The CEO Pledge for a More Equitable & Inclusive Life Sciences Industry
Our country is in the middle of a significant and overdue reckoning about centuries-long racism toward Black Americans and its powerful role in our nation’s inequity. This extends within Massachusetts’ life sciences sector where Black, Brown, and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) are significantly underrepresented and do not have equal levels of access to the industry or equal opportunities to succeed.
Together as CEOs, the signers of this letter recognize that racial inequity exists in our industry and in our companies, and we must take responsibility to fix that injustice through comprehensive equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives that are broad in scope, specific in action, and measurable in results. Recognizing that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution, we commit ourselves to addressing the following areas through measurable action as soon as feasible for our companies.
For more information, please contact inclusion@massbio.org
I Pledge To:
Leadership & Executive Culture
1. Engage, interact, and listen to BIPOC to better my knowledge of the political, socioeconomic, and historical barriers that BIPOC face, and to better understand their experiences in my company and beyond
I will also commit to at least one of the following:
- Expand C-Suite circles and networking opportunities for BIPOC
- Ensure that all leadership team members are aligned and committed to championing equity, diversity, and inclusion at all levels of the company
- Adopt a “Not on My Watch” attitude and inspire this throughout the organization
- Use my voice, influence, and network to advocate for change at the policy level to address systemic discrimination and improve conditions for communities of color and underserved populations
Inclusive Company Culture
2. Use engagement surveys and data analytics to assess how employees are faring
I will also commit to at least one of the following:
- Create a workplace where nobody feels or has the impression that they need to conform to succeed
- Investigate, address, and solve toxic culture to ensure all employees are empowered and truly believe they are supported by the company
- Encourage employees to self-educate on racism and to contribute to the race dialogue
- Support employee giving, volunteerism, and civic engagement
- Ensure transparency and accuracy of reporting on instances of microaggressions and/or overt racism, and hold leaders accountable to appropriate response
Recruitment
3. Conduct a diversity audit on current hiring processes to determine biases and gaps; and, identify target metrics to improve diversity hiring
I will also commit to at least one of the following:
- Partner with external professional groups that represent diverse communities to expand talent pools, pipelines, funnels, and access points
- Focus on hiring to increase diversity of teams and the overall organization; look for cultural add vs. cultural fit and build time into the recruitment process to allow for diversity sourcing, creation of diverse candidate slates, and inclusive selection practices
Retention & Development
4. Implement official sponsorship programs and enable explorational role switching and reskilling that could assist with career advancement
I will also commit to at least one of the following:
- Identify potential for biases when evaluating employee performance and advancement potential; provide tools and processes that challenge leaders to consider the value of diversity and its impact on problem-solving and innovation when making talent and succession decisions
- Create a process where all employees can self-nominate for promotion; and, create a framework where decisions for/against promotion are openly and constructively communicated
- Grant employees unrestricted access to their own information so that they can also keep track of goals, course corrections, and contributions to the success of the team and the organization
Accountability & Sustainability
5. Implement diversity dashboards and scoreboards to track and report diverse hiring, promoting, attrition rates, and representation at all levels including on executive teams and board of directors. Commit to sharing information company-wide and/or publicly
I will also commit to at least one of the following:
- Commit financial and company resources to support STEM education and directly support the development of a workforce pipeline from urban and marginalized communities
- Include organizational DEI initiatives as part of executive performance reviews and tie DEI outcomes to compensation decisions
Supplier Diversity
- Implement/scale a supplier diversity program to increase the percentage of company goods and services procured from Minority Business Enterprises
MassBio’s Pledge
In response to your Pledge, MassBio pledges to provide you the tools and resources to be successful, including meeting with you and your team one-on-one, at your request, to develop, scale, and/or strengthen your DEI initiative, provide introductions, and facilitate relationships. We will help small companies identify scalable solutions to address the actions in the Pledge so they can develop systems and tools to grow with them. We will hold you and your organization accountable through regular check-ins, and by publicly highlighting companies that are fulfilling the pledge.
