Noubar Afeyan

Bio

Noubar Afeyan is Managing Partner and CEO of Flagship Ventures, a firm he co-founded in 2000. He is a Senior Lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management where he has taught the MBA program’s primary entrepreneurship course since 2000. He is also currently a visiting scholar at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Dr. Afeyan has authored numerous scientific publications and patents since earning his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from MIT in 1987. He lectures widely in the United States and internationally on diverse topics ranging from entrepreneurship, innovation and venture capital to biological engineering, drug discovery, medical technologies and renewable energy. During his 23 year career as inventor, entrepreneur, CEO and venture capitalist, Noubar has co-founded and helped build over 22 successful life science and technology startups. He was founder and CEO of PerSeptive Biosystems (NASDAQ: PBIO), a leader in the bio-instrumentation field that grew to over $100M in annual sales within six years from first sales. After PerSeptive's acquisition by Perkin Elmer / Applera Corporation (NYSE: ABI) in 1998, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer of Applera, where he initiated and oversaw the creation of Celera Genomics (NASDAQ: CRA). Currently Noubar serves on a number of public and private company boards. He is a founder and director of Flagship portfolio companies Affinnova, BG Medicine, Eleven Biotherapeutics, Ensemble Therapeutics, Essentient, Helicos BioSciences (NASDAQ:HLCS), Joule Unlimited, and LS9. He is also a lead investor and board member of BIND Biosciences. Previously, he was a member of the founding team, director and investor in several highly successful ventures including Chemgenics Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Millennium Pharmaceuticals), Color Kinetics (acquired by Philips), Antigenics (NASDAQ:AGEN), EXACT Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS), and Adnexus Therapeutics (acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb). Noubar is a member of several advisory boards including the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT, the Whitehead Institute at MIT, and the SKOLKOVO School of Management in Moscow. He is also a member of the Board of Overseers of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Noubar is co-founder and board member of Armenia 2020 and the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia, two international economic development projects focusing on the former Soviet Republic of Armenia. In 2008 he received an Ellis Island Medal of Honor, an award granted to outstanding Americans who have distinguished themselves as United States citizens and who have enabled their ancestry groups to maintain their identities while becoming integral parts of American life.