Meet
the Team
Leadership
Team
Leadership
Team
Sean McClain
Founder, CEO & Director
Sean McClain
Founder, CEO & Director
Sean McClain is the Founder and CEO of Absci, a leading generative AI Drug Creation company with a mission to create better biologics for patients, faster.
Sean embodies entrepreneurial spirit, having built Absci from basement lab to a publicly traded company and continuing to strive towards his vision to create therapeutics at the click of a button. Under his leadership, Absci scaled to over 200 employees, raised over $450M in capital, established a growing number of industry-leading partnerships, and built an Integrated Drug Creation Platform that merges bleeding-edge generative AI models with proprietary high-throughput wet-lab data.
Sean studied biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Arizona and has been the recipient of numerous recognitions for his entrepreneurship and innovation. He serves as a board member for the Oregon Bioscience Association, the Oregon Translational Research and Development Institute, and Life Science Washington.
Did you know?:
Sean loves chess and perfecting his weekend BBQ with the dream of opening a pop-up restaurant with his favorite chef, Gregory Gourdet.
Greg Schiffman, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Greg Schiffman, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Greg Shiffman, Chief Financial Officer, is responsible for all of Absci's financial operations and for overseeing capital raising, mergers, and acquisitions. An experienced CFO and Director who headed up various global finance and manufacturing operations, with a demonstrated history of working in the biotechnology and life science industries, both public and private. Greg graduated from Northwestern University, receiving an MBA degree, he also holds a Bachelor's degree in accounting from DePaul University.
Did you know?:
Greg was a professional photographer before he was a CFO.
Andreas Busch, PhD
Chief Innovation Officer
Andreas Busch, PhD
Chief Innovation Officer
Andreas Busch, PhD, Chief Innovation Officer is responsible for leading R&D, technical operations, and driving both Absci's internal and partner programs. Dr. Busch brings substantial R&D expertise to Absci's leadership team as a world-renowned leader in drug discovery and has led R&D efforts for some of the globe's top pharma companies including Sanofi, Bayer, and Shire. His leadership has resulted in over 10 commercial drugs starting from bench to FDA approval with several more in late stage clinical development. He holds the title of Extraordinary Professor of Pharmacology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University in Frankfurt, Germany, where he also received his PhD in Pharmacology.
Did you know?:
Andreas loves (real) football and even played in the minor league in Germany, enjoys riding his motorbike thru Alps and, of course, playing with his beloved dog Zorro (Number 1 in Penelope's succession list).
Sarah Korman, PhD, JD
Chief Legal Officer
Sarah Korman, PhD, JD
Chief Legal Officer
Sarah Korman, PhD, JD, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, leads Absci's legal team and oversees the company's legal affairs, business transactions, intellectual property, risk management, and compliance. Prior to joining Absci, Sarah served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Neuvogen. She was previously at Amgen, where she held numerous roles including Head of Intellectual Property for Final Drug Products. Before that, Sarah held increasingly senior legal positions at Onyx Pharmaceuticals and served as an intern at the World Intellectual Property Organization Coordination Office at the United Nations. Sarah holds a PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University, where she was named as a National Science Foundation Fellow, a JD from DePaul University College of Law, and dual BS degrees in Chemistry and Metallurgical & Materials Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.
Did you know?:
Sarah is an inventor on numerous patents directed to nano-enabled therapeutics and drug delivery. She collects illustrated Edgar Allan Poe books and her favorite instrument is the oboe, which she still plays.
Jack Gold
Chief Marketing Officer
Jack Gold
Chief Marketing Officer
Jack Gold, Chief Marketing Officer leads Absci's marketing team and brand building efforts. Jack was previously Chief Marketing Officer at Zymergen. Prior to that role, he spent 21 years at Nike serving in multiple senior marketing positions to help build their brand worldwide. Jack started his career in London at Saatchi & Saatchi, an eminent global advertising firm. He studied Advertising at Watford College, UK.
Did you know?:
Jack is an avid sushi lover and youth lacrosse coach. He once had dinner with Ronaldo on the top of a mountain in Sardinia watching the day's highlights of Serie A where he (Ronaldo) scored the only goal for Inter Milan in a 1-0 win. Watching Ronaldo watching Ronaldo!
