- Push-out Score determined
- After 13 years in the position
- Praise and thanks for Kim
- Jacqueline Shea taking over
(exechange) — Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, May 10, 2022 — Joseph Kim, chief executive of Inovio, leaves. As announced by Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, J.Joseph Kim leaves his post as chief executive officer at the biotechnology company, after 13 years in the role, effective immediately.
Joseph Kim’s duties as CEO will be taken over by Jacqueline E. Shea, most recently Chief Operating Officer at Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc.
“Challenging period”
Inovio did not give an explicit reason for Joseph Kim’s departure from the CEO post. Simon X. Benito, Chairman of the Board of Inovio, said: “We look forward to Dr. Shea taking the helm during a particularly challenging period in Inovio’s history.”
Precise information regarding Joseph Kim’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Resigned”
Inovio said: “Inovio (NASDAQ:INO), a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing DNA medicines to help protect people from infectious diseases and treat people with cancer and HPV-associated diseases, today announced the appointment of Jacqueline Shea, Ph.D., as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Inovio, effective immediately. Dr. Shea succeeds Dr. J. Joseph Kim in these roles. Dr. Kim has also resigned as a member of the Inovio board of directors, and the board intends to appoint Dr. Shea as a director following Inovio’s annual meeting of the stockholders on May 16, 2022.”
Inovio further said: “On May 9, 2022, J. Joseph Kim, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, resigned from those positions and also resigned as a member of the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”), in each case effective upon the filing of the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2022, which is expected to occur on May 10, 2022 (such filing date, the “Separation Date”). Dr. Kim will no longer stand for re-election at the Company’s 2022 annual meeting of stockholders to be held on May 16, 2022.”
Share price decline since May 2020
The announcement follows a decline in Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s share price of 77% since May 2020.
In the position of CEO since 2009
Joseph Kim became CEO of the Company in 2009.
J.Joseph Kim, Ph.D. has served as the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer since 2009.
He was co-founder of the Company’s former subsidiary VGX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“VGX”), and also served as its President and Chief Executive Officer and a director from 2000 until its merger with the Company in 2009.
He previously worked at Merck & Company, Inc. developing vaccines.
An immunologist by training, Kim holds an undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“MIT”), a Ph.D. in biochemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
He has published more than 100 scientific papers, holds numerous patents, and sits on editorial boards and scientific review panels.
He also serves on the board of the International Vaccine Institute and the Council of Korean Americans.
The World Economic Forum selected Kim as a member of its Global Agenda Council and named him a Technology Pioneer as well as one of its Young Global Leaders.
MIT’s Technology Review magazine called him “one of the world’s top innovators.”
Kim is a Fellow of the inaugural class of the Health Innovators Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network where he is working with a team to develop a vision of tomorrow’s healthcare system.
Push-out Score determined
The Push-out Score™ determined by exechange gauges the pressure surrounding Joseph Kim’s move on a scale of 0 to 10.
exechange reached out to Inovio and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 20.2022 ($).