SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ambys Medicines, a biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing regenerative and restorative therapies for people with advanced liver diseases, today announced two appointments to its executive leadership team: Deidre Roniger as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Amanda Valentino as Chief People Officer. Ms. Roniger and Ms. Valentino, both previous functional leads at Genentech, will report to Ambys President and CEO Jeff Jonker.
“I am thrilled to welcome Deidre and Amanda to the Ambys team,” said Jeff Jonker, President and CEO of Ambys. “We are pursuing an audacious vision here: curing patients suffering from severe liver diseases by harnessing the natural regenerative biology of the liver. Deidre and Amanda not only contribute tremendous industry expertise, but even more importantly, they are also bold leaders, creative problem-solvers, extraordinary thinkers, and energetic team players – all traits that we need to achieve Ambys’ vision. I look forward to their many contributions that will help shape and grow our unique company and culture.”
Founded by world-renowned experts in liver disease and regenerative medicine, Ambys is pursuing a multi-modality strategy aimed at regenerating the liver, restoring liver function, and preventing patients suffering from serious liver diseases from progressing to liver failure. The company is advancing a portfolio of innovative medicines that include cell therapy and gene therapy, as well as drug therapy to replace lost protein function.
“Advanced liver diseases represent one of today’s most widespread, urgent and unmet medical needs. Ambys’ multi-modality approach to liver regenerative medicine enables significant, far-reaching opportunities for transformational impact for patients,” said Ms. Roniger. “I am excited to work with Jeff, Amanda and the entire Ambys team as we advance our innovative pipeline and set the company on a solid trajectory for sustained growth.”
Ms. Valentino added, “Upon walking through the doors at Ambys, you immediately sense the passion for our patients and urgency to transform the way diseases of the liver are treated through regenerative and rejuvenative medicine. I look forward to working with Jeff, Deidre and the team to foster an exceptional employee experience that empowers our people to pursue and achieve this bold vision.”
About Deidre Roniger
Ms. Roniger brings more than 20 years of biotech corporate strategy, business development, marketing and business analytics experience to Ambys. Most recently, she served as Managing Partner at DNA Ink, a boutique life sciences consulting firm offering corporate advisory and transaction services for biotech, medtech and pharma clients. Ms. Roniger’s previous experience includes nearly a decade at Genentech, where she held roles of increasing responsibility. Most recently, she served as Director, Market Analysis & Strategy, where she led a team of more than 100 full-time analytics professionals responsible for identifying critical business issues and opportunities for growth, informing the strategic direction of Genentech. In this role, Ms. Roniger was accountable for the management of all primary market research, forecasting and business analytics across Genentech’s portfolio.
Previously, Ms. Roniger held a variety of operational and leadership roles across Genentech’s commercial organization.
Ms. Roniger earned a BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California, San Diego, and an MBA from Wake Forest University’s Babcock Graduate School of Management.
About Amanda Valentino
Ms. Valentino brings 18 years of talent acquisition and human resources (HR) experience in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry. During her tenure as a senior Genentech leader, Ms. Valentino was known for driving people strategy and practices that enabled consistent and strategic business growth in a highly competitive market. Her innovative approaches to identifying and engaging diverse talent, adopting new technology platforms, and developing people make her a champion for current and future employees.
As the Senior Director of Talent Acquisition and Strategy at Genentech, Ms. Valentino developed and implemented strategies for talent discovery, recruitment, mobility and hiring. As a member of Genentech’s HR Leadership team and partner to the Business Development organization, she was responsible for ensuring that HR strategy, goals and priorities were driven by and aligned with business objectives, as well as championing cultural initiatives that fostered a differentiated employee experience.
Prior to joining Genentech, Ms. Valentino served for eight years with the firm Albrecht & Associates Executive Search Consultants, conducting executive level searches to fill management and executive positions for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies nationwide.
Ms. Valentino earned a BA in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin.
About Ambys Medicines
Ambys Medicines is a biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing regenerative and restorative therapies for people with advanced liver disease. Founded by world-renowned experts in liver disease and regenerative medicine, Ambys is pioneering the application of novel modalities including cell and gene therapy, and gain-of-function drug therapy, to meet the urgent need for treatments that have potential to restore liver function and prevent the progression to liver failure across multiple liver diseases that are untreatable or poorly treated today. Ambys was launched in 2018 by Third Rock Ventures and Takeda Pharmaceuticals with $140M in starting capital and is headquartered in South San Francisco, Calif. For more information, please visit https://www.ambys.com. We’re always on the hunt for talented new Ambysians. Link here for career opportunities.
