SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Genentech, Inc. today announced the promotions of three senior vice presidents to executive vice president. Ian T. Clark, Commercial Operations, David Ebersman, chief financial officer and Patrick Yang, Ph.D., Product Operations were promoted to executive vice president. All three will continue to serve on Genentech’s Executive Committee and continue to report to chairman and chief executive officer, Arthur D. Levinson, Ph.D.
Clark, a member of Genentech’s Executive Committee since August 2005, is responsible for leading Genentech’s Commercial Operations, including Sales, Marketing, Managed Care, Commercial Development, and Commercial Operations functions. In August 2005, he was promoted to senior vice president, Commercial Operations.
Clark joined Genentech in January 2003 as senior vice president and general manager, BioOncology. Prior to joining Genentech, he served as president, Novartis Canada. Before assuming his post in Canada, Clark served as chief operating officer for Novartis United Kingdom. Prior to joining Novartis in 1999, Clark worked in positions of increasing strategic importance in sales, marketing and business development at Ivax Pharma and Sanofi- Synthelabo in the United Kingdom. Clark started his career at Pharmacia, holding positions in both sales and marketing.
“Ian is providing excellent leadership of the Commercial organization since taking on the role five months ago,” said Levinson. “During his tenure, for the first time in Genentech’s history, quarterly oncology U.S. product sales topped one billion dollars in the third quarter of 2005. I am confident that as Genentech’s product portfolio grows in a number of different specialty areas, he will continue to contribute to the success of the company overall.”
David Ebersman, a member of Genentech’s Executive Committee since March 2004, is responsible for Genentech’s Finance, Corporate Relations, Investor Relations and Corporate Information Technology groups. Formerly senior vice president, Product Operations, Ebersman has been chief financial officer since March 2005.
Ebersman joined Genentech in 1994 and previously held several positions in Business Development and Product Development. Ebersman was named senior director of Product Development in 1998, vice president of Product Development in 1999 and senior vice president of Product Operations in 2001. Before joining Genentech, Ebersman served as a Research Analyst covering biotechnology investments at Oppenheimer & Company, Inc. (now CIBC World Markets).
“David is successfully guiding financial strategy for Genentech through an unprecedented period of growth for the company. In the fall of 2005, David oversaw the company’s first debt offering of $2 billion to modify the company’s capital structure allowing for greater flexibility and risk management,” said Levinson. “David’s experience working in a variety of areas of the company provides him with an exceptional overview of the company’s operations and the insights needed to support Genentech’s strong financial position.”
Yang, a member of Genentech’s Executive Committee since July 2005 is responsible for Genentech’s Manufacturing, Engineering, Process Development and Supply Chain Management organizations. Yang was appointed senior vice president, Product Operations in December 2004. Prior to being senior vice president, Product Operations, Yang was vice president of South San Francisco Manufacturing and Engineering.
Yang joined Genentech in December 2003 from Merck & Co., where he worked for 11 years and held several leadership roles in Merck’s Manufacturing Division. Most recently, he held the position of vice president, Supply Chain Management. In this role, he led the materials management, strategic planning and manufacturing support functions for Merck’s worldwide manufacturing plants. Previous to that, he was Merck’s vice president, Asia/Pacific Manufacturing Operations. Prior to joining Merck in 1992, Yang spent 12 years at General Electric, serving in several research, engineering, technology and manufacturing leadership roles.
“Pat provides a wealth of experience in leading a focused effort to advance Genentech’s short- and long-term manufacturing planning, based on a string of recent successful Phase III clinical trials that will likely drive increased demand for Genentech’s products,” said Levinson. “Pat played a crucial role in overseeing Genentech’s first manufacturing acquisition of Biogen Idec’s Oceanside, Calif. manufacturing facility in June 2005, and continues to manage a number of projects to enhance the company’s overall manufacturing capacity.”
About Genentech
Genentech is a leading biotechnology company that discovers, develops, manufactures and commercializes biotherapeutics for significant unmet medical needs. A considerable number of the currently approved biotechnology products originated from, or are based on, Genentech science. Genentech manufactures and commercializes multiple biotechnology products directly in the United States and licenses several additional products to other companies. The company has headquarters in South San Francisco, Calif., and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DNA. For additional information about the company, please visit http://www.gene.com .
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Genentech, Inc.
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Web site: http://www.gene.com/
