Relay Therapeutics Appoints Human Resources Expert Andy Porter as Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Relay Therapeutics, a new breed of company at the intersection of computation and biotechnology, today announced the appointment of Andy Porter as executive vice president and chief people experience officer. Mr. Porter joins Relay Therapeutics from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, bringing more than 20 years of experience in human resources building both exceptional academic institutions and biotech companies.

“We are at a pivotal moment in our growth trajectory as we look to advance programs into the clinic, expand the breadth of our discovery engine, and grow our team and footprint. Our people are the heart of our company and key to our success, and we are excited to welcome Andy to drive our organizational strategy. His deep expertise in building and scaling exceptional operations and constructing teams at the interface of computation and experimental science will be key to our continued growth as we push closer to realizing our goal of making medicines for patients,” said Sanjiv Patel, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Relay Therapeutics.

“I am looking forward to shaping Relay Therapeutics’ strategy over a broad range of areas to ensure it continues to attract and develop the world’s top computational and experimental scientists,” said Mr. Porter. “I am passionate about ensuring the culture is one where people are able to be their best and most creative selves as we pursue the important goal of helping patients.”

Prior to Relay Therapeutics, Mr. Porter served for more than five years as the chief people officer at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where he was responsible for leading the human resources strategy for a community of 4,000 people, as well as leading space planning and design for Broad’s campus in Cambridge. Before that, he was vice president of human resources and organizational development at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, held roles at Dyax Corp. and held roles in human resources at Harvard-affiliated hospitals. Mr. Porter is a member of the board of directors for the Northeast Human Resources Association and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. He has also spent time outside of his full-time roles teaching as an adjunct professor at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science.

About Relay Therapeutics
Relay Therapeutics is committed to creating medicines that will have a transformative impact on patients by building a unique discovery platform centered on understanding how the conformation of proteins relate to function. Whereas prior approaches to imaging proteins have been limited to static pictures, Relay Therapeutics’ approach overcomes this challenge by combining unprecedented computational power with leading edge experimental techniques in structural biology, biophysics, chemistry and biology. This integration illuminates – for the first time – the full mobility of a protein and provides key insights into how the dynamic nature of a protein’s conformation regulates function. By applying these insights, Relay Therapeutics aims to modulate protein conformation to develop novel therapies for patients. The company’s initial programs are focused on developing therapeutics in oncology. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Relay Therapeutics is a private company launched in 2016. To date the company has raised $520M from investors including SoftBank Vision Fund, Third Rock Ventures, Casdin Capital, GV, BVF Partners, EcoR1 Capital, Foresite Capital, Perceptive Advisors, Tavistock Group and an affiliate of D.E. Shaw Research.

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