– USA, MA – Ziopharm Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: ZIOP), today announced the appointment of Kevin Boyle, Sr. to its Board of Directors as its new CEO, effective today succeeding Interim CEO Heidi Hagen who is returning to her position as a Board member.
“On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, we welcome Kevin to the Company,” said James Huang, Executive Chairman. “During the robust search process, the Board was pleased to interview several very strong candidates. The Board was deliberative and considered candidates from big pharma to small biotechs, and Kevin rose to the top of the list during the process. Kevin brings tremendous business experience with his operational expertise, strong financial acumen, and ability to drive disciplined capital allocation. He has a strong track record of successfully guiding companies, both in and out of the biotech sector, through critical periods in their growth trajectories. In particular, his work at Kuur demonstrated his operational expertise in effectively managing a business with capital constraints and demanding timelines. We have the right science and scientific team to deliver, and we are confident that we now have the right person to successfully lead the Company forward towards clinical and business success.”
Mr. Huang continued, “We also sincerely thank Heidi for her commitment to the Company and the outstanding job she has done over the past six months. We look forward to her continued contributions as a dedicated and valued Board member.”
About Kevin Boyle, Sr.
Mr. Boyle has over 20 years of experience in leading businesses in competitive and transformative situations and has a strong track record of delivering shareholder value. He is also an accomplished capital market professional with strong banking relationships cultivated by raising over $2.0 billion in equity and debt capital over his career. Most recently, Mr. Boyle was CEO of Kuur Therapeutics, leading the company through a successful transformation, culminating in a $185 million acquisition in May 2021 by Athenex, a global biopharma company focusing on the development and commercialization of cancer therapies.
The appointment of Mr. Boyle and the elevation of roles and responsibilities for select executives continue the Board’s actions to solidify the senior leadership team, move the Company forward and execute on its distinctive cell therapy platform and potentially groundbreaking cancer therapies.
Mr. Boyle said, “I am excited to join the Ziopharm team and am impressed by the extraordinary opportunity that lies ahead. Heidi, the management team, and the Board have laid the foundation for Ziopharm to succeed based on its best-in-class science. I understand the challenges ahead and I look forward to working diligently with our dedicated and talented team to unlock our incredible potential as an innovative, world-class oncology company. My priorities will be to deliver shareholder value and to ensure the success of the organization by driving the TCR-T program forward while seeking and executing validating partnerships across our entire portfolio of scientific assets.”
During Mr. Boyle’s tenure as CEO of Kuur Therapeutics, he successfully led the company through a $185 million acquisition of Kuur by Athenex. After the acquisition, he supported the integration of Kuur’s CAR-NKT cell platform into Athenex’s Cell Therapy Division. Mr. Boyle joined Kuur Therapeutics in 2018 as CFO, playing a lead role in corporate strategy and financial planning as the company progressed with a pipeline of cell therapy products in both the US and Europe. He successfully led fundraising efforts while executing a restructuring of the company and he was promoted to CEO by the Kuur Board as an endorsement of his leadership abilities during this time.
Kevin previously served as CFO of multiple companies including FloWorks International, Sigma3, RecoverCare, and SPT. He was also previously an officer at two public companies, American Commercial Lines and Seabulk International. He started his career in investment banking.
Mr. Boyle received a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management & Economics from Carnegie Mellon University. Houston is home to Mr. Boyle and his family. He was recently honored by the Houston Business Journal with the 2021 Most Admired CEO Award.
About Ziopharm Oncology, Inc.
Ziopharm is developing non-viral and cytokine-driven cell and gene therapies that weaponize the body’s immune system to treat the millions of people globally diagnosed with cancer each year. With its multiplatform approach, Ziopharm is at the forefront of immuno-oncology. Ziopharm’s pipeline is built for commercially scalable, cost-effective T-cell receptor T-cell therapies based on its non-viral Sleeping Beauty gene transfer platform and a Sleeping Beauty-enabled CD19-specific CAR-T program. The Company has clinical and strategic collaborations with the National Cancer Institute and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
For more information: https://ziopharm.com/
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