Karin Wierinck
Chief People Officer
Karin Wierinck
Chief People Officer
Karin Wierinck, Chief People Officer, brings deep experience from her leadership roles at top biotech and pharma companies such as Takeda, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer. Karin has partnered with diverse executive leadership teams to create business value within dynamic, high-growth environments, all while ensuring strong HR service delivery. Her experience working in the US, Switzerland, and throughout Europe will help Absci develop its global talent base. Karin is passionate about building positive cultures based on trust and transparency. She holds Masters degrees in German Philology and Plurilingual Business Communication from Ghent University, and a Masters Degree in HR Leadership from Rutgers University.
Did you know?:
Karin's joy is spending time with family and friends, preferably by the sea or in the mountains. She loves food and travel, and her Pomeranian, Bono, is a regular travel companion. Karin is thrilled that Bono can come with her to work and collaborate with other Unlimiter canines!
Penelope
Chief Morale Officer
Joshua Meier
SVP, Chief AI Officer
Joshua Meier
SVP, Chief AI Officer
Joshua Meier, SVP, Chief AI Officer, is responsible for leading the development of Absci's cutting edge generative AI models to design new protein therapeutics from scratch. Previously, he led the research platform for protein language modeling at Facebook AI Research where his group published a series of papers demonstrating the promise of unsupervised learning for protein sequence design. At Facebook, Joshua was lead developer of the ESM-1b and ESM-1v models, which are widely used across biopharma today. Earlier in his career, Joshua worked on Generative AI at OpenAI, managed product for virtual reality at Google, and built MIT's CRISPR-ML design platform. Joshua studied CS & Chemistry at Harvard.
Did you know?:
Joshua lives in NYC and likes running, classical music, and Broadway shows.
Wen Sha
Chief of Staff
Wen Sha
Chief of Staff
Wen Sha, Chief of Staff supports Absci's Founder & CEO and partners with the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) in managing strategic internal and external initiatives. Prior to joining Absci, Wen led the Business Operations & Portfolio Management team at Seagen. Wen brings experience across large biopharmaceuticals, high-growth start-ups, and consulting, where his responsibilities included corporate strategy, business operations, R&D portfolio management, and serving as Chief of Staff. He holds degrees in Economics and Management from the University of Alberta and Yale University respectively.
Did you know?:
Outside of work Wen enjoys exploring new foods, collecting vinyl records, and spending time in the Canadian Rockies where he is originally from.
Jens Plassmeier, PhD
SVP, Synthetic Biology R&D
Jens Plassmeier, PhD
SVP, Synthetic Biology R&D
Jens Plassmeier, PhD, Senior Vice President of Synthetic Biology is responsible for developing and advancing our synthetic biology platform facilitating for example our Absci Antibody Drug Conjugate generation technology. Before joining Absci, Jens was VP of Biomaterials and Director of Innovations at Conagen, Sr. Team leader for Biobased Chemicals at BASF, and Research Scientist at MIT. He holds a PhD in Molecular Genetics from Bielefeld University and did his Postdoc studies at MIT.
Did you know?:
Jens loves board games, hiking, has a dog called "Mary Poppins", and has done a lot of obstacle course races for fun.
Christine Lemke, PhD, DVM, MBA
SVP, Portfolio and Growth Strategy
Christine Lemke, PhD, DVM, MBA
SVP, Portfolio and Growth Strategy
Christine Lemke, DVM, MBA, Senior Vice President, Portfolio and Growth Strategy, is responsible for implementing and driving a rigorous strategic planning and portfolio management process. As a seasoned international executive, she brings substantial corporate development and operations expertise to Absci. For global bio-pharmaceutical companies, including Bayer, Shire and Takeda, Christine delivered multiple global, cross-functional strategic projects sponsored by executive board members. She holds a DVM from FU Berlin, a PhD from School of Veterinary Medicine Hannover as well as an MBA from University of Denver and is based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Did you know?:
In the nineties, Christine bred warmblood sport horses from her home state, Schleswig-Holstein called "Holsteiner". She loves eating out with friends, hiking in the Alps with her partner Joerg and gardening in her second home in France.
Christian Stegmann, PhD, MBA
SVP, Drug Creation
Christian Stegmann, PhD, MBA
SVP, Drug Creation
Christian Stegmann, PhD, MBA, Senior Vice President, Drug Creation, is responsible for research and preclinical development. Christian joined Absci from CSL Vifor, where he was VP Head of Research and Non-clinical Development. Prior to that, Christian held various leadership roles at Bayer, most recently as Senior Director Head of Precision Cardiology Laboratory. Christian has a track record of leading teams that successfully bring new molecular entities into clinical development. Christian holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from University of Goettingen, Germany as well as an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.
