UNIQURE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Human Resources Leader
- Interim Chief People and Culture Officer
Carla Poulson joined uniQure in late 2023 as Interim Chief People & Culture Officer and is currently heading our global Human Resources team.
Carla is a strategic senior Human Resources leader with more than 20 years of experience in the U.S. and Europe. She has experience with a variety of operations in which HR played a critical role in ensuring organizational capability and structure, as well as in building the culture. Carla has excellent ability to partner with people at all levels and work collaboratively to provide innovative business solutions. She values and nurtures an organization with diverse perspectives, recognizing that is how an enterprise gets the most out of its people.
Most recently, Carla worked at Mersana Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the discovery and development of anti-body drug conjugate (ADC) therapies to treat patients fighting cancer, as Chief Human Resources Officer. There she developed and drove strategic HR initiatives to help the company efficiently scale to support a maturing and expanding pipeline.
In 2020, Carla worked at Akcea Therapeutics as Chief Human Resources Officer, where she helped with the transition of the company after its purchase by Ionis Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, she worked for ten years in various HR roles at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation to create transformative medicines for people with serious diseases.
Carla earned a master's degree in Human Resources & Industrial Relations and a bachelor of science degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Illinois, Champaign.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Investor Relations
Job Titles:
- Member of Our Board
- Non - Executive Member
(Chairman) David Meek has served as a member of our board since June 2018 and as chairman since June 2021. Mr. Meek has more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, where he has held various global executive positions in major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Mr. Meek recently served as CEO and Director of Mirati Therapeutics, a commercial-stage oncology biotech company. Prior to this, Mr. Meek served as CEO of FerGene, a gene therapy biotech company focused on cancer. He has also served as CEO of Ipsen and as Executive Vice President and President of the oncology division of Baxalta. Mr. Meek also served as Chief Commercial Officer for Endocyte, an oncology biotech, and spent eight years at Novartis as a global franchise head, CEO of Novartis Canada, and region head of oncology for northern, central and Eastern Europe. Earlier in his career, Mr. Meek spent 14 years at Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Pharmaceutica, where he held a variety of senior U.S. sales and marketing positions. Mr. Meek serves as chairman of the board for Entasis Therapeutics. He holds a B.A. in Management from the University of Cincinnati.
Job Titles:
- Chief Legal and Compliance Officer
- Our Chief Legal and Compliance Officer
Dr. Jeannette Potts joined uniQure as our Chief Legal and Compliance Officer in May 2023. Dr. Potts has more than 25 years of global legal, management and transactional experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Most recently, she served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at Forma Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on rare hematologic diseases and cancer, which was acquired by Novo Nordisk in 2022. There she designed, built and led the legal/IP/compliance team, held key roles in corporate financings and business development transactions, and was a trusted advisor to the executive team and Board of Directors on complex legal and business matters.
Prior to joining Forma, Dr. Potts served as Vice President, Legal and Head Counsel, Research and Development, at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and had previously been Vice President, Legal at Millennium Pharmaceuticals before it was acquired by Takeda. She holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Smith College, a Ph.D. in anatomy and cell biology from the University of Virginia, and a J.D. from Suffolk University.
Job Titles:
- Chief Business and Scientific Officer
- General Manager of the Corlieve Subsidiary Following the Acquisition of Corlieve Therapeutics
Dr. Richard Porter was named Chief Business and Scientific Officer in October 2023. He oversees research as well as non-clinical and vector development, and is responsible for business development and product planning.
Dr. Porter joined uniQure as General Manager of the Corlieve subsidiary following the acquisition of Corlieve Therapeutics in July 2021. He was the founder and CEO of Corlieve.
He brings more than 25 years of R&D experience to uniQure, having previously served as the COO of Therachon until its acquisition by Pfizer. Previously he was at Roche in positions of increasing responsibility, most recently as the Global Head of Scientific Business Strategy and Operations for Neuroscience Ophthalmology and Rare Diseases directing the strategic and operational activities of the department. He has also served as a Product General Manager of the Emerging Business Unit at Shire Pharmaceuticals and has held scientific leadership positions at Vernalis and ASTRA.
