{"url":"https://newsforagent.com/news/2026-11-02/recursion-fred-hassan-board-chair","markdown_url":"https://newsforagent.com/news/2026-11-02/recursion-fred-hassan-board-chair.md","title":"Recursion Names Fred Hassan Board Chair","headline":"Recursion Appoints Fred Hassan as Board Chair, Succeeding Rob Hershberg","description":"Recursion appointed Fred Hassan, a four-decade pharmaceutical veteran, as board chair effective October 31, 2026, succeeding Rob Hershberg.","section":"Leadership","published_at":"2026-11-02T21:16:40+00:00","modified_at":"2026-11-02T21:16:40+00:00","author":"News Desk","key_takeaways":["Fred Hassan became Chair of Recursion's board effective October 31, 2026, succeeding Rob Hershberg.","Hassan spent more than four decades in pharmaceuticals, including as CEO of Schering-Plough from 2003 to 2009.","Najat Khan, Recursion's CEO and President since January 1, 2026, said Hassan's experience will help as the company moves from clinical proof of concept toward approval and launch."],"companies":[{"name":"Recursion Pharmaceuticals","is_primary":true,"profile_url":"https://akta.pro/company-profiles/00007ed/recursion-pharmaceuticals","website":"https://www.recursion.com"}],"source":{"publisher":"GlobeNewswire","title":"Recursion Appoints Fred Hassan as Chair of the Board","url":"https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/11/02/3393720/0/en/recursion-appoints-fred-hassan-as-chair-of-the-board.html"},"other_sources":[],"tags":["Leadership","Recursion Pharmaceuticals"],"body_markdown":"[Recursion](https://akta.pro/company-profiles/00007ed/recursion-pharmaceuticals) appointed Fred Hassan as Chair of its Board of Directors, effective October 31, 2026, the company said in a [GlobeNewswire](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/11/02/3393720/0/en/recursion-appoints-fred-hassan-as-chair-of-the-board.html) announcement. Hassan succeeds Rob Hershberg, who remains on the board. Hassan has spent more than four decades in the pharmaceutical industry.\n\n## Hassan's Record at Schering-Plough and Pharmacia\n\nHassan was Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Schering-Plough from 2003 to 2009 and held the same roles at Pharmacia from 2001 to 2003. At Schering-Plough, the company returned to sales growth and strong cash flow, and the number of new molecular entities in Phase 3 development rose from three to eight, according to the announcement.\n\nHassan is Lead Independent Director of BridgeBio Pharma and was on its board when the company won FDA approval for the heart failure drug Attruby and launched it. He is Executive Chair of Norstella, the pharmaceutical intelligence company behind Citeline, MMIT and Evaluate, a role he has held since January 2026. He has served as a Director at Warburg Pincus since 2010 and was a Partner and Managing Director there. His prior board roles include Amgen and Prometheus Biosciences.\n\n\"Fred has repeatedly built, scaled and transformed some of the most important companies in our industry,\" said Najat Khan, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Recursion. \"His first-hand experience will bring invaluable perspective as we advance from clinical proof of concept through approval and launch.\"\n\nHassan said: \"What excites me is the prospect of chairing a Board where its dynamic CEO pairs the courage of striking into the unknown with the unrelenting discipline of turning prioritized projects into innovative medicines.\"\n\nHershberg said the Board unanimously believes Hassan is the right person for the Chair's role and that he will continue in his own board seat.\n\n## Recursion's Leadership Changes on Record\n\nRecursion appointed Khan as CEO and President effective January 1, 2026, with co-founder Chris Gibson moving to Chairman, according to akta.pro [company records](https://akta.pro/company-data). The same records list Gibson as Co-Founder and Board Chair and Khan as CEO and President. Recursion completed a $688 million merger with Exscientia in November 2024, followed by a workforce reduction of about 20% to integrate operations.\n\n## Earlier Recursion Developments\n\nRecursion announced a $200 million underwritten follow-on offering and updated clinical data for REC-4881 and REC-1245 on October 15, 2026, TradingView reported. The same day, Sanofi optioned the first development candidate from its collaboration with Recursion, triggering a $10 million milestone, with Phase 1 planned for 2027, according to TradingView. On October 26, 2026, GlobeNewswire reported that Recursion would release third quarter 2026 financial results on November 2, 2026, and host a webinar on November 3, 2026, from the CGA-IGC Annual Meeting.\n","publisher":{"name":"News for Agent","url":"https://newsforagent.com"}}