Advarra Bolsters Executive Leadership Team to Support Growing Global Demand for a Connected Clinical Trials Ecosystem

New CFO and General Counsel bring track records of driving growth at large-scale pharma

COLUMBIA, Md., Jan. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Advarra, the market leader in regulatory review solutions and clinical research technology for sites and sponsors, announced the hiring of finance and operations leader Dwight Van Inwegen as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and pharmaceutical industry veteran Marco Capasso as General Counsel and Secretary of the Board. With deep industry expertise, the new executives will help Advarra scale internal processes and global growth, speeding its mission to connect the clinical research landscape and accelerate trial outcomes.

Dwight Van Inwegen is responsible for finance and information technology functions at the company and reports directly to CEO Gadi Saarony. He has more than 30 years of senior-level leadership experience in finance and operations, successfully building and scaling finance organizations globally. Most recently, Van Inwegen was Vice President of Finance for the Pharmaceutical Services Group at Thermo Fisher Scientific, where he helped nearly double its size, focusing on both organic and inorganic growth initiatives. 

"I'm excited to help accelerate the tremendous growth that has already made Advarra a market leader and go-to partner in clinical research," said Van Inwegen. "As we continue to expand, I look forward to building processes and strategies that allow the business to scale to meet the needs of our customers and other stakeholders." 

Marco Capasso joins Advarra as General Counsel and Secretary of the Board, also reporting directly to Saarony. In this capacity, Capasso oversees the company's legal, risk management, and corporate governance matters. He brings more than 25 years of legal and clinical research experience to the role. Prior to joining Advarra, Capasso was General Counsel at WCG Clinical and held leadership positions at several leading life sciences companies including Lilly and Parexel. Earlier in his career, Capasso worked as a clinical researcher at several prominent institutions.  

"Having seen firsthand the realities on the ground for IRBs, CROs, and sites alike, I deeply understand the criticality of Advarra's mission of bringing together the clinical research ecosystem," said Capasso. "I am proud to join Gadi and the entire Advarra team as we continue to advance clinical research through our deep commitment to ethics, compliance and integrity."

This leadership expansion comes on the heels of the release of Longboat v2.2, Advarra's next-generation offering that aligns patients, sites, and sponsors in clinical trials. Used in more than 70 countries and by nearly 20,000 sites, Longboat now features an online patient portal with a comprehensive set of engagement tools including a simple document exchange that enables transparent collaboration between patients, sites, and sponsors or CROs without adding technology burden.

"I couldn't be more thrilled to work alongside Dwight and Marco as we connect clinical research stakeholders and deliver innovation worldwide," said Advarra CEO Gadi Saarony. "Their extensive backgrounds in this industry paired with their impressive successes in business growth are a winning combination for Advarra as we scale our reach and impact on behalf of sites, sponsors, and patients." 

In other news, Elisa Cascade, chief product officer for Advarra, was appointed the 2024 Chair of the Association Board of Trustees (ABoT) for ACRP, the only non-profit organization solely dedicated to representing, supporting, and advocating for clinical research professionals. 

About Advarra

Advarra makes clinical research safer, smarter, and faster. Advarra services and technology solutions safeguard trial participants, ensure quality and protocol compliance, optimize research process performance, and enable collaboration among clinical research sponsors, CROs, research sites, investigators, and patients. With trusted and unequaled independent review committee services, innovative software solutions, and experienced consultants, Advarra has the expertise and technology needed to advance clinical research so our clients can advance human health. For more information, visit advarra.com.

SOURCE Advarra