35th "Award of Honor" Gala

Stéphane Bancel has served as Moderna’s Chief Executive Officer since October 2011 and as a member of Moderna’s board of directors since March 2011. Before joining the Company, Mr. Bancel served for five years as Chief Executive Officer of the French diagnostics company bioMérieux SA. From July 2000 to March 2006, he served in various roles at Eli Lilly and Company, including as Managing Director, Belgium and as Executive Director, Global Manufacturing Strategy and Supply Chain. Prior to Lilly, Mr. Bancel served as Asia-Pacific Sales and Marketing Director for bioMérieux.

Mr. Bancel currently serves on the board of directors of Indigo. He is currently a Venture Partner at Flagship Pioneering. Mr. Bancel holds a Master of Engineering degree from École Centrale Paris (ECP), a Master of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Christophe Weber is President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Representative Director of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. He joined the company in April 2014 as Chief Operating Officer, was named President and Representative Director in June 2014, and was subsequently appointed CEO in April 2015. Mr. Weber has focused on Takeda’s R&D transformation and globalization, creating a diverse and inclusive working environment while strengthening its ethical values and corporate governance. Through this transformation, Takeda became one of the leading global 
biopharmaceutical companies in the world.

Prior to joining Takeda, Mr. Weber spent 20 years at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), where he held senior leadership roles in Europe, Asia and the United States.

Outside of Takeda, Mr. Weber is a member of The Business Council, the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council, the Singapore Economic Development Board’s International Advisory Council, the New York Stock Exchange’s NYSE Board Advisory Council and the MIT CEO Advisory Board. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Northeastern University.

Mr. Weber holds a doctorate in pharmacy and pharmacokinetics, master’s degrees in pharmaceutical marketing and in accounting and finance and a degree in statistics, from the University of Lyon, France.
Mr. Weber lives in Tokyo with his wife and has two children.

Rajeev Venkayya is President of the Global Vaccine Business Unit at Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. He leads a vertically-integrated business developing vaccines for dengue, norovirus and Zika. Dr. Venkayya serves as an independent member of the board of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Prior to joining Takeda, Dr. Venkayya served as Director of Vaccine Delivery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Health Program and served on the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Before that, he was the Special Assistant to the President for Biodefense at the White House. In this capacity, he oversaw U.S. preparedness for bioterrorism and biological threats and was responsible for the development and implementation of the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza.

Dr. Venkayya trained in Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, where he also served on the faculty. He was a resident and Chief Medical Resident in internal medicine at the University of Michigan. He received his B.S./M.D. from the Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine, where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha honorary medical society.

Dr. Venkayya lives in Boston with his wife Viktoria and their two sons.