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Fueling the translation of our mRNA platform
Ronald C. Renaud, Jr.
Chief Executive Officer
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Ronald C. Renaud, Jr.
Chief Executive Officer
Ron has served as our chief executive officer since 2014. Formerly, Ron was at Idenix Pharmaceuticals (2007-2014), where he served as chief financial officer, chief business officer and finally, president and chief executive officer. Under his leadership, Idenix refocused its drug-discovery and development efforts and streamlined operations to better enable cross-functional collaboration and employee engagement, which culminated in its acquisition by Merck for $3.85 billion in August 2014. Prior to joining Idenix, Ron served as senior vice president and chief financial officer of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals. Before joining Keryx, Ron was a biotechnology equity research analyst at J.P. Morgan, Schwab Soundview and Bear Stearns. He also spent more than five years at Amgen, where he held positions in clinical research, investor relations and finance. Ron holds a BA from St. Anselm College and an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. In addition to serving on the Translate Bio board of directors, Ron is a board member of Kyn Therapeutics, Chimerix and Axial Biotherapeutics. Ron also serves on the Board of Overseers at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and the Board of Trustees at Saint Anselm College.
Ann Barbier, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer
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Ann Barbier, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Barbier joined Translate Bio in 2017 as chief medical officer. Prior to joining Translate Bio, Dr. Barbier was vice president of clinical development, rare genetic diseases, at Agios Pharmaceuticals, where she led the development program of a small molecule in rare benign hematological diseases. Previously, Dr. Barbier spent seven years at Shire, most recently as global clinical development lead and senior medical director, where she worked on a variety of rare genetic diseases including lysosomal storage diseases and hereditary angioedema. Her prior experience includes positions at Envivo, Johnson & Johnson and Aventis. During her career, Dr. Barbier has made significant contributions to several approved products such as Elaprase (Hunter syndrome), Aubagio (multiple sclerosis) and Firazyr (hereditary angioedema) and has led several investigational new drug applications for new chemical entities. Additionally, she has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific articles, book chapters and invited reviews. Dr. Barbier received her M.D. and Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Gent, Belgium, and a Master of Science from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium. She pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Tennessee in Memphis.
Paul Burgess, JD
Chief Legal Officer and Chief Operating Officer
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Paul Burgess, JD
Chief Legal Officer and Chief Operating Officer
Paul joined Translate Bio in 2015, serving as chief legal officer since 2018 and chief operating officer since 2019. He brings over 20 years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, with expertise in corporate law, licensing and intellectual property. Prior to joining the Translate team, Paul held senior legal roles at Scholar Rock, Civitas Therapeutics and BIND Therapeutics. He also worked as in-house counsel at Johnson & Johnson, Logical Therapeutics and Transform Pharmaceuticals. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Paul worked as a scientist at Genetics Institute. He received his JD from Northeastern University, MS in pharmacology from Northeastern University and BS in biology from Merrimack College.
Paula Cloghessy, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
Chief Human Resources Officer
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Paula Cloghessy, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
Chief Human Resources Officer
Paula serves as Translate Bio’s Chief Human Resources Officer and is responsible for leading human resources and organizational development. With over 20 years of experience as a human resources leader driving aggressive organizational strategy, growth and innovation, Paula brings broad-based business experience in biotech and pharmaceutical industries to her role on the Translate team. Paula joined us from Joule Unlimited Technologies, Inc., where she most recently served as vice president, human resources. In this role, she was responsible for leading Joule’s people strategy and talent architecture in a global setting. Prior to Joule, she held senior HR leadership roles at Interleukin Genetics, NUCRYST Pharmaceuticals and the Immune Disease Institute (formerly CBR Institute for Biomedical Research), a Harvard Medical School affiliate. Paula holds a BA in psychology from the University of Massachusetts and professional designations in the field of human resources.
