Geron Announces Appointment of Michelle Robertson as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and the Retirement of Olivia Bloom, Geron's Long-Time Chief Financial Officer
11 Settembre 2023 - 10:30PM
Business Wire
Geron Corporation (Nasdaq: GERN), a late-stage clinical
biopharmaceutical company, today announced the appointment of
Michelle Robertson as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial
Officer (CFO) and Treasurer, effective September 25, 2023. Ms.
Robertson's appointment follows the retirement of Olivia Bloom,
Geron's incumbent CFO, also effective September 25, 2023. Ms.
Bloom's retirement brings to a close a remarkable career of nearly
30 years on Geron’s finance team, including serving the last twelve
years as CFO.
“On behalf of the Board and our entire team, I would first like
to express our deep appreciation and admiration for the countless
contributions Olivia has made during her extraordinary tenure at
Geron, from the Company’s early days as a discovery-focused
organization through today when we are preparing for the potential
commercialization of imetelstat in lower risk myelodysplastic
syndromes. Olivia’s strategic vision, financial prowess and
inspiring dedication have been foundational in making Geron what we
are today,” said John A. Scarlett, M.D., Geron’s Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer. “In the same breath, I am also thrilled to
welcome Michelle Robertson to the Geron executive management team
at this important moment in our history. Michelle's deep command of
financial operations, her experience with managing the financial
and organizational needs of a biotechnology company preparing to
potentially launch its first commercial product, her prior
experience with investors, analysts and investment bankers, and her
hands-on experiences with commercial launches in the past will all
be extremely valuable to our organization at this point in our
corporate evolution.”
“It has been the privilege of my career to watch telomerase
inhibition advance from a scientific hypothesis to a novel oncology
approach that could potentially transform the treatment of
hematologic malignancies,” said Ms. Bloom. “I have confidence in
Michelle and the rest of the Geron team to deliver on Geron’s
future milestones as the company enters a new era of potential
commercialization.” Ms. Bloom will serve as a consultant to the
company through March 1, 2024 to support a smooth transition of her
role to Ms. Robertson.
Ms. Robertson brings to Geron over 30 years of financial and
commercial operations experience. Prior to joining, she served as
the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Editas Medicine, a
CRISPR genome editing company, where she raised $500M in capital
over three years to support the company’s research transition into
late-stage clinical development. Before that, she served as Chief
Financial Officer of Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2018 until
2020, leading the finance team through a strategic restructure,
before its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson. Prior to joining
Momenta, Ms. Robertson held multiple finance roles of increasing
responsibility, including Vice President, Oncology Finance for
Baxalta Inc. following its spin-off from Baxter International Inc.
where she worked on the acquisition and commercialization of their
first oncology drug, Oncaspar®, and Head of Financial Planning and
Analysis and Operations Excellence at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals
Inc., positioning the finance organization to support the
commercial launch of Linzess®. Before that, for 16 years, Michelle
held various finance and commercial operations roles at Genzyme
Corporation (acquired by Sanofi) where she led the integration of
several acquired oncology assets, subsequently leading the buildout
of the Commercial operations team to support five global commercial
products. Ms. Robertson received her B.S. in Finance and A.S. in
Accounting and Management from Bentley University. She also
currently serves as a member of the board of directors and the
chair of the audit committee for Verastem Inc.
Inducement Grants Under Nasdaq Listing Rule
5635(c)(4)
In connection with the commencement of Ms. Robertson’s
employment with Geron on September 25, 2023, the Company plans to
grant her non-statutory stock options to purchase an aggregate of
1,600,000 shares of Geron common stock. Stock options representing
an aggregate of 1,350,000 shares will have a 10-year term and vest
over four years, with 12.5% of the shares underlying the options
vesting on the six-month anniversary of commencement of employment
and the remaining shares will vest over the following 42 months in
equal installments of whole shares, subject to continued employment
with Geron through the applicable vesting dates. Stock options
representing an aggregate of 250,000 shares will have a 10-year
term and vest in full upon achievement of a certain regulatory
milestone, subject to continued employment with Geron through the
applicable vesting date. All of the stock options will be granted
on her first day of employment, with an exercise price equal to the
closing price of Geron’s common stock on that date, as a material
inducement to employment in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule
5635(c)(4) and are subject to the terms and conditions of the stock
option agreements covering the grants and Geron’s 2018 Inducement
Award Plan, which was adopted December 14, 2018 and provides for
the granting of stock options to new employees.
About Geron
Geron is a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company
pursuing therapies with the potential to extend and enrich the
lives of patients living with hematologic malignancies. Our
first-in-class investigational telomerase inhibitor, imetelstat,
harnesses Nobel Prize-winning science in a treatment that may alter
the underlying drivers of disease. The New Drug Application (NDA)
for imetelstat in lower risk myelodysplastic syndromes (LR MDS),
based on the results from the Phase 3 IMerge clinical trial, is
currently under review by the United States Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) with a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA)
target action date of June 16, 2024. Additionally, Geron currently
has an ongoing pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating imetelstat
in relapsed/refractory myelofibrosis (MF). To learn more, visit
www.geron.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
Use of Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, this
press release contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to
the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such statements,
include, without limitation, those regarding: (i) plans for the
potential commercialization of imetelstat; (ii) the future of Geron
and the potential impact it hopes to have on patients; (iii) the
planned transition of the Company’s CFO; and (iv) other statements
that are not historical facts, constitute forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially
from those in such forward-looking statements. These risks and
uncertainties, include, without limitation, risks and uncertainties
related to: (a) whether regulatory authorities permit the further
development of imetelstat on a timely basis, or at all, without any
clinical holds; (b) whether any future safety or efficacy results
cause the benefit-risk profile of imetelstat to become
unacceptable; (c) whether imetelstat actually demonstrates that it
alters the underlying drivers of disease and has disease-modifying
activity in patients; and (d) whether the FDA will extend the PDUFA
action date or approve imetelstat for the treatment of
transfusion-dependent anemia in patients with lower risk MDS.
Additional information on the above risks and uncertainties and
additional risks, uncertainties and factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking
statements are contained in Geron’s filings and periodic reports
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the heading
“Risk Factors” and elsewhere in such filings and reports, including
Geron’s quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June
30, 2023 and future filings and reports by Geron. Undue reliance
should not be placed on forward-looking statements, which speak
only as of the date they are made, and the facts and assumptions
underlying the forward-looking statements may change. Except as
required by law, Geron disclaims any obligation to update these
forward-looking statements to reflect future information, events,
or circumstances.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230911434635/en/
Aron Feingold Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate
Communications
Kristen Kelleher Senior Manager, Investor Relations
investor@geron.com media@geron.com
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