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Six months after a bungled attempt to find a new leader, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) yesterday announced two candidates to succeed Bob Klein, the architect and founding chairman of the $3 billion state stem cell agency. And with the option of electing either a bond financier or a cardiologist, the CIRM board now faces a stark choice over who will lead the San Francisco-based institute as it enters into its next phase.
Klein, a real estate magnate and lawyer who led the charge to put CIRM on the ballot in 2004, announced plans earlier this month to step down as CIRM’s chairman on 23 June. He had previously intended to do so when his term ended in December 2010. But after citizenship concerns scuttled the candidacy of his likely successor — the Canadian molecular biologist Alan Bernstein — Klein agreed to stay on for six months until a suitable replacement could be found.
At the time, Klein told Nature that he wanted “another scientist or clinician-scientist” to lead CIRM’s governing board. In line with those wishes, California State Controller John Chiang yesterday nominated Frank Litvack, a Los Angeles cardiologist who has held academic appointments at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of California–Los Angeles, to replace Klein. Litvack has also founded and led several medical technology start-ups, and currently sits on the boards of several biopharmaceutical companies.
“I have a background in clinical medicine, I have a background in research, and I have a background in business — and all of that is tied in to what people today call translational medicine,” Litvack told Nature Medicine. “It’s unusual for somebody to have done all three of those things, and I think I bring that to the table for the organization.”
However, the other three executive officers charged with choosing Klein’s successor all rallied around an attorney with financial acumen, rather than someone with extensive biopharma experience. In separate letters sent to Klein over the past week, California Governor Jerry Brown, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newson and State Treasurer Bill Lockyer each nominated Jonathan Thomas, a founding partner in the bond investment group Saybrook Capital in Santa Monica, to takeover the chairmanship. According to letter of interest sent to the CIRM board yesterday, Thomas studied the history of medicine, served on the board of several governmental agencies as well as the Crippled Children’s Society of Southern California (now known as AbilityFirst), and has been an investor in the Santa Monica-based stem cell company Advanced Cell Technology.
“I’m honored and thankful for the nominations that I received,” Thomas, whose firm manages more than $750 million in investments, including government bonds such as those that fund CIRM, told Nature Medicine. “I look forward to being considered as a candidate as the selection process unfolds over the next month, and I would greatly welcome the opportunity to lead the agency as it enters its next critical phase.”
The CIRM board is expected to vote for the new chairman on 23 June at a two-day meeting in San Diego. In addition to considering the two men’s resumés and leadership styles, the board is likely to heavily weigh each candidate’s salary requirements and vision for the chairman’s role. In the past, Klein was criticized for overstepping his boundaries and treading on the executive role of the CIRM president (see Stem Cells: The Impatient Advocate). So, some members of the board are now looking for a less hands-on chair to guide policy, but not day-to-day operations. The CIRM board also recently recommended a salary range of $137,500 to $400,000 for the position depending on time commitments. But given the political scrutiny of compensation figures for public sector employees in California, many board members are hoping to pay their next chair on the lower end of the spectrum.
According to Chiang’s nomination letter, Litvack would work “at the lowest salary being offered, irrespective of his [time] commitment.” In his own statement of interest, Litvak also wrote that he views the chairman’s role “as leading those areas that fall outside the President’s statutory responsibility.”
“I’m kind of offering myself up as a chair that is more interested in very hands-on oversight — hands-on in areas where the chair is directed to be hands-on, and oversight in the areas where the president is by statute directed to be operational,” says Litvack. “It’s not my goal to become the president.”
Thomas declined to comment on his requested salary, but told Nature Medicine that “if elected, I will look to carry out the chairman’s role as defined [by CIRM’s statute] and to work collaboratively with the president and staff going forward.”
Klein also denied reports that he was backing any particular candidate. According to a statement provided by CIRM’s legal counsel James Harrison, “Bob [Klein] has not endorsed a candidate for Chair. He has tried to assist individuals who have expressed an interest in the position by providing them with information and background regarding CIRM. Bob believes the Board as a whole should make the decision on the next Chair.”
Images courtesy of Saybrook (left) and Cedars-Sinai (right)