SANGAMO - Key Persons


Bettina Cockroft - SVP

Job Titles:
  • Chief Medical Officer
  • Senior Vice President
Bettina Cockroft, M.D., M.B.A., has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer since September 2019 and oversees all clinical development activities and operations. She has over 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and has worked across multiple therapeutic areas and led programs in several countries. Prior to joining Sangamo, Dr. Cockroft served on the senior leadership team at Cytokinetics, Inc., where she was responsible for clinical development of fast skeletal muscle troponin activators in diseases such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Before that, Dr. Cockroft served as Chief Medical Officer of Auris Medical AG, where she led and grew the clinical development team responsible for two Phase 3 programs. Dr. Cockroft also held roles of increasing responsibility at Merck Serono S.A., Novartis Consumer Health and Menarini Ricerche earlier in her career. Dr. Cockroft earned her M.B.A. at MIT Sloan School of Management and her M.D. from the University of Genova.

D. Mark McClung - COO, EVP

Job Titles:
  • Chief Operating Officer
  • Executive Vice President
D. Mark McClung serves as Sangamo's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. He was appointed to the position in November 2021 to coordinate and oversee company operations. The core functions in his purview include European business operations, corporate and business development, alliance management, commercial, new product planning, patient advocacy, government relations, investor relations, corporate communications, facilities and information technology. He has been with Sangamo since May 2020, when he was hired as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer. Prior to joining Sangamo, from 2015 through 2019, Mr. McClung was Vice President and General Manager of Global Oncology Commercial at Amgen, which he joined from Onyx Pharmaceuticals where he had served as Senior Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer. For two decades prior, Mr. McClung held roles of increasing responsibility at GlaxoSmithKline in marketing and sales, commercial operations, clinical development and product strategy, and general management in Canada, the United States, and Europe, including as Vice President and Head of Global Commercial for GSK Oncology from 2009 - 2013. Mr. McClung completed graduate coursework at York University in Toronto and Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, and he received a bachelor's degree in Human Kinetics and Biomedical Sciences from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

H. Stewart Parker - Chairman

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the Board
  • Chairman of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee
  • Member of the Board of Directors
  • Member of Sangamo 's Board of Directors
  • Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee
Ms. Parker has served as a member of Sangamo's Board of Directors since June 2014. Ms. Parker served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Infectious Disease Research Institute, or IDRI, a nonprofit research organization focused on the development of products for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of neglected diseases from March 2011 to January 2014. Prior to IDRI, Ms. Parker managed the formation of Targeted Genetics Corporation, a biotechnology company, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Immunex Corporation, a biotechnology company, and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer and as a director from its spinout from Immunex Corporation in 1992 to November 2008. She served in various capacities at Immunex Corporation from August 1981 through December 1991, most recently as Vice President, Corporate Development. Ms. Parker currently serves on the Board of Directors of Achieve Life Sciences since March 2010 and Armata Pharmaceuticals, Inc since May 2019. She served on the Board of Directors and the executive committee of BIO, the primary trade organization for the biotechnology industry. Ms. Parker has also served as a director of Targeted Genetics Corporation from 1992 to November 2008 and Neose Technologies, Inc. from May 2005 to January 2009. Ms. Parker received her B.A. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Washington. Director H. Stewart Parker has served as a member of our Board of Directors since June 2014. Ms. Parker has over 30 years of experience in the biotechnology industry . She served as the chief executive officer of The Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI), a not-for-profit global health research institute from March 2011 to December 2013. In 1992, Ms. Parker founded Targeted Genetics Corporation, a publicly traded Seattle -based biopharmaceutical company formed to develop gene-based treatments for acquired and inherited diseases that became a world leader in AAV gene therapy. She held the position of President and CEO and was a member of its board of directors from the company's inception until November 2008. Prior to founding Targeted Genetics, Ms. Parker served in various capacities at Immunex from August 1981 through December 1991, most recently as vice president, corporate development. From February 1991 to January 1993, Ms. Parker served as president and a director of Receptech Corporation, a company formed by Immunex in 1989 to accelerate the development of soluble cytokine receptor products. She has served on the board of directors and the executive committee of BIO, the primary trade organization for the biotechnology industry. She currently serves as a member of the board of directors for several for-profit and non-profit companies including C3 Jian Inc, Oncogenex Technologies Inc and IDRI and on the advisory boards of the University of Washington Foster School of Business and College of Arts & Sciences. Ms. Parker received her B.A. and M.B.A. from the University of Washington.

