Our Board of Directors is deeply invested in SwanBio’s mission. Their experience, expertise, and alignment with SwanBio’s core values provides additional strength to the company's continued growth and clinical advancement.
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
In his role at Syncona, Chris has been instrumental in the foundation and development of Syncona’s gene therapy strategy.
He is currently Chairman at three other Syncona gene therapy companies: Freeline Therapeutics, Beacon Therapeutics, and Purespring Therapeutics. Chris was also previously Chairman of Nightstar, a retinal gene therapy company founded by Syncona which was sold to Biogen in 2019 for $877 million, and of Gyroscope Therapeutics, another retinal gene therapy company founded by Syncona and sold to Novartis in 2022 for up to $1.5 billion.
Previously, Chris was a partner of Apposite Capital LLP, a venture and growth capital healthcare investment company. Before Apposite, Chris had roles with Bioscience Managers Ltd, Neptune Investment Management Ltd and in the pharmaceutical industry. Chris holds a degree in natural sciences and a PhD in organic chemistry, both from the University of Cambridge.
BOARD MEMBER
Prior to his work at Mass General Brigham, Jay was CEO of X-BODY Biosciences, which was acquired by Juno Therapeutics. Previously, he was at Novartis in charge of the platforms team for strategic alliances, responsible for global technology, and drug discovery collaborations.
Jay was also president of Novalar Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharmaceutical company that brought a drug from idea stage through the clinic and onto the market. Before that, he was Vice President of Business Development at Novacea and at Structural Genomix, and Director of Research and Development Planning at Vertex.
Jay represents the fund on the boards of Abcuro, Apres, Keros (KROS), Rome and Swan, and is a board observer for Triplet. Prior investments for the fund include Akouos (AKUS), Denali (DNLI), Editas (EDIT), Tilos (acquired by Merck), and Translate (TBIO). He has a BA with distinction in chemistry from Carleton College, an MS in chemistry from UC Berkeley, and an MBA in finance from Wharton Business School.
INDEPENDENT BOARD MEMBER AND AUDIT CHAIR
Patricia is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Vividion Therapeutics, Inc., a position she has held since March 2021. From January 2013 to May 2020, she served as Chief Financial Officer of Zafgen, Inc., now Larimar Therapeutics Inc.
Previously, from 2011 to 2012, Patricia provided independent consulting services to biotechnology companies in a variety of areas, including interim chief financial officer services, fundraising, deal structures, financial planning, organizational structure, investor relations, and business development. From 2004 to 2011, Patricia served as the Vice President of Finance, Treasurer, and Principal Financial Officer of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to Alnylam, she was Director of Finance at Alkermes, Inc.
Patricia began her career as an auditor at Deloitte & Touche, LLP. She graduated summa cum laude from Bryant College with a BS in Business Administration. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors at multiple publicly traded and privately held companies including Deciphera Pharmaceuticals.
DIRECTOR
Prior to Tom being appointed CEO and Director at SwanBio Therapeutics, he was recruited to Sage Therapeutics, Inc. in 2014 to be the company’s Chief Commercial Strategy Officer and a key member of Sage’s leadership team.
Between 2004 and 2014, Tom was a senior operating (P&L) executive with Shire Pharmaceuticals Group in a number of operational and strategic roles in both rare diseases and specialty pharmaceuticals. During that time, Shire achieved a 5-fold increase in revenues and market cap valuation. Prior to that, Tom was with J&J (Janssen and McNeil Pharmaceutical) in a number of leadership, sales, marketing, and business information roles which experienced transformational growth.
Between 1997 and 2002, Tom served in C-suite and Board roles with market-leading consumer product companies as part of the Claneil Enterprises, Inc. family of companies: President & CEO for Ranir-DCP Corporation, and EVP / COO with Claneil’s Lander Company, Inc. Tom is on the boards of SwanBio Therapeutics, ExpressCells Inc. and Zevra Therapeutics, and is a strategic advisor to Sealink International and CEO Trust. He is also an investor partner at Robin Hood Ventures in Philadelphia, PA.
Tom earned an MBA from the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business Administration. He received a BS in civil engineering from the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering at Lehigh University.
BOARD MEMBER
Previously, he was a member of the Healthcare Investment Banking team at Jefferies, where he worked on a range of financings and mergers and acquisitions across the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and healthcare sectors. Alex has a PhD in immunology from the University of Cambridge.
INDEPENDENT BOARD MEMBER
Prior to Kaleido Biosciences, she served as chief operating officer of Aura Biosciences and OvaScience. In addition, from 2014 to 2017, Alison served as a biotech consultant for various companies, including as Chief Operating Officer consultant at X4 Pharmaceuticals.
Prior to that, she spent more than 20 years in various positions of increasing responsibility at Genzyme, and subsequently at Sanofi-Aventis, following the acquisition of Genzyme by Sanofi in 2011, including as head of Genzyme Biosurgery and prior as Senior Vice President of Global Market Access.
Alison currently serves as independent director for ProQR Therapeutics, Aeglea Biotherapeutics, Magenta Therapeutics and X4 Pharmaceuticals and has served on the Boards of Directors of Kaleido Biosciences, Verastem, CoLucid until its acquisition by Eli Lilly, and Cubist Pharmaceuticals until its acquisition by Merck & Co.
She is past President and Chair of the Board of Regulatory Affairs Professional Society and past FDA Advisory Committee member for Cell and Gene Therapy Committee. She earned her BS in pharmacology, with honors, from King’s College London.