UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d)
OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
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Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.
On September 16, 2021, the board of directors (the “Board”) of Akoya Biosciences Inc. (the “Company”) approved an increase in the size of the Board from seven (7) directors to eight (8) directors and elected Dr. Myla Lai-Goldman as a member of the Board’s second class of directors. Dr. Lai-Goldman was not appointed to any committees of the Board at such time.
Dr. Lai-Goldman, age 63, is the Chair of GeneCentric Therapeutics, Inc.—a precision medicine company—where she previously served as CEO and President since June 2011. She is also managing partner of Personalized Science, LLC, a clinical diagnostic consulting company that she founded in 2008. Previously, Dr. Lai-Goldman was CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of CancerGuide Diagnostics, Inc. Before joining CancerGuide Diagnostics, she held various roles including Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Officer—at Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp) and its predecessor company, Roche Biomedical Laboratories, Inc. Additionally, Dr. Lai-Goldman has been a venture partner at Hatteras Venture Partners since August 2011. Dr. Lai-Goldman has served on the board of directors of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. since 2014. Dr. Lai-Goldman is Board-certified in anatomic and clinical pathology. Dr. Lai-Goldman is a recognized author and speaker on clinical diagnostics and has substantial leadership experience at companies like those that our Company serves. Dr. Lai-Goldman spent more than 18 years at LabCorp where she served on LabCorp's Executive and Management Committees, with strategic and operations responsibilities for three major genomic laboratories comprising more than 700 people. During her tenure at LabCorp, she led all clinical, scientific and medical activities, including the introduction of more than 400 clinical assays. Her experience includes the development of partnerships, licensing and acquisitions. The Board believes Dr. Lai-Goldman is qualified to serve as a director due to her experience as a physician, researcher and corporate executive.
There is no arrangement or understanding between Dr. Lai-Goldman and any other person pursuant to which she was selected as a director of the Company, and there is no family relationship between Dr. Lai-Goldman and any of the Company’s other directors or executive officers.
Dr. Lai-Goldman will enter into the Company’s standard form of indemnification agreement with the Company, which will provide indemnification protection for Dr. Lai-Goldman in connection with her service as a member of the Board.
The Board has determined that Dr. Lai-Goldman is an “independent director” as defined in the NASDAQ listing standards and applicable SEC rules. There are no transactions between the Company and Dr. Lai-Goldman that are subject to disclosure under Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K.
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
| Date: September 22, 2021 | Akoya Biosciences, Inc. | |
| By: |
/s/ Brian McKelligon | |
| Brian McKelligon | ||
| Chief Executive Officer | ||
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