Fingerpaint Group Names Sarah Cherng as Chief Technology & Product Officer Role

CEDAR KNOLLS, N.J., June 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Fingerpaint Group today announced the appointment of Sarah Cherng, PhD, MPH, as Chief Technology & Product Officer. Reporting directly to CEO Bill McEllen, Cherng brings over 20 years of enterprise data science and AI/machine learning (ML) leadership across healthcare, pharmaceutical, and consumer sectors to an organization already committed to human-led, AI-enabled ways of working.

Most recently, Cherng served as Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer at Aura, where she led the engineering and AI organization through a successful liquidity event, building a centralized platform that integrated ML, large language models (LLMs), and agentic frameworks into customer-facing products. Prior to Aura, she delivered $200M+ in business value at the Estée Lauder Companies, where she led the Data Science and Advanced Analytics team in building out an enterprise data platform and generating ML-driven insights to support all brands and functions globally. She also led strategic data science and analytics transformation planning for a 70+ person division, driving the macro-level reorganization of the broader technology group. At Merck, she directed Global Oncology Data and Analytics in support of a $16B+ revenue oncology portfolio. Earlier, at Flatiron Health, she led a team of ML engineers, biostatisticians, and quantitative scientists focused on cancer endpoint research for life sciences partners.

"She translates complex data science and AI into tangible business value and has a proven track record of scaling high-performing organizations," said Bill McEllen, CEO of Fingerpaint Group. "Sarah is exactly the leader to help us push our work further."

In her new role, Cherng will shape Fingerpaint's technology and AI strategy, modernize data infrastructure, guide clients through AI complexity, and champion a culture of applied innovation across the organization.

"Data in the life sciences industry has been historically siloed. While traditional models have been around for years, the introduction and steady improvement of productized LLMs finally gives us the power to unify that data and enable accessibility that can unlock deeper contextual insights to benefit patients. To scale this responsibly, you need an organization with deep scientific integrity and established client trust. Fingerpaint checks those boxes, and the opportunity to build a unified and compounding commercialization platform here is particularly unique and a core reason for why I chose to join them," said Cherng.

Cherng is a published researcher with 20 plus peer-reviewed publications and abstracts in leading journals and holds degrees from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins University, with a professional certification from Stanford University School of Engineering.

About Fingerpaint Group
Fingerpaint Group is an award-winning, top 20 healthcare agency and a unified commercialization platform for the life sciences, named Med Ad News Network of the Year in 2026. Partnering with 95% of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies, Fingerpaint Group combines imagination with innovation to unlock the greatness of brands. The organization is human led and AI enabled, rejecting simple automation in favor of reclaiming space for strategic thinking and creative courage. With an industry-leading retention rate and a science-first approach, Fingerpaint Group provides the deep continuity and expertise required to navigate today's data-driven healthcare landscape. Learn more at www.fingerpaint.com.

About Knox Lane

Based in San Francisco, Knox Lane is a growth-oriented investment firm comprised of a team of accomplished investors and operators with a shared work history and a strong track record of partnering with leading companies to accelerate transformational growth. Knox Lane employs an investor-operator mindset and seeks to provide support across a number of business components, including human capital, brand management, end-to-end digital transformation, sourcing, supply chain and logistics, strategic acquisitions, and business development. For more information, please visit www.knoxlane.com.

Media Contact:

Jenny McKenna
Fingerpaint Group
[email protected]

SOURCE Fingerpaint Group