BOSTON– Strand Therapeutics, the programmable mRNA company developing curative therapies for cancer and other diseases, today announced the appointment of Jay Stella, MBA as Chief Business Officer. He will establish and lead corporate and business development, and also be responsible for portfolio strategy, new product planning, and finance.
Jay brings close to three decades of leadership in the pharmaceutical and biomedical industries with extensive experience in strategy, finance, and operations. Most recently, he was responsible for Corporate Strategy and Business Development at Akouos, Inc., a Boston-based precision genetic medicines company and played an instrumental role in the sale of the company to Eli Lilly. Jay has also worked for Sai Life Sciences, Takeda, Millennium, Biogen, Genetics Institute, as an independent consultant.
“We’re excited to welcome Jay to the team, as our therapeutic platforms hit a number of exciting milestones this year. With our first clinical trial starting and multiple additional therapeutic areas advancing at a breakneck pace, Jay’s experience structuring collaborations and transactions throughout the biotech industry will massively empower the continued growth and development of our organization,” said Jake Becraft, Ph.D., CEO & Co-Founder, Strand Therapeutics. “I look forward to working with Jay and the rest of the team to advance our technology and enable mRNA therapeutics to reach their full potential and expand their utility beyond vaccines.”
“I am thrilled to join Strand Therapeutics at such an exciting and pivotal time. The energy here is palpable, and there are so many incredibly talented people. I am particularly fascinated by the broad utility of Strand’s technology and its potential to make an enormous impact in multiple areas of major unmet need for patients,” said Stella.
Jay currently serves as a Trustee of Tower School of Marblehead and on the Board of Directors of Reforest The Tropics. He received a Baccalaureate degree from the University of Vermont and an MBA from Boston University.
