Surface Oncology (Nasdaq: SURF), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology
company developing next-generation immunotherapies that target the
tumor microenvironment, today announced the appointments of Denice
Torres to chair of the board of directors and Ben Hickey to board
director. In conjunction with the board appointments, Jeff Goater
will transition to board director. The company also announced
internal promotions of key senior executives, naming Lisa McGrath
chief people officer and Shannon Devens senior vice president,
development operations.
“Since joining our board earlier this year, Denice has had a
significant impact and brought invaluable perspective through a
critical period of development for Surface. Along with her vast
leadership experience, she is a true pioneer and a leading advocate
for diversity, inclusion and social change in our industry, values
that are integral to our company,” said Rob Ross, M.D., chief
executive officer. “I am thrilled to welcome her as the new chair
of our board and look forward to leveraging her experience, and
also her passion for the medically underserved, as we continue our
mission to bring new treatments to patients suffering from
cancer.”
“Additionally, I am pleased to welcome Ben Hickey to our board
of directors. Ben is an accomplished leader in the oncology space
with significant experience leading organizations through
commercial readiness and successful product launches. His expertise
will be critical as we continue to advance our antibody pipeline
through the clinic and build out the infrastructure to bring our
novel therapies to market,” continued Rob. “I also want to thank
Jeff Goater for the guidance and thought leadership he has provided
throughout his tenure as chair. Jeff has been instrumental in
building Surface to where we are now, and I am excited to continue
working closely with him in his new role as director.”
Denice Torres, MBA, J.D. has been a member of
Surface’s board of directors since July 2021. Ms. Torres has over
25 years of executive leadership experience in healthcare across
the consumer health, biopharmaceutical and medical device sectors.
She is currently chief executive officer of The Ignited Company, a
change management firm in the healthcare industry, and founder of
The Mentoring Place, a non-profit, volunteer-based platform that
accelerates the professional advancement of women through free
executive-level mentorship. Previously, she held several executive
leadership positions at Johnson & Johnson, including president
of McNeil Consumer Healthcare, president of Janssen
Pharmaceuticals, CNS and chief strategy and transformation officer
for the Medical Device division. Before joining Johnson &
Johnson, she had a highly successful 14-year career at Eli Lilly
where she led a number of U.S. and global businesses.
Ms. Torres is currently a director of bluebird bio, Karuna
Therapeutics, Glaukos Corporation and Resilience. She earned a
bachelor’s degree in psychology from Ball State University, an MBA
from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Indiana
University.
Ben Hickey, MBA has over 20 years of industry
experience and is currently the chief commercial officer of Mirati
Therapeutics, where he oversees all aspects of global
commercialization, including pricing and access, sales and
marketing, medical affairs, portfolio planning and patient
advocacy. Prior to Mirati, Mr. Hickey was senior vice president and
chief commercial officer at Halozyme Therapeutics, responsible for
global commercial strategy for the company’s oncology portfolio. He
spent 17 years in roles of increasing responsibility at Bristol
Myers Squibb, including vice president of marketing,
immuno-oncology, where he oversaw the commercialization of YERVOY®.
Mr. Hickey received both his MBA and bachelor’s degree in
management from St. John's University in New York.
Lisa McGrath, who joined Surface in 2017, was
promoted to chief people officer. She previously served as senior
vice president, human resources. Lisa brings over 20 years of
experience driving impactful human resources initiatives, including
targeted recruitment, performance management, competency
development and employee engagement for publicly-traded, venture
capital and angel-funded companies. Prior to Surface, she ran her
own customized human resources practice specializing in biotech,
pharmaceuticals, medical device and molecular diagnostics. In
addition, Lisa has held senior human resources leadership positions
at Synta Pharmaceuticals, Intelligent Medical Devices, Predictive
BioSciences and BioSphere Medical. Lisa attended the University of
Massachusetts and received a bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame
College.
