Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of significant leadership hirings, firings and retirings across the industry. Please send the good word—or the bad—from your shop to Darren Incorvaia or Zoey Becker and it will be featured here at the end of each week.
Pfizer vet lands first CEO role
Rezo Therapeutics
Experienced business developer Derek Hicks has been handed the reins of Rezo Therapeutics, his first time at the helm of a biotech. Hicks most recently was chief business officer at Intellia Therapeutics and before that served a yearlong stint as head of business development at Spark Therapeutics. But the bulk of Hicks’ career was at pharma giant Pfizer, which he joined in 2004 as a finance manager. Over more than 16 years at the Big Pharma, Hicks rose through the ranks to eventually become vice president of corporate development, and he played a key role in the formation of former CNS offshoot Cereval Therapeutics and the spinout of animal medicine company Zoetis. At Rezo, Hicks will lead the team as it works to discover new drug targets by studying protein-protein interactions. Release
MacroGenics swaps out longtime leader
MacroGenics
After more than two decades at the wheel of MacroGenics, founding CEO Scott Koenig, M.D., Ph.D., is hitting the exit, leaving his spot to Chief Operating Officer Eric Risser. Risser joined the company in 2009 after a leadership role in corporate development at Johnson & Johnson, rising to MacroGenics' COO ranks in 2022. Risser brings to his new CEO role a “compelling vision” for the company, board Chairman Bill Heiden commented. MacroGenics will still “have access” to Koenig as a director and an advisor, according to Heiden. Koenig helped usher in three FDA approved products since co-founding the company in 2000 and manned the ship through controversies such as severe safety woes tied to some of its antibody-drug conjugate ambitions. Release
Former FDA leader no longer Harbinger head
Harbinger Health
Former FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, M.D., has stepped down from the CEO role of Flagship Pioneering’s Harbinger Health. Diagnostics expert and Harbinger board member Ajit Singh, Ph.D., has been tapped to replace him, while Hahn will transition to an advisory role as CEO emeritus. Singh will also be a CEO-partner at Flagship. Singh cut his teeth at Siemens Healthcare, where he spent 20 years and served stints as leader of the medical imaging and oncology business units. Release
> ARPA-H data chief Alastair Thomson has left the agency after disagreeing with the defunding of about $500 million in contracts for mRNA vaccine research. Story
> Gyre Therapeutics’ CEO Han Ying, Ph.D., is switching to a science-focused role as SVP of science, while Executive Chairman Ping Zhang takes over in the interim. Release
> Mike Andriole is joining Artios Pharma as CEO as the company moves toward later-stage clinical development, replacing founding chief Niall Martin, who will stay on as an advisor through the transition. Release
> Florida-based Nutriband’s CEO Gareth Sheridan may exchange pharma for politics as he steps down from the company for three months to enter the Irish presidential election, with co-founder and Chairman Serguei Melnik taking over through the campaign. Release
> Allison Dillon, Ph.D., is changing titles at ALX Oncology from chief business officer to chief operating officer, reflecting the company’s focus on advancing long-term growth. Release
> PolyPid welcomed a new chief medical officer in board of directors member Nurit Tweezer-Zaks, M.D., adding extra industry expertise to the leadership team as the company moves toward commercialization. Release
> HLB has chosen Verismo co-founder Brian Kim to lead subsidiary Elevar Therapeutics as the company pushes ahead with an FDA filing for a bile duct cancer prospect. Report
> Bayer subsidiary Vividion Therapeutics has found a chief medical officer in Sam Whiting, M.D., Ph.D., who previously held the same title at Tempest Therapeutics. Release
> Clinical trial tech outfit Medidata has elevated Amgen vet Lisa Moneymaker to the role of chief strategy officer. Story
> Industry vet John Bender has taken on a dual role as vice president of business development for CDMOs Halo Pharma and Woodstock Sterile Solutions. LinkedIn