New Relic has appointed Michael Frendo as Chief Technology Officer. In this role, he will lead the company’s technology vision and execution, aligning product insitro has appointed Joe Hand as Chief People Officer. In the role, he will lead the company’s global people strategy, overseeing talent, organizational development, and culture as insitro continues to scale its integrated AI and biology platform and advance its first-in-class programs toward the clinic. The appointment was announced on February 26, 2026.
Hand brings more than two decades of experience guiding life sciences organizations through expansion, cultural evolution, and complex corporate transactions. Most recently, he served as Chief Administrative Officer at Phathom Pharmaceuticals. Earlier, he spent more than a decade at Celgene, including as Chief Human Resources Officer and a member of the Executive Committee, where he led global HR modernization and played a key role in employee-related compensation and benefits matters tied to major acquisitions, including Celgene’s acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb.
Why this matters: For an AI therapeutics company, people leadership is tightly linked to scientific execution, platform scale, and the ability to attract cross-functional talent across biology, machine learning, and drug development. Bringing in an executive with experience scaling biopharma organizations through high-growth and high-complexity periods suggests insitro is preparing its operating model for a more mature phase of development as its pipeline moves closer to the clinic.
