CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Editas Medicine, Inc. (Nasdaq: EDIT), a clinical-stage genome editing company, today announced the appointment of Linea Aspesi as the Company’s Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer. Ms. Aspesi will lead Editas’ human resources department and the Company’s people strategy in support of its mission and goals.

“Our people and our culture are critical ingredients for the success of our new strategy, and we are fortunate to have someone of Linea’s caliber and expertise in defining, shaping, and implementing talent strategies for accelerated company growth. I look forward to working with Linea and the Leadership Team to help drive our talented team towards our goal of becoming a commercial-stage organization and transforming the lives of people living with serious diseases,” said Gilmore O’Neill, M.B., M.M.Sc., President and Chief Executive Officer, Editas Medicine.

“People are truly the foundation to making any company successful. With our new strategy, we have a unique opportunity to reengage with and inspire our talented team to develop and grow into the future. I am excited to partner with our Leadership Team and our employees to make an impact in the lives of patients around the world,” said Linea Aspesi, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, Editas Medicine.

Ms. Aspesi brings to Editas more than 25 years experience, including 15 years in the life sciences sector, aligning talent plans to company vision, mission, values and partnering with senior leaders to define and drive cultural transformation strategies.

Ms. Aspesi joins Editas from Forma Therapeutics, where she served as Chief Human Resources Officer and successfully led the negotiations related to the people elements of the US $1B acquisition of Forma by Novo Nordisk in late 2022. Prior to joining Forma, Ms. Aspesi served as Saniona’s first Chief Human Resources Officer. She also served as Vice President and Head of Human Resources and Office Management for North America at Sobi, Inc. Earlier in her career, Ms. Aspesi held positions of increasing responsibility at Sanofi and Genzyme, including her most recent position as Head of Human Resources to the Industrial Affairs organization in North America.

Ms. Aspesi earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

About Editas Medicine

As a clinical-stage genome editing company, Editas Medicine is focused on translating the power and potential of the CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPR/Cas12a genome editing systems into a robust pipeline of treatments for people living with serious diseases around the world. Editas Medicine aims to discover, develop, manufacture, and commercialize transformative, durable, precision genomic medicines for a broad class of diseases. Editas Medicine is the exclusive licensee of Broad Institute and Harvard University’s Cas9 patent estates and Broad Institute’s Cas12a patent estate for human medicines. For the latest information and scientific presentations, please visit www.editasmedicine.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "target," "should," "would," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. The Company may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in these forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: uncertainties inherent in the initiation and completion of preclinical studies and clinical trials, and clinical development of the Company’s product candidates; availability and timing of results from preclinical studies and clinical trials; whether interim results from a clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of the trial or the results of future trials; expectations for regulatory approvals to conduct trials or to market products and availability of funding sufficient for the Company’s foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements. These and other risks are described in greater detail under the caption “Risk Factors” included in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and in other filings that the Company may make with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the future. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise.