Philadelphia, Pa., USA - May 26, 2016, Philadelphia, Pa., USA - Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, announced a succession plan for the chairmanship position that will take effect at the end of 2016.
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In a planned transition of responsibilities, Chairman, Jonathan Knowles, will step down from the Board on December 31, 2016.
Dr. Knowles has served as a Non-Executive Director of Adaptimmune since September 2011 and as Chairman since November 2013. He was formerly President of Group Research and a Member of the Executive Committee at F.Hoffman-LaRoche Limited, Basel, Switzerland for 12 years.
Dr. Knowles also served as a Board member at Genentech Inc. for 12 years, and as Chairman of Genetech’s Corporate Governance Committee, and was a Member of the Board of Chugai Pharmaceuticals, Tokyo, Japan, and has also formerly served as Chairman of the Hever Group and the EFPIA Research Directors Group.
He was instrumental in creating the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), a public private partnership, and was the first Chairman of the Board of IMI. Prior to joining Roche in 1997, he was Research Director, Glaxo Wellcome Europe.
Dr. Knowles is currently Chairman of Immunocore Limited, and a director of several public and private companies including Herantis Pharma plc, Caris Life Sciences Ltd and Faron Ltd. He is a Trustee of Cancer Research UK, one of the world’s leading cancer research organizations.
Dr. Knowles holds a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh and a B.S. in Molecular Genetics from the University of East Anglia.
He will be succeeded as Chairman by David Mott effective from January 1, 2017, and Mr. Mott has been appointed as Vice-Chairman for the duration of the transition period.
Mr. Mott has served as a Non-Executive Director of Adaptimmune since September 2014. He has served as a Board member of Adaptimmune since 2014 and has been a General Partner of New Enterprise Associates (NEA), an investment firm focused on venture capital and growth equity investments, since 2008, and leads its healthcare investing practice. NEA is a shareholder of Adaptimmune.
Mr. Mott was formerly President and Chief Executive Officer of MedImmune LLC, a subsidiary of AstraZeneca Plc, and Executive Vice President of AstraZeneca Plc. From 1992 to 2008, Mr. Mott worked at MedImmune and served in roles including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, President and Chief Executive Officer.
Prior to joining MedImmune, Mr. Mott was a Vice President in the Health Care Investment Banking Group at Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co., Inc. ■