Did you know?:
Christian is a foodie, sourdough bread baker and enjoys skiing and hiking in the Swiss alps and the West Coast mountains with his family.
Daniele Biasci, PhD
Consulting VP, Immunology
Todd Bedrick, CPA
SVP, Chief Accounting Officer
Todd Bedrick, Chief Accounting Officer, oversees the accounting and reporting, corporate tax, financial planning and analysis, acquisition integration and has managed multiple company-wide system implementations. Todd played a crucial role through the company's IPO. His prior experience includes being a senior audit manager at Ernst & Young and the Director of Technical Accounting at The Greenbrier Companies. Todd earned his BSBA in Accounting from the University of Arizona - Eller College of Management, he also holds an MS in Financial Analysis, received from Portland State University - School of Business.
Did you know?:
Todd loves iced coffee, traveling to new places, and paddleboarding lakes and rivers with his wife and two children. He is also a long-time Portland Trailblazers fan!
Tom Cordaro
VP, Business Development
Tom Cordaro
VP, Business Development
Tom Cordaro, Vice President of Business Development, is responsible for partnership development at Absci. Prior to joining, Tom served as Chief Strategy Officer and Interim Chief Business Officer for Acceleron Pharma, which was acquired by Merck in late 2021. Prior to Acceleron, Tom spent over 20 years at Bayer and Schering AG in various leadership roles within strategy, business development and commercial functions, helping to develop over five blockbuster franchises and multiple R&D partnerships. He holds an MBA from Syracuse University, and is based in the Cambridge, MA area.
Did you know?:
Tom spent over 10 years managing New York youth baseball teams, still loves trying to keep up with his children on the ski slopes and enjoys cycling and hiking with his family.
Alexander Khan, CPA
VP, Finance & Investor Relations
Alexander Khan, CPA
VP, Finance & Investor Relations
Alex Khan, Vice President, Finance & Head of Investor Relations interfaces with existing and prospective investors as well as sell side equity research analysts, and partners with the Executive Leadership Team on financial and investor-facing strategy and operations. His prior experience before joining Absci includes healthcare investor relations and advisory, equity research, and public accounting. Alex studied Economics-Accounting at The College of the Holy Cross and maintains a CPA license in New York.
Did you know?:
Alex enjoys biking, running, cooking, and music and is a longstanding New York Mets fan.
Todd Bedrick, CPA
SVP, Chief Accounting Officer
Daniele Biasci, PhD
Consulting VP, Immunology
Daniele Biasci, PhD, Vice President of Immunology, is responsible for developing and advancing our reverse immunology based drug generation technology. Prior to joining Absci, he was co-founder and VP of Immunology at Totient, later acquired by Absci. He's also a Principal Investigator at the University of Oxford, Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, focusing on genetics of tertiary lymphoid structures formation in cancer and autoimmunity. Daniele received his PhD in Immunology from the University of Cambridge and his Master's Degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Pisa.
Did you know?:
Daniele loves hiking with his brother David and growing unlimited amounts of fresh lettuce for his beloved tortoise Mario.
Imad Ajjawi, PhD, MBA
VP, Business Development
Imad Ajjawi, PhD, MBA
VP, Business Development
Imad Ajjawi, PhD, MBA, Vice President of Business Development, is responsible for business growth, executing Absci's sales and marketing plans, and seeking new strategic partnerships. Prior to joining Absci, he was the Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of Denovium, where he forged numerous AI biopharma commercial partnerships and was later acquired by Absci. Prior to Denovium, Imad was an R&D lead at Synthetic Genomics and transitioned into the Business team after receiving his MBA from UC San Diego. He has authored more than 25 peer-reviewed manuscripts and patents, and received his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Nevada, Reno.
Executive
Leadership
Executive
Leadership
Sean McClain
Founder, CEO & Director
Greg Schiffman, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Andreas Busch, PhD
Chief Innovation Officer
Sarah Korman, PhD, JD
Chief Legal Officer
Jack Gold
Chief Marketing Officer
Karin Wierinck
Chief People Officer
Penelope
Chief Morale Officer
Board
of Directors
Board of
Directors
Sean McClain
Founder, CEO & Director
Karen McGinnis, CPA
Chief Accounting Officer, Illumina
Karen McGinnis, CPA
Former Chief Accounting Officer, Illumina
Karen McGinnis, CPA has served as a member of our board of directors since August 2020.
