Rib-X taps former Abbott exec as new CEO

 

Welcome to this week's 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 each Friday.

Rib-X taps former Abbott exec as new CEO

Mary Szela has joined Rib-X Pharmaceuticals--a Fierce 15 company in 2011--as CEO. Szela has over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, and she previously held various roles at Abbott Laboratories ($ABT), now AbbVie ($ABBV). Mostly recently, she was senior vice president of global strategic marketing and services of Abbott's Pharmaceutical Products Group. For over 7 years, she directed the development, launch and growth of 8 new pharmaceutical products, including leadership of AbbVie's flagship product, Humira. Release

Mary Szela--Rib-X Pharmaceuticals
Szela will serve as the company's new CEO.

Peder Holk Nielsen--Novozymes
Nielsen will serve as CEO.

Biotech

Peder Holk Nielsen took the CEO position at Novozymes, taking over from Steen Riisgaard, who has held the position for 12 years. Release

Rib-X has also appointed Eugene Sun as executive vice president of research and development, Michael Kenston as chief commercial officer, and Thomas Koestler as chairman of the company's board. Release

Amarantus BioScience has appointed Adam J. Simon to its board of advisers. Simon is the founder and president of AJ Simon Enterprises, a consulting firm serving pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients, including Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY). Release

Insmed has appointed Matthew Pauls as chief commercial officer. Pauls was previously the senior vice president and head of commercial operations for Shire's ($SHPG) Regenerative Medicine unit. Release

CryoPort appointed Richard Rathmann to the company's board of directors. Rathmann is the board's fifth member. Release

Regulus Therapeutics brought on William H. Rastetter to its board of directors. John Maraganore, chairman of the board of Regulus and CEO of Alnylam ($ALNY), called Rastetter an "industry legend." Release

Steven A. Shallcross joined Cytomedix ($CMXI) as the company's chief financial officer. Release

SuppreMol, a company that specializes in autoimmune diseases, appointed Klaus Schollmeier as its CEO, succeeding Peter Buckel, who resigned. Release

Uwe Staub joined the Epigenomics board of directors. Staub is also currently the chief operating officer of the company. Release

Prime Therapeutics brought in Ellyn Hosch as the company's chief information officer. Hosch was previously the company's VP of application development. Release

Vetoquinol appointed Eric M. Alsup as the company's U.S. director. Release

Pharma

> Ahsanul Karim has resigned from Beximco Pharmaceuticals's board of directors. The company has appointed Faheemul Huq as a non-executive director of the board in his place. Release

IDT Australia has brought on Paul MacLeman as CEO, effective April 15. MacLeman was previously CEO of the Melbourne-based biotech Genetic Technologies. Release

Medical Devices

Montreal, Canada-based Jubilant DraxImage has appointed Kevin Brooks to the role of vice president of sales, marketing and business development. Brooks previously worked for Nordion Inc., where he served as senior vice president of sales and marketing and a member of the executive management team. Release

CRO

SynteractHCR has appointed Bill Pierce as chief information officer and Richard Paul as chief medical officer and vice president medical/regulatory affairs. Pierce last served as chief information officer for INC Research, and most recently, Paul held positions with QRxPharma as executive vice president of drug development. Release

Research

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation has appointed Joel Marcus to its board of directors. Marcus is the chairman, CEO and founder of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Alexandria Venture Investments and the Alexandria Summit. Release