James R. Meyers

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Audit Committee
  • Member of the Compensation Committee
  • Audit Committee
  • Member of Sangamo 's Board of Directors
  • President and Chief Executive Officer of IntraBio
James R. Meyers has served as a member of Sangamo's Board of Directors since November 2019 and has over 30 years of commercial leadership experience in the biotechnology industry. Mr. Meyers serves as President and Chief Executive Officer at IntraBio, a biopharmaceutical company focused on novel therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. Prior to IntraBio, Mr. Meyers served as Gilead's Executive Vice President of Worldwide Commercial Operations, where he was responsible for global commercial activities, including pricing and market access in North America, Europe, Middle East, Australia and Japan. At Gilead, he successfully led several important product launches in the HIV and hepatitis C therapeutic areas. Prior to Gilead, Mr. Meyers held positions of increasing responsibility with Zeneca Pharmaceuticals and Astra USA. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of two public companies, Arbutus Biopharma Corp. and CytomX Therapeutics, and he remains an active advisor to several major biopharmaceutical companies. Mr. Meyers holds a B.S. in Economics from Boston College. Member of the Audit Committee Member of the Compensation Committee

Jason Fontenot - SVP

Job Titles:
  • Chief Scientific Officer
  • Senior Vice President
Jason Fontenot, Ph.D., serves as Sangamo's Chief Scientific Officer. He oversees all platform and pipeline research activities - advancing the company's proprietary genomic medicine technology as well as proprietary and partnered pipeline programs. Dr. Fontenot has an extensive background in genome engineering, cell therapy and drug development, having previously served as Chief Scientific Officer at Immusoft, Head of Exploratory Research at Juno Therapeutics, and for nearly a decade as a group leader in the immunology department at Biogen. Dr. Fontenot has expertise in lymphocyte biology, cell and genetic engineering and immune-mediated disease. His seminal work on regulatory T cells and FOXP3 transformed the study of immune regulation and produced some of the most highly cited immunology publications of the last 20 years. Dr. Fontenot conducted post-doctoral work at Rockefeller University in New York City. He received his Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Washington in Seattle.

Jaspreet "Jas" Gill - SVP

Job Titles:
  • Chief Quality Officer
  • Senior Vice President
Jaspreet "Jas" Gill currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer, and is responsible for Global Quality organization and systems to support Sangamo's growing internal and external manufacturing network. She is responsible for quality operations, quality control, clinical quality and quality assurance and compliance at Sangamo and represents the company on key quality, chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) and clinical compliance matters. Jas has 28 years of progressive leadership experience working with pharmaceutical, biologic, medical device, generic and in-vitro diagnostic products across a variety of global organizations. Prior to joining Sangamo in July 2019, she held over 10 years of VP-level corporate roles at Akorn and Baxter where she served as Executive Vice President and Vice President of Global Quality Compliance, respectively. In these roles, she oversaw various aspects of quality and compliance across multiple commercial sites globally. Earlier in her career, she held roles of increasing responsibility at Johnson & Johnson and Bio-Rad Laboratories. Ms. Gill received her M.B.A. from Golden Gate University, San Francisco and is affiliated with several industry organizations.

John Markels

Job Titles:
  • Audit Committee
  • Experienced Pharmaceutical Executive, Board Member, Advisor
John Markels, Ph.D. has served as a member of Sangamo's Board of Directors since February 2020. Dr. Markels has over 35 years of leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with deep background in manufacturing, development and tech transfer, and commercial globally. He most recently served as President of Global Vaccines at Merck, where he leads an integrated team dedicated to discovery and development, supply and access, and global marketing and long-term strategy for the vaccines portfolio. Earlier roles at Merck included President, Latin America, as well as a long career in senior leadership positions in major regions worldwide in manufacturing technology, operations and strategy, business development, alliance management, and supply chain. Dr. Markels received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and his B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware.

