Falk, Adamany and Gransee have been promoted to chief IP and licensing officer, general counsel, and chief financial and operating officer respectively.
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (Warf) has promoted Michael Falk, Stephanie Adamany and John Gransee (pictured) to the positions of chief intellectual property and licensing officer, general counsel, and chief financial and operating officer respectively.
The executive changes at Warf, the commercialisation arm of University of Wisconsin-Madison, became effective on October 1.
They come after Leigh Cagan, chief technology commercialisation officer, announced his retirement in May 2019, though he has continued in a part-time basis while Warf completes its leadership transition.
Falk’s chief IP and licensing appointments involve supervising the teams responsible for both areas. He takes on the roles having joined Warf in 2000 as licensing manager, director of intellectual property and general counsel, though he stood down from the former two positions in 2007.
Falk has also held an academic appointment within University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health as adjunct professor. He also studied at the university prior to completing a bachelor of arts at Columbia University in 1989.
Adamany has been promoted to general counsel from deputy general counsel, taking responsibility for Warf’s legal operation in areas including corporate governance and litigation, as well as oversight of the legal and human resources teams.
She joined Warf in 2006 after three years as an intellectual property-focused associate at litigation firm Robins Kaplan Miller and Ciresi between 2003 and 2006, and a year-long stint with IP law firm Kinney and Lange as associate attorney from 2002 until 2003.
Finally, Gransee adds the chief operating officer brief to his remit having already served as Warf’s CFO since 2017. His resume includes biotech executive expertise gained through various vice president-level posts at biomedical outsourcing services company Covance from 2005 and 2015.
Gransee later moved over with Covance’s acquisition by life sciences research firm Laboratory Corporation of America to become senior vice-president and chief financial officer for the wholly-owned Covance subsidiary between 2015 and 2017.
Erik Iverson, CEO of Warf, said: “John, Stephanie and Michael are proven leaders at Warf and they are natural stewards of the core work that Warf has built our nearly 100 year legacy on.”
