Executive Committee

Our management team is led by our Chief Executive Officer, Laurence Rodriguez, who over 30 years’ experience in the life sciences industry. She is supported by a management team with broad expertise in all aspects of turning science into solutions for patients.

Laurence Rodriguez
Chief Executive Officer
Laurence Rodriguez
Chief Executive Officer
Laurence Rodriguez has over 30 years’ experience in the life sciences industry, including 13 years in the rare diseases business at Sanofi Genzyme, where she held a range of executive roles. As Head of the Rare Diseases & Rare Blood Disorders unit at Sanofi Genzyme, she oversaw the successful launch of various rare disease products developed or acquired by the Company.

She helped drive the establishment, growth and success of Genzyme in France as a leader in rare diseases, which was capped by the acquisition of the company by Sanofi in 2011.

She joined GenSight Biologics in May 2021 as Country Manager and Head of Operations for France. She coordinated the early access program in preparation for LUMEVOQ®'s commercialization and created strong relationships based on mutual trust with key stakeholders in the French market.

Laurence Rodriguez holds a Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition and Biochemistry and a Master’s degree from Sciences Po, Paris, France, and completed an Organization Leadership Program at the Harvard Business School.
Ivan Tortet
Interim Chief Financial Officer
Ivan Tortet
Interim Chief Financial Officer
Ivan Tortet is the interim Chief Financial Officer of GenSight.

After 8 years' experience at Deloitte, Ivan served as the CFO of various high-growth digital and high-tech companies, including Equant, Seloger.com, Deezer, and Labelium. Ivan holds a master's degree in finance from ESC Dijon and has also completed the program at INSEAD.
Magali Taiel
Chief Medical Officer
Magali Taiel
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Taiel completed her doctorate in Medicine with board certified in Ophthalmology from Lariboisiere Saint Louis University, Paris, France, in 1993, and her Associate Professor degree in 1998. Dr Taiel completed her internship at academic Paris hospitals, was an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, served as an Ophthalmology Department Head, and ran Surgical and Medical Ophthalmology private practice.

After 13 years of Ophthalmology public and private practice, Dr Taiel has been engaged in the Pharma Industry for 20 years; she brings extensive experience and expertise in drug clinical development, gene therapy, and medical affairs. She started her carrier at Servier company headquarters, and then worked in Ophthalmology area at Pfizer for several years; she then held international and management positions in various therapeutic areas, including both technical and supervision duties, at Eli Lilly Company for many years. Then, as VP Clinical Development, she led Clinical Development and Operations, to develop antisense oligonucleotides in Inherited Retinal diseases at ProQR Therapeutics. She then moved to GenSight-Biologics in 2018, to supervise the Medical Department and lead Gene Therapy programs in Inherited Retinal and Neuro-Ophthalmology diseases.

Dr. Taiel has authored numerous protocols and articles published in peer reviewed journals, and made critical contributions to successful clinical development and launch of many products. She brings extensive years of experience from both academic medicine and pharma industry.
Scott Jeffers
Chief Technical Officer
Scott Jeffers
Chief Technical Officer
Dr. Scott Jeffers joined GenSight as Chief Technical Officer in April 2022.

Scott has extensive experience in senior executive chemistry, manufacturing, and control (CMC) development and operations roles in various biopharmaceutical and contract manufacturing companies such as, Redpin Therapeutics, uniQure, Selecta Biosciences, and Brammer Bio.

He has more than 20 years of experience in viral gene therapy, virology, biochemistry, and molecular biology. He is a recognized expert in the development and manufacture of gene therapy vectors for pre-clinical, clinical, and commercial stage gene therapy drug products.

Based in Boston, USA, Scott is collaborating intensively with our manufacturing partners.

Scott completed two post-doctoral fellowships at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and the University of Colorado. He earned his Ph.D. in Virology at Purdue University and his B.S. in Biology at Colorado State University.
Magali Gibou
Vice President Regulatory and Quality
Magali Gibou
Vice President Regulatory and Quality
Magali Gibou was appointed to the role of Vice President Regulatory and Quality in December 2023.
Magali joins GenSight Biologics with more than 25 years of expertise in securing regulatory pathways and interacting with worldwide regulatory authorities within biotech and larger pharma companies such as Faust Pharmaceuticals, Transgene, F. Hoffmann-La Roche and Sangamo Therapeutics. Magali has broad regulatory experience in advanced therapies, including AAV-based gene therapies and genetically modified cell therapies, in CNS, inflammatory and auto-immune diseases as well as rare diseases.
Magali holds an M.Sc. in Neurosciences and a B.Sc. in Cellular Biology and Physiology as well as an inter-university diploma on clinical trials from the Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg, France.

