Issue 7 2020

CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 7 2020 5 , O p e n C e l l T e c h n o l o g i e s , an R&D-stage biomedical venture, has announced the hiring of Kevin Gutshall as CEO. Kevin leaves his role as MilliporeSigma’s director of life science business development and M&A focusing on the cell and gene therapy business unit, to join OpenCell and lead its efforts to translate and commercialise its core technology platform, POROS. OpenCell was established based on technology developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology, by Engineering faculty and company co-founders Mark Meacham, PhD, Andrei Fedorov, PhD, and Levent Degertekin, PhD. Dr. Meacham was subsequently recruited to Washington University in St. Louis, and OpenCell relocated to the BioGenerator Labs in the Cortex Innovation Community adjacent to the Washington University School of Medicine. The company’s core technology, which has broad applications ranging from fuel and energy to life sciences, is focused on the rapidly emerging cell and gene therapy market. “I am thrilled to join OpenCell, as it is now poised to move from an R&D stage to a commercial business,” said Gutshall. “I believe that the POROS platform will be a disruptive technology platform in the cell and gene therapy marketplace.” During its seed stage, the company benefitted from BioGenerator Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR) that brought key expertise to the company as it pivoted from the research tools market to cell and gene therapy applications. Paul Olivo, MD, PhD, a former BioGenerator EIR and current Venture Partner at Synchrony Bio, which also participated in the current financing, serves as a key advisor to OpenCell, managing the company’s research team. In her role as BioGenerator EIR, Heather Holeman, PhD, now CEO of Lifespan Biosciences, facilitated key business development connections for the company. Concurrent with the financing, Charlie Bolten, Senior Vice President of BioGenerator, joins OpenCell’s board of directors. “Together with Synchrony Bio, BioGenerator’s investment in OpenCell is the culmination of extensiveduediligenceandhands- on support by our investment, Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Grants-2-Business teams,” said Bolten. “With the successful recruitment of a CEO with deep experience in commercialisation, business development and M&A, we are pleased to see OpenCell take an important step toward commercialising the POROS platform.” “I am excited to welcome Kevin as the new CEO of OpenCell,” added Chad Stiening, OpenCell Executive Chairman and Managing Director at Synchrony Bio. “His professional background and personal passion in the cell and gene therapy space is a perfect fit for the company as it seeks to realise the full potential of its technology, and enable the development and manufacturing of promising new therapies in this dynamic market.” In addition to investments from BioGenerator and Synchrony Bio, the company has leveraged significant Federal grant funding – over $3M total – to help secure equity financing and achieve key milestones that helped attract strategic partnering interest as well as its new CEO. Confirmit, the leading global solutions provider for Customer Experience, Em- ployee Experience and Market Research has recently announced that Kyle Fer- guson has joined the company as Chief Executive Officer. Ferguson is a seasoned executive with a track record of developing and leading high performing teams in the SaaS technology space, while supporting these businesses through necessary investment and growth stages. Ferguson said: “I am thrilled to join the Confir- mit team at this pivotal time. The recent merger with Dapresy presents huge opportunities for the business to support its customers around the world to use market, customer and employee insights to make the right decisions in challenging times and beyond. I am looking forward to working with the team to keep Confirmit at the forefront of innovation and to ensure we remain a trusted partner to our customers around the world.” Ferguson has an extensive background in the technology space, with over 20 years’ experience in technology, banking and payments. Prior to joining Confirmit, Ferguson held the Chief Executive Of- ficer role at Fraedom, a global financial technology company, where he successfully led the compa- ny’s sale to Visa Inc. in 2018. Prior to this, he also served as Chief Commercial Officer and Managing Director at the company and spent 11 years with American Express previously. Pål Malmros, Partner at Verdane, explained: “As we enter this new chapter, we’re delighted to have a visionary leader with a consistent track record of success. Confirmit’s goal has always been to provide clients with cutting-edge solutions that help them to grow their businesses, and we’re looking forward to an exciting future under Kyle Ferguson’s leadership.” A Perfect Fit Confirmit Names Kyle Ferguson as New CEO Ferguson brings expertise in high-growth SaaS organisations to insights market leader. Cell and gene therapy-focused OpenCell Technologies hires MilliporeSigma executive Kevin Gutshall as newCEO.