Karen Smith

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the Compensation Committee
  • Chief Medical Officer, Quince Therapeutics
  • Compensation Committee
Karen Smith, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., LLM., has served as a member of Sangamo's Board of Directors since June 2018. Dr. Smith has over 20 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience in the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia. She has overseen more than 50 clinical trials and more than 20 regulatory approvals leading to global product launches of small molecules, biologics and devices. She currently serves as Chief Medical Officer of Quince Therapeutics. Prior to joining Quince, she served as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Emergent Biosolutions, and prior to that, as EVP and CMO for Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to joining Jazz in 2015, Dr. Smith served as Senior Vice President, Global Medical Affairs and Global Dermatology Head for Allergan plc. From 2008 to 2011, she held leadership positions in External Medical Relations and Global Development at AstraZeneca, and from 2002 to 2008 she held various senior management and clinical roles with Bristol-Myers Squibb, including Head of U.S. Clinical Operations. Dr. Smith currently is a member of the Board of Directors of Talaris Therapeutics. Chair of the Compensation Committee

Kenneth Hillan

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Board of Directors
Kenneth Hillan, M.B. Ch.B. has served as a member of Sangamo's Board of Directors since September 2020. Since 2019, Dr. Hillan has served as Head of Therapeutics of 23andMe, the consumer genetics and research company, leading a dedicated discovery research and therapeutic development team that uses human genetic data to identify and pursue novel therapies for common and rare diseases. Previously, Dr. Hillan held leadership roles in the biotechnology industry. He served at Genentech from 1994 to 2011, where he led the medical and scientific strategies for its Immunology, Tissue Growth and Repair drug portfolio, and held a number of key leadership positions in research and development, including Senior Vice President of Clinical Development, Inflammation; Vice President of Immunology, Tissue Growth and Repair (ITGR); Vice President of Development Sciences; and Vice President of Research Operations and Pathology. He also served as Genentech's Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Development and Product Development Strategy in Asia-Pacific for Roche in Shanghai, China. From 2011 to 2017, he was Chief Executive Officer of Achaogen, Inc., where he was also a member of the Board of Directors. He has also served on the Board of Directors of Zymeworks since February 2017, and was a member of the Board of Directors of Relypsa from 2014 until 2016, when it was acquired by Galenica AG. Dr. Hillan has an M.B. Ch.B. (Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery) degree from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Glasgow, U.K.

Nathalie Dubois-Stringfellow

Job Titles:
  • Senior Vice President, Product Development and Management
Nathalie Dubois-Stringfellow, Ph.D., currently serves as Senior Vice President, Product Development and Management. She oversees the development and execution of project team strategy for Sangamo's ZFP therapeutic programs in hemophilia, lysosomal storage disorders, hemoglobinopathies, HIV and Huntington's disease. She has over 20 years of experience implementing and managing preclinical and clinical development of biologic therapies in oncology, as well as immune, infectious and genetic diseases. Dr. Dubois-Stringfellow joined Sangamo in January 2011 as Senior Director, Project Management. Prior to joining Sangamo, she held various positions in Discovery Research, Preclinical Research, Project Management, Clinical Development, and Portfolio Management at Chiron Corp., Bayer Corp., Signature Biosciences, Inc. and most recently XOMA LLC, where she served as Senior Director, Preclinical Portfolio and Alliance Management. Dr. Dubois-Stringfellow was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she studied angiogenesis and tumorigenesis in transgenic mice and cell culture systems. She received her M.S. in Genetics and Immunology, and her Ph.D. in Human Genetics from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France.

Prathyusha Duraibabu - CFO, SVP

Job Titles:
  • Chief Financial Officer
  • Senior Vice President

R. Andrew Ramelmeier

Job Titles:
  • Executive Vice President, Technical Operations

Rob Schott - SVP

Job Titles:
  • Head of Development
  • Senior Vice President
Rob Schott, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.C., serves as Sangamo's Senior Vice President and Head of Development. He is responsible for leading Sangamo's clinical development organization across all phases of drug development and regulatory approval. Prior to joining Sangamo in 2021, Dr. Schott served as the Chief Medical Officer at Chorus, an autonomous early-phase development engine inside of Eli Lilly, where he oversaw teams working to expand Eli Lilly's pipeline. He previously joined Eli Lilly in 2014 as a Global Launch Leader. Earlier in his career, Dr. Schott served as a Cardiovascular Department Chair and Vice President of Medical Affairs at Sutter Medical Center Sacramento while continuing to care for patients as an invasive cardiologist. Dr. Schott received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Michigan. He trained in cardiovascular medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital after working as a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard Medical School.

