Issue 12 2019

CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 12 2019 5 , The Catalyst CEO Champions For Change, who took a pledge to advance more women, includ- ing women of colour, into senior leadership positions and onto their boards, are making tangible pro- gress, according to a new report. The report, Progress In Action: Catalyst CEO Champions For Change, shows the companies— representing more than 10 million employees and over $3 trillion in revenue globally—improved their representation metrics in top leadership positions and through- out the pipeline for all women over a five-year period: • Notably, women’s rep- resentation on the boards of Champion companies in- creased dramatically—from 22.6% in 2013 to 30.7% in 2018. • Among executives, women’s representation increased from 22.5% in 2013 to 25.1% in 2018. • Among senior managers, women’s representation in- creased from 26.4% in 2013 to 29.0% in 2018. • Among managers, women’s representation increased from 36.7% in 2013 to 37.4% in 2018. Catalyst CEO Champions For Change companies are also lead- ing in advancing women of colour, a particularly underrepresented group. Specifically: • In the United States, rep- resentation among execu- tive/senior-level managers increased from 4.1% in 2013 to 5.8% in 2018. • Representation of women of colour on boards also in- creased from 3.8% in 2013 to 5.2% in 2018 In addition, the Champion com- panies collectively outpaced their global peers in representation of women across the leadership pipeline in 2018, with more wom- en board directors, executives, senior managers, and managers. The Catalyst CEO Champions For Change boldly pledge to be trans- parent and share metrics on their progress to hold themselves and their organisations accountable. “We are living in a time where people expect the business com- munity to reflect what society looks like, yet we are still far from gender equality in the workforce,” said Catalyst President & CEO Lorraine Hariton. “The Catalyst CEO Champions For Change have taken concrete steps to create change for women and women of colour in the work- place. These leaders exemplify the immense power of action, and we are proud and honored to be working alongside them.” Locana, Inc., a leading RNA-target- ing gene therapy company, has recently announced the appointment of James Burns, Ph.D., as chief executive officer, as a key step in expanding the experienced leadership team and as part of a planned transition of the company’s director and recent CEO, Jeffrey M. Ostrove, Ph.D., to continue service as director. The addition of Jim Burns to CEO brings an accomplished company builder and biopharma- ceutical product developer to join Kathie Bishop, Ph.D., Locana’s chief scientific officer, pairing two industry leaders who have suc- ceeded in carrying early product concepts through to approval and advancing product candidates in the gene therapy space. “Jim’s long list of career leadership accomplishments is capped by his recent success in building Casebia Therapeutics, where his focus on delivering emerging gene editing science to patients led to advancing product can- didates in multiple indications,” said Tom Daniel, M.D., chairman of the board. “We are inspired by Jim’s experience, leadership and patient focus. We are also exceedingly grateful for Jeff’s capable leadership in bringing the company to this stage.” “Jeff’s work on building this com- pany and its leadership team has accelerated the advancement of our foundational science into an impressive preclinical data set,” Global CEOs Who Pledged to Advance Women Are Making Progress Changes At The Top Locana expands leadership teamwith appointment of former Casebia CEO, James Burns, Ph.D., as Chief Executive Officer. 60+ Catalyst CEO Champions For Change accelerate more women into leadership over time, and outpace global peers. said Dr. Burns. “It is a privilege to be at the helm of a company with a platform of this caliber that presents the opportunity to realise its full potential in dozens of diseases with first- and best-in class therapeutics.” Dr. Burns joins Locana from Casebia where he served as the chief executive officer and led the team in discovering and developing new CRISPR/Cas9- based breakthrough therapeutics to treat blood disorders, blind- ness and heart disease. Prior to Casebia, he spent the bulk of his career at Sanofi-Genzyme, where he held several leadership roles with increasing responsi- bility, including North America Site head for R&D where he coordinated R&D operations across key therapeutic areas. Dr. Burns is a former board member of MassBio, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and is a member of the External Advisory Committee for the BioMedical Engineering Department at Boston University. He also served as the industry representative for the Food and Drug Administration General Plastic Surgery Panel. Dr. Burns earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Purdue University and Master of Science and Doctorate degrees in bioengineering from the University of Illinois-Chicago, where his the- sis work focused on drug delivery. Following his graduate studies, he was a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Florida.