Data management and analysis platform developer DNAnexus (Mountain View, CA, USA) has appointed Marc Olesen (right) as president and COO. He was most recently senior vice president and general manager of network and cloud security for McAfee, the world's largest dedicated security technology company. Previously, he was vice president of software-as-a-service for Mercury Interactive, which was acquired during his tenure by Hewlett-Packard.

“Cloud computing is still relatively new to the life science research market, and we are pleased to have Marc on board. His years of experience in go-to-market planning for large-scale, cloud-based solutions will be invaluable to us during this critical phase of commercializing our new platform,” says DNAnexus CEO and co-founder Andreas Sundquist.

Respira Therapeutics (Austin, TX, USA) has appointed Armando Anido, former president and CEO of Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, to its board of directors. Anido also served as executive vice president, sales and marketing at MedImmune from 1999 to 2006.

Danny Chung has been appointed to the position of CFO of Sinovac Biotech (Beijing). Nan Wang, who has served as interim CFO since August 2011, will continue as the company's vice president. Chung joined Sinovac in November 2011 as finance director with more than 20 years of experience in audit and financial management.

GenVec (Gaithersburg, MD, USA) has named Cynthia Collins president, CEO and a member of the board of directors, succeeding Paul H. Fischer, who served as president and CEO since 1996. Collins previously served as group vice president of Beckman Coulter's cellular analysis business from 2007 until 2011. Prior to joining Beckman Coulter, she was CEO of Sequoia Pharmaceuticals.

ChemoCentryx (Mountain View, CA, USA) has named Joseph M. Feczko to its board of directors. He was senior vice president and chief medical officer of Pfizer, where he worked from 1982 until his retirement in May 2009.

EuropaBio (Brussels) has announced the appointment of Miriam Gargesi as director of healthcare biotech, succeeding Ludovic Lacaine. Gargesi was previously director for public affairs and communications at the European Diagnostics Manufacturers Association, and before that she served as healthcare public affairs specialist at Hill & Knowlton and Kreab Gavin Anderson.

Eric Hedrick has joined Epizyme (Cambridge, MA, USA) as chief medical officer. He most recently served as vice president of oncology and interim chief medical officer at Pharmacyclics.

Edmon R. Jennings has been named chairman of the board of directors of emerging company Versartis (Redwood City, CA, USA). He has spent 15 years in various executive roles at Genentech and has served as chief commercialization officer at Pain Therapeutics and as president and CEO at Angiogenix.

VIVUS (Mountain View, CA, USA) has appointed Ernest Mario to serve on its board of directors. He has 40 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, having served as deputy chairman and CEO of Glaxo Holdings, chairman and CEO of ALZA, and chairman and CEO of Reliant Pharmaceuticals. He currently serves as a director of Boston Scientific, Celgene Biopharmaceutical and Capnia.

Ray W. Miller (right) has been named as chief business officer of privately held industrial biotech company Verdezyne (Carlsbad, CA, USA). He served at DuPont for almost 40 years, with his most recent position being global business development manager, biomaterials and specialties.

Esteban Pombo-Villar has been appointed as Oxford BioTherapeutics' (Oxford, UK) COO to lead the company's newly created clinical development operations based in Basel. He most recently served as head of alliance management at the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research.

TapImmune (Seattle) has named Mark Reddish, currently vice president of development, and venture capitalist James W. Fuller to its board of directors. Before coming to TapImmune, Reddish was formerly vice president of R&D and principal investigator, biodefense at ID Biomedical, and head of preclinical development for the cancer vaccine program at Biomira (now Oncothyreon). Fuller has over 30 years of experience in the brokerage and financial services industries and is currently a partner at Baytree Capital.

Carol Reed has been appointed senior vice president of clinical and regulatory affairs at Synthetic Biologics (Ann Arbor, MI, USA). She brings more than 25 years of experience in medical practice and in the biopharmaceutical sector, most recently serving as chief medical officer at Clinical Data.

Robert Simon has been appointed senior vice president of regulatory affairs at Threshold Pharmaceuticals (S. San Francisco, CA, USA). Previously, he spent nearly ten years at OSI Pharmaceuticals as vice president of global regulatory affairs and executive vice president of pharmaceutical development, manufacturing and technical operations.

Privately held IntegenX (Pleasanton, CA, USA) has named David V. Smith as COO. Smith has over 30 years of financial and operational management experience, most recently serving as executive vice president and CFO of Thoratec. Prior to joining Thoratec in 2006, he was vice president and CFO of Chiron, which he joined in 1999.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical (Novato, CA, USA) has announced the appointment of Dan Spiegelman as executive vice president and CFO, replacing Jeffrey Cooper. Spiegelman most recently served as a consultant to a portfolio of public and private life science companies and is a member of the board at several companies including Affymax and Oncothyreon. From 1998 to 2009, he served as senior vice president and CFO of CV Therapeutics.