CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Repare Therapeutics, a precision oncology company pioneering synthetic lethality to develop novel therapeutics that target specific vulnerabilities of tumors in genetically defined patient populations, announced today that it has made two additions to its leadership team and Board of Directors. Steve Forte is appointed as Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer and leads the Company’s financial, capital markets and administrative operations. Samarth Kulkarni, PhD, CEO of CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP), has been appointed to Repare’s Board of Directors as an independent director.
“We are thrilled to make these key additions of Steve and Sam to our executive team and board leadership respectively,” said Lloyd M. Segal, President & Chief Executive Officer of Repare Therapeutics. Steve Forte will be based in Repare’s Montreal, QC, offices. Katina Dorton, who had previously served as Repare’s CFO, has departed to pursue other interests, and will continue to serve as an advisor to the Company.
Steve Forte
Steve is a senior financial leader who has managed in complex, large-scale healthcare financial environments. Until its recent sale to Ipsen for US$1.3 billion, he was CFO of Clementia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CMTA), a leading biotechnology innovator in treatments for rare diseases. His experience includes nearly a decade at Aptalis Pharma Inc., where he was responsible for the overall corporate controllership function of a multinational pharmaceutical company with approximately $700 million in annual revenue in six global operating entities. Steve led SEC reporting including the preparation of an SEC S-1 registration statement for a U.S. IPO prior to the sale of the company to Forest Labs for $2.9 billion. Prior to Clementia, Steve was CFO of Thinking Capital Financial Corporation, a leading Canadian financial technology firm sold to Purpose Investments in 2018.
Steve received his Bachelor of Commerce in Accountancy from Concordia University and is a CPA/CMA.
Samarth Kulkarni
Sam has served as CEO of CRISPR Therapeutics since 2017. He has significant expertise in strategy and operations in biotechnology and a wide range of related cutting-edge therapeutic technologies. He joined CRISPR in 2015 in the early stages of the company as Chief Business Officer, and then served as President and Chief Business Officer. Prior to joining CRISPR, Sam was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he had a leading role in the Pharmaceutical and Medical products practice. While at McKinsey, he co-led the biotech practice, where he focused on topics ranging from strategy to operations and led initiatives in areas such as personalized medicine and immunotherapy. Sam also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Casebia Therapeutics, a joint subsidiary formed by CRISPR Therapeutics and Bayer.
He received a Ph.D. in Bioengineering and Nanotechnology from the University of Washington and a B. Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology. While at the University of Washington, he conducted research in the delivery of biological drugs and in the field of molecular diagnostics. He has authored several publications in leading scientific and business journals.
About Repare Therapeutics
Repare Therapeutics is pioneering synthetic lethality to develop novel therapeutics that target specific vulnerabilities of tumors in genetically defined patient populations. The company’s initial focus is on novel targeted therapies in cancer types harboring defective DNA-damage response (DDR)- or genome instability-related functions. Repare’s SNIPRx™ platform combines a proprietary, high throughput, CRISPR‐enabled gene editing target discovery technology with high‐resolution protein crystallography, computational biology, medicinal chemistry and clinical informatics to rapidly generate small molecules for clinical investigation. The company is backed by leading global healthcare investors including Versant Ventures and MPM Capital. For additional information, please visit www.reparerx.com.
