Washington, DC – The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) has appointed Melissa von Stauffenberg as Chief Marketing Officer, effective February 1, 2021. The newly created position emerged from a recent reorganization aimed at driving a bio revolution through advocacy, education and collaboration that can equitably cure patients, protect the climate and nourish humanity. With over 20 years of experience in digital marketing, strategic consulting, data science and marketing analytics for biopharmaceutical brands and influential membership associations like AARP, von Stauffenberg will guide the organization’s marketing efforts as it operationalizes the five pillars of the strategic vison.   “Melissa’s vision and experience are what we need as we communicate and execute our strategic plan,” said BIO’s President & CEO, Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath. “As we move from virtual events back to in-person, you can expect to see reimagined, robust and exciting concepts that reflect a post-pandemic world.” As with all live and in-person events during the COVID era, BIO’s premier, worldwide biotechnology conferences have gone digital. BIO’s virtual events have drawn record attendance and facilitated over 37,000 business partnering meetings throughout 2020. While BIO will continue to dominate the virtual convening space in 2021, the new CMO signals a new and reimagined future for live, in-person events in late 2021 and beyond. von Stauffenberg will spearhead this effort. In addition, she will manage BIO’s overall marketing strategy highlighting the group’s role as a champion of science, its important work advocating for the industry on Capitol Hill and in state capitals, its thought leadership within the sector, and why BIO membership is vital to research and development companies working in the biotech ecosystem. von Stauffenberg comes to BIO after having worked at Wunderman Thompson Health for nearly a decade, rising from Associate to Senior Vice President…

The Biotechnology Innovation Organization announced today that it will resume political giving under new criteria for political leaders seeking campaign assistance. Shortly after the violent demonstration three weeks ago at the US Capitol BIO paused political giving in order to evaluate the type candidates who the association would support in the future. “After consulting with some members of our leadership and Board of Directors we have decided that BIO will align our political partnerships for members of Congress and the Senate with the five strategic pillars of our organization which we announced late last year and an additional one based upon defending democracy. Those pillars are: Be a voice of science and for science. Unite and empower biotech innovators and their ecosystem to improve lives. Remove barriers to innovation. Champion broad access to biotech breakthroughs and scientific equality. Catalyze resilient and sustainable bio-based economies. “At its core science is based on facts and the truth and so it was disheartening and disappointing to see that many members of Congress and the Senate voted against a free and fair democratic election based on misinformation and outright falsehoods. Truth matters and so we will for the time being suspend giving to those who voted against democracy. In the future we will be examining very closely the entirety of Members of Congress and the Senate‘s records, words and deeds to ensure how they match up with our five pillars for advancing scientific innovation in America.