Moderna has brought together a set of seasoned executives to realize our vision. In addition to having built companies that have successfully commercialized biotech products, we share a fascination with the possibilities of our science, and a desire to question everything in our pursuit of better solutions for patients.

• Stéphane Bancel, President and Founding Chief Executive Officer
• Gregg Beloff, Chief Financial Officer
• Tony de Fougerolles, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer
• Stephen Hoge, M.D., Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and New Drug Concepts
• Louis St.L. O’Dea, MB, BCh, BAO. FRCP(C), Chief Medical Officer and Head, Regulatory Affairs
• Divakar Ramakrishnan, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Process Development, Manufacturing and Quality

Stéphane joined Moderna in the summer of 2011 when it was a one employee and one patent company, after Dr. Noubar Afeyan and the board described to him the technology behind messenger RNA Therapeutics™. He has assembled a world-class team and raised the company’s financing.

He was previously CEO of bioMérieux, a world leader in the diagnostics industry. bioMerieux has more than 6,000 employees, a market capitalization of €2.5 billion, and sales of more than €1.3 billion. During his five years with bioMérieux, he accelerated the company’s sales growth rate from a historic rate of 4-5% per year to above 9% per year, grew EBIT at 12% CAGR (versus a historical growth rate of 4-5%), enhanced its position as the global leader in clinical microbiology and re-accelerated its immuno-assay franchise by focusing on high medical value biomarkers. He led the company through 10 successful acquisitions in the U.S., Europe, and Asia/Pacific without needing new capital from shareholders. During that time, the company’s market capitalization nearly doubled despite the 2008 financial crisis.

Prior to his time at bioMérieux, Stéphane was Managing Director of Eli Lilly in Belgium and Executive Director of Global Manufacturing Strategy and Supply Chain at Eli Lilly in Indianapolis, Indiana. He started at Lilly in their UK manufacturing plant outside London.

He holds a Master of Engineering from École Central Paris, a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Stéphane is named as an inventor on over 45 patent filings in the field of messenger RNA technology. These filings include claims covering a broad range of novel compositions and formulations as well as manufacturing and clinical methods in the fields of human and animal therapeutics, diagnostics and cell processing.

Stéphane was elected a 2009 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He was elected best CEO for investor relations in France in 2009 and was ranked the number one CEO in the biotech sector according to the 2011 Thomson Reuters EXTEL Study. Stephane is the Executive Chairman of the Board of BG Medicine, Inc. 

Over his 20 year career, Gregg has worked for both public and private companies and in capital markets in the life sciences sector. Gregg brings expertise in financial management, corporate strategy, business development, mergers and acquisitions, and fundraising. Gregg is the co-founder and managing director of Danforth Advisors, a firm that specializes in providing outsourced financial, operational, and strategic consulting services to life science companies. Gregg joined Moderna as the part-time Chief Financial Officer in 2012. From 2003 to 2009 Gregg served as the Chief Financial Officer of Archemix, a venture-backed life sciences company. During his tenure at Archemix he oversaw all aspects of financial operations and accounting, and participated in raising more than $100 million from venture capitalists and strategic investors. Before Archemix, from 2001 to 2003, Gregg was the Chief Financial Officer at ImmunoGen, a $200 million publicly-traded biotechnology company. Gregg’s experience before industry included investment banking and corporate law. From 1998 to 2001 Gregg served as a Vice President in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Adams, Harkness & Hill, Inc. He began his career as a corporate attorney at Gaffin & Krattenmaker, P.C. Gregg holds a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, and a BA from Middlebury College.

Tony joined Moderna in October 2011 and has more than 15 years of biotech R&D experience and expertise in immunology. He has extensive and successful experience leading Research and Development teams in biotechnology companies. As Chief Scientific Officer at Tolerx, he led the company’s research and early-stage product development programs involving novel therapies based on T cell modulation. Prior to joining Tolerx, Tony was an R&D leader at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals from 2003 to 2010, and served on the management team as Vice President of Research, Immunology, Metabolic, and Viral Disease. During that time, Tony was part of a team that through the development and advancement of a pre-clinical pipeline and the formation of numerous research partnerships and alliances, helped build Alnylam from a start-up into a well-established company with multiple products in clinical trials. He also served as a principal scientist at Biogen from 1998 to 2003 where he worked on several immunology/inflammation-based programs and led research teams working to develop antibody-based therapeutics. Tony was named as a 2009 Emerging Pharma Leader by Pharmaceutical Executive magazine. He earned his Ph.D. in Immunology from Harvard University and was a research fellow at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England.

Stephen leads strategy, business development, and preclinical oncology for Moderna and is the inventor of several mRNA patents. Prior to Moderna, Stephen was a partner at McKinsey & Company and a leader in the firm’s Healthcare and Corporate Finance practices. At McKinsey Stephen advised senior management teams of leading biotech and pharmaceutical companies on a wide range of strategic, financial and operational issues. Prior to joining the firm, Stephen was a physician in New York. He holds an M.D. with thesis from the University of California, San Francisco, and a B.S. in Neuroscience from Amherst College.

Louis joined the company in February 2012, and brings 19 years of development experience in protein, peptides, and small molecules. Louis is a medical graduate of University College Dublin and completed postgraduate clinical and research training in Internal Medicine/Endocrinology and Reproductive Endocrinology at McGill University, Montreal, and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. Louis is board certified in Internal Medicine and in Endocrinology and Metabolism in USA, Canada and Quebec. Eighteen years ago he took a sabbatical from McGill University to work with Serono as a Medical Director, and advanced over 12 years to the position of Worldwide Head of Clinical Development for Reproductive Health and Metabolism. During his tenure, he led the development U.S. FDA registration of the recombinant reproductive and growth hormone portfolios. Later he transferred to Japan for two years as Regional Chief Medical Officer where he achieved Serono’s first recombinant gonadotropin registration, as well as registration of growth hormone products and devices. During his time with Serono, he achieved five drug approvals in nine different clinical indications, along with four orphan product designations. Over the last six years, he has led clinical and regulatory activities at Radius Health, completing eight studies in five years with a small team, and bringing the lead product through FDA and EMA into a large, worldwide Phase 3 pivotal study which is ongoing; the second product to proof-of-concept; and the third to IND consultation.

Divakar Ramakrishnan joins Moderna from Eli Lilly and Company, where he was vice president of manufacturing, supporting Lilly’s animal health business with operational and supply chain responsibilities for six global sites and over 60 contract manufacturers. Divakar joined Lilly in 1998 as a senior scientist in Lilly Research Laboratories, where he was involved in process development and commercialization enabling launch of a life saving biotech drug. He then served as head of bioprocess development, senior director of biotech manufacturing strategy and manufacturing strategic planning, and vice president of manufacturing science and technology.

As the general manager of the Lilly Kinsale site in Ireland, Divakar led commercialization and manufacturing operations for biotech and chemical technologies. He has also served as a management consultant for Cook Pharmica, LLC, to develop their business strategy and to recruit and direct their start-up operations and technical teams.

Divakar has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.