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.
Apellis COO stepping down to take first CEO job
Apellis Pharmaceuticals

After six years at Apellis, Chief Operating Officer Adam Townsend is saying goodbye to take on his first CEO job. The veteran exec will depart Feb. 21 to lead a private biotech company. Before joining Apellis, Townsend spent eight years at Biogen, where he worked his way up to senior vice president of the specialty medicines and rare disease group and later SVP of corporate development. Apellis’ North America commercial SVP, David Acheson, will step up to become the executive VP of commercial in the wake of Townsend’s departure. Acheson led the North America launch of Apellis’ Syfovre and Empaveli. Release
Egle, en route to the clinic, plucks a CEO
Egle Therapeutics
As Egle Therapeutics prepares to transition its two lead candidates into the clinic, the regulatory T-cell focused biotech has selected a chief in Christophe Quéva, Ph.D. Quéva joins from Ovie Therapeutics, which he co-founded and led before fleeing the nest for Egle. His resume also includes the chief scientific officer role at DEM BioPharma, Oncorus and iTeos Therapeutics. At Egle, Quéva replaces interim CEO and board member Vincent Brichard, M.D. Release
Neomorph nabs Boundless CMO
Neomorph
Serial Chief Medical Officer Klaus Wagner, M.D., is leaving Boundless Bio to take the same role at Neomorph, where he will help advance the San Diego-based biotech’s pipeline of molecular glue degraders. Before his three-year Boundless stint, Wagner served as executive vice president and CMO at Inhibrx for seven years, where he led three oncology programs into the clinic. Release
> 2seventy bio bumped up Jessica Snow, previously VP of quality and head of operations, to the chief operating officer role after last year’s restructuring left the position open. Filing
> After hanging up the gloves at Storm Therapeutics, Matthew Fyfe, Ph.D., dashed to Outrun Therapeutics, where he will serve as chief scientific officer. Release
> Blood clotting disease drugmaker Hemab Therapeutics selected former Syndax executive Kate Madigan, M.D., as chief medical officer. Release
> OSE Immunotherapeutics brought on Sonya Montgomery to head up business development across the company as chief development officer. Release
> The leader of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s therapy acceleration program, Lore Gruenbaum, Ph.D., is now the nonprofit’s chief scientific officer, replacing the recently retired Lee Greenberger, Ph.D. Release
> Clinical trial tech company Medidata is beefing up its leadership team with Alicia Staley as chief patient officer and senior vice president of social impact and engagement, Lisa Moneymaker as SVP of strategic customer engagement and Chris King as SVP and head of customer success, services and support. Release
> Corner Therapeutics co-founder Jonathan Kagan, Ph.D., is joining the company to lead its preclinical discovery and platform development research in the unique role of distinguished scientist. Release
> Muscle-wasting-focused Actimed Therapeutics is replacing retiring Chief Medical Officer Frank Misselwitz, M.D., with Fabio Dorigotti, M.D., who previously held the same title at Quercis Pharma. Release