Climb Bio Names Adam Villa as SVP, Technical Operations and Ashley Jones as SVP, People & Workforce Strategy

By GlobeNewswire On Oct 22, 2025

Climb Bio, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapeutics for immune-mediated diseases, announced that it has strengthened its leadership team with the appointments of Adam Villa as Senior Vice President, Technical Operations, and Ashley Jones as Senior Vice President, People & Workforce Strategy.

“We are thrilled to welcome Adam and Ashley to the Climb Bio leadership team,” said Aoife Brennan, M.B., Ch.B., President and Chief Executive Officer of Climb Bio. “Their addition comes at an important time in our company’s growth as we execute our clinical development plans and continue to drive overall operational efficiency and excellence. Adam brings more than two decades of experience in biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing, including deep expertise in leading end-to-end technical operations and scaling clinical production. Ashley has a proven record of building high-performing, mission-driven organizations and fostering cultures of collaboration and accountability. Together, their skills and experience will be invaluable as we advance our budoprutug and CLYM116 programs and continue to strengthen Climb Bio in support of patients with immune-mediated diseases.”

Adam Villa is an accomplished biopharmaceutical operations executive with experience spanning technical development, chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) strategy, and global supply management. He previously served as Vice President, CMC at Generation Bio, where he led process and analytical development, technical operations, and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) supply initiatives. Earlier, Adam held leadership roles at CRISPR Therapeutics and Biogen, overseeing clinical supply, manufacturing strategy, and operational excellence across multiple therapeutic areas and development stages. He has also held engineering and operations roles at Genzyme, Wyeth Biopharma, and Amgen. Adam received an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and a Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from MIT School of Engineering. He earned a BE in Chemical Engineering and an AB in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College.

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Ashley Jones is a seasoned people and culture leader with nearly 20 years of experience supporting executive teams and building organizations in the biotechnology sector. Previously, she founded and led Cultivate Co., a consulting practice providing fractional human resources support to emerging private and public biotechnology companies. Earlier, Ashley led people and operations functions at Ananke Therapeutics, Imara, and SQZ Biotechnologies, and performed various human resources roles of increasing responsibility at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management from Northeastern University and a BA in English and psychology from Ohio Wesleyan University.

In connection with the appointments, Climb Bio granted an inducement equity award to each new employee, pursuant to Climb Bio’s 2025 Inducement Plan, as an inducement material to each such employee’s acceptance of employment with Climb Bio in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4). The inducement equity awards were granted on October 20, 2025, and consisted of non-statutory stock options to purchase up to an aggregate of 360,000 shares of common stock. The options have an exercise price of $2.32 per share, which is equal to the closing price per share of Climb Bio’s common stock as reported by The Nasdaq Global Market on October 20, 2025. In addition, the options have a ten-year term and vest over four years, with 25% of the original number of shares vesting on the first anniversary of the applicable employee’s start date and the remainder of the shares underlying the options vesting in 36 equal monthly installments thereafter, subject to the applicable employee’s continued service with Climb Bio through the applicable vesting dates. The inducement grants are subject to the terms and conditions of an award agreement and Climb Bio’s 2025 Inducement Plan.

Climb Bio, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapeutics for patients with immune-mediated diseases. The Company’s pipeline includes budoprutug, an anti-CD19 monoclonal antibody that has demonstrated B-cell depletion and has potential to treat a broad range of B-cell mediated diseases, and CLYM116, an anti-APRIL monoclonal antibody being developed for IgA nephropathy.

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