Mark W. Womack Joins BioCina as CEO

MIAMI and ADELAIDE, Australia, March 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BioCina, a leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) has appointed Mark W. Womack as CEO. Womack will be responsible for the continued growth, commercial strategy and organizational culture of BioCina. This follows the appointment of founding CEO, Ian Wisenberg, to Executive Chairman of BioCina Board of Directors.

"Over the past two years, our team and investment expanded BioCina from a single product commercial facility into Australia's highest quality biologics CDMO.  This foundational success has created a natural point for the company to transition leadership to support BioCina's future commercial growth. We are very fortunate to have someone with Mark's vision and pedigree of growing high value CDMOs to lead our company into its next phase. I am excited for this new chapter and for Mark to take the reins as CEO at BioCina," said Ian Wisenberg, Executive Chairman, BioCina. 

Womack joins BioCina at an opportune time. In 2022, BioCina expanded its CDMO service offerings to include GMP plasmid DNA and R&D mRNA manufacturing to meet global demand driven by the exponential growth in vaccines and therapeutics.  Operations have been engineered for quality and agility enabling BioCina to meet the rapid advancements in cell and gene therapy. "I'm tremendously excited to lead the highly talented and deeply committed BioCina team, and to build on all of the success they've achieved to-date. Leveraging BioCina's core strengths, we will become a preeminent Global Biologics CDMO through industry-leading quality, a client-centric approach and on-time delivery of client programs," said Mark W. Womack, CEO, BioCina.

Womack brings to BioCina 30 years of experience across executive leadership, management consulting and CDMO commercial operations. He has a proven record of success in delivering exceptional growth and profit in every role. Most recently, Womack served as CEO of KBI Biopharma and Selexis SA, achieving a run rate of over 30% year on year revenue increase in only six months and implementing a new commercial strategy that generated significantly greater deal size and profitability.

Prior, Womack served as the CEO and Managing Director of Stelis Biopharma, where he spearheaded the development and implementation of the infrastructure for a pure-play CDMO, including an end-to-end biologics offering across multiple facilities. In 2021, he oversaw the company's efforts to build and qualify a state-of-the-art vaccine facility capable of clinical and commercial-scale manufacturing in record time.  Womack also served as the Chief Business Officer at AGC Biologics. His extensive experience driving organizational performance improvements garnered nearly 300% sales increase in just two years. His career began with more than ten years of distinguished service in the U.S. Navy, where he was recognized with many of their highest honors for exceptional leadership.

BioCina's outgoing CEO and cofounder, Wisenberg, led the company at onset with the original facility acquisition from Pfizer in 2020, and the launch of the CDMO operation in 2021. He has overseen the successful expansion of the team, capabilities, customer base, and grant funding. In addition to his present role as Executive Chairman, Wisenberg will continue to serve as a Bridgewest Group Operating Partner and the Group's representative in Australasia.

"We are incredibly thankful to Ian, whose leadership and vision has established BioCina as the foremost biologics CDMO in Australia, with a global customer base," said Dr. Masood Tayebi, Co-Founder and CEO of Bridgewest Group.

"We are thrilled to welcome Mark, who has a deep track record of growing companies focused around customer solutions and employee development, making him a natural fit for an organization like ours, that is so remarkably people focused.  More than ever, we are excited to continue our investment and leadership in the region, adding depth and value that has helped to advance the local biotechnology ecosystem into a global strength," added Tayebi.

BioCina Pty Ltd. is a multi-product biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), focused on the development and cGMP manufacture of microbial-based biological pharmaceuticals, including proteins, pDNA, mRNA, vaccines and biosimilars, from early development through to commercialization. The BioCina Adelaide facility, formerly the Pfizer/Hospira plant, has a physical footprint of almost 60,000 ft2 for GMP manufacturing, process development, warehouse, and administration. The team has over 35 years of experience and extensive capabilities in microbial process development and manufacturing, with expertise from early process development to commercial manufacturing. BioCina has an enviable history manufacturing biological products approved for commercial use by the US-FDA, EMA and Health Canada, including the manufacturing of API for use in all stages of clinical trials. Licensed for GMP manufacture by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), BioCina is the only GMP manufacturing facility of its kind in Australia that has successfully passed a US-FDA inspection. BioCina is a Bridgewest Group portfolio company.

Bridgewest Group is an innovative and privately held global investment firm with over $3B in private capital. Founded in 1999, the global firm has earned a long-standing reputation for creating and scaling transformational businesses to achieve outsized success. Bridgewest Group leverages its expertise and global eco-community in key sectors where it can have the greatest impact including Life Sciences, Software, Semiconductor and Artificial Intelligence/Deep Tech. Customized financial investment services and diverse real estate holdings augment equity assets and support portfolio companies as they grow. Bridgewest Group is based in the US, with investments primarily in the US, Europe, China and Australasia.

Contact:
Haley Scarborough, Business Operations Lead: [email protected] / +61 08 8150 8261

SOURCE BioCina