Mark Levin is an industry visionary with more than 38 years of experience, including 31 years building and operating leading biotech companies. Mark co-founded Third Rock Ventures in 2007 and focuses on the formation, development and business strategy of our portfolio companies, as well as actively identifying and evaluating new investments. He also assumes active leadership roles in our portfolio companies, functioning as CEO through the first 12-18 months post launch.
Mark was co-founder of Mayfield Fund's life sciences effort where he was also the founding CEO of Tularik, Cell Genesys/Abgenix, Focal, Stem Cells and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Mark served as CEO of Millennium Pharmaceuticals for 12 years. Earlier in his career, Mark was an engineer and project leader at Lilly and Genentech.
Mark holds an MS in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from Washington University. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Friends of Personalized Medicine, and he co-founded the Possible Project in Cambridge, MA.
Current Roles
Board Member of Blueprint Medicines
Board Member of Constellation Pharmaceuticals, former interim CEO
Board Member of DC Devices
Board Member of Eleven Biotherapeutics, former interim CEO
Board Member of Foundation Medicine
Board Member of NinePoint Medical, former interim CEO
Kevin Starr is a proven operational leader with over 25 years of experience building and operating leading biotech companies. Kevin co-founded Third Rock Ventures in 2007 and focuses on the formation, development and business strategy of our portfolio companies as well as actively identifying and evaluating new investments. He also assumes active leadership roles in our portfolio companies, functioning as CEO through the first 12-18 months post launch.
Prior to Third Rock Ventures, Kevin was COO and CFO at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where he led key roles in raising billions of dollars in capital through strategic alliances and public financing and driving growth through company expansion and mergers and acquisitions. Earlier in his career, he served in various executive roles at Millennium BioTherapeutics, Biogen and Digital Equipment Corporation.
Kevin holds a MS in Corporate Finance from Boston College and a BA in Mathematics and Business from Colby College. He is currently a Board Member of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. Kevin is also a founding investor in Prospect Pictures, an independent film and entertainment company.
Current Roles
Interim CEO and Board Member of SAGE Therapeutics
Board Member of Afferent Pharmaceuticals
Board Member of Agios Pharmaceuticals, former interim CEO
Board Member of Global Blood Therapeutics
Board Member of MyoKardia
Board Member of PanOptica
Board Member of Zafgen Pharmaceuticals, former interim CEO
Bob Tepper is a distinguished scientist with over 25 years of experience building and operating leading R&D operations. Bob co-founded Third Rock Ventures in 2007 and focuses on the formation, development and scientific strategy of our portfolio companies as well as actively identifying and evaluating new investments. He also assumes active leadership roles in our portfolio companies, functioning as interim CSO through the first 12-18 months post launch.
Prior to joining Third Rock Ventures, Bob was President of R&D at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and was vital in its expansion from a drug discovery company to a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company. Prior to Millennium, Bob co-founded Cell Genesys/Abgenix.
Bob holds an AB in Biochemistry from Princeton University and his MD degree from Harvard Medical School. Bob serves as an adjunct faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital and is an advisory board member of several leading health care institutions including the Partners HealthCare Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Tufts Medical School. Bob is a Board Member of Cerulean Pharmaceuticals and is on the Board of Overseers at Tufts University. He also serves on the Council of the National Center for the Advancement of Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Current Roles
Board Member of Alcresta
Board Member of Allena
Board Member of bluebird bio
Board Member of Constellation Pharmaceuticals, former interim CSO
Board Member of Kala Pharmaceuticals
Interim Chief Scientific Officer of Jounce Therapeutics
Alexis Borisy is a successful biotechnology entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience building and operating innovative science-based organizations. Mr. Borisy joined the life sciences venture capital firm Third Rock Ventures in 2009 to focus on the formation, development and strategy of new companies. He co-founded Foundation Medicine and served as the company’s interim CEO, co-founded Blueprint Medicines, and launched and served as interim CEO and currently is Chairman of Warp Drive Bio.
