Cord Blood Registry Appoints Cornelius Merlini As Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations
San Bruno, CA - November 21, 2006 - Cord Blood Registry® (CBR) today announced the appointment of Cornelius Merlini as senior vice president of commercial operations, following the company's annual Board of Directors' meeting. Merlini joined CBR from Johnson & Johnson (J&J) where he was the worldwide vice president for the company's cardiovascular franchise.
Merlini will oversee field sales, clinical affairs and both consumer and professional marketing. He will also lead the company's healthcare compliance initiative and serve as the primary liaison with the industry's trade group, the Association of Family Cord Blood Banks. Merlini will be part of CBR's executive management team.
"Cornelius has established a track record of tremendous success in building and leading businesses and brands in the healthcare industry," said Tom Moore, chief executive officer, CBR. "Given the growing demand for cord blood banking, we are thrilled to have Cornelius' expertise as we continue our industry-leading efforts to support healthcare providers and focus on benefiting patient care."
Prior to joining CBR, Merlini spent several years at J&J in various leadership roles. As product director, Mevacor, he was responsible for all commercial elements of the effort to switch the company's cholesterol-lowering agent from prescription to over-the-counter status. Later, as executive director of J&J's McNeil Nutritionals, he led the consumer and professional marketing efforts of several brands, including Lactaid®, Sesame Street Vitamins® and Benecol®. After subsequent promotions, Merlini led the cardiovascular business at Centocor, a J&J company, before assuming the role of worldwide vice president for J&J's cardiovascular franchise, where he managed several key business partnerships and led a cross-company senior executive team to create the first fully-integrated J&J cardiovascular strategic plan.
Earlier in his career, Merlini worked for 10 years at Hoechst Marion Roussel, first as a sales representative for Marion Laboratories, then in sales management and product marketing positions.
"I am excited to join Cord Blood Registry at this point in its growth," said Merlini. "As we look to the future, we see a day when stem cell collection and storage will become a routine practice and stem cell therapy will be the first line treatment for many of today's incurable diseases."
Merlini earned a bachelor's degree from Villanova University in Pennsylvania. He currently resides outside of Philadelphia, Pa.
About Cord Blood Registry
Cord Blood Registry (CBR) is a registered trademark of Cbr Systems, Inc., the largest cord blood stem cell processing and cryopreservation service for familial use in transplantation and regenerative medicine. Accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks, CBR preserves nearly a half million cord blood stem cell units from more than 150,000 families throughout the world. CBR has released more than 45 client cord blood samples for use in transplant and regenerative medicine cases-more than any other family cord blood bank. The company's research and development is focused on advancing the collection, processing, and storage methods to optimize quality and cell yield. Additionally, CBR facilitates collection of donated research samples, available for the nearly 200 research programs worldwide that are focused on stem cell expansion and cell-based therapies.
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