Magenta Therapeutics Appoints Alison Lawton, Jeff Albers and Blake Byers to its Board of Directors

Oct. 24, 2017 20:01 UTC

 

-- Chris Klee, Roger Kitterman join as Board observers --

 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Magenta Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing therapeutics to improve and expand the use of curative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for more patients, today announced the addition of Jeff Albers, Blake Byers and Alison Lawton to its Board of Directors. The Company also announced that it has appointed Chris Klee and Roger Kitterman as Board observers.

“I am very pleased to welcome Jeff, Blake and Alison as directors on our Board at this exciting point in Magenta’s story. All three bring a wealth of strategic and operational experience, which we believe will be important as we continue to work to revolutionize transplant medicine for patients and healthcare providers,” said Michael Bonney, Chair of the Board of Directors, Magenta Therapeutics. “We are also delighted to add Chris and Roger as observers to the Board. Their insights and relevant industry expertise will be invaluable as Magenta continues to mature as a company.”

The new Board members will join Magenta’s existing Board of Directors: Jason Gardner, Michael Bonney, Bruce Booth, Alexis Borisy, Tom Daniel and David Scadden.

Alison Lawton spent more than 20 years at Genzyme, which included serving as head of Genzyme Biosurgery, where she was responsible for the company’s global cell therapy, regenerative medicine, orthopedics and surgical businesses; and head of Global Market Access, with responsibility for regulatory affairs, global health outcomes and strategic pricing, global public policy and global product safety. Currently, she is the chief operating officer of Aura Biosciences. Alison is the past president and chair of the Board of Regulatory Affairs Professional Society and past FDA Advisory Committee member for the Cell and Gene Therapy Committee. She earned her B.Sc. with honors in pharmacology from King’s College London.

Jeff Albers is CEO, president and a member of the board of directors at Blueprint Medicines. Prior to this role, Jeff served as president of the Norwegian biotechnology company, Algeta ASA, and was head of all U.S. operations. Previously, Jeff held senior commercial and corporate development positions at Genzyme, most recently as vice president of the U.S. hematology and oncology business unit, where his responsibilities included the U.S. launch of Mozobil for mobilization of hematopoietic stem cells. Jeff holds a B.S. from Indiana University and an MBA and J.D. from Georgetown University.

Blake Byers is a general partner at GV (formerly Google Ventures) and has worked with GV since 2010. He is an engineer, scientist and entrepreneur. As an investor and partner at GV, Blake partners with founders of life science and digital companies. Prior to joining GV, Blake helped start two companies, led research projects on biomedical engineering and stem cells at Stanford University and was an angel investor. Blake received a Ph.D. and M.S. in bioengineering from Stanford University and holds a B.S. in biomedical engineering and economics from Duke University.

Chris Klee is the chief financial officer for Novartis US. Most recently, he served in a dual capacity as chief operating officer for Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) and country chief financial officer for Novartis US. Chris originally joined Novartis as a business planning analyst, and held a number of increasingly senior positions in the Pharma division. In 2005, he joined NIBR as chief financial officer and later assumed an expanded role as chief operating officer. Chris graduated from the Business School of the University of St. Gallen with a degree in finance and economics.

Roger Kitterman is Vice President, Venture, and Managing Partner of the Partners Innovation Fund. In this role, he leads the Innovation Fund and Licensing teams for Partners HealthCare. Roger also serves as Executive Director of the Boston Biomedical Innovation Center, an NHLBI-funded program to develop technologies in the areas of heart, lung, blood, and sleep. Roger has been with the Partners Innovation Fund, a $165 million fund investing in Partners spinouts, since its launch in 2008. He is an experienced venture capital investor with more than 20 years in the industry and has guided multiple venture-backed companies through the earliest stages of development. Roger holds an MBA in Finance and Business Development from the Columbia Business School and an A.B. from Harvard College.

About Magenta Therapeutics

Magenta Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing therapeutics to revolutionize stem cell transplantation for patients with immune and blood-based diseases. By creating a platform focused on critical areas of transplant medicine, Magenta Therapeutics is pioneering an integrated approach to stem cell therapies to create patient benefits. Founded by internationally recognized leaders in stem cell transplant medicine, Magenta Therapeutics was launched in 2016 by Third Rock Ventures and Atlas Venture and is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, please visit www.magentatx.com.

 

Contacts

Magenta Therapeutics:
Manisha Pai, 857-242-1155
Vice President, Communications & Investor Relations
mpai@magentatx.com

 
 

Source: Magenta Therapeutics

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