Polyplus-transfection Names Mario Philips As Chief Executive Officer

Polyplus-transfection Names Mario Philips As Chief Executive Officer

Appoints Dr. Andreas Rummelt and Jean-Paul Mangeolle to its Board of Directors 

Illkirch, FRANCE, November 2, 2020 – Polyplus-transfection(R) SA (“Polyplus”), the leading biotechnology company that supports the gene and cell therapy market by supplying innovative transfection solutions, today named Mario Philips as Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”). Mr. Philips succeeds Karsten Wilking, who will transition into a Strategic Advisor role. In addition, Polyplus has named Dr. Andreas Rummelt and Jean-Paul Mangeolle to its Board of Directors.

Mr. Philips brings over 20 years of experience in the Life Sciences and Bioprocessing sectors. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Philips served as CEO of French biotech company Polyneuros, a developer of kits for the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative conditions including Parkinson’s disease and ALS.  Mario was also a Strategic Partner with ArchiMed where he contributed his deep experience of the bioprocessing sector. Previously, Mr. Philips served as Vice President and General Manager of Pall Biotech, where he had full P&L responsibilities for the Biotechbusiness unit within NYSE-listed Danaher Corporation and led the rapid expansion of the group’s core bioprocessing capabilities. Prior to Pall Biotech, Mr. Philips served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of ATMI Life Sciences, where he led the introduction of new products and service solutions for the Life Sciences industry including the iCELLis™ single-use bioreactor, the leading bioreactor technology for gene therapy applications.  Mr. Philips graduated from Groep T – Internationale Hogeschool Leuven (Belgium) with a degree in Marketing, after earning a degree in Biochemistry Engineering from CTL in Gent - now Hogeschool Gent - (Belgium).

“It is an honor to lead this exceptional company.  This is an exciting time for Polyplus as we have the opportunity to accelerate our growth by driving innovation in the gene therapy market and expanding production capacity to better serve our life sciences customers. I look forward to working with this talented team as we further strengthen and expand our product offering, capabilities, and global reach,” said Mr. Philips.

"It has been a privilege to serve as CEO of Polyplus and I am incredibly proud of what our team has accomplished,” said Mr. Wilking. “Now is a natural time to transition leadership as Polyplus enters its next chapter and Mario is the ideal person to continue to grow Polyplus’ core business and deliver long-term value."

“We are thrilled that Mario will be leading the Polyplus team and we are confident he is the right person to further strengthen, grow, and drive Polyplus’ momentum,” said Gabriel Festoc, Chairman of the Board. “We are equally excited to welcome Andreas Rummelt and Jean-Paul Mangeolle to our Board.  These appointments underscore our commitment to attracting the best talent in biotechnology which in turn delivers value for our customers worldwide.  I also want to thank Karsten for his invaluable leadership and wish him the best on his well-deserved retirement,”  

Dr. Andreas Rummelt has held executive management positions internationally for more than 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, focused in the areas of manufacturing, quality, and technical matters. He is currently the CEO and Partner of InterPharmaLink AG, a management consulting firm focused on advising companies in the healthcare industry. Dr. Rummelt was Group Head of Quality Assurance and Technical Operations at Novartis and served as a member of the Executive Committee there. He also held various positions of increasing responsibility in development for Sandoz Pharma Ltd including CEO, Head of Worldwide Technical Research and Development, and Head of Technical Operations of the Novartis Pharmaceuticals Division. In addition to Polyplus, Dr. Rummelt is a Member of the Board of Directors of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Xellia Pharmaceuticals, and Alvogen, in addition to several international Advisory Boards.

Jean-Paul Mangeolle has more than 35 years of experience as a global biotechnology executive. He served as President of the SCIEX Group, a unit of Danaher. Prior to SCIEX Group, he was an Executive Vice President with Merck KGaA responsible for the process solutions division and previously held executive positions with Millipore Corporation. In addition to Polyplus, Mr. Mangeolle currently serves on the boards of directors of Charles River Labs, Gelest, Inc., and TeraPore Technologies and is a co-founder of Petri Bio, an early stage venture capital firm.

About Polyplus-tranfection

Polyplus-transfection(R) SA is the leading biotechnology company that supports Gene and Cell therapy, along with other biologics manufacturing and life science research with innovative nucleic acid transfection solutions. Polyplus-transfection’s strengths are 20 years of experience in manufacturing transfection solutions with tailored scientific and regulatory support to accelerate research and clinical development. Based on the Science Park close to Strasbourg (France), Polyplus-transfection offers an extensive and growing range of transfection reagents available worldwide. For more information, please visit the Polyplus-transfection web site at: www.polyplus-transfection.com.