Frank DeRosa, PhD
Chief Technology Officer
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Frank DeRosa, PhD
Chief Technology Officer
Frank joined the Translate Bio team in 2016 and became our chief technology officer in 2019. He has played a critical role in the creation, development, application and expansion of Translate Bio’s messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics (MRT) platform including in vivo applications, delivery technology, and next-generation nucleic acid strategies as well as new manufacturing processes through to GMP stage. Prior to joining Translate Bio, Frank was Senior Director of Preclinical Research and Process Development for the mRNA therapeutics platform at Shire. He also worked at Enzon Pharmaceuticals developing polymer and lipid nanoparticle-based delivery systems for locked nucleic acid (LNA) antisense technology. Frank has previously held roles at Takasago International Corporation and the National Cancer Institute (NIH) focused on small molecule library synthesis and polymer-drug conjugate analogues, respectively. He is a co-inventor on over 50 issued patents and more than 75 additional pending patent applications. In addition, he is a co-author on eighteen scientific publications. Frank received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Brian Fenton, MS, MBA
Chief Business Officer
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Brian Fenton, MS, MBA
Chief Business Officer
Brian Fenton joined the Translate Bio team in 2015. With more than 25 years of experience in the biotechnology industry and broad transaction experience in business development and alliance management, Brian joined Translate Bio from Shire Pharmaceuticals, where he most recently served as head of business development, neuroscience, supporting the Commercial Business Unit. In this role, he was also responsible for managing Shire’s portfolio investments through its former Strategic Investments Group. Brian also spent several years in Shire’s Rare Diseases Business Development group, where he successfully led and executed a number of strategic transactions for the company. Prior to Shire, Brian spent over 11 years in various roles in business development and alliance management at Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Codexis and Abbott Laboratories. He has been a co-chair for over 20 years with MassBio, serving on several committees, and most recently served on the organization’s Forum Advisory Board. Brian has an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, an MS in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Michael Heartlein, PhD
Executive Vice President and Founder
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Michael Heartlein, PhD
Executive Vice President and Founder
Michael Heartlein joined Translate Bio in 2016. He has been in research and development since 1989, when he joined the founding team of scientists at TKT (Shire acquired TKT in 2005). Prior to his current role, Mike was head of messenger RNA therapeutics at Shire. Mike’s career in R&D has focused on the discovery and development of platform technologies, product discovery and product development. He began with the development of nonviral ex-vivo gene therapy and is an inventor on 16 issued U.S. patents covering this technology. Mike also co-invented and developed Gene Activation technology, FGE-sulfatase technology and Shire’s human cell protein production platform. He discovered and developed gene-activated erythropoietin (Dynepo®), the first human cell–produced erythropoietin, approved in Europe in 2002. Mike discovered and led early development of Shire’s enzyme replacement therapies for Fabry disease (Replagal®) and Gaucher disease (Vpriv®) and early development of Elaprase® for Hunter syndrome. He also led the teams responsible for the discovery and nonclinical development of Shire’s intrathecal CNS enzyme replacement therapies currently in clinical development. Most recently, Mike discovered and developed Shire's Messenger RNA Therapy (MRT) technology acquired by Translate Bio (formerly RaNA Therapeutics). Prior to joining Shire, Mike held a hospital appointment in genetics at Children's Hospital Boston and a faculty appointment in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Mike received his PhD in Genetics from Oak Ridge National Laboratory – University of Tennessee. He has over 30 scientific publications, 39 issued US patents and over 60 pending US patent applications.
Pat Sacco
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
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Pat Sacco
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
Pasquale (Pat) Sacco joined Translate Bio as senior vice president of technical operations in 2019. Pat has more than 30 years of extensive experience in leading technical operations strategy and execution within the biotech and life sciences industries, including manufacturing, supply chain, quality, engineering, technical sciences, and process development. He spent 16 years at Shire, a leading global biotechnology company focused on rare diseases and highly specialized conditions. In his most recent role as Senior Vice President of Manufacturing and Site Operations at Shire, Pat led the internal manufacturing organization and site operations, including oversight of multiple plants and warehouses, and the production of clinical and commercial biologic products. In previous positions of increasing responsibility at Shire, he developed and executed a long-term biologics manufacturing supply strategy, enabling implementation of a multi-year, capital investment and organizational development portfolio. Pat holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering/Biotechnology from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).
John Schroer, CFA
Chief Financial Officer
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John Schroer, CFA
Chief Financial Officer
John Schroer joined Translate Bio in 2018 as chief financial officer. With more than 25 years of healthcare investment experience, John brings expertise in financial strategy and analysis, and deep industry knowledge to his role at Translate Bio. Previously, he served as healthcare sector team head at Allianz Global Investors in San Francisco, where he led its healthcare-focused investment strategy, and research and portfolio management efforts. Prior to his role at Allianz, John conducted in-depth research in the healthcare industry, advising on strategic, operational, capital structure and management incentive changes in various roles at Schroer Capital, L.P., HealthCor Management, L.P., ITROS Capital Management, LLC, INVESCO Funds Group, and Trust Company of the West. John earned his B.S. and M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a CFA charterholder.