Management Committee

The Executive Committee is supported by a Management Committee made up of highly qualified experts in their fields of activity

Julio Benedicto
Vice President of Strategic Marketing
Marion Ghibaudo
Chief Technical Officer Medical Device

Board of Directors

Michael Wyzga is joined by seven directors in providing oversight over the company’s activities.

Michael Wyzga
Chairman
Michael Wyzga
Chairman
Michael Wyzga has served as a director since October 2013 and as our Chairman since March 2016. Mr. Wyzga is currently the President of MSW Consulting, Inc., a private company focused on strategic biotechnology consulting. Prior to that, Mr. Wyzga served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Radius Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: RDUS), a biopharmaceutical company, from
December 2011 until November 2013.

Prior to that, Mr. Wyzga served in various senior management positions at Genzyme Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, which was acquired by Sanofi in 2011. Mr. Wyzga joined Genzyme in February 1998 and most recently served as Executive Vice President, Finance from May 2003 until November 2011 and as Chief Financial Officer from July 1999 until November 2011.

Since February 2014, Mr. Wyzga has served as a member of the board of directors of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKBA), a biopharmaceutical company, where he is also a member of the compensation committee and chair of the audit committee. Since February 2013, Mr. Wyzga has also served as a member of the board of directors and chair of the audit committee of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: OMED), a biopharmaceutical company.

Since February 2015, Mr. Wyzga has also served as a member of the board of directors of Exact Sciences Corporation (Nasdaq: EXAS), a medical technology company, where he is also a member of the audit and compensation committees.

Mr. Wyzga also previously served as a member of the board of directors of Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company that was acquired by Merck in August 2014, where he also served as the chair of the audit committee and a member of the compensation committee, Altus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company that ceased operations in November 2009, and as a member of the supervisory board of Prosensa Holding B.V., or Prosensa, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, from June 2014 until the Prosensa acquisition by BioMarin Falcon B.V. in December 2014. Mr. Wyzga received an MBA from Providence College and a B.S. from Suffolk University.
Maritza McIntyre
Independent Director
Ph.D.
Maritza McIntyre
Independent Director
Ph.D.
Maritza McIntyre, PhD, has 20 years of experience in the development, evaluation and regulation of biological and small molecule products within startup biotech firms, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and as a consultant.

Dr. McIntyre was a product reviewer and ultimately Branch Chief in the Division of Cellular and Gene Therapies at FDA/CBER. She has since worked in senior roles in regulatory affairs and product development at Bavarian Nordic, REGENXBIO, NanoCor Therapeutics and Bamboo Therapeutics. As president of Advanced Therapies Partners, Dr. McIntyre provides strategic regulatory and product development advice to biotech companies, academics, and venture capital firms. She has proven success in defining development strategies for products with complex regulatory challenges. She has also been involved in the preparation of some of the first BLA and MAA submissions for gene therapy products to FDA and EMA.

Dr. McIntyre received a Ph.D. in virology from the University of Chicago and graduated magna cum laude with an Honors B.S. in biology from Wayne State University.
Cedric Moreau
Representing Sofinnova Partners
Cedric Moreau
Representing Sofinnova Partners
Cédric Moreau is a Partner in the Crossover investment team at Sofinnova Partners.

When he joined Soffinova in June 2018, he brought 18 years of experience in life sciences investment banking. Previously, Cédric was Managing Director and Head of Healthcare Corporate Finance at Oddo BHF, which was the top-ranked firm for European biotech equity capital market deals in 2017. Prior to this, he was Director at Bryan Garnier & Co where he completed several sizeable cross-border transactions and managed more than 2 billion euros in European healthcare transactions. Before his corporate finance career, he spent 10 years as a Healthcare Equity Analyst and was several times EXTEL top-ranked at Natixis and Fortis. He was in charge of coverage of both listed biotech and pharma companies.

Cédric holds a Master’s in Economics and post-graduate diploma in Finance and Taxation (Sorbonne) and diploma from the Société Française des Analystes Financiers (SFAF).
Simone Seiter
Independent Director
M.D., Ph.D.
Simone Seiter
Independent Director
M.D., Ph.D.
Simone Seiter, M.D., Ph.D., has served as a director since April 2017. Dr. Seiter is a Vice President with IQVIA (formerly QuintilesIMS) based in Frankfurt, Germany and has held the role for 12 years.

