Moderna: Shannon Thyme Klinger
mRNA company Moderna has appointed Shannon Thyme Klinger as its Chief Legal Officer. Klinger will serve on the company’s Executive Committee and as Corporate Secretary and report to Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel.
Effective as of June, Klinger will join Moderna from Novartis, where she has served as Chief Legal Officer and a member of the Novartis Executive Committee since 2018. Previously, she was the company’s Chief Ethics, Risk & Compliance Officer. During 10 years at Novartis, she has also held other roles including as Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and Global Head of Litigation, General Counsel and Global Head of Legal at Sandoz, a Novartis division.
Klinger serves on the board of directors of SwissHoldings (the Swiss federation of industrial and service groups) in Switzerland. She previously served on the board of directors of the SIX Group in Switzerland from 2016 to 2020.
“Shannon’s deep global experience in the pharmaceutical industry in both the general counsel and ethics and compliance roles are critical to Moderna as we pivot to a broad international and commercial footprint,” said Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna.
“Her combination of skills across corporate, life sciences, pharmaceutical technology, commercial and multi-national sectors, and her passion for ESG and public health will help Moderna advance our core technology platform, engage critical partners across the globe and help us expand and capitalize on our growing international presence.”
“It is an honor to join Moderna and its leadership team at such a remarkable moment in the transformation of the company,” said Klinger. “I look forward with enthusiasm to joining Moderna and helping continue to build an organization that supports the long-term demands of our evolving business, science, development programs and efforts to bring mRNA medicines to patients.”
Klinger received her Juris Doctorate with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame. She is a member of the State Bar of Georgia and the District of Columbia Bar.
Moderna’s General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Lori Henderson, J.D., will retire later this year, remaining with the company for the time being to ensure a smooth transition with Moderna’s next General Counsel.