Richard Wooster, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
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Richard Wooster, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Wooster joined Translate Bio as chief scientific officer in 2019. Dr. Wooster has three decades of experience with a focus on cancer genetics and pharmaceutical drug discovery and development. In his most recent role as President of Research & Development and Chief Scientific Officer at Tarveda Therapeutics Inc., he was responsible for the company’s R&D strategy, successfully developing an innovative platform with multiple pipeline programs at different stages of development, from discovery to clinical-stage. Previously, he was Vice President and Discovery Performance Unit Head in Oncology at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) where he led the evaluation of the metabolic pathways that are deregulated in cancer and the PI3K portfolio of and other protein kinase inhibitors. Before this, Dr. Wooster led the translational medicine group in Oncology at GSK and worked on Tykerb®, Mekinist® and Tafinlar®. During his academic career, Dr. Wooster discovered the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA2, was one of the founders of the Cancer Genome Project at the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute where mutations in BRAF were first discovered and developed the COSMIC mutation database and website. He has more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and papers in scientific journals. Dr. Wooster has a First Class BSc in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in drug metabolizing enzymes, both from the University of Dundee, Scotland.Daniel Lynch
Chairman of the Board
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Daniel Lynch
Chairman of the Board
Dan joined our board of directors in 2012 with more than 25 years of experience serving in management positions in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Dan spent nearly five years at ImClone Systems, serving as chief executive officer and chief financial officer. As CEO, Dan led ImClone through a significant turnaround, helping to restore the company’s reputation and to secure FDA approval of ERBITUX® (Cetuximab), a novel cancer treatment. As CFO, Dan led negotiations to form the major partnership between ImClone and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Earlier in his career, Dan served in various financial positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb over a 15-year tenure.
Dan has advised and served as executive chair or member of the board of directors for a number of private biopharmaceutical companies, including Stromedix, Inc. (until its acquisition by Biogen Idec in February 2012); Avila Therapeutics, Inc. (until its acquisition by Celgene Corporation in February 2012); Nimbus Discovery, LLC; Edimer Pharmaceuticals; Ember Therapeutics, Inc. and BIND Therapeutics Inc. He currently serves on the board of directors of Blueprint Medicines, Bluebird Bio, Proclara Biosciences, Surface Oncology and Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc. Dan received his BA in mathematics from Wesleyan University and his MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia.
Daniella Beckman
Independent Director
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Daniella Beckman
Independent Director
Daniella Beckman joined our board of directors in 2017. Ms. Beckman has over 15 years of financial and operational experience working with private and publicly traded biotechnology companies, and currently serves as chief financial officer at Tango Therapeutics. Prior to joining Tango, Ms. Beckman provided consulting and interim chief financial officer services for early-stage biotechnology companies. With strategic and operational expertise, Ms. Beckman focuses on building financial infrastructure and leading financial functions, including strategic financial planning. Previously, Ms. Beckman was the chief financial officer of Idenix Pharmaceuticals until it was acquired by Merck in 2014. At Idenix, she oversaw finance, treasury, capital raises, investor relations and IT. Prior to the CFO role, Ms. Beckman also served as Idenix’s corporate controller. Earlier in her career, she held various finance positions at Coley Pharmaceuticals, Biogen Idec and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Ms. Beckman holds a B.A. in business administration/accounting from Boston University. She is also a certified public accountant in Massachusetts.Jean-François Formela, MD
Atlas Venture and Translate Bio Cofounder
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Jean-François Formela, MD
Atlas Venture and Translate Bio Cofounder
Jean-François is a partner and cofounder and focuses on new advances in biology and drug-discovery technologies as well as novel therapeutics. He joined our board of directors in 2011. Jean-Francois is also chair of the board of IFM Therapeutics and serves on the boards of F-star, Intellia Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NTLA), Kyn Therapeutics, Spero Therapeutics. Jean-François has been involved in the formation of companies such as Adnexus (acquired by BMS), ArQule (NASDAQ: ARQL), Arteaus Therapeutics (acquired by Lilly), Cellzome (acquired by GSK), deCODE (NASDAQ: DCGN, acquired by Amgen), Exelixis (NASDAQ: EXEL), MorphoSys (Xetra: MOR.DE), NxStage (NASDAQ: NXTM, acquired by Fresenius Medical) and SGX Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SGXP, acquired by Lilly). He was also an investor in Achillion (NASDAQ: ACHN), Annovation Biopharma (acquired by The Medicines Company), CoStim Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Novartis) and Horizon Pharma (NASDAQ: HZNP) as well as a board member of Biochem Pharma (NASDAQ: BCHE, acquired by Shire) and Novexel (acquired by AstraZeneca). Jean-François joined Atlas Venture in 1993 to build the U.S. life sciences franchise. Prior to joining Atlas, Jean-François worked at Schering-Plough, where he directed U.S. Phase IV studies in all therapeutic areas. Before that, he was responsible for the marketing of Intron A, Schering-Plough’s alpha-interferon. Jean-François began his career as a medical doctor and practiced emergency medicine at Necker University Hospital in Paris. Jean-François is a member of the Massachusetts General Hospital Research Advisory Council and a former trustee of the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art. He received his MD from Paris University School of Medicine, and his MBA from Columbia University.Owen Hughes
Independent Director
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Owen Hughes
Independent Director
Owen Hughes currently serves as the chief executive officer at Cullinan Oncology focused on oncological drug development. Prior to Cullinan, Mr. Hughes was the chief business officer and head of corporate development at Intarcia Therapeutics. Mr Hughes also served as director at Bain Capital Public Equity, a multibillion-dollar hedge fund. There, he comanaged public and private healthcare investments, including those in the biopharmaceutical, medtech and services segments. Mr. Hughes has over 16 years of Wall Street experience on both the buy and sell sides and serves on the board of both Radius Health (Nasdaq: RDUS) and Malin PLC (ESM: MLC).
