Ginkgo Bioworks announced that Behzad Mahdavi, Ph.D., MBA, has joined as senior vice president of biopharma manufacturing and life sciences tools. In this new role, Dr. Mahdavi will lead Ginkgo's commercial efforts in the growing areas of bio-reagents, cell and gene therapies and new biopharmaceutical modalities. Dr. Mahdavi brings more than 20 years of experience in developing and leading innovative patient-centric growth strategies in challenging environments in the biopharmaceutical, cell and gene therapy, medicine and life sciences sectors.

Prior to joining Ginkgo, Dr. Mahdavi most recently served as vice president of global open innovation at Catalent Pharma Solutions, where he created a distinctive portfolio of innovative services and expanded its customer base in new market segments. Prior to his work at Catalent, he held numerous leadership positions during his 13 years at Lonza and served as CEO of SAM Electron Technologies. Throughout his career, Dr. Mahdavi has built expertise in defining and developing optimal growth strategies and actionable business plans across biologics, cell therapy, and viral pharmaceutical modalities. In addition to his company leadership roles, he has also served in multiple Board of Directors and Advisory Board roles. Dr. Mahdavi holds a Doctorate in Chemistry from the University of Sherbrooke, Canada, and also has a Master in Business Administration from the University of Quebec in Montreal.