Absci Corporation, a generative AI drug creation company, announced
today that Zach Jonasson, Ph.D., has been appointed Chief Financial
Officer (CFO) and Chief Business Officer (CBO). In this dual role,
Dr. Jonasson will join Absci’s executive leadership team and
replace CFO Greg Schiffman, who will retire after a successful
tenure with the company and a distinguished career in the biotech
industry. Dr. Jonasson is the co-founder and Managing General
Partner of Phoenix Venture Partners (PVP) and Convergent Ventures,
both venture capital firms. He has served on Absci’s Board of
Directors since 2016, including as Absci’s chairman from April 2016
to January 2021. He will leave PVP and Convergent Ventures, as well
as step down from the Absci Board of Directors, after a
transitional period to take this full-time leadership position at
Absci.
Dr. Jonasson brings over 25 years of experience as an investor,
entrepreneur, and operator. He co-founded two venture capital
firms, PVP and Convergent Ventures, where he led both firms’ life
science investment strategies, assembling impressive portfolios of
innovative companies developing drug discovery, drug delivery, and
drug manufacturing technologies. In addition to serving on his
portfolio company boards, Dr. Jonasson has been actively involved
in establishing key partnerships and customer engagements between
his portfolio companies and large pharmaceutical and biotech
corporations. He also spearheaded raising capital from
institutional and large strategic investors for all of the PVP and
Convergent funds.
Prior to PVP, Dr. Jonasson was CEO and co-founder of Comera Life
Sciences, where he built the company from the concept stage and
established multiple collaborations with large pharmaceutical
companies. He was also co-founder and Head of Business Development
at Crop Enhancement, where he established numerous partnerships
with large agrochemical companies. Previously, he was a General
Partner and Kauffman Fellow at Seaflower Ventures. Dr. Jonasson
holds an A.M. and Ph.D. from Harvard University, where, as a
Sackler Scholar, his research focused on the neurobiology
underlying learning and memory. Prior to graduate school, Dr.
Jonasson was a Research Associate at the Federal Reserve Bank.
"I am thrilled to welcome Zach to Absci’s leadership team as CFO
and CBO,” said Sean McClain, Founder and CEO of Absci. "Zach’s
extensive experience in scaling innovative companies, as well as
his intimate knowledge of Absci from his tenure on the Board, makes
him an ideal addition to the leadership team in leading Absci into
our next stage of growth.”
"I am excited to join Absci as CFO and CBO, continuing my
commitment to Absci’s vision and my long-standing working
relationship with Sean,” said Dr. Jonasson. “I look forward to
working with Absci’s exceptional team to transform the drug
discovery process to a drug creation discipline, utilizing
world-leading generative AI and the company’s unique data engine to
generate better therapeutics for patients at scale.”
Greg Schiffman, who has served as Absci’s CFO since 2020, will
retire after a transitional period. Mr. Schiffman, an industry
leader with decades of experience at the helm of leading biotechs,
successfully guided Absci through its public offering and initial
phases of growth. Mr. Schiffman will remain with Absci in an
advisory capacity to ensure a seamless transition. Mr. Schiffman
expressed his confidence in Dr. Jonasson’s abilities to take on the
role: "I have no doubt that Zach will be an excellent addition to
the Absci executive team. His deep financial expertise and
experience in the life sciences industry make him ideal to lead the
company's financial and business development operations."
“I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to Greg for his leadership
at Absci during a period of incredible growth and transformation,”
added Mr. McClain. “Absci wouldn’t be where it is without Greg’s
deep expertise and experience, and we wish him the very best on the
next leg of his adventure cruising in his Dino Ferrari.”
Dr. Jonasson will officially begin his role as CFO and CBO on
August 31, 2023.
About Absci
Absci is a generative AI drug creation
company that combines AI with scalable wet lab technologies to
create better biologics for patients, faster. Our Integrated Drug
Creation™ platform unlocks the potential to accelerate time to
clinic and increase the probability of success by simultaneously
optimizing multiple drug characteristics important to both
development and therapeutic benefit. With the data to train, the AI
to create, and the wet lab to validate, Absci can screen billions
of cells per week, allowing it to go from AI-designed antibodies to
wet lab-validated candidates in as little as six weeks. Absci’s
vision is to deliver breakthrough therapeutics at the click of a
button, for everyone. Absci's headquarters is in Vancouver, WA, its
AI Research Lab is in New York City, and its Innovation Center is
in Zug, Switzerland. Learn more at absci.com and follow us on
LinkedIn (@absci), Twitter (@Abscibio), and YouTube.
Availability of Other
Information about Absci
Investors and others should note that
we routinely communicate with investors and the public using our
website (www.absci.com) and our investor relations website
(investors.absci.com), including without limitation, through the
posting of investor presentations, SEC filings, press releases,
public conference calls and webcasts on these websites, as well as
on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. The information that we post on
these websites and social media outlets could be deemed to be
material information. As a result, investors, the media, and others
interested in Absci are encouraged to review this information on a
regular basis. The contents of our website and social media
postings, or any other website that may be accessed from our
website or social media postings, shall not be deemed incorporated
by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended.
Absci Forward-Looking
Statements
Certain statements in this press
release that are not historical facts are considered
forward-looking within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities
Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934, as amended, including statements containing the words
“will,” “may,” “pursues,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “believes,”
“aims,” “potential,” “forecast,” “estimates,” “extends,” “expects,”
and “intends,” or similar expressions. We intend these
forward-looking statements, including statements regarding
technology development efforts and the application of those
efforts, including acceleration of drug development timelines,
reducing the time and costs related to drug development,
advancements toward in silico drug design, drug discovery and
development activities, internal pipeline development efforts, and
the effective incorporation of our technology in drug design,
research and technology development collaboration efforts, to be
covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking
statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act, and we make this
statement for purposes of complying with those safe harbor
provisions. These forward-looking statements reflect our current
views about our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies, and
prospects, which are based on the information currently available
to us and on assumptions we have made. We can give no assurance
that the plans, intentions, expectations, or strategies will be
attained or achieved, and furthermore, actual results may differ
materially from those described in the forward-looking statements
and will be affected by a variety of risks and factors that are
beyond our control, including, without limitation, risks and
uncertainties relating to our ability to effectively collaborate on
research, drug discovery and development activities with our
partners or potential partners; along with those risks set forth in
our most recent periodic report filed with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, as well as discussions of potential risks,
uncertainties, and other important factors in our subsequent
filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as
required by law, we assume no obligation to update publicly any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events, or otherwise.
Investor
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