Enoch Kariuki

Enoch Kariuki is a highly accomplished finance executive with deep experience in corporate finance, strategy, life sciences investment banking, venture capital and business development. He currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of VelosBio (recently acquired by Merck for $2.75 billion) where he leads all finance-related and investor relations functions at the company. Prior to VelosBio, he served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at Synthorx, where he led the company’s $151 million IPO, managed relationships with bankers, sell-side equity analysts and investors, and headed the business development process that concluded with the successful sale of Synthorx to Sanofi for $2.5 billion.

Before Synthorx, Dr. Kariuki was Vice President at H.I.G. Capital (a $40 billion private equity fund), where he led investments into, and served on the boards of, several life sciences companies. His other previous roles include Senior Associate at Leerink Partners and Associate Director at UBS Investment Bank. At Leerink and UBS, Dr. Kariuki advised healthcare companies on equity capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations.

Some of the transactions Dr. Kariuki worked on during his banking career include the IPOs of Agios Pharmaceuticals (AGIO), Affimed (AFMD), Lumena Pharma (acquired by Shire for $260 million), private placements and follow-on offerings for Intra-Cellular Therapies (ITCI), ProQR Therapeutics and Dyax (acquired by Shire for $5.9 billion), sale of Bravo Health to HealthSpring for $545 million, sale of Qualicaps to Mitsubishi Chemical for $625 million, sale of WaveMark to Cardinal Health and the $2.25 billion leveraged recapitalization of Warner Chilcott Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Kariuki completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in R&D Strategy and Analytics at Bristol-Myers Squibb and was a Pharmacist at CVS Caremark. He holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a PharmD from Texas Southern University.