- New Position Aimed at Attracting, Retaining, and Cultivating a Best-in-Class Workforce as Allogene Scales its Operations for its Next Stage of Growth
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., April 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALLO), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of allogeneic CAR T (AlloCAR T™) products for cancer, today announced the appointment of Susan Lundeen as Chief People Officer effective May 2, 2022. In this newly created role, Susan will oversee Allogene’s Human Resources efforts as the Company continues to advance a rapidly growing AlloCAR T pipeline.
“I am very pleased to have Susie join the Allogene team. As we plan for our first pivotal trial, expand our pipeline, and scale our operations, we need an experienced Chief People Officer with a proven capability to develop and align our human resources strategy with our business strategy,” said David Chang, M.D., Ph.D., President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder. “We want to continue building a world-class environment for our employees and our business to thrive. Susie’s wealth of experience will be instrumental to the future success of Allogene.”
Allogene, launched in 2018, quickly established a leadership position in allogeneic cell therapy. It currently has over 320 employees and was recently named a 2022 Best Place to Work by BioSpace.
“Allogene’s people are vital to the Company’s mission to develop the first AlloCAR T products for patients with cancer,” said Susan Lundeen. “I am thrilled to be joining a diverse and exceptional team and look forward to building on the incredible work already underway to attract, develop and retain top and diverse talent, so that Allogene can continue to be a best place to work for years to come.”
Susie has held leadership roles in the full life cycle of global human resources, talent acquisition, operations, mergers and acquisition, and business expansion in several biotechnology companies. Susie was most recently with Unity Biotechnology where she served as Chief Human Resources Officer for six years. Prior to Unity, Susan was Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Kythera Biopharmaceuticals until its acquisition by Allergan. Susan was responsible for designing and implementing all people systems supporting the company, from early product development to drug approval and eventual commercial launch. From 2005 to 2007, Susan was Vice President of Human Resources and Administration at Activus Healthcare Solutions, Inc., a healthcare company that was acquired by PSS, Inc. Prior to that experience, Susan held various positions at Amgen, including an expatriate assignment to support the build-out of Amgen’s world-wide distribution facility in the Netherlands. She also served as Strategic HR Business Partner for Research & Development, and ultimately served as Senior Director of Human Resources responsible for Strategic Staffing and Succession Planning. Susan received a BA in Psychology and Business Administration from California Lutheran University and is a trustee on the University’s Board of Regents.
About Allogene Therapeutics
Allogene Therapeutics, with headquarters in South San Francisco, is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell (AlloCAR T™) products for cancer. Led by a management team with significant experience in cell therapy, Allogene is developing a pipeline of “off-the-shelf” CAR T cell candidates with the goal of delivering readily available cell therapy on-demand, more reliably, and at greater scale to more patients. For more information, please visit www.allogene.com, and follow @AllogeneTx on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The press release may, in some cases, use terms such as "predicts," "believes," "potential," "proposed," "continue," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "plans," "intends," "may," "could," "might," "will," "should" or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations concerning, among other things: the ability to attract, develop and retain employees; the ability to advance the Allogene pipeline, including initiate a pivotal trial; the ability to develop AlloCAR T products for cancer and the potential benefits of AlloCAR T products. Various factors may cause differences between Allogene’s expectations and actual results as discussed in greater detail in Allogene’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including without limitation in its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. Any forward-looking statements that are made in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Allogene assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.
AlloCAR T™ is a trademark of Allogene Therapeutics, Inc.
Allogene Media/Investor Contacts:
Christine Cassiano
Chief Communications Officer
(714) 552-0326
Christine.Cassiano@allogene.com
