TMRW Adds Three High Profile Hires To Its Senior Executive Team

Former GoPro Exec Todd Ballard Joins as TMRW's Chief Marketing Officer, Rohit Gupta as SVP & Chief Biobank Officer, and Gene Shkolnikov as SVP of Product

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TMRW Life Sciences

Jan 12, 2021, 11:43 ET

NEW YORK, Jan. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TMRW Life Sciences ("TMRW"), creator of the first and only automated technology platform for the management, identification, and storage of frozen eggs and embryos, announced today the recent hiring of Todd Ballard as Chief Marketing Officer; Rohit Gupta as SVP & Chief Biobank Officer; and, Gene Shkolnikov as SVP, Product.

With this exceptional trio, TMRW continues to strengthen its executive team as it prepares to announce acceleration into commercial operations.

Todd Ballard comes to TMRW after a highly successful, 12 year tenure at GoPro. As Chief Marketing Officer, he directed the global marketing, brand development, and media vision for the $1B+ cutting-edge technology company. He joined GoPro when it was an early stage start-up, was instrumental in the company's IPO, and led its celebrated marketing involving annual budgets of more than $100 million and a dedicated team of over 140 people. Under Todd's leadership, GoPro invented an entirely new consumer category, elevating a camera company into a well-known lifestyle brand. Understanding the importance of fostering strong connections, he built relationships with hundreds of global celebrities, artists, producers/directors, and athletes. He also cut large business development and licensing deals with major broadcast networks and sports leagues, including NBC, Sports Illustrated, the NHL, MotoGP, Tour de France, PGA, and X Games, among others.

With a wide range of both B2B and B2C marketing experience, Todd's 25 years of expertise and entrepreneurial spirit will be pivotal to TMRW's success. As TMRW's CMO, Todd will develop and champion the marketing strategy, leading all aspects of product marketing and digital marketing, social media, as well as branding and PR.

Rohit Gupta has over 15 years of experience at the forefront of biobanking, data science, and research, earning him a well-deserved reputation as one of the elite biobanking experts in the world. He has a proven history of leadership in both cryo-management operations, innovation and research. Among his many accomplishments, Rohit was the Chief Biobank Officer at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) where he led that institution's landmark work to support cutting edge precision medicine research. His next generation approach to biobanking aimed at not only absolutely assuring the highest standards of care for specimens, but also at enabling cutting edge biomedical research. Earlier in his career, Rohit was the Executive Director, Stanford Biobank & Clinical Research Services at Stanford University, where he played a key role in supporting Stanford's entire medical research effort. His work was pivotal in securing over $100M in research grants at Stanford and UCSF. In addition to his biobanking roles, Rohit also recently served as Conference Co-Chairman of the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER), the global leading authority establishing standards, education, ethical principles, and innovation in the science and management of biorepositories. He has co-authored several industry publications and is the recipient of numerous honors, grants, and awards, and is a sought-after speaker and lecturer at global industry events.

As TMRW's SVP & Chief Biobank Officer, Rohit will focus on building on TMRW's commitment to the highest levels of operational excellence, particularly as it relates to the cryo-management aspects of caring for the human eggs and embryos in the TMRW platform. In addition, he will be deeply involved in TMRW's continued innovation including product/technology, data collection, privacy, and integration efforts, government and regulatory affairs activities and peer reviewed research studies.

Gene Shkolnikov joins TMRW from Johnson & Johnson, where he built and led a large, global engineering team responsible for building and launching innovative Internet of Things ("IoT") platforms as part of a global digital business transformation. His work led to multiple new product lines spanning the Pharma R&D, medical device, and manufacturing sectors. Additionally, Gene collaborated across the organization on big data strategy, including analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. He holds several patents, having created breakthrough products in the mobile, IoT, healthcare, and wearable technology sectors. Highly skilled in operating at the forefront of emerging technologies and transforming them into innovative products and solutions, over the course of his career at both J&J and as an independent entrepreneur, Gene has built teams from the ground up, raised capital, become an industry leader, and launched award-winning products resulting in licensing deals with Fortune 500 clients.

As TMRW's SVP of Product, Gene will lead the development of all TMRW hardware, labware, and sensors.

"The simultaneous appointment of these three key executives, all proven leaders in their respective fields, speaks to TMRW's commitment to bringing together world class talent from diverse fields to make the management and storage of the frozen eggs and embryos that will be used in hundreds of millions of IVF procedures truly safe, secure, and reliable," says Joshua Abram, Founder and co-CEO of TMRW.

In the past year, TMRW has doubled its headcount. Launching commercially in late January, the company is poised to continue its exponential growth in the coming months. By the end of 2021, TMRW will be used in clinics accounting for more than 30% of all IVF cycles in the U.S. The company anticipates launching internationally in summer 2021.

About TMRW Life Sciences, Inc.
TMRW has created the world's first automated platform designed specifically for cryo-management of eggs and embryos used in IVF. TMRW's RFID-enabled, complete digital chain of custody SaaS technology radically improves upon the error-prone manual and analog methods that have gone unchanged throughout the history of IVF, significantly reducing the chances of implantation mix-ups or loss of eggs and embryos. The TMRW team includes many of the world's most celebrated innovators in fertility, embryology, cryo-management, automation, software development and robotics to name a few of the disciplines involved. TMRW's co-founders, Joshua Abram, Alan Murray, and Dr. Jeffrey Port, are serial tech and life sciences entrepreneurs. Their immediate prior ventures sold for a combined sum of more than $1 billion. To date, TMRW has raised $50 million. For more information, please visit TMRW.org.

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SOURCE TMRW Life Sciences