
We're good humans
Every day.
our Leadership

Sarah Alspach
Chief Communication Officer
I’m a Girl Scout leader and a Comms leader, so I live by the motto “be prepared”!
Sarah Alspach
Chief Communication Officer

Prior to joining bluebird, Sarah served as Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the world’s leader in the search for a cure for cystic fibrosis. She also spent more than a decade at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) where she was Vice President for U.S. Pharma and Corporate Communications, with responsibility for communications, corporate brand and reputation, and philanthropic giving in the US. Sarah holds a B.S. in public relations from the University of Texas at Austin and lives outside of Washington, DC with her husband and three children.

Melissa Bonner
Senior Vice President, Research
My pandemic hobby is gardening and attempting to make friends with all the local birds. I’ve gone from 0 to 8 birdhouses. This is a cry for help.
Melissa Bonner
Senior Vice President, Research


Jason F. Cole, Esq.
Chief Strategy and Financial Officer
I play the ukulele. It’s not that hard – if I can do it, uke can do it!
Jason F. Cole, Esq.
Chief Strategy and Financial Officer


Rich Colvin, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer
You can tell I’m an Infectious Diseases Doc as I love camping in Southern Africa where you can observe the really big picture of biology!
Rich Colvin, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer


Anne-Virginie Eggimann
Chief Regulatory Officer
I met my Swiss husband at a French movie in Los Angeles.
Anne-Virginie Eggimann
Chief Regulatory Officer

In her tenure at bluebird, Anne-Virginie played a key role in leading the teams that managed the approvals of ZYNTEGLO and SKYSONA in Europe, as well as the approval of ABECMA in the US in 2021 in partnership with BMS. She is currently highly engaged in the efforts to bring bluebird bio’s late stage gene therapy products to patients in the US, while supporting the development of early stage innovative gene edited products. Passionate about advanced therapy, Anne-Virginie has also actively participated, throughout the past 20 years, in shaping the US and European cell and gene therapy regulatory environment.
Prior to joining bluebird bio, Anne‑Virginie was an Executive Director at Voisin Consulting, leading projects involving the design and implementation of regulatory strategies for medicinal products, with a specific focus on rare diseases, cancer and advanced therapies. Her experience spans from early development through commercialization, including lead roles on the registration of several orphan drugs, and regulatory expertise on both sides of the Atlantic.
Anne‑Virginie holds a Master of Science in Environmental Health Sciences from the UCLA School of Public Health, as well as a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

Helen Fu
Senior Vice President, General Counsel
I started college intending to be a scientist, but my lab bench skills eventually led me to become a lawyer for biotech companies!
Helen Fu
Senior Vice President, General Counsel


Kasra Kasraian
Senior Vice President, Technical Development and Operations
I’m fluent in two languages and I still can’t think of what to say…
Kasra Kasraian
Senior Vice President, Technical Development and Operations


Tom Klima
Chief Commercial Officer
My family often gets called the Brady Bunch, I’m part of a blended family with 8 kids!
Tom Klima
Chief Commercial Officer


Andrew Obenshain
Chief Executive Officer
Don’t be so sure that’s me in the pic - I have an identical twin!
Andrew Obenshain
Chief Executive Officer

A biotech business leader who is passionate about improving the lives of patients and their families, Andrew has dedicated his career to advancing therapies for rare diseases. He joined bluebird in 2016 as head of Europe and then served as President, Severe Genetic Diseases before being appointed to CEO in 2021. Today, Andrew is a champion for bluebird’s lentiviral vector gene therapy platform, as the company as the company prepares to launch three first-in-class therapies.
Prior to bluebird bio, Andrew served as general manager of France and Benelux at Shire where he was responsible for a portfolio that included seven rare disease products. Andrew spent eight years at Genzyme and Sanofi and held roles in business development, marketing and global commercial operations in both the US and Europe.
He began his career working with small biotech companies first as a consultant and then as a venture capital investor. He received his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 2004 and his B.A. in genetics, cell and developmental biology from Dartmouth College.

Scott Shoemaker
Senior Vice President, Quality
I’m very in to sports but geographically confused: I’m a big fan of the Washington Football Team, the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Red Sox.
Scott Shoemaker
Senior Vice President, Quality


Meredith Willoughby
VP, People and Culture
Turtles are my favorite animal. Fitting as an HR professional because they symbolize strength, patience, and determination!
Meredith Willoughby
VP, People and Culture



