- After less than five months in the position
- Praise, thanks and good wishes for Bisker-Leib
- Thomas Schuetz taking over
(exechange) — Boston, Massachusetts, May 28, 2024 — This news came shortly after Memorial Day. Vered Bisker-Leib, chief executive of Compass Therapeutics, leaves her position. As announced by Compass Therapeutics Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, Vered Bisker-Leib leaves her post as chief executive officer at the biopharmaceutical company, after less than five months in the role, effective immediately.
Generally speaking, it raises questions when a CEO leaves her post abruptly and after a short tenure.
Vered Bisker-Leib’s duties as CEO will be taken over by Thomas J. Schuetz, a former Chief Executive Officer at Compass Therapeutics Inc.
No reason given
In the announcement, Compass Therapeutics did not explicitly explain the reason for the move.
Precise information regarding Vered Bisker-Leib’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Stepped down/resigned”
Compass Therapeutics said: “Vered Bisker-Leib, Ph.D., M.B.A., has stepped down as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Company, effective May 28, 2024.”
Compass Therapeutics further said: “On May 28, 2024, Vered Bisker-Leib, PhD, MBA, resigned as Chief Executive Officer … and resigned as a member of the Board of Directors, of Compass Therapeutics, Inc. … effective the same date.”
“Not the result of any disagreement”
Compass Therapeutics stated, regarding the change: “Dr. Bisker-Leib’s resignation from the Board of Directors is not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.”
Share price decline since March 2024
The announcement follows a decline in Compass Therapeutics Inc.’s share price of 23% since March 2024.
In the position of CEO since 2024
Vered Bisker-Leib became CEO of the Company in 2024.
Bisker-Leib will continue to be available to the Company as a Senior Consultant for the next 15 months.
Vered Bisker-Leib, Ph.D., M.B.A., has served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a director since January 2024.
Bisker-Leib joined Compass Therapeutics LLC in 2017 as Chief Business Officer, bringing 20 years of corporate development, fundraising, and M&A transaction expertise gained through her experience at top tier pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
She was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2019, to President and Chief Operating Officer in 2020, and to Chief Executive Officer in 2024.
Under her financial leadership, we have completed public and private financing transactions that generated more than $290 million in total proceeds since 2020.
In 2021, Bisker-Leib identified and led the acquisition of TRIGR Therapeutics in a stock-for-stock transaction, which resulted in the addition of CTX-009 to the Company’s pipeline.
Bisker-Leib is also a member of the board of directors of Ayala Pharmaceuticals.
Prior to Compass, Bisker-Leib served as an executive-in-residence with Atlas Venture, and as chief business officer of Cydan, a biotech accelerator, where she co-founded biotech companies focused on therapies addressing rare diseases.
Before joining Cydan, Bisker-Leib was a member of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s strategic transactions group (2008-2014) where she assumed roles of increasing responsibility across five therapeutic areas, most recently as an executive director and global head of business development for the cardiovascular and metabolic franchises.
Bisker-Leib earned her Ph.D. in chemical engineering and M.B.A. from University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she was a Lois Pope M.B.A. Scholar.
She has a B.Sc. in chemical engineering from the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.
No statement by Vered Bisker-Leib
In the release announcing her departure as CEO of Compass Therapeutics Inc., Vered Bisker-Leib received praise, thanks and good wishes.
The announcement of her departure as CEO does not include a statement by Vered Bisker-Leib.
The above text is an excerpt from the exechange report 23.2024 ($), publication date June 3, 2024.