Prior to joining QuintilesIMS, Dr. Seiter worked at Capgemini as a consultant for six years and served as a postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institutes of Health (United States) for two years. Previously, Dr. Seiter worked at the Universities of Heidelberg and Homburg, Germany as board-certified dermatologist.

Dr. Seiter holds an M.D.-Ph.D. degree from the University of Heidelberg and an MBA from the University of Applied Sciences in Neu-Ulm Germany.
Françoise de Craecker
Independent Director
Françoise de Craecker
Independent Director
In her last position, Mrs. de Craecker led the EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) region at AveXis, further acquired by Novartis. She built from scratch the multifunctional team launching Zolgensma, the first one-shot Gene Therapy for the treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy, in the EMEA region. She paved the way for the approval, distribution, market access and commercialization, working with authorities on innovative funding pathways and early access. She also established a wide presence in the main European markets and a network of distributors in the Middle East and other European countries.

Prior to joining AveXis, Mrs. de Craecker was leading European operations for Raptor Pharmaceuticals at the critical phase of a shift from R&D to commercialization of their lead product in Cystinosis. Before that, she was part of the team launching the first Orphan Drug approved in Europe and took different positions of increasing responsibilities within Shire Human Genetics. She also led various strategic and operational teams, locally and globally for 14 years.

Mrs. de Craecker holds a Master’s in Science from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Leuven (Belgium).
Elsy Boglioli
Independent Director
Elsy Boglioli
Independent Director
Elsy is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bio-Up, a healthcare advisory firm supporting companies in strong scale up or transformation phases, mainly in the field of cell and gene therapy. She has far-reaching expertise and a broad network within the pharma and medtech industries.
Before she created Bio-Up, Elsy was Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer at Cellectis, a French biotechnology company focused on gene editing and its applications in oncology. At Cellectis she led various strategic and operational functions: strategy, business development, clinical trials program management, as well as manufacturing, with the objective of building in-house capacity. Prior to joining Cellectis, Elsy worked at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for 12 years. She served as Partner and Managing Director in the Paris Office, was the leader of BCG’s biotech-focused business in Europe. She worked closely with biotech and pharma companies on topics such as specialty product launch optimization, partnering and M&A.
Elsy graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, France and holds a master’s degree in economy and management from the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain. She also completed a College degree in Immuno-oncology at Institut Gustave Roussy in Paris, France.
Prof. Jose-Alain Sahel
Observer and co-Founder
M.D., Ph. D.
Prof. Jose-Alain Sahel
Observer and co-Founder
M.D., Ph. D.
Pr. Sahel is chairing the Vision Institute in Paris, a center of excellence in ophthalmology assembling scientific teams (University PM Curie, INSERM, CNRS) as well as the French National Eye, featuring access to cohorts of well-diagnosed patients and a state-of-the-art Clinical Investigation Center.

Scientific Advisory Board

Leading researchers and clinicians provide guidance on our research and development efforts.

Prof. Botond Roska
Chairman
M.D., Ph. D.
Prof. Botond Roska
Chairman
M.D., Ph. D.
Botond Roska is Director of the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel, Switzerland. He was educated at University of California Berkeley, Harvard University and Harvard Medical School as well as at Semmelweis Medical School. He studies the structure and function of the retina, thalamus and cortex. His group pioneered cell type specific optogenetic vision restoration.
Prof. Jose-Alain Sahel
Vice-Chairman
M.D., Ph. D.
Prof. Jose-Alain Sahel
Vice-Chairman
M.D., Ph. D.
Pr. Sahel is chairing the Vision Institute in Paris, a center of excellence in ophthalmology assembling scientific teams (University PM Curie, INSERM, CNRS) as well as the French National Eye, featuring access to cohorts of well-diagnosed patients and a state-of-the-art Clinical Investigation Center.
Prof. Ernst Bamberg
Prof. Ernst Bamberg
Ernst Bamberg is Professor of Biophysical Chemistry at University of Frankfurt, and Director of the Department of Biophysical Chemistry of the Max Planck Institute für Biophysik in Frankfurt. He is the inventor of the optogenetics approach and has been at the fore front of this technology since its discovery.
Prof. Connie Cepko
Prof. Connie Cepko
Connie Cepko is Professor at Harvard Medical School. She is working on the mechanisms that direct development of the central nervous system (CNS) of vertebrates, and particularly on the vertebrate retina. Connie has produced seminal works in the mechanisms that lead to the death of photoreceptors in the many inherited forms of human blindness.
Dr. Serge Picaud
Ph. D.
Dr. Serge Picaud
Ph. D.
Serge Picaud is director of research at the Vision Institute in Paris. Over the last 15 years, he has developed many cellular and animal models of different retinal diseases for assessing the efficacy of neuroprotection or other therapeutic strategies. He thus developed the culture of post-mortem human retinal tissue, which provides the means to test AAV vectors efficacy on human retinal neurones.
Luk H. Vandenberghe
Ph. D.
Luk H. Vandenberghe
Ph. D.
Luk Vandenberghe is Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and runs an active research laboratory at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and the Schepens Eye Research Institute. He directs the Grousbeck Gene Therapy Center which is focused on the biology of somatic gene transfer, the development of enabling technologies in gene therapy, and the translation of clinical programs with a particular emphasis on vision and hearing restoration.