Board of Directors
Mark Vachon
Chairman; Formerly of GE
Mark Vachon
Chairman; Formerly of GE
John O. Agwunobi, M.D.
Herbalife Nutrition
John O. Agwunobi, M.D.
Herbalife Nutrition
Agwunobi previously served as co-president and chief health and nutrition officer, directing the company’s nutrition philosophy. Since joining the company in 2016, Agwunobi has worked closely with Herbalife Nutrition independent distributors and customers, ensuring that the company continuously innovates in the areas of product development, technology, marketing and distributor sales. He also led the Herbalife Nutrition Institute, the Herbalife Nutrition Advisory Board, and the Herbalife Dietetic Advisory Board and worked with the company’s Ph.D.s and scientists to integrate nutrition science into Herbalife Nutrition products.
Agwunobi brings a wealth of experience from both the public and private sectors to his role. Most notably, in the private sector, he served as senior vice president and president of health and wellness for the world’s largest retailer, Walmart, where he led a team of over 65,000 and grew the business from $25 billion to over $30 billion. In the public sector, Agwunobi served as Florida’s secretary of health and later as an admiral in the U.S. Public Health Services Commissioned Corps and the assistant secretary of health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In these roles, he was responsible for disease prevention and health promotion. He oversaw the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the office of the U.S. Surgeon General, and numerous other public health offices and programs.
Agwunobi has a broad educational background that includes a master's degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University and a master's degree in business administration from Georgetown University. He completed his pediatric residency at Howard University and is currently a licensed physician in Florida and Maryland. He serves on numerous boards, including the U.S. African Development Foundation and bluebird bio.
Charlotte Jones-Burton, M.D.
Chinook Therapeutics
Charlotte Jones-Burton, M.D.
Chinook Therapeutics
Charlotte Jones-Burton, MD, MS is Senior Vice President, Product Development and Strategy at Chinook Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company discovering, developing and commercializing precision medicines for rare, severe chronic kidney diseases. With more than 20 years of experience as a clinical development leader, internal medicine and nephrology physician and academician, Dr. Jones-Burton is dedicated to creating healthier communities through drug development, patient advocacy and people engagement.
Dr. Jones-Burton earned a medical degree and Master of Science degree in Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, with a concentration in Clinical Research, from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Charlotte’s postgraduate training included an internal medicine residency and a nephrology fellowship at the University of Maryland Medical Systems. Immediately prior to her current role at Chinook Therapeutics she was VP, Global Clinical Development Head, Nephrology at Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc.
Dr. Jones-Burton is active in numerous professional associations and organizations and founded Women of Color in Pharma (WOCIP), a non-profit professional society focused on transforming the pharmaceutical landscape with women of color. In 2021, she was recognized as one of the industry’s top 100 inspiring people by PharmaVoice and awarded the 1st ever Global Icon Award by WOCIP.
Lis Leiderman, M.D.
Decibel Therapeutics
Lis Leiderman, M.D.
Decibel Therapeutics
Dr. Leiderman has over 20 years of experience in finance, strategy and business development in the life sciences industry. Before joining Decibel, she served as Chief Business Officer for Complexa, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on life-threatening fibrosis and inflammatory diseases. Prior to Complexa, Dr. Leiderman was Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate Development at Fortress Biotech. Earlier in her career, Dr. Leiderman developed her transaction and capital markets expertise in the healthcare investment banking groups at Nomura, Credit Suisse, Jefferies and UBS. She began her career in medical affairs at AstraZeneca, where she analyzed product and industry trends related to the central nervous system. Dr. Leiderman earned an M.D. from the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from The University of Pennsylvania.
Nick Leschly
2seventy bio
Nick Leschly
2seventy bio
Andrew Obenshain
Chief Executive Officer, bluebird bio
Andrew Obenshain
Chief Executive Officer, bluebird bio
Najoh Tita-Reid
Logitech
Najoh Tita-Reid
Logitech
Prior to her role at Logitech, Ms. Tita-Reid was Global Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Board Member for Hero-AG, a family-run healthy food company, where she developed the organization’s marketing function and brand strategy and built the first global innovation pipeline while overseeing the R&D, innovation, sustainability and quality functions. Ms. Tita-Reid previously held leadership positions at Bayer PLC, where she served as Vice President-Country Division Head for Consumer Care in the UK in Ireland and led the turnaround of the consumer care business; and Merck & Co, Inc where she served as General Manager for Western Europe.
Ms. Tita-Reid spent 19 years at Procter & Gamble where she managed a number of consumer brands in the baby and feminine care categories. At P&G, Ms. Tita-Reid spearheaded multi-cultural marketing strategy across 15 billion-dollar brands and led the multi-brand business unit for Hispanic and African American consumers. During her tenure, Ms. Tita-Reid trained and developed the P&G marketing function on ethnic marketing, and created breakthrough marketing strategies, including “My Black is Beautiful,” which stands as a template for multi-cultural campaigns across industry today.
Ms. Tita-Reid graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Spelman College and holds an MBA from Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.