AlloCure (Burlington, MA, USA) has announced the appointment of Kevin J. Heyeck (below, right) as chief business officer. He joins the company with more than 20 years of experience in business development and corporate partnering for emerging pharmaceutical companies, most recently leading business development efforts at Vitae Pharmaceuticals.

“Kevin Heyeck has a very impressive track record in business development, and he has been responsible for many major partnerships with large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide,” says AlloCure president and CEO Robert M. Brenner. “Kevin's arrival marks an important milestone in AlloCure's evolution as we advance into later stage clinical development and chart the course for future commercialization of our novel treatment for acute kidney injury.”

Matthias Baumann has been appointed chief medical officer and a member of the management board of Noxxon Pharma (Berlin). He joins the company from Focus Clinical Drug Development, where he served as CSO and managing director.

Alios BioPharma (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) has named Carol L. Brosgart (right) to the position of chief medical officer. Brosgart joins Alios from Children's Hospital & Research Center (Oakland, CA, USA) where she served as senior vice president and chief medical officer. Previously, she served in several senior management roles at Gilead Sciences including vice president, public health and policy, vice president, clinical research and vice president, medical affairs.

Genesis Biopharma (Los Angeles) has named Anthony J. Cataldo president and CEO. Cataldo, who previously served as chairman, CEO and a director of Oxis International, succeeds Robert Brooke, who will serve as a strategic advisor to the company. In addition, Genesis has appointed Michael Handelman CEO, treasurer and secretary, succeeding Richard McKilligan.

Affymax (Palo Alto, CA, USA) has announced the promotion of Herb Cross, vice president of finance and chief accounting officer, to CFO. He succeeds Paul Cleveland, who leaves for a new role in a private equity firm. Prior to joining Affymax, Cross was vice president, finance for Facet Biotech.

Geron (Menlo Park, CA, USA) has announced its new leadership structure: David Greenwood, CFO, has been named president, interim CEO and a member of the board of directors; Hoyoung Huh, a director of the company, becomes executive chairman; and former chairman Alexander Barkas transitions to the role of lead independent director. Thomas Okarma has stepped down as president, CEO and director of the company and will serve as a consultant.

Paul E. Huff has joined Amarin (Dublin and Mystic, CT, USA) as chief commercial officer. He most recently served as vice president of marketing at Reliant Pharmaceuticals.

Ken Lisaius has been named to the newly created position of senior advisor and director for public affairs for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO; Washington, DC, USA). He will oversee the development and implementation of BIO's education and industry branding campaign. Most recently, Lisaius held the position of senior counselor at Brightline Media. He was previously deputy director of the Office of Media Affairs and special assistant to the President of the United States and deputy White House press secretary under President George W. Bush.

Scil Technology (Martinsried, Germany) has named Christian Nafe CEO, succeeding Weishui Weiser, who is retiring after 5 years as managing director. Nafe joined Scil Technology in 2002 as CFO.

H. Stewart Parker has been appointed CEO and a member of the board of directors of the Infectious Disease Research Institute (Seattle), a nonprofit organization applying innovative science to prevent, detect and treat infectious diseases of poverty. Parker previously served as president and CEO of Targeted Genetics and vice president, corporate development at Immunex. She is currently a commercialization consultant with the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association and serves on the boards of OncoGenex and C3 Jian.

Aeolus Pharmaceuticals (Mission Viejo, CA, USA) has announced the appointment of Russell L. Skibsted as senior vice president and CFO. Skibsted is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of experience. Previously, he was senior vice president and chief business officer of Spectrum Pharmaceuticals.

Glenn Tillotson has joined Optimer Pharmaceuticals (San Diego) as senior vice president of medical affairs. He joins the company with more than 25 years of pharma industry experience, most recently heading the medical education programs at ViroPharma. He previously served as executive director of scientific affairs at Replidyne and vice president, scientific and medical relations for Oscient Pharmaceuticals. In addition, Optimer has promoted Sherwood Gorbach to the position of CSO and senior vice president of R&D and Marc Lesnick to the newly created position of vice president of regulatory affairs. Gorbach joined Optimer in 2005 as chief medical officer and Lesnick had served as director of regulatory affairs since 2008.

Diane L. Tribble has been named CSO of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA, USA). Most recently, she held the position of vice president of clinical development at Isis Pharmaceuticals, where she led the development of mipomersen, a cholesterol-reducing antisense therapeutic currently in late-stage clinical development. Previously, she was director of clinical research at the Merck Research Laboratories.