SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nativis, Inc., a Seattle-based life sciences company, announced today that Chris E. Rivera has been named chairman, president and CEO of the company. Mr. Rivera has served as a director of the company since 2013 and brings 30 years of biotechnology industry experience to Nativis.
“Chris has a phenomenal track record of building successful companies, launching novel technologies and we’re excited to welcome him to the team,” said John Butters, Nativis founder and former chairman, president and CEO. “His leadership will be instrumental in helping to grow Nativis and I look forward to partnering with him as we begin expanding our clinical and preclinical programs into new areas of unmet medical need.”
“I have had the opportunity to work with some of the most innovative minds in the industry and Nativis’ technology is one of the most exciting and promising that I have seen,” said Rivera. “I am looking forward to helping the company bring this innovation to the market and positively impact patients’ lives.”
Mr. Rivera’s career highlights include founder and CEO of Hyperion Therapeutics, which was acquired by Horizon Pharma in 2015. Prior to starting Hyperion, Mr. Rivera was senior vice president of commercial operations at Tercica, where he launched Increlex, and led the cross-licensing transaction between Tercica and Ipsen. Additionally, Mr. Rivera held several leadership roles at Genzyme, including senior vice president of the renal division, where he was responsible for U.S. commercial operations, as well as supporting the global launch of Renagel, and vice president of Genzyme tissue repair.
From 2009 to 2015, Mr. Rivera was the president & CEO of the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association (WBBA), where he was responsible for growing one of Washington state’s largest and fastest-growing economic sectors. While with the WBBA, Mr. Rivera founded WINGS, Washington’s Medical Technology Angel Network, and built the infrastructure to support more than 400 start-up life science companies the WBBA has mentored.
In addition, Mr. Rivera has been recognized as a state and national leader through his appointments as co-chair for the Governor’s Life Science and Global Health Advisory Council, the Governor’s Higher Education Task Force, the Washington Global Health Funding Commission, and chairman for the National Council of State Bioscience Associations.
Additionally, the company announced that Nativis founder and former Chairman, President and CEO, John Butters, has been appointed head of global technology and product development. Under Butters’ leadership, Nativis’ proprietary technology moved rapidly through ideation, invention and proof-of-concept and is now being tested in human feasibility studies in the U.S. and Australia for the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma brain tumors. Mr. Butters has more than 25 patents issued and has directed all of Nativis’ R&D and product development programs since the company’s inception in 2002.
Mr. Rivera holds a master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, bachelor’s degree from Northwestern Oklahoma State University, and studied marketing and management at the Albers Graduate School of Business and Economics at Seattle University.
About Nativis, Inc.
Founded in 2002, Nativis is a clinical stage bioelectronics company developing non-invasive therapies for cancers and other serious diseases. At the interface of chemistry and physics, Nativis’ proprietary Radio Frequency Energy (RFE) technology regulates defined bioactive targets by specific modulation of charge pathways. RFE modulated control of charge pathways has the potential to significantly change the way cancer and other serious diseases are treated. For more information visit nativis.com.
