Moderna, producer of one of the Covid-19 vaccines, has hired Shannon Thyme Klinger as chief legal officer (CLO) and corporate secretary, effective June 1. Klinger will sit on Moderna’s executive committee and report to CEO Stéphane Bancel.
Lori Henderson, Moderna’s general counsel and corporate secretary, late last year announced her decision to retire later in 2021 while remaining with the company to ensure a smooth transition to her successor.
Klinger is joining Moderna from Novartis, where she has been CLO and a member of the company’s executive committee since 2018, having previously been chief ethics, risk and compliance officer. During her decade with Novartis, which is headquartered in Basel, she held other positions including chief ethics and compliance officer and global head of litigation, general counsel and global head of legal at Sandoz, a Novartis division.
Klinger sits on the board of directors of SwissHoldings, the Swiss federation of industrial and service groups, and served on the board of the SIX Group in Switzerland from 2016 to 2020.
‘Shannon’s deep global experience in the pharmaceutical industry in both the general counsel and ethics and compliance roles are critical to Moderna as we pivot to a broad international and commercial footprint,’ Bancel says in a statement.
‘Her combination of skills across corporate, life sciences, pharmaceutical technology, commercial and multi-national sectors, and her passion for ESG and public health will help Moderna advance our core technology platform, engage critical partners across the globe and help us expand and capitalize on our growing international presence.
‘As Shannon prepares to join us, I would like to thank Lori once again for her significant contributions during her time at Moderna. She helped us build a world-class legal team even as we transitioned from a private to public company… I wish Lori all the best on her upcoming retirement.’
Ben Maiden
Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance...