Open Letter 2.0 Signers
Abcam | Alan | Hirzel | CEO |
Acceleron Pharma | Habib | Dable | CEO |
Accent Therapeutics | Shakti | Narayan | CEO |
Addgene | Joanne | Kamens | Executive Director |
Agios Pharmaceuticals | Jackie | Fouse | CEO |
Akili | Eddie | Martucci | President & CEO |
Aldeyra Therapeutics | Todd | Brady | President & CEO |
Aleta Biotherapeutics | Mark | Leuchtenberger | Executive Chairman |
Alexion | Ludwig | Hantson | CEO |
Alkermes | Richard | Pops | Chairman & CEO |
Ally Therapeutics | Tina | Liu | CEO |
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | Yvonne | Greenstreet, MBChB | CEO |
ALS Therapy Development Institute | Fernando | Vieira | CEO |
Altucell Bio | Gary | Harlem | CEO |
AN2 Therapeutics | Eric | Easom | President & CEO |
Anelixis Therapeutics | Steven | Perrin | CEO |
Anika Therapeutics | Cheryl | Blanchard | President & CEO |
Anokion | John | Hohneker | President & CEO |
Apellis Pharmaceuticals | Cedric | Francois | CEO |
Aphios Corporation | Trevor | Castor | CEO |
Arrakis Therapuetics | Michael | Gilman | CEO |
Arranta Bio | Mark | Bamforth | President & CEO |
Arthrosurface | Steven | Ek | Co-Founder |
Astria Therapeutics | Jill | Milne | CEO |
Atalanta Therapeutics | Alicia | Secor | President & CEO |
Aviceda Therapeutics | Mohamed | Genead | CEO & Co-Founder |
AVROBIO | Geoff | Mackay | CEO |
Axcella | William | Hinshaw | President & CEO |
AxoSim | Lowry | Curley | CEO |
Bayer U.S. LLC | Philip | Blake | President |
BeiGene | John | Oyler | Chairman, Co-Founder & CEO |
Bench International | Denise | DeMan | Chairman & CEO |
BigBio Communications | Tilton | Little | CEO |
Binx Health | Jeff | Luber | CEO |
BioAgilytix | Jim | Datin | CEO |
Biogen | Michel | Vounatsos | CEO |
BioLabs | Johannes | Fruehauf | President & CEO |
Biotech Vendor Services, Inc. | Pamela | Gardner | President & CEO |
Black Diamond Therapeutics | David | Epstein | President & CEO |
Bluebird bio | Nick | Leschly | CEO |
Blueprint Medicines | Jeff | Albers | CEO |
Boston Pharmaceuticals | Rob | Armstrong | CEO |
C4 Therapeutics | Andrew | Hirsch | President & CEO |
CairnSurgical, Inc. | David | Danielson | CEO |
Captivate Bio | Tanya | Potcova | Founder & CEO |
Casma | Keith | Dionne | CEO |
Catamaran Bio | Alvin | Shih | President & CEO |
Celdara Medical, LLC | Jake | Reder | President & CEO |
Cellanyx | Guy | Fish | CEO |
Cellino | Nabiha | Saklayen | CEO & Co-Founder |
Cend Therapeutics, Inc. | David | Slack | President & CEO |
Cerevel Therapeutics | Tony | Coles | Chairman & CEO |
Chiasma | Raj | Kannan | CEO |
Cohere Business Strategies | Jeffrey | Kiplinger | Owner & Principal |
ConcertAI | Jeff | Elton | CEO |
Corealis Pharma Inc. | Yves | Roy | President |
Cullinan Oncology | Nadim | Ahmed | President & CEO |
Cyclerion Therapeutics | Peter | Hecht | CEO |
Danforth Advisors | Chris | Connors | President |
Decibel Therapeutics | Laurence | Reid | CEO |
Deciphera Pharmaceuticals | Steve | Hoerter | CEO |
Disc Medicine, Inc. | John | Quisel | President & CEO |
Dogodan Therapeutics, Inc. (DTI) | Thomas | Tibbitts | CEO |
Duluth Medical | Ruchi | Dana | President |
eClinical Solutions LLC | Raj | Indupuri | CEO |
eGenesis | Paul | Sekhri | President & CEO |
EMD Serono | Rehan | Verjee | President – EMD Serono |
Empiriko | Pam | Randhawa | CEO |
Emulate | Jim | Corbett | CEO |
Entasis Therapeutics | Manos | Perros | President & CEO |
Epizyme, Inc | Grant | Bogle | President and CEO |
Entera Bio | Adam | Gridley | CEO |
EQRx, Inc. | Alexis | Borisy | Founder, Chairman & CEO |
Équilibre | Samuel | Waskal | Chairman & CEO |
EuMentis Therapeutics | Mark | Tepper | CEO |
Evelo Biosciences | Simba | Gill | CEO |
EyePoint Pharmaceuticals | Nancy | Lurker | President & CEO |
FerGene | David | Meek | CEO |
Finch Therapeutics | Mark | Smith | CEO |
