Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, announced the nomination of Myrtle Potter and Ross Fubini for election as independent directors at Ginkgo’s upcoming annual meeting, scheduled to be held on June 13, 2024.
Marijn Dekkers, who has served on Ginkgo’s Board since 2019 and as Ginkgo’s Board Chair from 2019 through 2023, and Reshma Kewalramani, who joined Ginkgo’s Board in 2021 and serves as Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Chair, will not stand for reelection and will retire from Board service at the upcoming annual meeting.
Jason Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Ginkgo: “We are so excited as we look forward to having Myrtle, who brings a wealth of experience across the pharmaceutical R&D value chain, and Ross, with his deep knowledge of the defense tech landscape, join our Board. And I could not be more grateful to Marijn and Reshma for their leadership and guidance over this truly evolutionary period for Ginkgo. It’s an immensely exciting time for the work of making biology easier to engineer, and we look forward to working together through this next phase of transformation and growth.”
Myrtle Potter brings over 25 years of experience leading and advising global technology and life sciences companies and serving on public company boards. She is uniquely experienced at leveraging advanced technologies, including AI, to accelerate the discovery and development of novel biopharmaceutical assets. Until recently, Ms. Potter served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chair of the board of Sumitomo Pharma America. Prior to this, she served as the Chief Executive Officer of Sumitovant Biopharma, the parent company of five biotechnology companies, and as Vant Operating Chair at Roivant Sciences where she provided financial and operating oversight of Roivant’s thirteen biotechnology companies. Prior to this, she served as Chief Operating Officer, and later as President, Commercial Operations and Executive Vice President at Genentech. Prior to joining Genentech, she held various positions, including President, U.S. Cardiovascular/Metabolics at Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Vice President at Merck. While at Merck, she started the company Astra Merck, which later, through a series of transactions, became a part of AstraZeneca PLC.
In her corporate work, Ms. Potter currently serves on the boards of directors of Guardant Health (Nasdaq: GH) and Liberty Mutual Holding Company, among others. Ms. Potter also serves on the board of Trustees of The University of Chicago. Ms. Potter previously served on the boards of Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Axsome Therapeutics (Nasdaq: AXSM), and Express Scripts. Ms. Potter holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from The University of Chicago.
Ross Fubini founded XYZ Venture Capital, a venture capital investment firm, in 2017, and serves as Managing Director. The firm invests in and supports teams across enterprise, public sector, fintech, health tech, climate, and more. Notably, Mr. Fubini was an early supporter of defense tech leader Anduril, cloud-based building security breakout Verkada, and modern insurance brokerage Newfront. In his venture capital tenure, Mr. Fubini has advised and invested in over 200 companies across a range of stages and industries. Since 2010, Mr. Fubini has been intimately involved with supporting executive teams to grow and scale revenue into the hundreds of millions in a capital-efficient and profitable manner.
Prior to XYZ, Mr. Fubini co-founded Village Global and was an investor at both Canaan and Kapor Capital. He has held numerous operating roles, including as the co-founder and CTO of CubeTree, which was sold to SuccessFactors in 2010, as well as leading engineering divisions at Symantec and Plumtree Software.
About Ginkgo Bioworks
Ginkgo Bioworks is the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, providing flexible, end-to-end services that solve challenges for organizations across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to pharmaceuticals to industrial and specialty chemicals. Ginkgo Biosecurity is building and deploying the next-generation infrastructure and technologies that global leaders need to predict, detect, and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and ginkgobiosecurity.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as X (@Ginkgo and @Ginkgo_Biosec), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks), Threads (@GinkgoBioworks), or LinkedIn.