Ms. McGinnis has also served as an independent director of Sonendo, Inc. since October 2021, Alphatec Holdings, Inc. since June 2019 and Biosplice Therapeutics, Inc. from April 2021 until March 2023.
Ms. McGinnis was Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer of Illumina, Inc. from November 2017 until her retirement on April 2, 2021.
Ms. McGinnis also served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Mad Catz Interactive Inc. from February 2016 to March 2017, the Chief Financial Officer of Mad Catz Interactive Inc. from June 2013 to February 2016 and served as the Chief Accounting Officer of Cymer, Inc. from November 2009 to June 2013. Previously, Ms. McGinnis served as Chief Accounting Officer for Insight Enterprises, Inc., from September 2006 until March 2009, its Senior Vice President of Finance from 2001 through September 2006 and its Vice President of Finance from 2000 through 2001. From 1997 to 2000, she served as the Chief Financial Officer of Horizon.
Prior to Horizon, Ms. McGinnis was employed by KPMG LLP from 1989 to 1997 and served as its Senior Assurance Manager.
Ms. McGinnis is a Certified Public Accountant and received a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Oklahoma in 1989.
Board of Director Roles
Financial Expert
Chairperson of the Audit Committee
Member of the Compensation Committee
Amrit Nagpal
Managing Director, Redmile Group
Amrit Nagpal
Managing Director, Redmile Group
Amrit Nagpal has served as a member of our board of directors since October 2020. He is currently a Managing Director at Redmile Group, LLC, a healthcare-focused investment firm.
Prior to joining Redmile in January 2013, Mr. Nagpal spent ten years at Weintraub Capital Management LP, an investment firm based in San Francisco, CA, as both an analyst and portfolio manager.
Prior to Weintraub, Mr. Nagpal was an associate and an analyst at Robertson Stephens, a San Francisco-based investment bank. Mr. Nagpal holds a B.A. in Economics from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from The Anderson School at University of California, Los Angeles.
Board of Director Roles
Member of the Audit Committee
Dan Rabinovitsj
Vice President of Connectivity, Meta
Daniel Rabinovitsj
Vice President, Meta
Daniel Rabinovitsj has served as a member of our board of directors since November 2022. Mr. Rabinovitsj has served as a Vice President of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, and Facebook since August 2018.
Previously, Mr. Rabinovitsj served as Chief Operating Officer of Ruckus Wireless, Inc., a global supplier of advanced wireless systems for the mobile Internet infrastructure market, from October 2014 until its acquisition by ARRIS International plc in December 2017.
From 2011 to September 2014, Mr. Rabinovitsj served as Senior Vice President of Qualcomm Atheros, Inc.’s wired and wireless networking and small cell infrastructure business.
Prior to Qualcomm Atheros, Mr. Rabinovitsj served in a number of executive management positions at companies including Atheros Communications, NXP Semiconductors, ST Ericsson, and Silicon Labs. Mr. Rabinovitsj previously served as a board member of QuickLogic Corporation and a private company developing intellectual property based upon machine learning to improve communication and other systems.
Mr. Rabinovitsj received an M.A. in Asian Studies and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin.
Board of Director Roles
Member of the Audit Committee
Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
Ivana Magovcevic-Liebisch, PhD, JD
President & CEO, Vigil Neuroscience Board Chair
Ivana Magovcevic-Liebisch, Phd, JD
CEO & President, Vigil Neuroscience
Dr. Magovcevic-Liebisch has served as a member of our board of directors since August 2020 and its chairperson since January 2021. Dr. Magovcevic-Liebisch has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the board of directors of Vigil Neuroscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: VIGL) since July 2020.
Prior to Vigil, Dr. Magovcevic-Liebisch was Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer at Ipsen, a pharmaceutical company, from March 2018 to April 2020, where she led the External Innovation, Business Development and Alliance Management functions.
Prior to Ipsen, Dr. Magovcevic-Liebisch was Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer at Axcella Health Inc. (NASDAQ: AXLA) from May 2017 to March 2018, and Senior Vice President, Head of Global Business Development for the specialty drug business at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA) from March 2013 to May 2017. Dr. Magovcevic-Liebisch previously worked at Dyax Corp. (acquired by Shire plc (NASDAQ: SHPG)) from April 2001 to March 2013 in management roles of increasing scope and responsibility, including Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, where she launched the company’s first drug, Kalbitor® for an orphan indication, Hereditary Angiodema. Dr. Magovcevic-Liebisch began her biopharmaceutical career at Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc., where she was Director of Intellectual Property and Patent Counsel from 1998 to 2001.
