Flagship Pioneering Catalyzes Growth with New Leadership Appointments

New Partners Bring Experience in Business and Editorial to Expand and Support Flagship's Operations and Process for Pioneering

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Feb. 1, 2018 -- Flagship Pioneering, a life sciences innovation enterprise, continues to add expertise and talent to its senior leadership, today announcing the appointment of two new partners: Rob Rosiello, executive partner and chief operating officer, and Jason Pontin, senior partner and chief editor.

"At Flagship, we create first-in-class companies that bring to market important scientific breakthroughs and technologies that will improve the lives of millions of people. A crucial part of our strategy is hiring managers and thought leaders with the operational expertise and vision to grow our ecosystem," said Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer of Flagship Pioneering. "Jason and Rob will help us create groundbreaking companies that treat intractable diseases and meet the food and sustainability needs of the future."

"I'm excited to be joining such an industry-shaping enterprise," said Rob Rosiello. "I look forward to working with my colleagues to help build Flagship into an enduring enterprise and ecosystem that is a magnet for top talent driven to improve people's lives."

Jason Pontin said, "One of my core convictions is that breakthrough science and technology can solve big problems, grow wealth, and expand human possibilities. In the next 20 years, humanity will face both urgent challenges and wonderful opportunities. I look forward to the work of helping build innovative companies that address those challenges and opportunities."

Rob's and Jason's appointments follow a year of unprecedented growth for Flagship Pioneering. In 2017, the firm hired executive partners David Epstein (former CEO of Novartis Pharmaceuticals) and Stephen Berenson (a former vice chair of JP Morgan); raised $618 million in new capital; completed initial public offerings for two of its pioneering ventures; and spun out six new companies from Flagship VentureLabs®, among other milestones.

About Rob Rosiello

Rob Rosiello joins Flagship as an executive partner and chief operating officer. In this role, he will be involved in all aspects of Flagship's processes for originating and developing new companies. He will also play an important role in Flagship's strategic planning, talent acquisition and development, and growth management initiatives. In addition, he will provide operating and strategic support to key Flagship companies.

Rob joins the firm after a long tenure at McKinsey & Company, where he was a senior partner emeritus. For more than 30 years he advised the CEOs and boards of leading health care, technology, and consumer companies on corporate strategy, M&A, and improved business unit performance. Rob has worked in McKinsey's Cleveland, London, New York, and Stamford offices and was also a member of McKinsey's Partner and Senior Partner Review Committees, as well as the Partner Compensation and Client Risk Committees. He has also served as EVP and CFO of Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Read Rob's full bio here.

About Jason Pontin

Jason Pontin joins Flagship as senior partner and chief editor. In this role, he will lead strategic communications for both Flagship Pioneering and the enterprise's ecosystem of pioneering ventures, originate and develop new companies, and help develop the enterprise's strategy for expanding its domains of innovation. As the framer of Flagship's narrative and an architect of the value creation plan for each VentureLabs company, Jason is also the point of connection between Flagship's ecosystem and governments, NGOs, academia, foundations, and industry.

From 2004 to 2017, Jason was CEO, editor-in-chief, and publisher of MIT Technology Review. He has written for The New York Times, The Economist, The Financial Times, and Wired. Before joining MIT Technology Review, he was the editor of Red Herring, a business magazine popular during the dot.com boom. At MIT, Jason was the founder and curator of Solve, MIT's open innovation platform, and the chairman of the MIT Enterprise Forum, the Institute's global community of entrepreneurs; and he reorganized MIT's news and communications as a senior advisor to President Susan Hockfield. Read Jason's full bio here.

About Flagship Pioneering

Flagship Pioneering conceives, creates, resources, and develops first-in-category life sciences companies. Its institutional innovation foundry, Flagship VentureLabs®, is where Flagship's team of scientific entrepreneurs systematically evolves enterprising ideas into new fields or previously undiscovered areas of science into real-world inventions and ventures. Since its launch in 2000, the firm has applied its hypothesis-driven innovation process to originate and foster nearly 100 scientific ventures, resulting in over $20 billion in aggregate value, thousands of patents, and more than 60 clinical programs for novel therapeutic agents.

Beyond contributing foundational innovations and company entrepreneurial leadership, Flagship has also capitalized its growing ecosystem of first-in-class companies with over $1.2 billion coming from its $2.3 billion of capital commitments. An additional $7 billion has been co-invested into Flagship's ecosystem to support growth. The firm's current ecosystem includes pioneering ventures that are transforming human health and sustainability, including Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI), Editas Medicine (NASDAQ: EDIT), Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MCRB), Syros Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SYRS), as well as private companies, including Evelo Biosciences, Kaleido Biosciences, Indigo Agriculture, CiBO Technologies, Rubius Therapeutics, Torque Therapeutics, and Moderna Therapeutics. Flagship has ongoing corporate innovation alliances with several market leaders, including AstraZeneca, the Crop Science Division of Bayer, and Nestlé Health Science. To learn more about Flagship Pioneering, please visit our website: www.FlagshipPioneering.com.