Moderna Celebrates Appointment of New CFO, Recalls Vaccine Lots in Europe

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Moderna tapped Jorge Gomez to take over the role of chief financial officer next month upon the retirement of David Meline, the current company CFO.

Gomez joins Moderna from dental equipment maker Dentsply Sirona, Inc., where he served in the CFO role as well. At Dentsply, Gomez oversaw the company's financial operations, accounting, auditing, investor relations, and information technology. He was also responsible for helming that company's sustainability and ESG (environmental, social and government) program. He will assume his new role with Moderna on May 9.

Gomez expressed his excitement about joining Moderna and being part of a company focused on developing transformative medicines to address major public healthcare challenges across the globe. In a brief statement, he said he looks forward to "working with the team on this great mission."

Moderna Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel said Gomez will be an asset to the company as it continues to grow and scale globally behind the strength of its mRNA vaccine for COVID-19. 

"Jorge's experience leading the financial functions of multinational healthcare companies will be an asset to our team. Jorge's passion for sustainability and ESG aligns closely with Moderna's vision to make corporate responsibility a critical part of who we are and what we do. I look forward to working with Jorge as we continue to deliver on our strategic priorities to ultimately impact human health with mRNA medicines," Bancel said.

In addition to his role at Dentsply, Gomez spent 13 years at Cardinal Health in the CFO role. Prior to Cardinal Health, Gomez held financial and business leadership positions at General Motors, including in New York City, Singapore, Belgium, and Brazil.

Moderna announced a new CFO one day after Pfizer filled the same position. Like Moderna, Pfizer also selected a CFO candidate outside the pharmaceutical industry. David Denton joined the pharma giant from home improvement giant, Lowe's. Before that, he held the top financial role with CVS Caremark. 

Meline, the outgoing Moderna CFO, is retiring from the company. However, he will remain with Moderna in a consulting role to ensure a smooth transition for Gomez. Meline joined Moderna in 2020, one year after retiring from Amgen, in order to help Moderna become commercial-ready with its mRNA vaccine.

"Moderna was an early-stage development, U.S.-focused company when David joined us. He goes back into retirement after having helped transform Moderna into a global commercial company. He has built a great team and strong financial business processes. It has been a pleasure to work with him, and I wish him and his wife a wonderful time," Bancel said.

As Moderna prepares for the C-suite transition, the company is also dealing with a recall of hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses in Europe after its contract manufacturer Rovi discovered a foreign substance in one vial. The contamination was only found in that one vial, but the company was recalling the entire lot, 764,900 doses, "out of an abundance of caution." 

Moderna did not disclose what contaminant was found in the vial and that no other safety issues were discovered. 

The doses were expected to be distributed in Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden in January. Moderna said it did not believe the contamination posed a risk to other vials in the lot.