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Modern tapped jorge gomez to assume the role of chief financial officer next month upon the retirement of David Meline, the company’s current chief financial officer.
Gomez joins Moderna from dental equipment manufacturer Dentsply Sirona, Inc., where he also served as chief financial officer. At Dentsply, Gomez oversaw the company’s financial operations, accounting, auditing, investor relations and information technology. He was also responsible for leading the company’s sustainability and ESG (environmental, social and government) program. He will assume his new role with Moderna on May 9.
Gomez expressed excitement about joining Moderna and being part of a company focused on developing transformative medicines to address key public health challenges around the world. In a brief statement, he said he looked forward to “working with the team on this great mission.”
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said Gomez will be an asset to the company as it continues to grow and expand globally on the strength of its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.
“Jorge’s experience leading the finance functions of multinational healthcare companies will be an asset to our team. Jorge’s passion for sustainability and ESG aligns closely with Moderna’s vision to make corporate responsibility an essential part of who we are and what we do. I look forward to working with Jorge as we continue to deliver on our strategic priorities to ultimately impact human health with herbal medicines. ‘mRNA,” Bancel said.
In addition to his role at Dentsply, Gomez spent 13 years at Cardinal Health as chief financial officer. Prior to Cardinal Health, Gomez held finance and business leadership positions at General Motors, including in New York, Singapore, Belgium and Brazil.
Moderna announced a new chief financial officer a day after Pfizer took on the same role. Like Moderna, Pfizer also selected a CFO candidate outside the pharmaceutical industry. David Denton has joined pharmaceutical giant from home improvement giant, Lowe’s. Prior to that, he served as Chief Financial Officer at CVS Caremark.
Meline, Moderna’s outgoing CFO, is retiring from the company. However, he will remain with Moderna in a consulting role to ensure a smooth transition for Gomez. Méline joined Moderna in 2020, one year later outgoing of Amgen, to help Moderna go commercial with its mRNA vaccine.
“Moderna was an early-stage, US-focused development company when David joined us. He is retiring after helping grow Moderna into a global commercial company. He has built a great team and strong processes It was a pleasure working with him, and I wish him and his wife a wonderful time,” said Bancel.
As Moderna prepares for the transition to the C suite, the company also faces a recall of hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses in Europe after its contractor Rovi discovered a foreign substance in a vial. Contamination was only found in this vial, but the company was recalling the entire batch, 764,900 doses, “out of an abundance of caution”.
Moderna did not disclose what contaminant was found in the vial and that no other safety issues were discovered.
The doses were to be distributed in Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden in January. Moderna said it does not believe the contamination poses a risk to the other vials in the batch.
