As Zealand Pharma ramps up its clinical work and looks toward the market, the Danish company has hired Matthew Dallas as its chief financial officer and pulled the trigger on a relocation after spending 20 years at its current site.
Dallas has handled the books at several biotech companies, spending 10 years at Genzyme and serving as CFO at CoLucid Pharmaceuticals and, most recently, Aveo Oncology. He takes over from Ivan Møller, who has been juggling the interim CFO role with his duties as senior vice president of technical development and operations.
“Matthew has extensive public company experience in biotechnology organizations at both the commercial and pre-commercial stages,” said Zealand CEO Emmanuel Dulac in a statement. “He joins us at a critical point in the company’s journey as we begin commercialization efforts. I am confident that Matthew is the right leader to help us advance into the next phase of growth.”
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Dulac himself is a recent addition to Zealand, having joined in April this year by taking the reins from Adam Steensberg, the chief medical and development officer who served as interim CEO after the departure of Britt Meelby Jensen in November.
Dallas joins the company at “an exciting time,” but also during a transition period for its scientific leadership. Last month, the Copenhagen-based biotech announced Chief Scientific Officer Andrew Parker would be leaving at the end of August.
“While I deeply regret to lose him, it is always good news to see Zealand people being approached to take on bigger opportunities. I wish him well as he steps into a more demanding, and well deserved new role,” Dulac said at the time.
Zealand is closing in on the deadline to find Parker’s replacement and plans to move into its new digs next month.
“Extensive thought and effort went into making the decision to relocate from our offices in Glostrup that has been our home for 20 years. However, with our commercial ambitions, we have realized the need to provide head room for growth in addition to modern facilities that will strengthen productivity, talent attraction, and employee satisfaction,” Dulac said.