Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of significant leadership hirings, firings and retirings across the industry. Please send the good word—or the bad—from your shop to Darren Incorvaia or Zoey Becker and it will be featured here at the end of each week.
Merck KGaA picks new pilot for turbulent times
Merck KGaA
Belén Garijo, who steered German healthcare and electronics conglomerate Merck KGaA through the COVID-19 pandemic, will step down as CEO in April 2026. Kai Beckmann, currently the firm's CEO of electronics, will succeed her as the new group CEO on May 1, 2026. The CEO transition comes at a turbulent time for Merck KGaA as the company is in the unique position of having to navigate rising geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China in two critical high-tech industries: pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. The two sectors are the two pillars of Merck KGaA’s business and are both priorities for the Trump administration under the president's “America First” strategy. Story
Former state official boards Flagship
Flagship Pioneering
Yvonne Hao, who recently served two and a half years as Massachusetts’ secretary of the Executive Office of Economic Development, has come aboard Flagship Pioneering as chief operating officer and general partner. Before her time in state government, Hao cut her VC teeth at Bain Capital, Pillar VC and Cove Hill Partners, which she co-founded. Hao also shepherded pharmacy company PillPack through its 2018 sale to Amazon as COO and CFO. Her “breadth of experience will be invaluable as we drive value within our ecosystem and steward the next generation of transformational companies,” Flagship founder and CEO Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., said. Release
ADC outfit Myricx makes CEO selection
Myricx Bio
With its eyes set on imminently entering the clinic, London-based Myricx Bio is turning to a Big Pharma veteran to lead the way. Mohit Rawat is the ADC specialist’s new CEO, joining from Fusion Pharmaceuticals, where he was president and chief business officer until the company’s $2.4 billion acquisition by AstraZeneca. Before Fusion, Rawat was a senior leader at Novartis and AbbVie.
With Rawat on board, other C-suite changes are also afoot; former CEO Robin Carr Ph.D., will now serve as chief technology officer, and a suite of new appointees have joined expanded U.K. and U.S. teams. In the U.K., this includes Steen Lisby, M.D., as CMO, Jesper Valbjørn as senior VP of CMC and Jonathon Marks-Bluth as VP of business development. In the U.S., David Ellis is now VP of regulatory affairs while Penny Fatato serves as global head of clinical operations. Release
> Incyte has found a new executive vice president and chief strategy officer in Dave Gardner, who previously led therapeutics strategy as a partner at Rock Springs Capital Management. Release
> Revived Vor Bio is continuing to accrue expertise, now naming former argenx neuromuscular head Navid Khan, Ph.D., as chief medical affairs officer. Release
> Ujjwal Singh is the new chief technology officer of AI drug discoverer Manas AI, joining as the company closes a $26 million seed extension. Release
> Irish-American pharma Mallinckrodt has named Sun Pharma development head Marek Honczarenko, M.D., Ph.D., as its new executive vice president and chief scientific officer. Release