Fulcrum Therapeutics Announces CEO Transition

Fulcrum Therapeutics announced Bryan E. Stuart, the company’s chief operating officer, will become Fulcrum’s president and chief executive officer and will be appointed to the Board of Directors. Stuart will succeed current president and chief executive officer Robert J. Gould, Ph.D. who will be retiring as of March 31, 2021. Dr. Gould will remain as a member of the Board of Directors and will serve as an advisor to the company. Additionally, Mark Levin, Fulcrum’s Board chair, will assume the role of executive chair effective upon Dr. Gould’s retirement.

“On behalf of the entire Board, I want to thank Robert for his leadership and dedication to Fulcrum. Robert joined us as CEO in 2016 and was instrumental in ensuring Fulcrum’s successful launch. His decades of experience and steadfast dedication have positioned Fulcrum to make significant and rapid progress in its goal to create therapies for genetically defined rare diseases. We wish Robert the best in his retirement and are grateful that he will continue to be a member of our board and serve as an advisor,” Levin said. “Bryan is the ideal candidate to lead Fulcrum through its next critical stage of growth. He is a trusted and strategic leader and a natural successor to Robert. Bryan brings over 20 years of industry experience, predominantly in the rare disease space. With his proven track record of helping to successfully advance numerous rare disease programs from the clinic to commercialization, I’m confident he will bring significant value to Fulcrum in his new role.”

“I am honored to become Fulcrum’s next CEO and to lead our exceptional team, especially at such an exciting time for the company,” said Stuart. “Along with a strong bench of leadership talent and support from the Board, I am confident in our ability to continue to advance our clinical programs, external collaborations and Product Engine to develop and deliver therapies to people living with rare genetic diseases. We have a lot of important work ahead of us as we expect to report meaningful updates from our clinical programs in FSHD and sickle cell disease later this year.”

Stuart joined Fulcrum as chief operating officer in 2018. Prior to Fulcrum he served as president and chief executive officer of Yarra Therapeutics and president and chief executive officer of Kastle Therapeutics, both companies focused on developing therapies for rare diseases. Prior to Kastle, Stuart was chief business officer of Civitas Therapeutics (acquired by Acorda) and previously led business development, corporate development, and strategy at both EKR Therapeutics (acquired by Chiesi) and Ovation Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Lundbeck A/S). Stuart earned his MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois.