Leadership Team

Brian joined Akoya Biosciences in July 2017 serving as the CEO, bringing his experience as a 25-year veteran of the life sciences market with a proven track record of building and commercializing products and services for both the research and clinical markets. Most recently, he drove corporate and business development at Cellular Dynamics International (acquired by FUJIFilm) with a focus on the development and partnering of their four cell therapy programs. Prior to that, Brian built and ran commercial organizations at 10X Genomics, Thermo Fisher Scientific / Life Technologies, Affymetrix (IPO, acquired by Thermo Fisher) and Ingenuity Systems (acquired by Qiagen). He came to Thermo Fisher and Life Technologies through their acquisition of Ion Torrent in 2010 where he was an early employee and built the global commercial organization.

Johnny has more than 20 years of financial leadership experience across the diagnostics and life sciences tools industries. He joins Akoya from Specific Diagnostics, a developer of rapid antibiotic susceptibility tests where he served as Chief Financial Officer and facilitated the Company's sale to bioMérieux in May 2022. Prior to that, he served as Chief Financial Officer at GenMark Diagnostics, a provider of multiplex molecular diagnostic solutions, and oversaw the sale to Roche Diagnostics in March 2021. Johnny served as the Vice President, Finance and Controller of eBioscience and completed it's sale to Affymetrix, when he became Vice President, Finance and International Controller. Johnny began his career at Ernst & Young and is a licensed CPA (inactive) in the state of California. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Brigham Young University and a Master of Science in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame.

Niro joined Akoya in August 2020 to serve as the Chief Business Officer responsible for developing a robust roadmap and commercialization strategy for Akoya’s platforms. Niro has nearly two decades of experience in developing and commercializing products in the life science market. He has commercialized over 30 products across genomics and proteomics research markets. More recently, he served as the vice president of the spatial biology business unit at Nanostring Technologies (2014 – 2020). Prior to this, Niro led product development for the protein business unit at Life Technologies (2008-2014; acquired by Thermo Fisher). Niro received his Hon. BSc in Biochemistry from University of Toronto, and PhD from University of Windsor. He completed his post doctorate work at the Harvard Institute of Proteomics, Harvard University.

Frederic joined Akoya Biosciences in April 2021 to serve as the Chief Operating Officer. He brings over 25 years of experience in launching and managing global businesses in the life sciences and healthcare industries. Most recently, he served as Chief Operating Officer at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI). Prior to PICI, he served as COO of Genomic Health (now part of Exact Sciences) and held senior leadership positions at Life Technologies (now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific) and GE Healthcare. Frederic is named on 23 U.S. patents and received a PhD in acoustics from Pennsylvania State University, a Master’s degree from the University of Southampton, UK, and an engineering degree from the University of Technology of Compiegne, France.

Marilee joined Akoya Biosciences as Chief People Officer in January 2022, bringing deep operational and strategic expertise in managing human resources for rapidly growing life sciences companies. She has more than 30 years of HR leadership, having worked at life sciences and technology companies ranging from start-ups to international, public companies. Prior to joining Akoya, she led human resources at Talis Biomedical Corporation and was previously VP of People at Counsyl (now part of Myriad Genetics Inc.). She has held HR leadership roles focused on growing and developing talent and culture at Genentech Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson, and Nikon Precision Inc. Marilee holds a B.A. from Boston College and an M.B.A from Golden Gate University.

Ehab joined Akoya Biosciences as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) in April 2022 to lead our strategy in advancing the use of our spatial phenotyping solutions in the clinical setting. Ehab brings a wealth of experiences critical to our vision of advancing spatial phenotyping in precision medicine and cancer care. He is a board-certified pathologist who served as the Senior Medical Director for Roche Tissue Diagnostics Personalized Health Care Solutions (PHCS). He served as Roche Pharma Services Medical Director and provided medical oversight for Roche Digital Solutions, Roche’s portfolio of digital pathology platforms. Ehab has authored over 100 publications and speaks frequently at domestic and international scientific workshops. Ehab completed his preliminary general surgery and pathology residencies at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio and his fellowship training in breast pathology and cytopathology at the University of Florida, Jacksonville.

Jennifer joined Akoya Biosciences in February 2023 as General Counsel where she will oversee all company legal activities and provide strategic guidance and corporate governance oversight. Most recently, she served as General Counsel of Rubius Therapeutics, Inc., where she was responsible for overseeing and managing all of the company’s legal affairs. Prior to joining Rubius, she was Associate General Counsel for Progress Software Corporation where she oversaw the company’s corporate, securities law, and mergers and acquisitions activities. Jennifer began her legal career at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where she represented public and private company clients in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries on mergers and acquisitions, securities law, and corporate governance matters.

Pascal joined Akoya Biosciences in October 2021 in the role of Senior Vice President, Research and Development and Laboratory Operations. He possesses deep scientific and operational experience leading teams in developing and implementing successful and innovative products through international regulatory agencies to customers and patients worldwide. Prior to joining Akoya, he served as Senior Vice President of Products and Services Research and Development at Exact Sciences and has previously held leadership positions at Epic Sciences, Ventana Medical Systems, and Monogen. Pascal earned a PhD in cell image analysis from the University of Queensland, Australia, and a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Bristol, UK, and Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, France.

Prior to joining Akoya Biosciences, Peter was Director of R&D for PerkinElmer’s Quantitative Pathology Business Unit. Peter was a co-founder of CRI, Inc., where he was responsible for product development, technology assessment, licensing, and intellectual property management. He has been a Principal Investigator on NSF, NASA, and Air Force grants; is a named inventor on more than 25 US patents, and sat on the OSA’s Richardson Medal committee. He holds a BS from Williams College in Physics & Astronomy, and an MS from Dartmouth’s Thayer School.

Julia joined Akoya in March of 2017 to lead development efforts for the CODEX technology. Prior to joining Akoya, Julia was a co-inventor of the CODEX technology while a Cancer Research Institute Irvington Postdoctoral Fellow in Professor Garry Nolan’s lab at Stanford University School of Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the supervision of Professor Lloyd Smith and received both her M.S. and B.S. in chemistry from the University of Chicago. Julia has experience in multiplexed DNA technologies and is an author on a number of peer-reviewed papers.

Prior to joining Akoya Biosciences, Cliff was Director of Applications and Services for PerkinElmer’s Quantitative Pathology Business Unit. Cliff was co-founder and CTO of CRI, Inc., acquired by PerkinElmer in 2011. Since then, as Oncology Fellow, Cliff lead development of multiplexed staining methods (Opal), built the contract research business, partnered with pharma and academia to understand translational research and clinical needs and to advance adoption of multiplexed immunofluorescence methods, and worked with PKI business leaders to develop an oncology translational strategy. Cliff has been Principal Investigator on NIH SBIR grants, received his BA in Physics from Williams College in 1983 and MS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 1987, and is named inventor on over 20 patents.

Paul joined Akoya in January of 2018 as the head of sales. He has over 20 years of experience in customer support, marketing, and sales leadership roles. Paul has most recently led large commercial sales teams at both Thermo Fisher Scientific and Bio-Rad Laboratories focused in both the Life Science and Clinical industry respectively. Paul holds a B.S. in Biochemistry from Seattle Pacific University.

Elliot joined Akoya Biosciences in September 2021 as Vice President, Product and Portfolio Management. He brings over 15 years of experience in the life sciences industry. Most recently, Elliot held the role of Senior Director & General Manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific, where he managed a portfolio of genomics products. Elliot earned his Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering: Biotechnology and Master of Engineering from the University of California, San Diego and an M.B.A. from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, CA.

Gavin joined Akoya in July of 2020 to lead business and market development activities with the goal of establishing Akoya platforms in clinical markets. Prior to Akoya, Gavin was VP, Commercial Operations at Fluidigm, where he held multiple global roles including establishing pharma strategic alliances and developing the translational research market for high parameter immunohistochemistry. Gavin was also the commercial lead for the IUO phase of Thermo Fisher’s NGS-based universal companion diagnostic for cancer therapy selection. Prior to joining industry, Gavin was an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and faculty member at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Gavin received PhD in Molecular Pathology from UNC Chapel Hill and his MBA from Babson College.

Sarilyn joined Akoya Biosciences in May of 2022 as Vice President, Global Commercial Operations responsible for Sales Operations and Analytics, Commercial Training and Customer Care – Experience Management.  She brings deep experience in commercial and operations strategic planning through execution for Diagnostics and Medical Devices to include customer acquisition, retention, and new product launch.  Most recently she served as head of US Sales for BioRad Clinical Diagnostics.  Prior to that, over 25 years, Sarilyn advanced to senior leadership roles at Abbott Laboratories serving as Global Senior Commercial Director, General Manager and Commercial Area Director.  Sarilyn has a degree in Microbiology & Chemistry from Louisiana State University and completed graduate studies at L SU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.