Welcome to this week's Chutes and Ladders, our roundup of hirings and firings throughout the industry. Please send the good word--or the bad--from your shop to Michael Gibney (email | Twitter) or Emily Mullin (email | Twitter) and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Matthias Zachert leaves Merck KGaA and the stock drops
Merck KGaA's CFO left the company to head a specialty chemical company. Matthias Zachert, who is credited for engineering a cost-cutting initiative at the company, set off a 12% stock slide with news of his departure. At the time, Merck had no succession plan, and analysts were worried. Story
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Pharma
> Novo Nordisk ($NVO) appointed Eddie Williams as senior vice president of biopharmaceuticals. Release
> Purdue Pharma named Mark Timney president and CEO. Release
> Jeff Yuen joined AAIPharma Services and Cambridge Major Laboratories as executive vice president of global quality. Release
> ImmunoGen ($IMGN) appointed Eric Guempel as vice president of product strategy and program management. Release
> Dave Spence joined Legacy Pharmaceutical Packaging as its CEO. Story
Biotech
> Gilead Sciences ($GILD) has promoted CFO Robin Washington to executive vice president; Dr. John McHutchison, formerly senior vice president, liver disease therapeutics, to executive vice president in charge of clinical development programs in oncology, respiratory diseases and inflammation; and Paul Carter, formerly senior vice president of international commercial operations, to executive vice president in charge of Gilead's worldwide commercial organization. Release
> Joseph Oliveto, Chelsea Therapeutics' ($CHTP) interim president and CEO since July 2012, has been named president, CEO and a member of the company's board of directors. The company also named Keith Schmidt to the position of chief commercial officer. Release | More
> NIH has appointed Dr. Hannah Valantine to the newly created position of chief officer for scientific workforce diversity. Release
> Sorbent Therapeutics appointed Tom O'Neil as its CFO. Release
> Biothera appointed Peter Maimonis its vice president of biomarker development. Release
> Vivione Biosciences named Peggy Cook chief science officer, Dr. Matthew Gombrich chief medical officer and Matthew Shyba corporate secretary of its wholly owned subsidiary, Vivione Biosciences LLC. Release
> Accelerator named Thong Le its CEO. Release
> Deanna Church and Dr. Robert Nussbaum joined Personalis' R&D and scientific and clinical teams, respectively. Release
Medical Devices
> Covidien ($COV) CFO Charles Dockendorff announced his plans to retire from the company at the end of 2014. The company said it's now searching for a replacement. More
> Michael Rousseau, previously group president of St. Jude Medical ($STJ), has been promoted to chief operating officer. Eric Fain, previously president of the company's Implantable Electronic Systems Division, has been promoted to group president of the company. Release
> Neurotrope has hired Dr. Richard Scheyer as vice president and chief medical officer; Ira Weisberg as vice president, commercial operations; and David Crockford as vice president, regulatory affairs. Release
> Gregory Brooks joined NeuroSigma as its senior vice president and chief commercial officer. Release
Drug Delivery
> Civitas Therapeutics appointed Mark Iwicki its president and CEO. Release