- Push-out Score determined
- After less than three years in the position
- Praise, thanks and good wishes for Turenne
- Michael Higgins taking over in the interim
- Search for a successor
- Turenne said 78 words
(exechange) — Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 19, 2021 — Andre Turenne, chief executive of Voyager Therapeutics, leaves — as “mutually agreed.” As announced by Voyager Therapeutics Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, G.Andre Turenne leaves his post as chief executive officer at the clinical-stage gene therapy company after less than three years in the role, effective in early June.
Voyager Therapeutics will undertake a search for a successor.
Andre Turenne’s duties as CEO will be taken over in the interim by Michael Higgins, currently chairman of the board at Voyager Therapeutics Inc., as interim chief executive officer.
Andre Turenne’s move forms part of a management shake-up also involving the position of chief medical officer.
“To pursue new opportunities”
The management change is explained as follows. Voyager Therapeutics said: “Mr. Higgins succeeds Andre Turenne, who has decided to step down from his roles as president and CEO and as a board director, effective in early June, to pursue new opportunities.”
Precise information regarding Andre Turenne’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Resigned”
Voyager Therapeutics said: “On May 19, 2021 (the “Agreement Date”), Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) and G. Andre Turenne mutually agreed to enter into a Transition, Separation and Release of Claims Agreement (the “Separation Agreement”), pursuant to which Mr. Turenne has resigned from his position of President and Chief Executive Officer and from any and all other positions he holds as an officer and employee of the Company and any of its subsidiaries, effective on the earlier of (i) the date of the Company’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, currently scheduled for June 3, 2021 (the “Annual Meeting”) and (ii) such date as may be mutually agreed upon by the Company and Mr. Turenne (such date, the “Separation Date”). Pursuant to the Separation Agreement, Mr. Turenne also resigned from the Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”) and the boards of directors of any subsidiaries of the Company and from all committees thereof, in each case effective as of immediately following the adjournment of the Annual Meeting.”
Share price decline since July 2018
The announcement follows a decline in Voyager Therapeutics Inc.’s share price of 76% since July 2018. July 2018 is the month in which Turenne’s tenure as CEO began.
In the position of CEO since 2018
Andre Turenne became CEO of the Company in 2018.
Turenne has served as the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer and has been a member of the Board of Directors since July 2018.
Prior to joining Voyager, Turenne held various positions at Sanofi, a biopharmaceutical company, including serving as Senior Vice President, Global Head of Business Development and Licensing, from November 2015 to March 2018, where he was responsible for partnering activities across all of Sanofi’s business units.
Prior to that role, Turenne served as General Manager of Sanofi Genzyme Australia and New Zealand from January 2015 to November 2015 and previously served as Global Head of Strategy and Business Development for Genzyme from September 2012 to January 2015.
Prior to its acquisition by Sanofi, Turenne served in several business development and commercial operations roles at Genzyme Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, from 2006 to 2011.
He began his career in the industry as a consultant at Kendall Strategies, the consulting arm of Feinstein Kean Healthcare, now part of Ogilvy.
Turenne received a B.A. from Kalamazoo College and an M.B.A. from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Push-out Score determined
The Push-out Score™ determined by exechange gauges the pressure surrounding Andre Turenne’s move on a scale of 0 to 10.
exechange reached out to Voyager Therapeutics and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 21.2021 ($).