IONIS PHARMACEUTICALS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Compliance Committee
- Audit Committee
- Independent Director, Mersana Therapeutics and Ionis Pharmaceuticals / Senior Advisor, Bain Capital Life Sciences
- President, AMD Portfolio Management Consulting
Allene Diaz leads AMD Consulting, a new product strategy and portfolio management consulting practice where she currently serves as Senior Advisor to Xilio Therapeutics.
Ms. Diaz was Senior Vice President, R&D Portfolio Management at GlaxoSmithKline until June 2020. From 2015 to 2019, she served as Senior Vice President of Global Commercial Development and Program Strategy and as a member of the Executive Leadership Team at TESARO Inc.
Prior to joining TESARO, Ms. Diaz held a variety of roles in the EMD Serono and Merck Serono divisions of Merck KGaA, including Senior Vice President, Managed Markets, Senior Vice President, Head of U.S. Oncology Commercial, Vice President, Oncology Marketing and Head of Global Strategic Planning.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Diaz held management, operating, sales, and medical affairs roles at various biopharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Parke-Davis, Biogen, and Amylin Pharmaceuticals, among others. She has contributed to the global development, launch and/or commercialization of multiple transformative products across several therapeutic areas.
She serves on the boards of directors of Mersana Therapeutics, Allena Pharmaceuticals and BCLS Acquisition Corporation. Ms. Diaz served on the board of directors of Erytech Pharma SA from 2016 to 2019.
Member of the Compliance Committee
Member of the Audit Committee
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Compliance Committee
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Finance Committee
- Science / Medical Committee
- Senior Strategic Advisor
Ms. Parshall has served on the Ionis board since September 2000 and as a senior strategic advisor to Ionis since January 2018. Previously she served as our chief operating officer from December 2007 through December 2017 and as chief financial officer from June 1994 through December 2012. She also served as Ionis' corporate secretary through 2014, and has served with the company in various executive roles since November 1991. Prior to joining Ionis, Ms. Parshall practiced law at Cooley LLP, outside counsel to Ionis, where she was a partner from 1986 to 1991. Ms. Parshall is a member of the American and California bar associations. Ms. Parshall serves on the board of directors of Cytokinetcs Inc. and Akcea Therapeutics, Inc.
Chair of the Compliance Committee
Member of the Finance Committee
Job Titles:
- VP, Pharmaceutical Development
Dr. Monia is the chief executive officer, a member of the board of directors and a founding scientist of Ionis Pharmaceuticals. His contributions at Ionis include research into the medicinal chemistry and mechanisms of action of RNA-targeting modalities to treat human diseases, most notably antisense-based therapeutic strategies. Dr. Monia has extensive experience across a range of therapeutic areas, including oncology, metabolic disease, inflammation, neurological disease and cardiovascular disease, which have resulted in a broad range of successful clinical achievements and in marketing approvals for new medicines.
Dr. Monia has published more than 200 primary research manuscripts, reviews and book chapters, and is an inventor on more than 100 issued patents. He serves as a senior editor for the journal Nucleic Acid Therapeutics. He is on the board of directors of Cognition Therapeutics and the board of directors of Flamingo Therapeutics. He has also served as president of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society (OTS). Dr. Monia is also an adjunct professor of biology at San Diego State University where he lectures at the graduate level on pharmacology.
Dr. Monia received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania and B.S. degrees in Molecular Biology and Analytical Chemistry at Stockton State College in Pomona, New Jersey.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President, Corporate and Development Operations
- Ionis' Executive Vice President, Corporate
Mr. Birchler is Ionis' executive vice president, corporate and development operations. In this role, he provides executive leadership for several functions, including clinical operations and data management, global project and portfolio management, biometrics and clinical supplies. He also provides management support for development and research budgets and product launch excellence. Mr. Birchler is a member of Ionis' executive leadership team.
Mr. Birchler has over 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries and broad knowledge of the drug development process from concept through launch. Since joining Ionis in 1995 he has held positions of increasing responsibility in development, clinical research and development chemistry. Before Ionis, he held positions at CIBA Vision Corp. and Burroughs Wellcome Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Birchler has a bachelor's degree in industrial technology from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.
Job Titles:
- VP, Strategic Alliances & Transactions
Job Titles:
- Chief Scientific Officer
- Executive Vice President
Dr. Bennett is the executive vice president and chief scientific officer at Ionis Pharmaceuticals and one of the founding members of the company. He is responsible for continuing to advance Ionis' technology and expanding the company's drug discovery platform. Dr. Bennett is also the franchise leader for gene-editing programs at Ionis. He has been involved in the development of antisense oligonucleotides as therapeutic agents, including research on the application of oligonucleotides for inflammatory, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, oligonucleotide delivery, pharmacokinetics and medicinal chemistry.