Dr. Magovcevic-Liebisch is currently a member of the board of directors of Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AGLE) and previously served as a member of the board of directors of Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: AGTC).
She is also a trustee of the Boston Museum of Science and of the Boston Ballet, and overseer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
She received a B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Wheaton College, a Ph.D. in Genetics from Harvard University, and a J.D. in High Technology Law from Suffolk University Law School.
Board of Director Roles
Board Chair
Chairperson of the Compensation Committee
Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
Joseph Sirosh, PhD
Vice President, Alexa Shopping, Amazon
Joseph Sirosh, PhD
Vice President of Alexa Shopping, Amazon
Joseph Sirosh, Ph.D. has served as a member of our board of directors since January 2022. Dr. Sirosh has served as Vice President of Amazon's Alexa Shopping group since October 2022.
Previously, Dr. Sirosh served as the Chief Technology Officer of Compass, Inc. from December 2018 to August 2022 and held various positions at the Microsoft Corporation from July 2013 to December 2018, including Chief Technology Officer of Artificial Intelligence.
During his tenure at Microsoft, Dr. Sirosh led product and engineering teams with responsibility for the enterprise database, Big Data, and machine learning products.
Prior to Microsoft, Dr. Sirosh served as a Vice President of Technology at Amazon.Com, Inc., from December 2004 to July 2013, where he built the machine learning and Transaction Risk Management teams. Dr. Sirosh holds a B. Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and an M.S. in Computer Science and a Ph.D. in Neural Networks from the University of Texas at Austin.
Zachariah Jonasson, PhD
Managing Partner PVP
Zachariah Jonasson, PhD
Managing Partner PVP
Zachariah Jonasson, Ph.D. has served as a member of our board of directors since the formation of Absci Corporation in October 2020 and on the board of directors of Absci LLC, the Company's predecessor, from April 2016 to October 2020.
He has over 26 years of experience in research, venture capital and company operations. Dr. Jonasson is currently a Managing General Partner of Phoenix Venture Partners LLC (PVP), a venture capital firm based in San Mateo, CA that he co-founded in August 2010.
Dr. Jonasson leads PVP's investment strategy in biotechnology-based businesses and has been involved in raising all of PVP's venture capital and seed investment funds. In addition to serving on our board, Dr. Jonasson serves as a director on the boards of PVP portfolio companies, L7 Informatics, Inc., Micropore, Inc., Xandar Kardian, Inc., Green Theme Technologies, Inc., and Crop Enhancement, Inc.
He also presently serves on the board of the Oregon Translational Research and Development Institute (OTRADI) & Oregon Bioscience Incubator (OBI) and has previously served on the Commercialization Council of the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI), the Advisory Board for the Oregon Innovation Cluster (OIC), and the Advisory Board of the Life Sciences Institute at the University of British Columbia.
Previously, Dr. Jonasson was a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Comera Life Sciences Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CMRA, previously named ReForm Biologics, LLC) and a co-founder and VP of Business Development of Crop Enhancement, LLC.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Jonasson was a General Partner and Kauffman Fellow at Seaflower Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the biotechnology sector, where he led, managed and held board or board observer roles at several of the firm's investments, including Serenex, Inc., Metaworks, Inc., and Valeritas, Inc. Dr. Jonasson earned a Bachelor of Science from Georgetown University in the Honors Program in 1995 and an A.M. and Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2000 and 2003, respectively, where he was a Sackler Scholar.
He has co-taught a marketing course at Harvard Business School as well as served as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University.
Prior to graduate school, Dr. Jonasson was a Research Associate at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Board of Director Roles
Member of the Compensation Committee
Chairperson of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
Scientific
Advisory Board
Scientific
Advisory Board
Hubert Truebel MD, PhD, MBA
Chief Medical Officer, AiCuris
Timothy Lu, MD, PhD
Co-Founder & CEO, Senti Biosciences
Victor Greiff, PhD
Associate Professor, University of Oslo
Dog
Pack
Dog
Pack
Penelope
Polly
Bono
Tucker
Beatrix
Mary Poppins
Sachi
Torbin
Freya
Ove
Coco
Diego
Creating new drugs at the speed of AI
Absci is a generative AI drug creation company.
Our mission is simple: create better biologics for patients, faster.