-Commercial Leadership Promotions for Chris Boerner to Executive Vice President, Commercial and Charles Romp to Senior Vice President, Sales-
-Legal Group Promotions for Kirk Schumacher to Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs and Compliance and General Counsel and Mark Sandbaken to Vice President, Intellectual Property-
-David Fontana Named Vice President, Portfolio and Program Management and ADCETRIS® (Brentuximab Vedotin) Program Director-
BOTHELL, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seattle Genetics, Inc. (Nasdaq:SGEN) today announced four promotions and an appointment within the company's commercial and operations teams.
"These staff changes further enable the execution of our goals towards improving the lives of people with cancer"
"These staff changes further enable the execution of our goals towards improving the lives of people with cancer," said Clay B. Siegall, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Seattle Genetics. "Chris and Chip have played key roles in the successful launch and ongoing commercialization of ADCETRIS in the United States and Canada. They both have strong backgrounds in oncology drug commercialization, combined with a science-based, patient-oriented approach. Kirk and Mark have been key leaders of the legal group for many years, successfully managing our legal, compliance and intellectual property functions. David brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, including a background in strategic portfolio and program management."
Chris Boerner, Ph.D., has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Commercial. Dr. Boerner has been with Seattle Genetics for more than three years, serving most recently as Senior Vice President, Commercial. He oversees all sales, marketing and market planning activities for ADCETRIS® (brentuximab vedotin). Prior to Seattle Genetics, he spent more than eight years at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, where he served in a variety of commercial roles, including Director of Marketing on Avastin (bevacizumab) and Director of Avastin franchise management. Additionally, he served in a variety of commercial roles across multiple disease areas, including solid tumor oncology, lymphoma and immunology. Dr. Boerner joined Genentech from McKinsey & Company, a global strategic management consulting firm, where he worked on a variety of pharmaceutical sales and marketing engagements. Dr. Boerner received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and his A.B. in Economics and History from Washington University in St. Louis.
Charles (Chip) R. Romp has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Sales. Mr. Romp joined Seattle Genetics in May 2010 to build the company's field sales organization in advance of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of ADCETRIS. Prior to his promotion to Senior Vice President, he served as Vice President, Sales. Mr. Romp was previously at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, since 1998, most recently as National Sales Director for Avastin. During his tenure, he held several senior sales leadership positions for both oncology and immunology products, including Rituxan (rituximab) and Xolair (omalizumab), and was project lead for deployment recommendations for Genentech's BioOncology sales forces. Mr. Romp received his B.A. from the University of Florida and his M.B.A. from Saint Leo University (formerly Saint Leo College) in Florida.
Kirk Schumacher has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs and Compliance and General Counsel. Mr. Schumacher joined Seattle Genetics in October 2003 and oversees all aspects of the company's legal, compliance and intellectual property functions. He previously served as Vice President, Legal Affairs and Compliance and General Counsel. Since joining Seattle Genetics, he has participated in the negotiation and completion of many corporate alliances, including the ex-U.S./Canada development and commercialization collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and multiple antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) collaborations. He has also played a key role in equity financings for Seattle Genetics, first as outside legal advisor and then as internal corporate counsel. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Schumacher was with the law firms of Venture Law Group and Riddell Williams. He received his J.D. from Columbia Law School and his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Mark Sandbaken, Ph.D., has been promoted to Vice President, Intellectual Property. Dr. Sandbaken joined Seattle Genetics in October 2005, serving most recently as Executive Director, Intellectual Property. Since joining Seattle Genetics, he has led Seattle Genetics' intellectual property strategy, participated in many corporate partnering and financing transactions and managed all aspects of the company's intellectual property portfolio for its programs and technologies. Prior to Seattle Genetics, Dr. Sandbaken was with the law firm of Townsend and Townsend and Crew. He received his J.D. from University of Utah College of Law, his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and his B.A. in Biology from Carleton College.
David Fontana, Ph.D., joined Seattle Genetics in January 2014 as Vice President, Portfolio and Program Management and ADCETRIS Program Director. Previously, Dr. Fontana led the Early Clinical and Translational Research unit at ZymoGenetics/Bristol-Myers Squibb in Seattle as Vice President, Development where he focused on immune-oncology clinical trials and the early clinical development of novel immunology targets. Prior to the acquisition of ZymoGenetics by BMS, Dr. Fontana led Portfolio and Program Management where he drove portfolio level strategic planning and managed program directors across the pipeline. Previously, he held leadership positions in research, clinical, regulatory affairs, strategic planning and program management at Aventis, Millennium, Archemix, ALZA, and Syntex. Dr. Fontana holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Wayne State University and PMP Certification from the Project Management Institute.
About Seattle Genetics
Seattle Genetics is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative antibody-based therapies for the treatment of cancer. Seattle Genetics is leading the field in developing antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), a technology designed to harness the targeting ability of antibodies to deliver cell-killing agents directly to cancer cells. The company's lead product, ADCETRIS® (brentuximab vedotin) is an ADC that, in collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, has been approved for two indications in more than 35 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Japan and members of the European Union. Additionally, ADCETRIS is being evaluated broadly in more than 30 ongoing clinical trials. Seattle Genetics is also advancing a robust pipeline of clinical-stage ADC programs, including SGN-CD19A, SGN-CD33A, SGN-LIV1A, ASG-22ME and ASG-15ME. Seattle Genetics has collaborations for its ADC technology with a number of leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including AbbVie, Agensys (an affiliate of Astellas), Bayer, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. More information can be found at www.seattlegenetics.com.
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Seattle Genetics, Inc.
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