German airline exec to join Roche as chairman

Chutes and Ladders

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.

German airline exec to join Roche as chairman

After months of searching, Roche has named Christoph Franz, CEO of German airline Lufthansa, to replace longtime chairman Franz Humer next year. In March, the Swiss pharma giant ($RHHBY) announced Humer would step down after Roche's 2014 annual meeting. Humer was with Roche for 16 years, serving as CEO, chairman or in both roles simultaneously. More

Lufthansa, Roche
Christoph Franz will become chairman.


Medgenics
CEO Andrew Pearlman is retiring as CEO. 


Biotech

Peter Savas has joined StemBioSys as the company's new CEO. Story

Robert Cantrell has been named vice president and treasurer of Agilent Technologies ($A). Most recently, Cantrell was operational CFO for Agilent's electronic measurement business. Release

Trevena has appointed Roberto Cuca as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Previously, Cuca was treasurer and senior vice president of finance at Endo Health Solutions ($ENDP). Release

Paulo Costa will be the new chairman of MacroGenics. Dr. David Stump is also joining the board. Costa has served on MacroGenics' board as a director since 2009. He is the former chairman of the board of Amylin Pharmaceuticals ($AMLN) and is the former president and CEO of Novartis U.S. Stump was most recently executive vice president of research and development at Human Genome Sciences ($HGSI). Release

Cambridge, U.K.-based biotech company XO1 has appointed Dr. Richard Mason as CEO. Mason joins the company from BTG, where he is currently head of business development and strategy. Several new members have also been added to the company's scientific board. Release

Acucela has appointed Brian O'Callaghan to its board of directors. O'Callaghan is currently president and CEO of Sangart and is a member of Sangart's board of directors. Release

DiaVacs has appointed Dr. Orville Kolterman as chief medical officer. Kolterman was most recently senior vice president of clinical and regulatory affairs at Amylin Pharmaceuticals. Release

Dr. Hugh O'Brodovich has joined AIT's scientific advisory board. O'Brodovich is the Arline and Pete Harman professor and chair at the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford School of Medicine. Release

Acusphere has appointed Mark Leuchtenberger president and CEO. Leuchtenberger most recently served as president, CEO and a member of the board of directors at Rib-X Pharmaceuticals. Release

Global Blood Therapeutics has added Dr. Ted Love to its board of directors. Love most recently served as executive vice president of research and development and technical operations at Onyx Pharmaceuticals ($ONXX). Release

Bio-Matrix Scientific Group add Dr. David Suhy to Regen BioPharma's scientific advisory board. Suhy is the senior vice president of research and development at Tacere Therapeutics. Release

ERT appointed Steven Herne to be the company's executive vice president and chief commercial officer. Release

Vomaris appointed Cynthia Ann Fleck as the company's vice president of clinical sales and marketing. Release

Theradiag named Philippe Lestage and Valery Labonne as managers of its in vitro diagnostics arm and its theranostics arm, respectively. Odile Prigneau will serve as general manager of Prestizia, the company's microRNA subsidiary. Release

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center named Frederick Appelbaum its executive vice president deputy director. Release

Brooks Automation ($BRKS) brought on Lindon G. Robertson as the company's CFO. Release

Pharma

Randy Berholtz and Lynnette Dillen have joined Innovus Pharma as acting general counsel and vice president of finance, respectively. Release

Actinium Pharmaceuticals brought on Kaushik Dave as its president, CEO and director. The company also appointed Corey Sohmer as vice president of finance and business development. Release | Release

Devices

Peter Osborne joined myoscience as the company's chief financial officer. Previously, Osborne has served SentreHEART, Hansen Medical and VNUS Medical Technologies in the the same capacity. Release

Stacy Enxing Seng has joined Solace Therapeutics' board of directors. She is president of Covidien's Vascular Therapies global business unit. Release

Drug Delivery

> Medgenics ($MEDG) said goodbye to Andrew Pearlman, who retired from his position as CEO, and the company appointed Michael Cola as the new president and chief. Release

Diagnostics

Lisa Miller has been appointed CEO of Prometheus Laboratories. Miller previously served as corporate vice president at Dako, an Agilent Technologies Company, in Denmark. Release