Jounce Therapeutics Names Hugh Cole as Chief Business Officer and Head of Corporate Development
Jounce Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage company focused on the discovery and development of novel cancer immunotherapies and predictive biomarkers for patient enrichment, today announced that Hugh Cole has been appointed as chief business officer and head of corporate development. He brings over 25 years of experience in biotech across business development, corporate strategy, R&D portfolio, program, and alliance management, commercial planning and execution, and overall corporate leadership.
Most recently he served as chief business officer for ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, where in under three years, he led nine business development transactions for the company and helped develop and implement ARIAD’s new corporate strategy.
“Hugh has tremendous experience and a great track record in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, with robust knowledge of oncology pipeline progression and commercial strategy. We are thrilled to welcome him to Jounce at a critical point in our drug development process,” said Richard Murray, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Jounce Therapeutics. “As we continue with the clinical development of our lead program, JTX-2011, and progress our pipeline of innovative immunotherapies, it will be crucial to have Hugh’s business and strategic leadership, and portfolio management expertise.”
In addition to his former role at ARIAD, Mr. Cole was the former senior vice president, strategic planning and program management at Shire plc, where he oversaw the company’s portfolio management and rare disease strategic planning processes. At Shire, Mr. Cole was also globally responsible for the development strategy and commercialization of the rare disease drug Firazyr®, and led several important transactions for the company. Prior to joining Shire, Mr. Cole was vice president, corporate development for Oscient Pharmaceuticals and served as senior director, business development and strategy at Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career, Mr. Cole worked as a management consultant for The Wilkerson Group, a leading consultancy focused on life science companies and, prior to that, as an investment analyst for Fred Alger Management, where he covered the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. He earned his Masters of Business Administration in health care management and finance at the Wharton School and his Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from Harvard University.