"We could have skimped and watched our pennies but....

[kmall]

On April 9, 2019 Dr. Scarlett was presenting at the 2019 Needham HealthCare Conference where he introduced Dr. Aleksandra Rizo – Ex VP, CMO at Geron in her first public appearance as Geron’s new Chief Medical Officer. During the Q&A session he was asked about his financial strategy with regards to contracting Parexel as CRO and Dr. Rizo as CMO:

“We could have skimped and watched our pennies but when you have a Phase 3 drug in this business chance favors when you invest in the drug and people, and that is what we have decided to do.” - Dr. John Scarlett

Within the past few weeks, we have learned of two of these very instrumental people with Geron now, who will help to facilitate the advancement of Imetelstat being both approved and commercialized:

1. Annat Ikin - Director Medical Writing, Geron Corporation – Nov 2021
2. Ed Koval – Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer, Geron Corporation – Dec 2021

Since posting the pervious employee roster on Oct 3, 2021, Geron has added an additional 5 new hires and we have also managed to dig up another employee from the not to distant past. On the other hand, 3 employees have parted ways with Geron – one in Drug/Safety, one in Regulatory and another in HR – see latest details at the bottom of the next post. The addition of these employees brings our total number of new hires post 9/27/2018, who are currently still at Geron - to the best of my knowledge - to 48.
Remember, Oliva Bloom once stated shortly after 9/27/2018, that they intended to hire between 55-60 new employees in order to meet company goals and objectives.

We are quickly reaching that estimated number of new employees. Geron now has approximately 74 employees total. This is starting to fall in line with Oliva Blooms additional estimate of a total Geron employee count of 85, necessary to fulfill all company needs. Looking at these two figures of new/total employee counts, we fall almost exactly on that mark; with another 12 (new) / 11 (total now) needed – these are only off by one. If nothing else we’re in the ballpark. I have a feeling that some new employees hired in the past 6-9 months have yet to be revealed. Other than that, we know that Geron currently has two positions available: Director, Clinical Operations and Regulatory Manager (US). Two more very important positions, and proving once again that Geron continues to aim in reaching their strategic objectives set forth 3 years ago. Expect more hires in Regulatory, Marketing, and Manufacturing in the very near future. -Kmall

[kmall]

Known current Geron Employees as of 12/5/2021 and their initial hiring dates –
* Former Janssen employee
+ Part-time or Consultant

Management:
1 - CEO – Dr. John A. Scarlett, MD - 2011
2 - CFO – Olivia K. Bloom - 1994
3 - CAO – Melissa A. Kelly Behrs – 1998
4. – CBO – Edward Koval - 2021
5 - COO – Andrew J. Grethlein - 2012
6 - CCO* – Anil Kapur - 2019
7 - CMO* – Aleksandra Rizo, MD - 2019
8 - CLO – Stephen N. Rosenfield - 2011

Clinical – Operations, Science, Development:
Aleksandra Rizo*(6), MD – CMO – 2019
9 - Laurie Sherman* – VP Clinical Operations – 2019
10 - Faye Feller* - VP Clinical Development – 2019
11 - Souria Dougherty* - Ex Director Clinical Science - 2019
12 - Tymara Berry – Ex Director Clinical Development - 2020
13 - Sheetal Shah – Sr Director – 2020
14 - Denise Redding – Director - 2021
15 - Jeff Ryel – Director Clinical Operations - 2020
16 - Karie Arnold – Director Clinical Operations – 2021
17 - Brandie Jonas – Director Program Management – 2019
18 – Carolina Jacobs – Sr Project Manager - 2012
19 - Daria Zielinska – Sr Scientist – 2001
20 - Ron Pruzan – Principal Scientist – 2010
21 – Yelena Polonskaya – Sr Research Associate - 2001
22 - Barbara Mandelkow (Germany) Lab Assistant - 2017
23 - Mebratu Gebreyesus(+) - Sr Development Associate - 2010
(currently employed at Bayer, Celtheon and Geron)
24- Kerry Mundt(+) – CT Assistant – 2010
(currently employed by Pharmacyclics/Abbvie and Geron)

Pharmacovigilance and Drug Safety/Information:
25 - Patti N. – Ex Director Drug Safety – 2020
26 – Annat Ikin - Director Medical Writing, Geron Corporation – Nov 2021