Flexion Therapeutics | Michael | Clayman | CEO |
FOG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | Greg | Verdine | Chairman & CEO |
Forma Therapeutics | Frank | Lee | CEO |
Foundation Medicine | Cindy | Perettie | CEO |
Frequency Therapeutics | David | Lucchino | President & CEO |
G&L Scientific | Stephen | Loughrey | CEO |
g.Root Biomedical Services, Inc. | Chesley | Chan | CEO |
GelMEDIX | Jeff | Behrens | CEO |
Gamida Cell Therapies | Julian | Adams | CEO |
Genentech | Alexander | Hardy | CEO |
Generation Bio | Geoffrey | McDonough | CEO |
Genuity Science | Rob | Brainin | CEO |
German Accelerator Life Sciences | Marc | Filerman | CEO |
Global Bio Fund | Ipshita | Mandal-Johnson | Managing Partner |
Graticule | Daniel | Poscover | CEO |
GreenLight Biosciences | Andrey | Zarur | CEO |
Gritstone Oncology | Andrew | Allen | CEO |
Groupe Axiomatech | Josee | Dufour | CEO |
Halloran Consulting Group | Laurie | Halloran | President & CEO |
Harbinger Health | Stephen | Hahn | CEO |
Harbor Clinical | Ann | Conner | President |
HealthScape LifeSciences LLC | Helene | Clayton-Jeter | Founder & CEO |
Hiller Life Sciences Strategies, LLC | Arthur | Hiller | Owner and Principal |
Holobiome, Inc. | Philip | Strandwitz | CEO & Co-Founder |
Homology Medicines | Arthur | Tzianabos | CEO |
Ikena Oncology | Mark | Manfredi | CEO |
ImmunoGen | Mark | Enyedy | President & CEO |
InCarda Therapeutics | Grace | Colon | CEO & President |
InnoGenomics Technologies, LLC | Sudhir | Sinha | CEO |
Institute for Protein Innovation | Alex | Burgin | CEO |
Invicro | Matt | Silva | CEO |
Ionis Pharmaceuticals | Brett | Monia | CEO |
Ipsen | Richard | Paulson | CEO, Ipsen North America |
Jnana Therapeutics | Joanne | Kotz | CEO |
JOGO Hleath Inc. | Siva | Nadarajah | President & Co-Founder |
Karuna Therapeutics | Steve | Paul | Chairman, President & CEO |
Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals | Sanj | Patel | Chairman & CEO |
Kymera Therapeutics | Nello | Mainolfi | Founder, President & CEO |
LabCentral | Johannes | Fruehauf | President & Executive Director |
LaVoieHealthScience | Donna | LaVoie | CEO |
Life Biosciences Inc. | Mehmood | Khan | CEO |
Life Science Cares | Sarah | MacDonald | Executive Director |
LifeMine Therapeutics | Greg | Verdine | President & CEO |
LSCP Life Sciences Consulting Partners | Ruedi F. | Blattmann | Managing Partner |
Lyndra Therapeutics | Patricia | Hurter | President & CEO |
MacDougall Advisors | Kari | Watson | Co-Founder & Managing Partner |
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center | Kenn | Turner | President & CEO |
Matrisome Bio | Noor | Jailkhani | Co-Founder & CEO |
Mersana Therapeutics | Anna | Protopapas | President & CEO |
MilliporeSigma | Chris | Ross | Sector Head, MilliporeSigma, the life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany |
MOBILion Systems Inc. | Melissa | Sherman | CEO |
MOMA Therapeutics | Reid | Huber | CEO |
Monte Rosa Therapeutics | Markus | Warmuth | CEO |
Morphic Therapeutic | Praveen | Tipirneni | President & CEO |
MorphoSys | Jean-Paul | Kress | CEO |
Navitor Pharmaceuticals | Tom | Hughes | CEO |
Nimbus Therapeutics | Jeb | Keiper | CEO |
North Shore InnoVentures | Christopher | Ilsley | CEO & President |
Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research | Jay | Bradner | President |
Nuritas | Nora | Khaldi | Founder & CEO |
Obatala Sciences, Inc | Trivia | Frazier | President & CEO |
Obsidian Therapeutics | Paul | Wotton | CEO |
Ocular Therapeutix | Anthony | Mattessich | CEO |
Oncorus | Ted | Ashburn | President & CEO |
Ophthalmic Therapeutic Innovation | Tina Guanting | Qiu | Principal |
Orchard Therapeutics | Bobby | Gaspar | Co-Founder & CEO |
Panorama Medicine | Mingfu | Zhu | CEO |
Pfizer | Albert | Bourla | Chairman & CEO |
PhagePro | Minmin | Yen | CEO & Co-Founder |