Robert Meyer, MD
Independent Director
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Robert Meyer, MD
Independent Director
Dr. Meyer joined our Board of Directors in January 2019. Dr. Meyer has been a principal of the drug and biological products team, at Greenleaf Health Inc., a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) strategic advising company, since January 2018. He is an associate professor of public health sciences at the University of Virginia, and he also served as the director of the Virginia Center for Translational and Regulatory Sciences from March 2013 to December 2017. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Virginia, Dr. Meyer joined Merck & Co, Inc. in October 2007 and served as vice president and head, global regulatory strategy, policy and safety at Merck Research Laboratories. Prior to Merck, Dr. Meyer worked for the FDA from 1994 to 2007. In his last 5 years at the FDA, Dr. Meyer was the director for the Office of Drug Evaluation II within the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, with responsibilities for pulmonary and allergy; metabolic and endocrine; and analgesics, anesthetics and rheumatologic drug products. Dr. Meyer received his BA in Natural Sciences, cum laude from Lehigh University, received his medical degree from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, where he also completed his residency in Internal Medicine and served as Chief Resident, and completed a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Vermont. Dr. Meyer also serves on the board of directors of Chimerix, Inc. and Correvio Pharma Corp. He has been a medical science trustee for the United States Pharmacopeia Board, a non-profit foundation, since April 2015.Robert Plenge, MD, PhD
Independent Director
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Robert Plenge, MD, PhD
Independent Director
Dr. Plenge spent over 20 years in academic medicine before transitioning to a career in the pharmaceutical industry in 2013. He is currently vice president, research and early development and head of the Inflammation and Immunology Thematic Center of Excellence Unit at Celgene. In this role, he is responsible for the strategic vision, implementation and partnership of novel therapies for immune, inflammatory and fibrotic disorders. Prior to joining Celgene in May 2017, Dr. Plenge was vice president and head of translational medicine at Merck & Company. Prior to transitioning to the pharmaceutical industry, he was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute while practicing clinical rheumatology and running a research laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital from 2007 to 2013. Dr. Plenge completed his internal medicine residency as a Molecular Medicine Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco in 2002, served as rheumatology fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital from 2002 to 2006 and post-doctoral research fellow at the Broad Institute from 2003 to 2007. Dr. Plenge’s original research has been published in top-tier medical journals. In recognition of his accomplishments, he has received numerous awards, including: Pre-doctoral Clinical Award from The American Society of Human Genetics (1995), The Young Investigator Award from the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (2008), Career Award for Medical Scientists from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund (2008), and election to The American Society for Clinical Investigation (2012). Dr. Plenge graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science from the University of California, San Diego in 1992, and received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Case Western Reserve University in 2000.Ronald C. Renaud, Jr.
Chief Executive Officer
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Ronald C. Renaud, Jr.
Chief Executive Officer
Ron has served as our chief executive officer since 2014. Formerly, Ron was at Idenix Pharmaceuticals (2007-2014), where he served as chief financial officer, chief business officer and finally, president and chief executive officer. Under his leadership, Idenix refocused its drug-discovery and development efforts and streamlined operations to better enable cross-functional collaboration and employee engagement, which culminated in its acquisition by Merck for $3.85 billion in August 2014. Prior to joining Idenix, Ron served as senior vice president and chief financial officer of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals. Before joining Keryx, Ron was a biotechnology equity research analyst at J.P. Morgan, Schwab Soundview and Bear Stearns. He also spent more than five years at Amgen, where he held positions in clinical research, investor relations and finance. Ron holds a BA from St. Anselm College and an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. In addition to serving on the Translate Bio board of directors, Ron is a board member of Kyn Therapeutics, Chimerix and Axial Biotherapeutics. Ron also serves on the Board of Overseers at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and the Board of Trustees at Saint Anselm College.George Demetri, MD
Independent Director
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