Richard earned his Ph.D. in neuropharmacology from Southampton University (UK) and conducted his postdoctoral training at the Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester, NY (USA) and the University of Oxford (UK).
Job Titles:
- Chairman of Our Audit Committee
- Non - Executive Member
Jack Kaye is currently chairman of our Audit Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee of Dyadic International, Inc. Mr. Kaye began his career at Deloitte LLP, an international accounting, tax and consulting firm, in 1970, and was a partner in the firm from 1978 until May 2006. At Deloitte, he was responsible for servicing a diverse client base of public and private, global and domestic companies in a variety of industries. Mr. Kaye has extensive experience consulting with clients on accounting and reporting matters, private and public debt financings, SEC rules and regulations and corporate governance/Sarbanes-Oxley matters. Prior to retiring, Mr. Kaye served as Partner-in-Charge of Deloitte's Tri-State Core Client practice, a position he held for more than 20 years. Mr. Kaye has a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baruch College and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Job Titles:
- Member of Our Board
- Non - Executive Member
Jeremy Springhorn has served as a member of our board since September 2017. Since April 2021, Dr. Springhorn has been Chief Executive Officer at Newco, a 5AM Ventures Company. Prior to taking his position at Newco, Dr. Springhorn served as Chief Business Officer of Syros Pharmaceuticals from June 2017 until April 2021. He previously served as Partner, Corporate Development at Flagship Pioneering from March 2015 until June 2017, where he worked with VentureLabs (in helping companies in various strategic and corporate development capacities and in creating next generation startups) and Flagship's Corporate Limited Partners. Prior to joining Flagship, Dr. Springhorn was one of the original scientists at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, where he played an integral role in its antibody engineering capabilities and was one of the original inventors of the drug Soliris®. Dr. Springhorn started at Alexion in 1992 where he served in various leadership roles in R&D before switching to Business Development in 2006. Dr. Springhorn was Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development at Alexion from 2006 until March 2015. Prior to 1992, Dr. Springhorn received his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans and his BA from Colby College . Dr. Springhorn currently serves on the Board of Directors for NMD Pharma, Board of Advisors for Mythic Therapeutics and the Board of Visitors for Colby College.
Board of Directors term information can be found on our Corporate Governance section.
Job Titles:
- Member of Our Board
- Non - Executive Member
Leonard Post has served as a member of our board since 2020. Dr. Post has extensive biotechnology industry experience including previous global R&D leadership roles at BioMarin and Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Since 2016, Dr. Post has served as Chief Scientific Officer of Vivace Therapeutics and its sister company, Virtuoso Therapeutics, both of which are developing oncology therapeutics. From 2010 until 2016, Dr. Post served in various positions at BioMarin, including Chief Scientific Officer, during which time he oversaw the initiation of BioMarin's first gene therapy project for hemophilia A. Dr. Post is a virologist by training and did early work on engineering of herpes simplex virus as a postdoctoral fellow. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Michigan, and a Doctorate degree in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin.
Job Titles:
- VP, Global Human Resources
Job Titles:
- Industry Executive
- Member of Our Board
- Non - Executive Member
Madhavan Balachandran has served as a member of our board since September 2017. Mr. Balachandran is a pharmaceutical industry executive and has more than 40 years of experience in manufacturing and operations. He was previously with Amgen Inc., where he served as Executive Vice President of Operations, overseeing global operations and reporting directly to the CEO. Mr. Balachandran held similar positions at Copley Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Burroughs Wellcome Co. Mr. Balachandran holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from East Carolina University, a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering from State University of New York and a bachelor's degree in Technology from Indian Institute of Technology.
Job Titles:
- Chief
- Corporate Affairs Officer
- for Investor Inquiries
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Executive
- Our Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Matthew Kapusta has been Chief Executive Officer of uniQure since December 2016, and currently serves on the Company's Board of Directors.
Mr. Kapusta joined uniQure in January 2015 as our Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining uniQure, he was Senior Vice President at AngioDynamics from 2011 to 2014, responsible for corporate development, strategic planning and national accounts. Prior to AngioDynamics, he served as Vice President, Finance for Smith & Nephew Orthopaedics. Mr. Kapusta's career also includes more than a decade of investment banking experience focused on emerging life sciences companies. Mr. Kapusta was Managing Director, Healthcare Investment Banking at Collins Stewart, and held various positions at Wells Fargo Securities, Robertson Stephens and PaineWebber. In 2023 he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM), the leading international advocacy organization championing the benefits of engineered cell therapies and genetic medicines.
