Mr. Lagarde joined our board in 2023. He currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., a supplier of analytical instruments, life sciences solutions, specialty diagnostics, and laboratory, pharmaceutical and biotechnology services. He is responsible for Thermo Fisher’s Pharma Services, Customer Channels, BioProduction, Analytical Instruments, Laboratory Products and Clinical Research businesses as well as its Corporate Accounts function and Chief Medical Office. He joined Thermo Fisher as Senior Vice President and President, Pharma Services, in 2017 through its acquisition of Patheon N.V., a pharma services company. Prior to Thermo Fisher, Mr. Lagarde was President and Chief Operating Officer at Patheon from 2016 to 2017 and Managing Director at JLL Partners, a private equity firm investing in health care services, from 2008 to 2016. Prior to JLL, he spent 12 years at Philips, a global leader in health technology, in various finance roles across several international markets. Mr. Lagarde holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from European University in Antwerp, Belgium, and an executive master’s degree in finance and control from Maastricht Universiteit in the Netherlands.

Throughout his decades-long career in the biopharmaceutical industry, Morrey has contributed his expertise in the development and commercialization of multiple modality therapeutics across all aspects of preclinical, clinical and commercial manufacturing including small molecules, biologics and cell therapies. He joined Vertex in 2020 and serves on the Executive Committee as Chief Technical Operations Officer and Head of Biopharmaceutical Sciences and Manufacturing Operations. In his role he oversees all aspects of our preclinical, clinical and commercial biopharmaceutical sciences, manufacturing operations and global supply chain functions.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Indiana University and his doctoral degree in biological sciences from Stanford University. Prior to Vertex, Morrey was the Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing Operations at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and was responsible for the global network of internal and external manufacturing for BMS commercial products. He joined BMS in 2012 as the Vice President of Biologics Development and progressed through various roles, including Vice President of Biologics Manufacturing and the Integration Leader for Manufacturing, Product Development and Cell Therapy during the Celgene-BMS Integration. Prior to BMS, Morrey’s career included various scientific and management roles of increasing responsibility at Eli Lilly and Company, Cook Pharmica (now Catalent) and Targeted Genetics Corporation.

Morrey serves on the board of directors for 89bio and is active in advocating for LGBTQ+ equality, including serving on the National Leadership Council for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. In 2024, he was named to the Endpoints News LGBTQ+ Leaders in Biopharma list. He is the executive sponsor for Vertex PRIDE, our employee resource network that supports, provides visibility of, and celebrates our LGBTQ+ employees and allies.