People Spotlight — October 2022

Blue Matter, a strategic consulting firm serving the life sciences industry, has hired Vinay Torani as a partner in its New York office. He will join the New York regional team to expand the Center of Excellence (COE) focused on corporate strategy and transaction advisory. Torani is a 20-plus year veteran in corporate finance, strategy, and transaction advisory, specializing in advising pharma and biotech companies, generics manufacturers, and medical device companies on inorganic growth strategies, mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, licensing deals, valuations, and portfolio value management. The firm has also hired Norman Koshkarian as a partner in its San Francisco office and as a member of its market access COE. He brings over 24 years of broad experience in key commercial roles that have included market access, marketing, sales and account team leadership, pricing, contracting, and finance.

Bolloré Logistics, a transport and logistics group, has appointed Kris Jacobs as global VP, high-tech & telecom. He was previously head of global industrial accounts in the ASPAC region and based in Singapore. Jacobs has been with the company for eight years. He will now be responsible for leading Bolloré Logistics’ global development for the high-tech and telecom vertical.

Kris Jacobs

Jason Kerr will become chief accounting officer of RXO, the planned spin-off of XPO Logistics’ brokered transportation platform. Kerr has joined the freight transportation services provider as chief accounting officer for the North American transportation division, effective immediately. He reports to Jamie Harris, who will be CFO of RXO, and currently serves as CFO, North American transportation.

Agile Therapeutics, Inc., a women's healthcare company, has reorganized and streamlined its executive leadership team, appointing Amy Welsh to chief commercial officer effective Nov. 1. She will be assuming responsibility for all the company’s commercial functions.

The Almac Group, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) that provides services across the drug development lifecycle to the pharma and biotech sectors, has appointed Graeme McBurney as COO. In his new role, McBurney will be responsible for implementing operations aligned with long term business goals and the Group’s strategies. He will oversee operations of the CDMO and work with Almac executives to secure the functionality of the business to drive continued growth. The company also announced that John McQuaid will succeed Graeme as managing director and president of Almac Pharma Services, which provides a range of pharmaceutical development, manufacture, and commercial services. McQuaid will now be responsible for overall strategic, operational, and financial leadership of the Almac Pharma Services business.

TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., a collaborative organization dedicated to accelerating the development of new medicines, has appointed Janice Chang, currently its COO, as the company’s new CEO. She will assume the role on Jan. 1, 2023. Chang, who joined TransCelerate in 2014, will succeed founding CEO Dalvir Gill, PhD, who announced his retirement after a career in drug development spanning over 30 years.

Janice Chang

Makara Health, a UK-based international healthcare communications agency, has promoted Katie Bright and Helen Laurence into joint managing director (JMD) roles, as Louise Sharp becomes founder and CEO. Following the bolstering of the senior team in recent years and the continued success of the agency, the new roles have been created to share and manage ongoing growth across its five core functional offerings of medical education, learning and development, brand and promotion, PR, and patient education. The change will also create additional space for Sharp to support the business strategically, drive new business, and become more active within the broader medical communications industry.

Tact.ai, a customer engagement company for life sciences, announced the appointment of two new board advisors from the pharma industry: Giuseppe Firenze, global commercial information officer of Eli Lilly and Company, and Desmond Creary, chief customer engagement officer for Novartis US. Giuseppe and Desmond will play key roles in the development of the platform's advanced capabilities to help deliver innovative medicines to more patients faster.

Fingerpaint, a commercialization partner for analytics-enabled integrated solutions in the biopharma sector, has hired Leo Tarkovsky as chief commercial officer, as it continues to expand its integrated commercialization capabilities across the entire life cycle, from clinical development through product launch and in-line brand management. Tarkovsky joins the team from WPP, where he led enterprise-level healthcare growth efforts across all operating companies and disciplines worldwide.

Relevate Health, a healthcare provider (HCP) engagement partner, has named Tim Pantello, as its new CEO, succeeding co-founder Jeff Spanbauer. Spanbauer has transitioned to chairman of the board. An executive in the healthcare marketing industry for more than 25 years, Pantello was most recently the global president of Syneos Health Communications.

UPS Healthcare has appointed Cathy O’Brien as its VP for international sales. She will be responsible for driving growth across Europe, AMEA, and Latin America for the end-to-end supply chain service offering dedicated to supporting pharmaceutical, medical device, laboratory, and dental segments.