PHASTAR | Kevin | Kane | CEO & Founder |
Pieris Pharmaceuticals | Stephen | Yoder | President & CEO |
PlateletBio | Sam | Rasty | President & CEO |
Precision Theranostics Inc. | Neeraj | Vij | CEO |
PureTech Health | Daphne | Zohar | CEO & Founder |
Q32 Bio, Inc | Michael | Broxson | CEO |
QurAlis | Kasper | Roet | CEO |
Quanterix | Kevin | Hrusovsky | Chairman and CEO |
Relay Therapeutics | Sanjiv | Patel | CEO |
ReNetX Bio | Erika | Smith | CEO |
Rheos Medicines | Barbara | Fox | CEO |
Ribon Therapeutics | Victoria | Richon | President & CEO |
ROME Therapeutics | Rosana | Kapeller | President & CEO |
Rubix LS | Reginald | Swift | Founder & CEO |
Saniona | Rami | Levin | President & CEO |
Sanofi | Bill | Sibold | President, Sanofi, North America |
Sarepta Therapeutics | Douglas | Ingram | President & CEO |
Scholar Rock | Tony | Kingsley | President & CEO |
scPharma | John | Tucker | CEO |
Seeding Labs | Melissa | Wu | CEO |
Seres Therapeutics | Eric | Shaff | President & CEO |
Servier Pharmaceuticals LLC | David | Lee | CEO |
Sherlock Biosciences | Bryan | Dechario | CEO |
Sigilon Therapeutics | Rogerio | Vivaldi | President & CEO |
SmartPharm Therapeutics | José | Trevejo | CEO & Co-Founder |
Sobi | Duane | Barnes | President & Head of Sobi N.A. |
Society for Participatory Medicine | Daniel | Sands | Co-Chair and Co-Founder |
Solid Biosciences | Ilan | Ganot | CEO |
Spero Therapeutics | Ankit | Mahadevia | CEO |
STEIN+PARTNERS | Alice | Stein | President & Founder |
STEMCELL Technologies | Allen | Eaves | President & CEO |
Stoke Therapeutics | Edward | Kaye | CEO & Director |
Surface Oncology | Jeff | Goater | President & CEO |
Synlogic Therapeutics | Aoife | Brennan | President & CEO |
Syros | Nancy | Simonian | President & CEO |
Takeda Pharmaceuticals Company | Ramona | Sequeira | President, US Business Unit & Global Portfolio Commercialization |
Talaria Antibodies Inc | Shawna | Wicks | CEO |
Talaris Therapeutics | Scott | Requadt | CEO |
Tango Therapeutics | Barbara | Weber | President & CEO |
TCR2 Therapeutics Inc. | Garry | Menzel | President & CEO |
Ten Bridge Communications | Dan | Quinn | CEO |
The BioPharma Hub | Steve | Woit | Executive Director |
The Lab Project | Steven | Miller | Executive Director & Founder |
The M1 Project, LLC | Jim | Murphy | President |
The NemetzGroup LLC | Susan | Nemetz | CEO & Founder |
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. | Marc | Casper | Chairman, President & CEO |
Theseus Pharmaceuticals | Tim | Clackson | CEO |
Third Rock Ventures | Abbie | Celniker | Partner |
TMS BioScience Labs | Pleasant | Hooper | President |
Trapelo Health | Clynt | Taylor | CEO |
Triplet Therapeutics | Nessan | Bermingham | CEO |
Tunnell Consulting | Maryann | Gallivan | President & CEO |
UCB | Jean-Christophe | Tellier | CEO |
Ultragenyx | Emil | Kakkis | President & CEO |
uniQure | Matt | Kapusta | CEO |
Unum Therapeutics Inc. | Chuck | Wilson | President & CEO |
Upshift Innovation | Travis | McCready | Founder & Principal |
USH Consulting LLC | Simone | Azevedo | Founder & CEO |
Vedanta Biosciences | Bernat | Olle | CEO |
Verve Therapeutics | Sekar | Kathiresan | CEO |
Vigil Neuroscience, Inc. | Ivana | Magovcevic-Liebisch | President & CEO |
Vir Biotechnology | George | Scangos | CEO |
Vor Biopharma | Robert | Ang | CEO |
Voyager Therapeutics | Andre | Turenne | CEO |
Women in the Enterprise of Science and Technology (WEST) | Meena | Subramanyam | President |
X4 Pharmaceuticals | Paula | Ragan | CEO |
X-Biotix Therapeutics, Inc. | Ramani | Varanasi | President & CEO |
Xilio Therapeutics | Rene | Russo | CEO |
Xontogeny | Chris | Garabedian | CEO |
Yumanity Therapeutics | Richard | Peters | CEO |
Zealand Pharma | Emmanuel | Dulac | President & CEO |
For more information, please contact inclusion@massbio.org