Industry veterans take on executive roles in startups

CARE, the Swiss startup for evidence-based preventive medicine has appointed former Technogym U.S. chief executive Kay Oswald as its chief executive officer (CEO), marking an important cornerstone for CARA’s expansion in the U.S. market. Kay joins CARE from Technogym, an international leader in fitness equipment and digital technology. As the company’s CEO for the U.S., he led the fitness giant’s business in the U.S. market. At CARE, Kay Oswald will take over the leadership of a team of approximately fifty employees in the U.S. and Switzerland. He will focus on building CARE’s North American business.  Kay has an extensive track record in building and managing successful consumer and B2B brands in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Earlier roles in his management career included small appliance manufacturer KitchenAid and US pioneer for dental aligners Smile Direct Club. At the latter, Kay Oswald held the position of President of International and was responsible for the expansion into 13 markets. He also played a key role in preparing the company’s IPO. Kay Oswald is an investor and co-founder in various startups in the health, fitness and fintech fields. 

Wefox apponts new Group CFO
Effective this month, Jonathan Wismer will take over the role of Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at wefox, insurtech platform that is connecting insurance companies, distributors, and customers, to give the world simple access to digital insurance solutions. Wismer, who brings more than 25 years’ global finance experience backed with a strong track record of driving profitability and leading diverse teams, reinforces the company’s world-class leadership team and global expansion strategy. He was most recently the CFO for Resolution Life U.S. and prior to that was the Deputy CFO and Chief Accounting Officer for AIG.  Previously, he was the Group Controller for Zurich Insurance Group, based in Zurich, having previously spent nine years at Liberty Mutual, culminating with his appointment as CFO, Liberty International.  He also held senior financial and regulatory reporting leadership positions at Allianz Group in Munich and began his career with KPMG LLP where he spent time in the United States, Switzerland and Germany.

Isochronic fills COO position
The technology developed by Isochronic combines novel industrial robot kinematics with a proprietary simultaneous robotics software platform and optimized control algorithms. By addressing laser cutting machine users directly, Isochronic guarantees seamless integration and an optimal user experience. The solution enables simultaneous pick & place applications for the sheet metal cutting- and packaging industries. With the appointment of Armin Haller, the startup has won an experienced industry veteran whose deep operational expertise will enable it to build a solid foundation for the expected sales volume in the coming years. In his previous management roles, Armin successfully managed organizational transformations with remarkable global business success. In his new role, he will drive Isochronic’s product modularisation and standardization efforts in order to industrialise Isochronic’s technology and prepare our global scaling ambitions.

Araris biotech welcomes new CEO
Araris Biotech AG is focused on developing ADCs using its proprietary linker-payload technology. The startup has appointed Dragan Grabulovski as acting CEO, succeeding Philipp Spycher, who will transition to chief scientific officer (CSO). Grabulovski brings nearly 20 years in pharmaceutical drug discovery and development, fundraising and scientific leadership to the company. A serial entrepreneur, he currently serves as chairman of the board at Araris and is an advisor at Grabulovski Consulting Services where he provides guidance to emerging life sciences companies on a variety of issues related to their drug discovery and development efforts. Prior to his practice, Grabulovski served as CSO and co-founder of Covagen AG, a Swiss biotech company where he was instrumental in closing a $45M Series B round that attracted renowned investors, including GIMV, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, Novartis Venture Fund and others. The company was eventually acquired in 2014 by Cilag GmbH International, a division of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. In addition to this experience, he was the primary inventor of Covagen’s Fynomer technology and is the co-author of several peer-reviewed articles, reviews, book chapters, patent applications and granted patents.

(RAN)
Photo  L-R: Kay Oswald, Jonathan Wismer and Armin Haller