Business Development:
Melissa A. Kelly Behrs (3) – Chief Alliance Officer – 2014
Edward Koval (4) – CBO - 2021
Anil Kapur* (6) - COO - 2019
27 - Lynn Bodarky – VP Business Development – 2019
28 - Denise Meyer – VP Medical Affairs – 2021
29 - Helen Lee – Sr. Reporting Analyst - 2012
30 - Anthony Kuczynski – Analyst - 2019

Finance:
Olivia K. Bloom (2) – CFO – 1994
31 - Karen Boyce – VP -2008
32 - Andrew Good – Ex Director – 2006
33 - Lilly Huang – Ex Director, CPA - 2019
34 - Gilian Fong – Director – 2021
35 - Vivian Pham – Sr. Accountant - 2006

Data Management:
36 - Dan Miller – Sr. Director – 2019
37 - Rana F.* – Director, Statistical Programming - 2020
38 - Sridevi Sridhar, CCDM – Associate Director – 2021

Manufacturing:
39 - Patrick Murphy – VP Manufacturing – 2019
40 - Eric Mueller – Director – 2019
41 - Leslie C. – CMC Director - 2021
42 - Bharat Baral* – CMC Manager – 2021 & 2011
Regulatory:
43 - Sharon McBain* - VP Global - 2019
44 - Shirin Mirshamsi* – Director EU – 2019
45 - Ilesh Sanathra* - Director Global – 2020
46 - Nick Lyon – Director - 2020

Biostatistics:
47 - Ying Wan* – VP - 2019
48 - Libo Sun* – Director - 2019

Quality Assurance and Quality Control:
49 - Denise Grippo – VP Quality and Compliance – 2019
50 - Samantha Taylor – QA Manager, Document Control – 2007
51 - Joe Denton – Director – 2019
52 - John Brenner – Director – 2020
53 - Damanjit Singh – Sr Manager – 2018
54 - Willie Mobley – Materials/Document Specialist - 2007
55 - Leah Wood – Manager – 2021
56 - Murugappa Vedachalam (+) – QA/QC/CMC Consultant - 2019

Legal and Intellectual Property:
Stephen L. Rosenfield (8) – CLO – 2011
57 - Pamela Smith – Associate General Counsel - 1999
58 - Christopher Johnson – Director - 2019
59 - Laura Reederson – Director - 2020
60 - Leslie Mooi – VP IP – 2007
61 - Abby B. – Sr Patent Paralegal - 2014
62 - Cheryl Northern – Sr. Contracts Manager – 2007
63 – Brittney Hernandez – Contracts Manager – 2021

Facilities Operations and Information Technology:
63 - Michael Yamada – VP -2007
64 - Jyoti Shetty – Sr Director IT – 2021
65 - Miguel Hundelt – Systems Administrator – 2018
66 – Julian Cornejo - Systems Administrator - 2021
67 - Briana Martinez – Ex Assistant - 2006
68 - Julia Mensing – Ex Assistant – 2011
69 - Stacie W. – Ex Assistant - 2020
70 - Mia Pham – Office Manager - 2020

Human Resources:
71 - Shannon Odam – HR Executive -2019
72 - Stephanie Dellari – Director - 2004
73 - Susan Finan – Employee Benefits – 2021
74 - Marisa Cerniglia - Manager, People Operations at Geron Corporation – Oct 2021

Since 10/3/2021 – last posted list…… - While we’re waiting…….you’re hired !!! Pt. 3 – posted Sun Oct. 3
New additions:

18 – Carolina Jacobs – Sr Project Manager - 2012
66 – Julian Cornejo – Systems Administrator – May 2021…..Former Employers: Bausch Health, Adobe, Gilead, Lockheed Martin, A-Touch Management LTD
72 - Marisa Cerniglia - Manager, People Operations at Geron Corporation – Oct 2021…..Former Employers: Gilead, Immunomedics, Roivant Sciences
24 - Annat Ikin - Director Medical Writing, Geron Corporation – Nov 2021……Former Employers: Celgene, Rockefeller University, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
4 – Edward Koval – Executive VP, Chief Business Officer – Dec 2021……Former Employers: ZebiAI Therapeutics, X-Chem Inc, Novartis, Chiron Corporation, Merck,
63 – Brittney Hernandez – Contracts Manager – 2021…..Former Employers: Ardelyx, Genentech, Guardant Health, Theranos, JumpstartMD, CRC Health Group

Changed Titles:

3. Melissa Kelly Behrs – from Executive VP, Chief Business Officer to Executive VP, Business Operations and Chief Alliance Officer


Moved on: 1-5 on previous listing…..While we’re waitng……you’re hired !!

