 term, and the election of Deborah Dunsire, MD, President & CEO, FORUM Pharmaceuticals, as its new Board Secretary. BIO also is pleased to announce the re-election of Dan Junius, President & CEO, ImmunoGen, as Board Treasurer, and the election of 19 Directors to serve on BIO’s Board Executive Committee for the new term.  In addition, BIO welcomes the election of eight new members to its Board of Directors, voted upon at this year’s BIO International Convention.

“Ron Cohen has been an active member of the Board for many years and will bring tremendous passion and a wealth of industry experience to help drive continued growth of BIO and the overall industry,” said Jim Greenwood, BIO President & CEO. “I look forward to working closely with Ron and our newly-constituted Board of Directors in the years to come.”

Dr. Cohen formerly served as Chair of the Emerging Companies Section Governing Board, as well as on the Executive Committee, and is a former Vice Chair of the Health Section Governing Board.  He will serve as the next Chairman of the Health Section Governing Board, in addition to his role as Chairman of the Full BIO Board of Directors.

BIO also elected a new Chair of the Industrial & Environmental Section, Christopher Standlee, Executive Vice President, Global Affairs, Abengoa Bioenergy.

Greenwood added, “I also welcome our new Board members and anticipate that their contributions to both the industry and within BIO will be substantial. The new Directors bring a wealth of expertise and diversity in experience that will help to inspire and guide our efforts going forward.”

Greenwood also thanked BIO’s departing Board members. “BIO is deeply appreciative to departing Board members for their service,” said Greenwood. “I want to especially thank our outgoing Board Chair, Rachel King of GlycoMimetics, for her dedication and valuable service to BIO. Rachel's first-hand experience leading her company through many of the issues facing emerging biotechs and her expertise in business and knowledge of our industry have been invaluable to BIO during her tenure as Chair."

The elected members of the Executive Committee of BIO’s Board of Directors for the 2015-2016 term are: 

• Ron Cohen, President & CEO, Acorda Therapeutics – Board/Health Section Chair
• Dan Junius, President & CEO, ImmunoGen – Board Treasurer
• Deborah Dunsire, President & CEO, FORUM Pharmaceuticals – Board Secretary
• Paul Hastings, President & CEO, OncoMed Pharmaceuticals – Health Section Vice Chair
• Christopher Standlee, Executive Vice President, Global Affairs, Abengoa Bioenergy – Industrial & Environmental Section (IES) Governing Board Chair
• Dan Cummings, President, Poet-DSM Advanced Biofuels – IES Governing Board Vice Chair
• John Maraganore, Chief Executive Officer, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals – Emerging Companies Section (ECS) Governing Board Chair
• Michael Narachi, President & CEO, Orexigen Therapeutics – ECS Governing Board Vice Chair
• Jerry Flint, Vice President, Industry Affairs & Regulatory Group, DuPont Pioneer – Food & Agriculture Section (FAS) Governing Board Chair
• Eddie Sullivan, President & CEO, Sanford Applied Biosciences – FAS Governing Board Vice Chair
• Rachel King, Chief Executive Officer, GlycoMimetics – Immediate Past Chair
• Ian Clark, CEO & Head of North American Commercial Operations, Genentech/Roche – At-Large
• Doug Doerfler, President & CEO, MaxCyte – At-Large
• Julie Gerberding, Executive Vice President for Strategic Communications, Global Public Policy & Population Health, Merck – At-Large
• Geno Germano, Group President, Global Innovative Pharma Business, Pfizer – At-Large
• Perry Karsen, Chairman & CEO, Celgene Cellular Therapeutics – At-Large
• David Meeker, Chief Executive Officer, Genzyme/Sanofi – At-Large
• Richard Pops, Chairman & CEO, Alkermes – At-Large
• Jay Siegel, Chief Biotechnology Officer & Head of Scientific Strategy & Policy, Johnson & Johnson – At-Large

The full BIO Board of Directors is comprised of the elected Directors serving on each of BIO’s Section Governing Boards. The newly-elected Board Members from these Sections are:

Health Section Governing Board

• Sabine Luik, Senior Vice President, Medicine & Regulatory Affairs, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals
• Robert Repella, Executive Vice President, Global Commercial Operations, CSL Behring
• Eddie Williams, Senior Vice President of Biopharmaceuticals, NovoNordisk

Emerging Companies Section Governing Board

• Katrine Bosely, Chief Executive Officer, Editas  
• Joel Marcus, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Alexandria Real Estate Equities/Alexandria Venture Investments
• James Sapirstein, Chief Executive Officer, ContraVir Pharmaceuticals 
• Nancy Simonian, Chief Executive Officer, Syros Pharmaceuticals 
• Thomas Wiggans, Chief Executive Officer, Demira

To learn more about BIO, please visit www.bio.org.

Upcoming BIO Events 

BIO Executive Training Courses
June 13-15, 2015
Philadelphia, PA

BIO International Convention
June 15-18, 2015
Philadelphia, PA

World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology
July 19-22, 2015
Montréal, Canada

BIO Latin America Conference
October 14-16, 2015
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

BIO Investor Forum
October 20-21, 2015
San Francisco, CA

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