Publicly traded late-stage specialty pharmaceutical companyAchieve Life Sciencesannounced the appointment of Benjamin Halladay, CPA, as its chief financial officer. He will be responsible for the company’s financial strategy, accounting, investor relations, information technology, and other key administrative functions.
Halladay brings more than 15 years of financial management experience across commercial and launch environments, with earlier positions at Pfizer Inc., where he worked on Lipitor and Chantix in the Primary Care business unit, and at National Oilwell Varco, a Fortune 500 global industrial company. He joins Achieve from Esperion Therapeutics. Halladay holds an MBA from Fordham University and a BA from Syracuse University and is a certified public accountant (inactive).
Publicly traded targeted radiotherapeutics companyActinium Pharmaceuticalsannounced Matt David, MD, as its chief financial officer. David brings more than two decades of experience across biopharmaceutical operating leadership, healthcare investment banking, and equity research.
He joins Actinium from CorMedix, where he most recently served as executive vice president and chief business officer. David also served as head of strategy at Ovid Therapeutics, and, <a href="https://bitcomme.com/should-you-buy-shopify-stock-before-nov-3-history-has-a-clear-answer/” title=”Should You Buy Shopify Stock Before Nov. 3? History Has a Clear Answer.”>before moving into industry, he spent more than a decade in healthcare investment banking, including at BofA Merrill Lynch, Thomas Weisel Partners, and Piper Jaffray, and at Lehman Brothers. David received his MD from NYU School of Medicine and was a surgery resident at Beth Israel Hospital. He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Dartmouth College.
Avenzo Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing oncology therapies, has appointed Herb Cross as chief financial officer, and he will serve as a member of Avenzo’s executive leadership team.
Cross brings more than 25 years of operational experience across finance, corporate development, investor relations, and information technology for public and private biotechnology companies. He most recently served as CFO at Jasper Therapeutics, and prior to that as CFO for Atreca and ARMO BioSciences, among other biopharma companies. He has a BS in finance and accounting from University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business.
Specialty biopharmaEmergent BioSolutions Inc.announced that Richard S. Lindahl, executive vice president, chief financial officer, will retire from the company effective December 31, 2026. Frank Vargo, vice president, treasurer, will assume the role of interim chief financial officer effective January 1, 2027.
Hepion Pharmaceuticalshas appointed Gary Stetz as its chief financial officer, after serving as interim CFO since March of this year. Stetz is a certified public accountant with over 35 years of experience across accounting, finance, business valuation, and corporate governance.
He currently serves as managing partner of Stetz, Belgiovine, Manwarren and Wallis, P.C. He also served as CEO of President Street Global, LLC, and as a director of Canton Strategic Holdings. His leadership experience includes founding Allegiance Community Bank and serving on the board of BCB Bancorp.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLChas appointed Rebecca Hall as its chief financial officer and executive director, joining the company in Q1 2027. Hall joins from ViiV Healthcare, where she is senior vice president and chief financial officer, responsible for finance, supply chain, and business development.
Hall brings more than 20 years of experience from ViiV Healthcare and GSK, spanning pharmaceuticals and consumer products. These included 14 years at GSK, progressing through commercial, strategic, corporate, and supply chain finance roles across the UK, Europe, and emerging markets. She holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Durham and qualified as a CIMA accountant in 2007.
Milan, Italy-basedSibylla Biotechannounced Gianluca Fuggetta, MSc, MBA, as its chief financial officer. Sibylla is advancing its lead protein folding program, Cyclin D1, into the clinic.
Before joining Sibylla, Fuggetta was senior vice president of finance and principal financial officer of Gain Therapeutics where he was an executive leadership member, driving capital raising, financial planning, corporate development, SEC reporting, and finance infrastructure scaling. Prior to that, Fuggetta spent nine years at PwC in Milan, New York, and Munich, advising SEC-registered multinationals on financial reporting, M&A, and complex transactions under US GAAP and IFRS. He holds a BS in economics from Università Cattolica, an MSc in accounting from Università Bocconi, and an MBA from Politecnico di Milano.
Tortugas Neuroscience, a clinical-stage biotech company developing medicines for central nervous system (CNS) disorders, announced the appointment of Ramzi Benamar as chief financial officer.
Benamar previously served as CFO of Bellus Health, Apnimed, DBV Technologies, and Elucida Oncology, as well as holding senior leadership roles at Spark Therapeutics, Johnson & Johnson, Shire, and Merck. Benamar holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Temple University, as well as a master’s degree from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.
Vir Biotechnologyhas appointed Aziz Sawaf, MBEE, MBA, CFA, as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Sawaf will be responsible for leading the finance, IT, and investor relations functions as the company builds out its cancer immunotherapy pipeline and hepatitis delta virus program.
Sawaf brings more than 20 years of biopharmaceutical experience spanning both large global organizations and small public biotechnology companies. He joins Vir Biotechnology from Theravance Biopharma where he held financial leadership roles of increasing responsibility. Sawaf also held roles on the R&D and commercial finance teams at Gilead Sciences. He received a BS in business administration from the University of Arizona, an MBA from the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, and an MBEE from Johns Hopkins University.
These announcements are from September 21 through October 26, 2026, as posted on BusinessWire, PRNewswire, Yahoo Finance, LinkedIn, SEC documents, or company postings. If your company has an executive appointment announcement related to finance and accounting, please forward to Brandy Fidler at [email protected].
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