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People in the News at Illumina, Twist Biosciences, Standard BioTools, Bio-Techne, Mission Bio, More

Illumina: Susan Tousi, Bas Verhoef

Susan Tousi, Illumina's chief commercial officer, will be leaving the firm effective Jan. 5, Illumina said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bas Verhoef, head of region for Europe, will serve as interim CCO.


Twist Bioscience: Adam Laponis

Twist Biosciences has appointed Adam Laponis as CFO. He joins Twist from Eargo, where he also served as CFO. Prior to that, Laponis was VP of worldwide financial planning and analysis and business operations at Tesla. He has also served as VP of finance and CFO of cardiovascular care at Cardinal Health for the Cordis Cardiovascular business. Prior to that Laponis held a series of roles of increasing responsibility at Johnson & Johnson, where he led the divestiture of Corids Cardiovascular to Cardinal. He holds an MBA from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and a BS in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley.


Standard BioTools: Adam Taich, Shane Brown, Tom Carey, Troy Cox, Cathy Hibbs, Carlos Paya, Laura Clague, Martin Madaus

Following the completion of Standard BioTools' merger with SomaLogic, the company has appointed Adam Taich, SomaLogic's interim CEO, as chief strategy officer and Shane Bowen, SomaLogic's chief R&D officer, as chief technology officer. Further, the firm added former SomaLogic board members Tom Carey, Troy Cox, and Kathy Hibbs to its board of directors, where Carey will serve as chairman. Meanwhile, Carlos Paya, Laura Clague, and Martin Madaus have resigned from Standard BioTools' board.


Bio-Techne: Matthew McManus

Bio-Techne has appointed Matthew McManus as president of its diagnostics and genomics segment, effective Jan. 8. He is replacing Kim Kelderman, who is taking over as Bio-Techne's CEO on Feb. 1. McManus was previously SVP and general manager of Bio-Techne's molecular diagnostics division after its acquisition of Asuragen, where he was president and CEO. He most recently served as EVP and COO for life sciences firm Azenta. McManus is also currently chairman of the board of directors for gene synthesis and cell and gene therapy company Ansa.


Mission Bio: Brian Kim

Mission Bio said this week that it has appointed Brian Kim as CEO. He comes to the firm from Fortis Life Sciences, where he was founder and CEO. He also previously had executive experience in the genomics division at LGC and the life science and tools division at PerkinElmer. Kim holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.


EarlyDiagnostics: Gregory Critchfield

EarlyDiagnostics has appointed Gregory Critchfield as its co-CEO, effective Jan. 1. Critchfield was a board member, former chairman, and CEO of Sera Prognostics, leading it from its very early financing stages in 2010 through its successful IPO in 2021. Before Sera, he served as president of Myriad Genetic Laboratories. He also had a stint as chief medical and science officer for Quest Diagnostics, overseeing medical and innovation activities in its transition from Corning Clinical Laboratories. Critchfield has served on the faculty of three medical schools: University of Minnesota, Wayne State University, and Duke University, and as a practicing clinical pathologist with Intermountain Healthcare.


Guardant Health: Terilyn Juarez Monroe

Guardant Health has hired Terilyn Juarez Monroe as its chief people officer, effective immediately. Amelia Merrill, who previously served as senior VP of people, is transitioning to an advisory role with the company. Prior to joining Guardant, Monroe held numerous human resources leadership roles, including as chief people officer at Bonterra, Varian, and Acxiom. She was also chief diversity officer at Intuit and currently serves on the board of directors for CASSY, a nonprofit organization focused on counseling and support services for youth. Monroe holds a bachelor's degree from San Jose State University.


Evotec: Werner Lanthaler, Mario Polywka

Werner Lanthaler has stepped down as CEO of Evotec, citing personal reasons. He will remain available as a strategic advisor to the company's supervisory board. While Hamburg, Germany-based Evotec is searching for a new CEO, Mario Polywka, a member of the firm's supervisory board and its former chief operating officer, will serve as interim CEO.


Precipio: Christina Valauri, Douglas Fisher

Precipio has appointed Christina Valauri to its board of directors effective Jan. 1. She brings a 30-year track record as a senior healthcare analyst and has held leadership roles that include US and global head of equity research and managing director at Cantor Fitzgerald, and senior equity research management roles at firms including ING, Credit Lyonnais (acquired by Credit Agricole), and Natixis. She has received the Award for Excellence in Medical Education Public Affairs from the Association of American Medical Colleges. Valauri is also the founding partner and CEO of Sagestone Advisory and currently serves as an entrepreneur in residence at Weill Cornell Medicine BioVenture eLab. She earned her BA in biology from Reed College and an MBA from Cornell University.


Novacyt: Steve Gibson

Novacyt has appointed Steve Gibson as CFO. Subject to board approval he will also become a Novacyt board member. Gibson joined the company in 2017 and was its group finance director starting in 2020. Before Novacyt, he spent a decade at Hewlett-Packard, and then Hewlett Packard Enterprises in various finance departments with increasing seniority.

The company also announced that after serving on Precipio's board for 6 years, Douglas Fisher is stepping down but will remain as an observer moving forward.


For additional recent items on executive appointments, promotions, and departures in the omics and molecular diagnostics space, please see the People in the News page on our website.