Scientific Founders

We have taken the insights of our original scientific founders and built GenSight into the company it is today.

Connie Cepko
Ph. D.
Connie Cepko
Ph. D.
Connie Cepko is Professor at Harvard Medical School. She is working on the mechanisms that direct development of the central nervous system (CNS) of vertebrates, and particularly on the vertebrate retina. Connie has produced seminal works in the mechanisms that lead to the death of photoreceptors in the many inherited forms of human blindness.
Dr. Serge Picaud
Ph. D.
Dr. Serge Picaud
Ph. D.
Serge Picaud is director of research at the Vision Institute in Paris.

Over the last 15 years, he has developed many cellular and animal models of different retinal diseases for assessing the efficacy of neuroprotection or other therapeutic strategies. He thus developed the culture of post-mortem human retinal tissue, which provides the means to test AAV vectors efficacy on human retinal neurones. He has also characterized many animal models using a phenotyping platform inspired from the clinical trial center.

He was a founder and advisor of the biotech company Fovea, which was bought by Sanofi-Aventis to become its ophthalmological division.
Jose-Alain Sahel
M. D., Ph. D.
Jose-Alain Sahel
M. D., Ph. D.
Jose-Alain Sahel is Professor at Université Pierre et Marie Curie, and Director of Institut de la Vision and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Quinze-Vingts National Eye Hospital and at the Rothschild Ophthalmology Foundation in Paris, France. He is also Professor at the Institute of Ophthalmology at the University College in London.

He has been conducting pioneering research into the understanding of the pathological mechanisms involved in retinal cell degeneration.

Prof. Sahel recently received awards from the US Foundation Fighting Blindness and the French “Académie des Sciences”, for his work on retinitis pigmentosa.
Prof. Botond Roska
M.D., Ph. D.
Prof. Botond Roska
M.D., Ph. D.
Botond Roska is Director of the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel, Switzerland. He was educated at University of California Berkeley, Harvard University and Harvard Medical School as well as at Semmelweis Medical School. He studies the structure and function of the retina, thalamus and cortex. His group pioneered cell type specific optogenetic vision restoration.
Luk H. Vandenberghe
M. D., Ph. D.
Luk H. Vandenberghe
M. D., Ph. D.
Luk Vandenberghe is Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and runs an active research laboratory at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and the Schepens Eye Research Institute.

He directs the Grousbeck Gene Therapy Center which is focused on the biology of somatic gene transfer, the development of enabling technologies in gene therapy, and the translation of clinical programs with a particular emphasis on vision and hearing restoration.

He is an Associate Director of the Ocular Genomics Institute, a collaborative venture within the Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology, with the ambition to provide diagnosis, treatment, and advancement of the science of the genetic basis of blinding disorders.

Dr. Vandenberghe trained at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium in biological engineering and biomedical sciences. At the University of Pennsylvania, PA, USA he was a scholar and researcher in several premier translational gene therapy laboratories there. He discovered, developed and characterized some of the most widely used gene therapy carriers for in vivo and ex vivo applications including AAV, adeno- and lentiviral-based vectors.

Dr. Vandenberghe made groundbreaking contributions to better understand immune responses to AAV vectors and the targeting of cell types in the macula and retina important for genetic therapies for blindness. In his active career, he published over 40 peer reviewed articles and reviews. He is co-inventor on over a dozen published or pending patents including novel serotypes and improved manufacturing technologies of AAV.