About

Frank Verwiel brings more than 25 years of strategic, operational and international experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry to Intellia’s board of directors as its chairman. Until May 2022, Frank served as chairman of the board of directors of ObsEva SA, a biopharmaceutical company focused on women’s reproductive health, and currently holds membership on the board of Bavarian Nordic A/S (CPH: BAVA). Previously, he served on the board of directors of AveXis Inc. (NASDAQ: AVXS) until the acquisition by Novartis (2018) and Achillion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ACHN) until the acquisition by Alexion (2020), Inc. He was also a member of the board of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization.

Frank possesses significant biotech and pharmaceutical experience, having been the president and chief executive officer of Aptalis Pharma Inc., prior to its acquisition in 2014 by Forest Laboratories. Additionally, Frank led the global hypertension franchise at Merck & Co., served as managing director of Merck’s Dutch subsidiary, and held numerous leadership positions in the commercial organization at Servier Laboratories.

Frank received an M.D. from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He received his MBA from the Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) in Fontainebleau, France.

Muna Bhanji brings more than 30 years of strategic and operational experience in the biopharmaceutical industry to Intellia’s board, including a proven track record of driving growth across a broad portfolio of medicines and vaccines. She built her career at Merck, where she held several senior leadership roles within U.S. based sales, marketing, managed markets and commercial operations, global franchise business units, and global market access and policy. She is the founder and president of Tiba Global Access, a commercialization and market access strategy consultancy serving the biopharmaceutical industry.

In addition to Intellia’s board, Muna serves on the board of directors for several companies, including Cytokinetics (NASDAQ: CYTK), Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARDX) and Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ: VCYT). She also is a member of the board of Corus International, an international humanitarian organization working at the intersection of poverty alleviation and healthcare, as well as Lumanity, an Arsenal Capital Partners’ portfolio company.

Muna earned her B.S. in Pharmacy from Rutgers School of Pharmacy and an MBA from St. Joseph’s University.

Bill Chase is a financial and business executive with more than three decades of strategic and financial management experience at leading life science companies. In addition to serving on Intellia’s board and as chair of the audit committee, he also serves on the boards of Parexel International and Grail.

Previously, Bill served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of AbbVie, following the company’s successful spinout from Abbott Laboratories, in 2012 until 2018. He then went on to serve as executive vice president, Finance and Administration, from October 2018 to July 2019.

Prior to his tenure at AbbVie, Bill spent nearly 25 years in financial management positions of increasing seniority at Abbott, including corporate vice president, Licensing & Acquisitions; corporate vice president and treasurer; and divisional vice president and controller of Abbott International.

Bill holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Illinois and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Fred Cohen is a co-founder and senior managing director at Vida Ventures. Prior to Vida, he founded and was a partner at TPG Biotechnology, where he served 16 years and is now a senior advisor. Fred also was previously chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism and professor of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). At UCSF, he also held various clinical responsibilities as a research scientist, internist for hospitalized patients and consulting endocrinologist.

His research interests include structure-based drug design, prion diseases, computational biology and heteropolymer chemistry. Fred has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, is a co-inventor on more than 10 patents and has been an editor or editorial board member of several international scientific journals.

He currently serves in many scientific and advisory roles in the biotechnology field, including on the board of directors of CareDx Inc. and Kyverna, as well as various private companies. He previously served on the board of directors of Progyny (until May 2025), UroGen Pharma Ltd (until September 2024) and Veracyte, Inc. (until June 2021). He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Fred is also a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Medical Informatics, and a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians.

Fred received his B.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University, his D.Phil. in Molecular Biophysics from University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, his M.D. from Stanford University and his postdoctoral training and postgraduate medical training in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology at UCSF.

Brian Goff has joined the Intellia board of directors, bringing more than 30 years of experience in commercialization, operations, sales and marketing at leading biopharmaceutical companies. He is a seasoned and accomplished global leader focused on rare diseases. Since 2022, he has served as the CEO of Agios Pharmaceuticals and as a board member. Prior to this, he was the executive vice president, chief commercial and global operations officer at Alexion Pharmaceuticals until its acquisition by AstraZeneca in 2021.