Dr. Bennett has been recognized for his research with numerous awards. He is a co-recipient of the Rainwater Prize for Outstanding Innovation in Neurodegenerative Disease Research, the 2021 Gabbay Award and the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for his contributions to the discovery and development of SPINRAZA® (nusinersen), and the inaugural Healy Center International Prize for Innovation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Dr. Bennett also received the 2018 Hereditary Disease Foundation's (HDF) Leslie Gehry Brenner Prize for Innovation in Science for his leadership and continued commitment to developing antisense therapies for Huntington's disease (HD).
Dr. Bennett has published more than 230 papers in the field of antisense research and development, and he is an inventor on more than 175 issued patents.
Prior to joining Ionis, Dr. Bennett was associate senior investigator in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology at SmithKline and French Laboratories (currently, GlaxoSmithKline).
He received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas and his B.S. degree in Pharmacy from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico. He performed his postdoctoral research in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology at SmithKline and French Laboratories.
Dr. Bennett serves on the Advisory Board for the Hereditary Disease Foundation and SAB for the McLaughlin Institute.
Job Titles:
- VP, Portfolio Planning & Market Insights
Job Titles:
- VP, Analytical & Process Chemistry
Job Titles:
- Chief Accounting Officer
- SVP
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Executive Vice President
Ms. Hougen is our executive vice president of Finance and chief financial officer. As a member of our executive leadership team, Ms. Hougen contributes to the execution of our strategy, including ensuring we are well positioned to be a global, multi-product sustainably profitable company. Ionis' finance, accounting, tax, treasury, information technology, procurement and investor relations functions report to her. Ms. Hougen joined Ionis in May 2000 as vice president, finance, and became chief accounting officer in January 2007 and chief financial officer in January 2013.
Ms. Hougen has an extensive finance and business background having held positions of increasing responsibility in numerous public companies, primarily in the life sciences industry, over her more than 25-year career. Prior to joining Ionis, Ms. Hougen was chief financial officer for Molecular Biosystems, Inc., a public biotechnology company.
In recognition of her important contributions to the financial success of Ionis, in 2018 Ms. Hougen was named a CFO of the Year by the San Diego Business Journal. Ms. Hougen received her M.B.A. from the University of San Diego and her B.A. from Franklin and Marshall College.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President of Research
Dr. Swayze is executive vice president of Research at Ionis Pharmaceuticals. He is responsible for leading preclinical antisense drug discovery and antisense technology research.
Previously, Dr. Swayze was vice president of Chemistry and Neuroscience Drug Discovery at Ionis, overseeing the advancement of multiple programs to clinical development. He joined Ionis in 1994 and has contributed to key technology advancements, including Ionis' Generation 2.5 chemistry and Ligand-Conjugated Antisense (LICA) technology.
He is an author on more than 150 scientific manuscripts, several reviews and book chapters, and is an inventor of more than 140 issued US patents. He received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Michigan under the guidance of Professor Leroy B. Townsend.
Job Titles:
- Operations Officer
- Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Development
- Executive Vice President, Chief Clinical Development and Operations Officer
Dr. Schneider is executive vice president and chief clinical development and operations officer of Ionis Pharmaceuticals. As a member of our executive leadership team, Dr. Schneider oversees all stages of clinical development of Ionis' antisense medicines across the company's therapeutic franchises. Dr. Schneider joined Ionis in December 2013 as executive director, clinical development and became vice president, clinical development, severe and rare diseases in April 2015, senior vice president, head of clinical development in August 2018 and executive vice president, chief clinical development officer in January 2021.
Dr. Schneider has two decades of experience in clinical development primarily in the rare diseases space. Prior to joining Ionis, Dr. Schneider was senior medical director at both Synageva BioPharma and Biovail Technologies Ltd.
