470: Rethinking Corporate Structures | Sean Cassidy, CFO, Arvinas

Arvinas CFO Sean Cassidy caught the high-growth bug early in his career. Shortly into his stint with Deloitte, Cassidy transitioned from a massive global financial services company to work with middle-market clients. He felt he could make a more tangible difference for those companies by supporting them as they raised capital and made acquisitions. His passion led him to the life sciences industry where Cassidy has served as the finance chief of a number of high-growth biotech and biopharma companies. In a previous stint, Cassidy helped CuraGen subsidiary 454 Life Sciences get its back office in order for a potential IPO. During his two years guiding that effort, the business grew from 20 people to 150 employees and from zero to $70 million in revenue. “It was a very exciting time,” Cassidy asserts. “The company almost went public, but in the end it made more sense to do a strategic transaction.” The experience helped elevate him to CuraGen’s CFO office and, more recently, to Arvinas, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapeutics for cancers and other difficult-to-treat diseases. Cassidy discusses how his approach to corporate finance leadership pivots on flexibility. “You can’t be too rigid in your planning,” he adds. “Science changes on a dime.”