Cardurion Pharmaceuticals Appoints Karen Lewis as Chief People Officer

Rhea-AI Summary

Cardurion Pharmaceuticals has appointed Karen Lewis as Chief People Officer, bringing over 25 years of human resources experience to the clinical-stage biotechnology company. Lewis joins from Apellis Pharmaceuticals (APLS), where she served as Chief People Officer and led organizational growth from 200 to over 900 employees globally while supporting the launch of two drug products.

Prior to Apellis, Lewis held leadership positions at Axcella Health, Biogen (BIIB), Amazon, and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY). At Biogen, she served as Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition and headed HR for U.S. commercial and Asia Pacific/Latin America operations. Lewis holds a B.S. in biology from Rider University and began her career as a research scientist before transitioning to HR.

Positive

• Appointment of experienced HR executive with proven track record in scaling biotech companies
• New CPO's successful history of managing rapid organizational growth (200 to 900+ employees) at Apellis
• Strategic expertise in global expansion and talent management from major pharma companies (Biogen, BMY)

Negative

• None.

BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cardurion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Cardurion”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company discovering and developing new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, today announced that Karen Lewis has joined the company as Chief People Officer. She joins Cardurion with more than 25 years of experience in human resources helping to build organizations and develop programs that support companies at various stages of growth. She most recently was Chief People Officer at Apellis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: APLS) during a period of rapid growth, and previously held leadership roles in human resources at Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY).

“We’re delighted to welcome Karen, a highly talented industry veteran, to the Cardurion executive team. She brings extensive expertise as an operational leader in developing strategies to attract top talent and scale the human resources function for rapidly growing companies,” said Peter Lawrence, Chief Executive Officer of Cardurion. “I look forward to Karen’s insights and contributions as we position Cardurion for our next phase of growth, further evolving and strengthening our team and culture to achieve our goals as a cardiovascular innovator advancing drugs in the clinic to address the needs of patients.”

"Investing in developing a people strategy is critical to the success of a rapidly growing biotech company. I look forward to working with the team to create a strategy that attracts, develops and engages employees while creating a culture where all employees can thrive,” said Karen Lewis. "I am honored and excited to build on the company’s foundation of outstanding science, promising drug programs, and a talented team as we move forward and make Cardurion’s vision for cardiovascular innovation a reality for patients."

Karen Lewis became Chief People Officer of Apellis in 2020 and led the organizational design, culture and human resources strategy to support the launch of two drug products and to scale the company from 200 to over 900 employees globally. She was instrumental in developing a global geographic expansion plan and creating a differentiated approach to talent management that contributed to high employee engagement and retention. Prior to Apellis, she led and built the human resources function for another start-up biotech company, Axcella Health. Previously, Karen held leadership roles with increasing responsibility at Biogen, including as Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition, Head of Human Resources for U.S. commercial, and Head of Human Resources for Asia Pacific and Latin America. Earlier, Karen worked as a global leader of human resources programs at Amazon, and she spent a decade at Bristol-Myers Squibb in leadership roles in talent acquisition, talent management, and as an HR business leader for R&D and commercial functions. Karen holds a B.S. in biology from Rider University and worked as a research scientist at a start-up biotech company before entering a career in human resources.

About Cardurion Pharmaceuticals
Cardurion Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel, next-generation therapeutics for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Cardurion was founded by physician-scientists with world-class expertise in cardiovascular signaling pathways, and a shared passion to find and develop a pipeline of novel treatment options to improve the lives of patients. Cardurion has two groundbreaking clinical programs in development, a potential first-in-class phosphodiesterase-9 (PDE9) inhibitor for both types of chronic heart failure and the first-ever clinical-stage Calcium/Calmodulin-dependent Protein Kinase II (CaMKII) inhibitor for rare and common cardiovascular diseases.

Cardurion Pharmaceuticals is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, with discovery sciences and research facilities in Shonan, Japan. For more information, please visit the company’s website at https://cardurion.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250320903077/en/

Media Contact:

Kathryn Morris

The Yates Network LLC

914-204-6412

kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com

Source: Cardurion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

FAQ

What was Karen Lewis's role at Apellis Pharmaceuticals (APLS) before joining Cardurion?

As Chief People Officer at APLS from 2020, she led organizational growth from 200 to 900+ employees globally and supported two drug product launches.

How did Karen Lewis contribute to Apellis Pharmaceuticals' (APLS) growth?

She developed global expansion plans and created talent management strategies that improved employee engagement and retention while scaling the company significantly.

What experience does Karen Lewis bring from other major pharmaceutical companies?

She held HR leadership roles at Biogen (BIIB) as VP of Global Talent Acquisition and at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) in talent acquisition and management.

What is Karen Lewis's educational background and early career experience?

She holds a B.S. in biology from Rider University and started as a research scientist at a biotech startup before transitioning to HR.