Prior to joining Third Rock Ventures, Mr. Borisy founded CombinatoRx in 2000, serving as its Chief Executive Officer and bringing the company public on the NASDAQ. He has raised more than $1b in financing and business development deals, and has authored numerous scientific papers and patents. Trained in chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard where he was a Howard Hughes Predoctoral Fellow, Mr. Borisy was honored as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Technology Review Innovator of the Year. He was also chosen as the New England Entrepreneur of the Year in Life Sciences and was honored as a Presidential Scholar.
Mr. Borisy’s undergraduate degree in chemistry is from the University of Chicago, and he did his graduate work in the laboratory of Dr. Stuart Schreiber at Harvard University. Mr. Borisy serves on the Board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, is an Overseer at the Boston Museum of Science, is a co-founder and former Chairman of FORMA Therapeutics, and serves on the board of Blueprint Medicines.
Current Roles
Chairman of the Board of Warp Drive Bio
Interim CEO and Board Member of Blueprint Medicines, Co-Founder
Chairman of the Board of Foundation Medicine, Co-Founder and Former
interim CEO
Neil Exter joined Third Rock Ventures in 2007 and plays an integral role in the overall formation, development and business strategy of our portfolio companies. Additionally, he supports the business development efforts within the portfolio companies. He also assumes active leadership roles in our portfolio companies, functioning as interim COO/CBO through the first 12-18 months post launch.
Neil has over 20 years of business development and strategic experience, facilitating the successful development and implementation of operations and collaborations across the spectrum of newly emerging and established biotech companies.
Prior to joining Third Rock Ventures, Neil was CBO of Alantos Pharmaceuticals, leading the sale of the company to Amgen. Previously, Neil served as VP for Millennium Pharmaceuticals, directing in-licensing and M&A. Earlier in his career, Neil held various executive management roles within the high technology industry, including tenures at Hewlett Packard and Wang Laboratories.
Neil holds an MBA as a Baker Scholar from Harvard Business School, a MS from Stanford University and a BS from Cornell University. He is a member of the Research Committee of Children’s Hospital Boston, a member of the investment committee of the Innovation Research Fund at Partners Healthcare, and a member of the Board of Directors of the New England Venture Capital Association. He is also a member of the Advisory Council of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Cornell University and the Board of Visitors of Columbia College.
Kevin Gillis joined Third Rock Ventures in 2008 and oversees the operational, financial and administrative aspects of the firm. He also directs and oversees the initial operational activities for our portfolio companies.
Kevin has approximately 20 years of financial experience, successfully designing, overseeing and managing the financial operations for both newly emerging and established biotech companies.
Prior to joining Third Rock Ventures, Kevin was Vice President of Finance at Coley Pharmaceutical Group, supporting the company's successful initial public offering in 2005 and overseeing the finances related to the company's acquisition by Pfizer in 2008. Prior to Coley, Kevin served in a number of senior finance roles at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and The Coca-Cola Company.
Kevin holds an MBA from Bentley University and a BA from Brandeis University.
Mark Goldsmith joined Third Rock Ventures in 2012. He serves as a Partner to the firm and participates in the ideation, development and leadership of new companies.
Prior to joining Third Rock, Mark was President and Chief Executive Officer of Constellation Pharmaceuticals, the leading biopharmaceutical company in the field of epigenetics and a Third Rock Ventures portfolio company. Mark continues his active involvement with Constellation Pharmaceuticals by serving as Executive Chairman. Before Constellation, Mark held senior executive positions in the biotechnology industry and academia. Prior to his appointment at Constellation in 2009, Mark was a Senior Executive-in-Residence at Prospect Venture Partners, a leading healthcare venture capital firm. Previously, he served as CEO of Cogentus Pharmaceuticals and as Senior Vice President leading the health care division of Genencor International. Before entering the private sector, Mark led a medical research laboratory at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, practiced medicine on the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine and at San Francisco General Hospital, and was a consultant to leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the University of California, San Francisco and conducted postgraduate medical training at Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Francisco.
Current Roles
Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors at Constellation Pharmaceuticals
Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of Global Blood Therapeutics
Craig Greaves joined Third Rock Ventures in 2009 and focuses on our executive searches as part of the founding and building of our portfolio companies leadership team.
He has over 25 years of human resources and recruiting experience in life sciences and high technology.