Dr. Schneider received his medical degree from University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and completed his training in Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Job Titles:
- VP, Cardiovascular Medicine
Job Titles:
- SVP, Corporate Affairs & Patient Advocacy
Job Titles:
- VP, Corporate Communications
Job Titles:
- S. VP, CardioMetabolic New Product Commercial Strategy
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Compensation Committee
- Member of the Compliance Committee
- Audit Committee
- President and CEO, Herman and Associates
Ms. Herman has served as a director of Ionis since June 2019. She is currently President and CEO of Herman & Associates, a management consulting firm that specializes in advising private equity firms investing in healthcare. She has deep experience leading healthcare and payor companies, serving in several executive positions at Anthem (formerly WellPoint), including as president and CEO of the Consumer Business unit, president and CEO of the Specialty, Senior and State Sponsored Business and group president, Senior and Specialty Businesses. Ms. Herman also served as a senior vice president of Phoenix Life Insurance Company. Ms. Herman currently serves on the board of directors for Encompass Health (formerly HealthSouth) and previously served on the boards of both Convergys and AARP Services, Inc. She has earned degrees from Barnard College, Columbia University (summa cum laude, BS Mathematics), Yale University (MS) and Western New England University (MBA).
Member of the Compliance Committee
Member of the Audit Committee
Member of the Compensation Committee
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Finance Committee
- Director
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Compensation Committee
- Compensation Committee
- Senior Consultant, Goldman Sachs & Co
Mr. Wender has served as a director of Ionis since January 1994. Mr. Wender began with Goldman, Sachs & Co. in 1971 and became a general partner of that firm in 1982, where he headed the Financial Institutions Group for over a decade. Since January 2008, he has been a senior consultant to Goldman Sachs & Co. He is also an Independent Trustee of the Schwab Family of Funds and Director of Grandpoint Capital, a bank holding company. Mr. Wender also is co-CEO and minority partner, with his wife, of Colgin Cellars. Since March 2014, Mr. Wender has been a director, and is currently lead director, of Outfront Media, lessors of advertising space on out-of-home advertising structures.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Audit Committee
- Director
- Member of the Finance Committee
- Audit Committee
- Managing Director of Gauss Capital Advisors
- Managing Director, Gauss Capital Advisors, LLC
Mr. Klein has served as a director of Ionis since December 2005. Mr. Klein is currently managing director of Gauss Capital Advisors, LLC, a financial consulting and investment advisory firm focused on biopharmaceuticals, which he founded in March 1998. From September 2003 to December 2008, Mr. Klein also served as a venture partner of Red Abbey Venture Partners, L.P., a life science private equity fund. From September 2001 to September 2002, Mr. Klein was a venture partner of MPM Capital, a healthcare venture capital firm. From June 1999 to September 2000 when it merged with WebMD Corporation, Mr. Klein served as vice president, Strategy, for Medical Manager Corporation, a leading developer of physician office management information systems. For over nine years from 1989 to 1998, Mr. Klein was a health care investment analyst at T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., where he was the founding portfolio manager of the T. Rowe Price Health Sciences Fund, Inc. Mr. Klein serves on the board of directors of The Prospector Funds, Inc., an SEC Registered Investment Company that manages two no-load mutual funds. Mr. Klein also serves on the boards of private and non-profit entities.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Chief
- Head of Department
- Physician
- Head of Department of Medicine and Physician - in - Chief, Brigham & Woman 's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Loscalzo is Hersey Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, chairman of the Department of Medicine, and physician-in-chief at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Loscalzo received his A.B. degree, summa cum laude, his Ph.D. in biochemistry, and his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. His clinical training was completed at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he served as Resident and Chief Resident in medicine and Fellow in cardiovascular medicine. Post-training, Dr. Loscalzo joined the Harvard faculty and staff at Brigham and Women's Hospital in 1984. He rose to the rank of associate professor of Medicine, Chief of Cardiology at the West Roxbury Veterans Administration Medical Center, and director of the Center for Research in Thrombolysis at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He joined the faculty of Boston University in 1994, first as Chief of Cardiology and, in 1997, Wade Professor and Chair of Medicine, Professor of Biochemistry, and Director of the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute. He returned to Harvard and Brigham and Women's Hospital in 2005. He currently serves on the board of directors of Leap Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly held biopharmaceutical company.
Job Titles:
- Chief Business Officer
- Executive Vice President
Mr. Baroldi is our executive vice president and chief business officer. As a member of the executive leadership team, he is responsible for leading and providing strategic guidance for Ionis' business development and alliance management activities.
Mr. Baroldi has more than two decades of industry experience. Prior to Ionis, he was chief operating officer at Avidity Biosciences, where he played an integral role in their initial public offering and building their team. Previously, he was vice president, business development at Ionis, where he held several roles of increasing responsibility over 10 years. Before that Mr. Baroldi held positions in strategic planning and scientific research.