His previous roles include COO and board member at Neurovance before its acquisition by Otuska Pharmaceuticals, as well as executive vice president and president of the Hematology Division at Baxalta prior to its acquisition by Shire. Earlier in his career, he held positions in sales and marketing at Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical division.

Brian holds a B.A. from Skidmore College and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jesse Goodman brings to Intellia more than three decades of expertise in medicine and public health, including as a professor, practicing clinician and senior government leader. Jesse is currently a professor of medicine at Georgetown University, where he directs the Center on Medical Product Access, Safety and Stewardship (COMPASS). He also is an active clinician, serving as attending physician in infectious diseases.

He was the FDA’s chief scientist between 2009 and 2014, and previously served as the FDA’s deputy commissioner for science and public health and as director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). Jesse additionally helped develop the FDA’s Regulatory Science and Medical Countermeasures Initiatives and served on the senior leadership team for the 2010 White House Medical Countermeasure Review. As the FDA’s chief scientist, he led preparations and responses to major public health threats, including emerging infectious diseases, disasters and terrorism, such as West Nile Virus and the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Previously, he was professor of medicine and chief of infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota, where his laboratory first isolated and characterized the biology of the emerging tick-borne pathogen, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and where he also led clinical trials helping to develop new anti-infective agents.

Jesse serves on the board of GlaxoSmithKline plc, a global pharmaceutical company and as president and trustee of the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention. He was previously appointed to the Board of Scientific Counselors of the Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC).

Jesse graduated with a B.S. in Biology from Harvard University; earned an MPH from the University of Minnesota; and received his M.D. from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed his residency and fellowship training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he was also chief medical resident. He is board-certified in internal medicine, infectious diseases and oncology and has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and to the U.S. National Academy of Medicine.

Georgia Keresty brings more than 35 years of pharmaceutical industry experience to Intellia’s board. She has held key global roles in pharmaceutical research and development, operations, manufacturing and distribution, quality, compliance and regulatory affairs. In her last role, she served as the chief operating officer of Volnay Therapeutics. Prior to this role, Dr. Keresty served as the chief operating officer for Takeda Research and Development (“Takeda R&D”), a division of Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. Dr. Keresty served in leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson, including as vice president and global head, pharmaceutical development and manufacturing science; at Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., as vice president, worldwide quality and compliance; and at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation as manufacturing site head.

In addition to Intellia’s board, Georgia serves as a member of the board of directors of Aspen Technology, Inc., (NASDAQ: AZPN), an industrial asset optimization software company, and Solid Biosciences, Inc., (NASDAQ: SLDB), a life sciences company. She is also a member of the board of directors of Commissioning Agents, Inc., a global engineering services firm, and the board of trustees for Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. She previously served on the board of Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy and the board of trustees for the New Jersey Foundation for Aging, which is now called the NJ Advocates for Aging Well.

Georgia earned B.Sc. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University and Computer Science from Ramapo College, an M.S. in Information Systems from Pace University, an M.B.A and Ph.D. in Operations Management from Rutgers Business School, and an M.P.H. in Global Health Leadership from the University of Southern California.

After a 30-year career in pharmaceutical R&D, John Leonard retired from his position as chief scientific officer and senior vice president of R&D at AbbVie in 2013. Inspired by the opportunity to work with a new therapeutic modality and form a new company, he returned to his life’s passion and joined the Intellia team to direct the research and development effort to make CRISPR/Cas9 technology into a therapeutic reality. He became Intellia’s president and chief executive officer in January 2018.

John is among the leading R&D executives who have led breakthrough medicines through their discovery, development and launch into blockbuster drugs. While serving as the global head of pharmaceutical R&D at Abbott Laboratories, John oversaw the development of numerous novel therapeutics. His groundbreaking work with HIV protease inhibitors Norvir® and Kaletra® led to new treatment paradigms for AIDS, his years of work with Humira® made it the all-time top-selling drug worldwide and he led significant growth of the R&D pipeline at Abbott and Abbvie. John’s teams were twice recognized with the prestigious Prix Galien Award for excellence in pharmaceutical research.

In addition to serving on the board of directors of Intellia, John serves on the board of directors of IQVIA (NYSE: IQV), IFM Therapeutics and 3T Biosciences. He received his M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, followed by a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health.