Prior to joining Third Rock Ventures, Craig served as a corporate recruiting leader at Biogen Idec and Cubist Pharmaceuticals and as a retained executive search consultant. During his tenure at Biogen, the company grew from a research organization of 350 employees to a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company with more than 4,300 employees located in 20 countries. Craig also led the merger integration of all employment systems, practices and processes between Biogen and IDEC Pharmaceuticals.
Craig Muir joined Third Rock Ventures in 2007 and serves as the firm's CTO. In this role he leads the identification and integration of drug discovery and development technology platforms for many of our portfolio companies, as well as contributing to scientific diligence for investment opportunities. Craig also assumes active leadership roles in our portfolio companies, functioning as interim CTO/CIO through the first 12-18 months post launch. In 2010, Craig moved to Third Rock Ventures new office in San Francisco to increase the partnership's access to key technologies and support west coast portfolio companies.
Craig has more than 25 years of technology development, implementation and application experience across the biotechnology and pharmaceuticals industries.
Prior to joining Third Rock Ventures, Craig was Senior Vice President, Technical Operations for Codon Devices, and also spent 12 years at Millennium Pharmaceuticals as Vice President of Platform Technology. Earlier in his career, Craig served in a number of technology development and scientific roles at Genentech, Tularik and the University of Vermont.
Craig holds a BS in Animal Physiology from University of California – Davis and is a pioneer in the fields of laboratory automation and technology in biotech and pharma applications. He has directed the development of, or collaborated on, technologies ranging from molecular biology, proteomics, bioassays and informatics to materials engineering, microfluidics and in vivo imaging for a number of biotechnology companies, including Millennium Pharmaceuticals (Takeda), Portola, xCellerex, Transform (JnJ) and many others.
Current Roles
Interim CTO and co-founder of Global Blood Therapeutics
Cary Pfeffer joined Third Rock Ventures in 2007 and drives the firm’s overall interface strategy with pharmaceutical and large biotech companies as well as academic institutions. Additionally, he supports the business development efforts within our portfolio companies. Cary also assumes active leadership roles in our portfolio companies, functioning as interim CEO and CBO through the first 12-18 months post launch.
Cary has over 20 years of business development and transaction experience, facilitating the successful development and implementation of leading collaborations across the spectrum of newly emerging and established biotech companies.
Before joining Third Rock Ventures, Cary founded The Pfeffer Group, which provided business development and strategy advisory services for leading biotechnology and life sciences companies. Prior, he spent more than 10 years at Biogen in a variety of executive domestic and international management roles focused on business and market development, product development and commercial operations. Earlier in his career, Cary spent several years in corporate finance in the Health Care Investment Banking Group of Lehman Brothers.
Cary earned his MD from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from the Wharton School, and a BA in Biochemistry from Columbia University.
Current Roles
Partner Development Initiative with pharmaceutical and other large life science companies
Board Member of Eleven Biotherapeutics, former interim CBO
Board Member of Ablexis
Board Member of Edimer
Board Member of Taris Biomedical
Interim Chief Executive Officer of Jounce Therapeutics
Lou Tartaglia joined Third Rock Ventures in 2007 and plays an integral role in the overall scientific diligence, formation and efforts of our portfolio companies and investment opportunities. He also assumes active leadership roles in our portfolio companies, functioning as interim CSO through the first 12-18 months post launch.
Lou has over 20 years of scientific experience and therapeutic product project leadership and is recognized as a thought leader in obesity and metabolic diseases. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers, including first authorship on a manuscript selected by Cell as one of the 15 most important papers they have published in 30 years.
Prior to joining Third Rock Ventures, Lou was SVP and General Manager of GeneLogic. Prior to GeneLogic, Lou was Vice President of New Ventures at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, and also Vice President of Metabolic Diseases where he was responsible for the discovery and development of multiple therapeutic programs. Before joining Millennium, he worked at Genentech on the tumor necrosis factor receptors.
Lou holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.
Current Roles
Interim CEO of Ember Therapeutics
Board Member of Ablexis
Board Member of Zafgen Pharmaceuticals, former interim CSO