Mr. Kapusta holds a Master of Business Administration from New York University's Stern School of Business and a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. He earned his Certified Public Accountant license in 1996 while at Ernst & Young.
Job Titles:
- Member of Our Board
- Non - Executive Member
Paula Soteropoulos has served as a member of our board since July 2013. She also serves as Executive Chairman of Ensoma and as a member of the board of Rallybio. Ms. Soteropoulos is an executive leader with more than 30 years of experience in the biopharma industry in areas of drug development, manufacturing, business development, global commercialization and company building. Most recently, she served as the chief executive officer of Akcea Therapeutics. Ms. Soteropoulos was the founding President and CEO in 2015 and led the company through its IPO on NASDAQ in 2017, as well as significant growth: employing over 270 staff in thirteen countries, six drugs in its portfolio with 2 rare disease drug approvals. From July 2013 to December 2014, she served as Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cardiometabolic Business and Strategic Alliances at Moderna Therapeutics Inc. Prior to this, Ms. Soteropoulos worked at Genzyme Corporation, a biotechnology company, from 1992 to 2013, most recently as Vice President and General Manager, Cardiovascular, Rare Diseases. Ms. Soteropoulos holds a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering and a master of science degree in chemical and biochemical engineering, both from Tufts University, and holds an executive management certificate from the University of Virginia, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration. Ms. Soteropoulos serves on the Advisory Board for the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department of Tufts University.
Rachelle Jacques joined our board in October 2021. She has more than 25 years of industry experience in strategic, cross-functional executive roles spanning finance, business operations, manufacturing, and commercial. She has led successful launches of several rare disease therapies including the recent approval of a Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT)-designated product, one of only three since the program inception in 2016. In March 2022, Ms. Jacques was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Akari Therapeutics, a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on innovative therapeutics to treat orphan autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Previously, Ms. Jacques served as the Chief Executive Officer of Enzyvant Therapeutics Inc, focusing on the development of transformative regenerative therapies for rare diseases. From August 2017 to February 2019, she served as the Senior Vice President and Global Complement Franchise Head at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where she was responsible for global franchise strategy development and execution across the therapeutic areas of hematology, nephrology, and neurology. From January 2016 to June 2017, she was Vice President of U.S. Hematology Marketing at Baxalta Inc. and then Shire plc, following Shire's acquisition of Baxalta in 2016. From July 2015 to June 2016, she served as Vice President of Business Operations at Baxalta Inc. after its spinoff from Baxter International Inc. Ms.Jacques held multiple leadership positions at Baxter, including Vice President of Finance, U.S. BioScience Business. Ms. Jacques received her B.A. degree in business administration from Alma College. She has also served as a financial auditor for Ernst & Young and Deloitte and Touché. Since April 2019, Ms. Jacques has served on the Board of Directors of Corbus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CRBP), and from April 2020 to February 2021, she served on the Board of Directors of Viela Bio. She is a founding member of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) Action for Equality Task Force.
Job Titles:
- First Became a Member
- Non - Executive Member
Robert Gut first became a member of our board in June 2018, and served as our Chief Medical Officer from August 2018 until August 2020. Dr. Gut has 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry leading clinical development and medical affairs activities in hematology and other therapeutic areas. For the majority of his career, Dr. Gut served as Vice President, Clinical Development & Medical Affairs at Novo Nordisk Inc., where he headed the company's U.S. Biopharm Medical organization with leading products in hemophilia, including NovoSeven® (Factor VIIa), NovoEight® (Factor VIII), Tretten® (Factor XIII) and Factor IX. Dr. Gut's contributions helped achieve nine different FDA approvals and the successful launches of those products. He has also served as a member of the Advisory Committees for Reproductive Health Drugs and Drug Safety and Risk Management for the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Dr. Gut received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the Medical University of Lublin, and his Doctorate degree from Lublin Institute of Medicine, Poland. He attended numerous postgraduate programs at Wharton, Stanford and Harvard Business School.