Robert F. Carey

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the Audit Committee
  • Member of the Board of Directors
  • Audit Committee
  • Member of Sangamo 's Board of Directors
  • President and Chief Operating Officer of Acelyrin, Inc
Robert F. Carey has served as a member of Sangamo's Board of Directors since June 2016. Mr. Carey currently serves as President and Chief Operating Officer of Acelyrin, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on identifying, acquiring, and accelerating development and commercialization of promising drug candidates. Prior to Acelyrin, Mr. Carey served as executive vice president, chief business officer for Horizon Pharma plc from March 2014 to October 2019, and served as managing director and head of the healthcare investment banking group at JMP Securities LLC, a full-service investment bank, from March 2003 to March 2014. Previously, Mr. Carey was a managing director in the healthcare groups at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Vector Securities International, Inc., and held roles at Shearson Lehman Hutton and Ernst & Whinney. Mr. Carey also serves on the board of directors of Beyond Air, Inc. Mr. Carey received his B.S. in accounting from the University of Notre Dame. Chair of the Audit Committee

Sandy Macrae - CEO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Executive Officer
Sandy Macrae, M.B., Ch.B., Ph.D., has served as Sangamo's President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of Sangamo's Board of Directors since June 2016. He has twenty years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry most recently serving as the Global Medical Officer of Takeda Pharmaceuticals, from 2012 to March 2016, where he established and led the Global Medical Office, which encompasses medical affairs, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, outcomes research and epidemiology, quantitative sciences and knowledge and informatics. From 2001 to 2012, Dr. Macrae held roles of increasing responsibility at GlaxoSmithKline, including Senior Vice President, Emerging Markets Research and Development (R&D), from 2009 to 2012. In that position, he provided expertise and resources to create a first-of-its-kind group to expand GSK's global reach by providing R&D strategies, clinical development and regulatory resources to enter emerging markets and Asia-Pacific. From 2007 to 2008, he was Vice President, Business Development. In that position, he was responsible for scientific assessment and business development project leadership for the neurology, psychiatry, cardiovascular and metabolic therapeutic areas. Earlier in his career, he worked for SmithKline Beecham, where he was responsible for clinical development in the therapeutic areas of neurology and gastroenterology. Dr. Macrae received his B.Sc. in pharmacology and his M.B., Ch.B. with honors from Glasgow University. He is a member of the Royal College of Physicians. Dr. Macrae also earned his Ph.D. in molecular genomics at King's College, Cambridge.

Scott Willoughby - Chief Legal Officer, Secretary, SVP

Job Titles:
  • Corporate Secretary
  • General Counsel
  • Senior Vice President
  • Vice President and Head of Corporate Law
Scott Willoughby serves as Sangamo's Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, acting as lead attorney for the company and advising the Chief Executive Officer, Board of Directors and other members of the executive leadership team on legal and business matters. He brings more than 20 years of expertise in senior legal and compliance roles at global public and private companies across multiple industries. Mr. Willoughby joined Sangamo in March 2020 as Vice President and Head of Corporate Law. Since joining the company, he has been an active member of the Legal Leadership Team where he has helped lead the legal and compliance functions. Prior to joining Sangamo, he served as Vice President-Deputy General Counsel, Assistant Corporate Secretary and Head of Corporate Law at Achaogen, a biotechnology company developing innovative antibiotics. Earlier in his career he held several senior counsel roles where he built his expertise in corporate governance, SEC reporting, corporate finance, compliance, M&A and transactions. Mr. Willoughby received a B.A. and J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Whitney Jones - CHRO, SVP

Job Titles:
  • Chief People Officer
  • Senior Vice President
Whitney Jones serves as Sangamo's Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer. She is responsible for people and culture, talent and acquisition, human resources operations, learning and development. She has over 20 years of experience in human resources and leadership development across the pharmaceutical, fintech and retail industries. Prior to joining Sangamo in 2020, Ms. Jones led the Human Resources team as the Chief People Officer at LendingClub, a marketplace lending company. Earlier in her career, she served as Global Head of Human Resources at Grifols (formerly Novartis Diagnostics) and held roles of increasing responsibility at Gap, Inc. from 2000 to 2013. She began her career as the Founder and Owner of Affordable Luxuries, growing a client base of Fortune 500 companies. Ms. Jones received her B.A. in History from the University of Vermont, Burlington.