Segulah Medical Acceleration (SMA) has appointed Susanna Francke Rodau as new CEO and Managing Partner. She succeeds Gabriel Urwitz, founder of SMA, who continues as an executive board member.
Susanna has worked for twenty years in life science, in senior positions in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry, as well as in government. She joins us from Elekta, where she was Senior VP responsible for the Neuro solutions business area.
– “I am very pleased to welcome Susanna as CEO of SMA. Susanna comes with extensive operational experience from companies such as Pfizer, Roche and Elekta. She has been responsible for all parts of the product life cycle and thus understands the life science ecosystem from the inside. It is also the right time for me to take a more strategic role in SMA, as an executive board member and together with the board, Susanna and the team continue to set the direction for us, says Gabriel Urwitz, founder and executive board member, SMA.
– “We have had an impressive inflow of exciting companies since SMA was founded in 2021. Our portfolio today consists of a number of very interesting companies in different phases. The Board and I look forward to taking on the next phase of ensuring successful commercial development for the companies under Susanna’s leadership. At the same time, we are pleased that Gabriel will continue as a working board member given his significant role for SMA,” says Claes Ekström, Chairman of the Board of SMA.
– It’s an incredibly exciting and fun challenge to change perspective in the medical world, from the industry side to the investor side. The need for the kind of knowledge-intensive investments that SMA has become one of the leaders in Europe in is enormous. The Nordic region tops all lists in medical technology innovation, but we clearly see that there is a lack of capital and, above all, experience before and during the commercialization phase for innovative companies. I am really looking forward to working with the incredible team Gabriel has built to drive this forward,” says Susanna Francke Rodau, newly appointed CEO and Managing Partner of SMA.