Closely-held GeneTether, a genome editing technology company, named Roland Boivin as CEO, Jean Jen as CFO and Peter Sampson, Ph.D., as VP of research and development.
The appointments are intended to further position GeneTether to successfully execute the next stages of its growth strategy, as well as support its relationships with the investment community.
Mr. Boivin brings nearly 25 years of public company leadership experience to GeneTether, with a focus on strategic operations, finance, business development, and general management.
Most recently, he served as CFO at Medexus Pharmaceuticals (TSX:MDP; OCTQX:MEDXF), where he led its 2013 reverse takeover, helped manage its graduation from the TSXV to the TSX, and played an integral role in its transformative acquisition of two speciality pharma companies.
In a statement, Daren Graham, chairman of GeneTether, said Mr. Boiven’s extensive executive leadership, corporate governance and capital markets experience will be a tremendous asset to GeneTether as it continues to execute on its growth strategy.
Mr. Boivin said there is a unique opportunity at GeneTether to leverage the elegance and precision its proprietary platform to “increase the efficiency of gene editing technologies, so that they can be more readily applied to treat human disease.”
Ms. Jen has more than 12 years of finance and accounting experience in the life sciences sector, having worked with businesses ranging from venture-backed start-ups to publicly traded companies. Most recently, she served as the VP of finance at Anandia Laboratories, which was acquired in 2018 by Aurora Cannabis (NASDAQ, TSX: ACB) in a deal valued at $115-million.
“Jean’s breadth of private and public company experience, combined with her strong track record of financial management success, make her exceptionally well-qualified to lead our finance function, and we are thrilled to have attracted a candidate of her calibre to this key position,” Mr. Graham said.
Dr. Sampson has more than 20 years of drug development experience, including discovery chemistry, CMC regulatory affairs and IP portfolio management. He joins GeneTether from Scientus Pharma, where he served as director of R&D.
Prior to Scientus, Dr. Sampson spent 10 years as a scientist in the therapeutics group at the University Health Network, the largest health research organization in Canada.
“Peter is a talented scientist, with years of experience discovering and developing new medical technologies, as well as helping to protect the significant market opportunities they represent,” said Geoffrey Sargent, Ph.D., co-founder and CSO of GeneTether.
