Press Releases 06.14.2017
J.P Morgan Vice Chairman Stephen Berenson Joins Flagship Pioneering
Veteran Investment Banker to Bolster Flagship's Disruptive Innovation and Venture Origination Strategy
Cambridge, Mass., – June 14, 2017 – Flagship Pioneering, a fully-integrated life science innovation enterprise, today announced that Stephen Berenson has joined the firm as executive partner. The former vice chairman of investment banking at J.P. Morgan brings more than 30 years of experience to support Flagship Pioneering's growth strategy aimed at systemically conceiving, creating, resourcing and growing first-in-category ventures to transform human health and sustainability.
"Stephen's deep understanding of fast-growing companies as well as market-leading organizations, coupled with a strong commitment to developing talent and leading high-impact strategic initiatives, will play a catalytic role at Flagship as we continue to originate and resource the next generation of pioneering life sciences ventures," said Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Flagship. "The business insight he gleaned working for one of the world's leading financial institutions is an invaluable resource to our young companies that are seeking the right strategic direction, investors and corporate partners to grow, evolve and thrive."
As executive partner at Flagship, Mr. Berenson will join Flagship's Investment and Management Committees. He will focus on capital formation at the fund and portfolio company levels and will help the firm's management teams grow and realize value. Mr. Berenson will also drive strategic and operational improvements across the firm and its 35 companies, help deepen relationships with critical external partners and serve on the boards of directors of select portfolio companies.
"Flagship Pioneering is unparalleled in its ability to create bold and disruptive life science companies that create significant value in human health and sustainability," said Mr. Berenson. "The firm and its ecosystem are envisioning and creating new, exciting possibilities for the world, and I look forward to collaborating with this impressive group of executives and entrepreneurial scientists to capitalize on the incredible potential and impact of the firm and its portfolio of life science innovations."
Mr. Berenson joins Flagship Pioneering following the appointments of other leading industry executives including Executive Partner David Epstein, former CEO of Novartis Pharmaceuticals; Chief Medical Officer Dr. Michael Rosenblatt, former CMO of Merck; and Senior Partner Jim Gilbert, formerly of Boston Scientific and Bain & Company.
About Stephen Berenson
Mr. Berenson joins Flagship from J.P. Morgan after more than 33 years with the firm as an investment banker, where he worked across all major geographies, product areas and industry groups. Mr. Berenson played key roles in building J.P. Morgan's M&A, equities and technology investment banking businesses. During his last twelve years at J.P. Morgan, he was vice chairman of investment banking and focused on providing high-touch strategic advice and complex transaction execution to leading companies across all industries globally. He was co-founder of J.P Morgan's Global Strategic Advisory Council and co-founder of the firm's Board Initiative. During Mr. Berenson's leadership of the Board Initiative, more than 1,000 independent directors of public companies attended at least one of J.P. Morgan's board events to discuss, debate and share best practices on the key issues they faced in the fulfillment of their duties.
Mr. Berenson also made important contributions to J.P. Morgan's culture through his deep support of recruiting, training and development, and mentoring, and he helped to build and maintain a robust control environment through his participation on the firm's Equity Underwriting and Reputational Risk Committees.
Mr. Berenson holds an S.B. in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
About Flagship Pioneering
Flagship Pioneering conceives, creates, resources and develops first-in-category life sciences companies. Its institutional innovation foundry, Flagship VentureLabs®, is where Flagship's team of scientific entrepreneurs systematically evolves enterprising ideas into new fields or previously undiscovered areas of science into real-world inventions and ventures. Since its launch in 2000, the firm has applied its hypothesis-driven innovation process to originate and foster nearly 100 scientific ventures, resulting in over $20 billion in aggregate value, 500+ issued patents and more than 45 clinical trials for novel therapeutic agents.
Since inception, Flagship has capitalized its growing portfolio with over $1 billion coming from $1.75 billion of aggregate investor capital committed across five funds. The firm's current portfolio includes pioneering ventures that are transforming human health and sustainability, including: Agios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AGIO), Editas Medicine (NASDAQ: EDIT), Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MCRB) and Syros Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SYRS), as well as private companies, including Axcella Health, Indigo Agriculture, Moderna Therapeutics and Rubius Therapeutics. Flagship has ongoing corporate innovation alliances with several market leaders, including: AstraZeneca, the Crop Science Division of Bayer and Nestlé Health Science. To learn more about Flagship Pioneering, please visit our website: www.FlagshipPioneering.com.
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