Mr. Baroldi holds an M.B.A. from the Rady School of Management at the University of California-San Diego. He received his B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of California-Irvine.
Job Titles:
- VP, New Product Commercialization
Job Titles:
- SVP, Clinical Development
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President, Chief Global Product Strategy Officer
- Ionis' Executive Vice President, Chief Global Product Strategy Officer
Mr. Jenne is Ionis' executive vice president, chief global product strategy officer. He has more than 25 years of biopharmaceutical experience launching and commercializing innovative medicines in the U.S. and globally. He has broad relevant experience in rare, specialty and common diseases across therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, neurology and allergy.
Mr. Jenne leads all aspects of commercialization including marketing, sales, commercial operations, market access and patient services. He also oversees Ionis' portfolio planning, market insights and medical affairs functions.
Before rejoining Ionis in 2024, Mr. Jenne previously spent five years in senior commercial leadership roles at Ionis and Akcea, which was fully acquired by Ionis in 2020. During his time at Ionis and Akcea, Mr. Jenne built commercial capabilities in many of Ionis' key disease areas including transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis and familial chylomicronemia syndrome. Earlier in his career, Mr. Jenne held commercial roles for companies including Schering Plough, King Pharmaceuticals, Acorda Therapeutics and Praecis Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Jenne holds a BS in Marketing from Arizona State University.
Job Titles:
- VP, Development Quality Assurance
Job Titles:
- VP, Manufacturing / Operations
Job Titles:
- Chief Legal Officer
- General Counsel
Mr. O'Neil is the Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of Ionis Pharmaceuticals. He is responsible for managing the legal, patent and GCP QA/QC departments. Mr. O'Neil also serves as Ionis' corporate secretary. Mr. O'Neil joined Ionis in October 2001.
Prior to joining Ionis, Mr. O'Neil was an associate at Cooley LLP.
Mr. O'Neil received his BS in Business Administration, Finance Concentration from the University of San Francisco and his J.D. at UC Davis School of Law.
Job Titles:
- SVP, Global Product Strategy
Job Titles:
- Chief Development Officer
- Executive Vice President
Dr. Geary is the executive vice president and chief development officer at Ionis Pharmaceuticals. He is responsible for preclinical development, clinical development and clinical-stage manufacturing for Ionis' antisense medicines. Since joining Ionis in 1995, Dr. Geary has been involved in discovery and development including the regulatory submission of more than 40 investigational new drug applications to U.S. and other regulatory agencies. In his position as head of development, Dr. Geary has led four successful antisense medicine late stage development programs through approvals in multiple jurisdictions.
During his tenure at Ionis, he has authored or co-authored 14 book chapters and more than 80 peer-reviewed manuscripts, which form a body of work that fully characterize the pharmacokinetics and metabolism of antisense medicines and the relationship of drug concentrations to activity and safety. Dr. Geary also serves on the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society (OTS) Board of Directors and co-leads the publication committee for Nucleic Acid Therapeutics.
Prior to joining Ionis, Dr. Geary was senior research scientist and group leader for the bioanalytical and preclinical pharmacokinetics group in the Applied Chemistry Department at Southwest Research Institute. Dr. Geary received his Ph.D. in Biopharmaceutics from the University of Texas, College of Pharmacy, Austin, Texas and his B.S. in Biology from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
Job Titles:
- SVP, Clinical Development
Job Titles:
- SVP, Global Cardiovascular Development
Job Titles:
- SVP, Chief Medical Officer, Cardiometabolic Franchise Leader
Job Titles:
- SVP, Preclinical Development
Job Titles:
- VP, US Market Access and Reimbursement
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Compensation Committee
- Director
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Compensation Committee
- Managing Director, Kelsey - Seybold Clinic, Ret
Dr. Berthelsen has served as a director of Ionis since May 2002. Since 1980, he has practiced Internal Medicine with the Kelsey Seybold Clinic, a 400-physician medical group based in the Texas Medical Center in Houston. Dr. Berthelsen has served in various senior leadership positions at Kelsey Seybold, including chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine, medical director and managing director. He served as chairman of their Board of Directors from October 2001 through April 2016. He has served as a clinical professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Health Science Center of Houston. Dr. Berthelsen served on the board of the Texas Academy of Internal Medicine in the past and the Caremark National Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee from 1999 through 2005.
Job Titles:
- VP, Head of Pharmaceutical Development
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Toxicology
Job Titles:
- SVP, Chief Compliance & Quality Assurance Officer
Job Titles:
- VP, Pharmacokinetics & Clinical Pharmacology