6. Fidelis Sabalvaro – Medical Director Safety Science at Geron Corporation: Oct 2019 – July 2021
Now: Drug Safety and Pharmacovigilance Physician, Genentech

7. Maya Nguyen – Interim Senior Human Resources Specialist, Geron Corporation: April 2021 – Sept 2021
Now: NA

8. Jan 2021 – Veronica Backlund – Senior Manager, Regulatory Affairs at Geron Corporation: Jan 2021 – Nov 2021
Now: Chiesi USA


**Sidenote: There have been quite a few company and personel updates within Geron: a new logo, updated photos on many employee linkedin accounts and Melissa A. Kelly Behrs – Chief Alliance Officer; not only updated her title, but her photo as well on the Management page of the Geron website. Just another breadcrumb to consider as we continue marching forward. -Kmall

[cheng_ho]

Meanwhile, the only real research talent from the old days (Sergei Gryzanov) went to MAIA, not to Geron.

And the non-working Geron "staff" remain in Foster City. Biotechs that brag about not watching pennies, while selling ATM shares for pennies, aren't looking out for their investors.

[kmall]

Has MAIA even started a Phase 1 yet Cheng Ho ?

If they were ever able to get up and running, through all 3 Clinical Phase Trials, approval and then commercialization, wouldn't they be paying GERN royalties in about a decade or so.....if they were lucky?

I'm not seeing any comparison between the two companies.

GERN is a publicly traded company with two current Phase 3 Clinical Trials, another indication - AML ready to launch (TELOMERE), 2 combo Clinical Trials in the works (IMproveMF & IMpress), a Pre-Clinical study for Lymphoid Malignancies at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, 2 bi-coastal locations, hundreds of patents, over 75 employees and growing, FDA Fast Track Status, EMA Orphan Drug Designation, ILAP in the UK, a Regulatory Specialist team based in the UK........I could go on.

It actually seems to me that the Foster City, CA employee base you called "non working" have been quite busy lately. You do realize that the majority of the California location employee base is a support structure for the East Coast Clinical and Business Team spearheaded by Dr. Rizo and Ed Koval, as well as the UK Regulatory division led by Sharon McBain?

The West Coast team consists of Legal, Finance, Manufacturing, IT, Data Collection and Facility Operations......this is actually how a REAL company is run. Unlike MAIA, GERN is actually in the midst of achieving goals and milestones. I wish MAIA the best in their endeavors, but for the life of me I don't quite understand your motives for trying to undermine the accomplishments of Geron and their employees here on a board dedicated to Imetelstat. -Kmall

[Ryan]

Seriously.

Not to mention the FUD about the ATM sales… which are literally funding the Phase IIIs while allowing the company to retain 100% ownership of the drug.

The backseat driver I’m sure believes that they would be able to cut a deal with big pharma, however they know nothing about the industry, so there’s that.

I’m sure the majority of investors that actually hold the stock would defer to the expertise of management, mgmt who have successfully sold biotech companies, on the issue… rather then a message board jockey who negs the workforce of the company.

[kmall]

Jennifer Allen - Associate Director, Talent Acquisition, Geron Corporation

Hired Jan 2022 - 1/20/2022 - FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Geron Corporation (Nasdaq: GERN) today reported that it has granted non-statutory stock options to purchase an aggregate of 435,800 shares of Geron common stock as inducements to newly hired employees in connection with commencement of employment with the Company. Jennifer Allen was one of these newly hired employees.

Jennifer's previous employers include Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Aerotek and Continental Labor and Staffing Resources.

Geron keeps hiring and an employee with Jennifers title indicates perhaps additional staff necessary than originally predicted. I suspect that the 3 upcoming P1 - P1/2 Clinical Trials expected to commence in the next 5 months or so is the main driver here. Geron currently has about 75+ full time employees and was projecting to hire approximately 85 for the 2 P3 Clinical Trials and Approval/Commercialization/Manufacturing goals.

Look for additional hires in Manufacturing/Regulatory/Marketing and Clinical Operations as well as supportive staff - IT/Clerical/Data Management/Biostatistics for these hires needed. I would expect a revisement of up to 100 full-time employees with these upcoming P1 - P1/2 Clinical Trials on the horizon. Of course just a guess on my part. -Kmall

[biopearl123]

Kmall, great posts, thanks. This most recent hire is interesting. As you imply, if Geron just had a few more slots to fill why not just use a head hunter? This does suggest more hires are coming than originally projected. It’s hard to conclude anything other than that they are building a sales force. bp