Shannon Devens, who has been with the company
since 2016, was promoted to senior vice president, development
operations. She has extensive experience with clinical development
planning and execution with a focus on good clinical practice,
operational infrastructure and outsourcing. Prior to joining
Surface, Shannon served as senior director of clinical operations
at Infinity Pharmaceuticals for more than seven years. Prior to
that, she held roles in clinical operations at Molecular Insight
Pharmaceuticals, Dyax Corp. and OmniSonics Medical Technologies.
Shannon earned her master’s degree in cardiopulmonary science from
Northeastern University and her bachelor’s degree from the
University of Colorado at Boulder.
Rob added, “I am delighted to announce the promotions of Lisa
and Shannon, both of whom have made significant contributions to
Surface’s success. Lisa has an incredible track record for not only
talent acquisition and growth, but the optimization of our
organizational performance and development of a best-in-class
culture that strives to foster diversity, inclusion and a
patient-first mentality. Shannon has played a vital role leading
our clinical development initiatives, and her valuable insights,
coupled with the operational infrastructure she has implemented at
Surface, will allow us to fully realize the promise of our
next-generation antibody therapies for the treatment of
cancer.”
About Surface Oncology:Surface Oncology is
an immuno-oncology company developing next-generation antibody
therapies focused on the tumor microenvironment. Its pipeline
includes two wholly-owned clinical-stage programs targeting CD39
(SRF617) and IL-27 (SRF388), as well as a preclinical program
focused on depleting tumor regulatory T cells via targeting CCR8
(SRF114). In addition, Surface has two partnerships with major
pharmaceutical companies: a collaboration with Novartis targeting
CD73 (NZV930; Phase 1) and a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline
targeting PVRIG (GSK4381562, formerly SRF813; IND filed). Surface’s
novel cancer immunotherapies are designed to achieve a clinically
meaningful and sustained anti-tumor response and may be used alone
or in combination with other therapies. For more information,
please visit www.surfaceoncology.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements:
Certain statements set forth in this press release constitute
“forward-looking” statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended.
Forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as
“believes,” “expects,” “plans,” “potential,” “would” or similar
expressions, and the negative of those terms. These forward-looking
statements are based on Surface Oncology’s management’s current
beliefs and assumptions about future events and on information
currently available to management.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause Surface Oncology’s
actual results, performance or achievements to be materially
different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks
include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to
Surface Oncology’s ability to successfully develop SRF388, SRF617,
SRF114 and its other product candidates through current and future
milestones or regulatory filings on the anticipated timeline, if at
all, the therapeutic potential of Surface Oncology’s product
candidates, the risk that results from preclinical studies or early
clinical trials may not be representative of larger clinical
trials, the risk that Surface Oncology’s product candidates,
including SRF388, SRF617 and SRF114, will not be successfully
developed or commercialized, the risks related to Surface
Oncology’s dependence on third-parties in connection with its
manufacturing, clinical trials and preclinical studies, and the
potential impact of COVID-19 on Surface Oncology’s clinical and
preclinical development timelines and results of operations.
Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect Surface
Oncology’s future results are included in the section titled “Risk
Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending
December 31, 2020 available on the Securities and Exchange
Commission’s website at www.sec.gov and Surface Oncology’s website
at www.surfaceoncology.com.
Additional information on potential risks will be made available
in other filings that Surface Oncology makes from time to time with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any
forward-looking statements contained in this press release are
based on assumptions that Surface Oncology believes to be
reasonable as of this date. Except as required by law, Surface
Oncology assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking
statements, or to update the reasons if actual results differ
materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking
statements.
Contacts:
InvestorsLaurence WattsGilmartin
Group619-916-7620laurence@gilmartinir.com
or
Stephen JasperGilmartin
Group858-525-2047stephen@gilmartinir.com
MediaChris RaileyTen Bridge
Communicationschris@tenbridgecommunications.com 617-834-0936
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