Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has announced the appointment of Amy Schulman to its board of directors. Schulman is an accomplished leader and entrepreneur with a proven track record of enabling pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to maximize the value of their brands and realize the potential of their innovations. She currently holds key leadership roles at two biotech companies, serving as chief executive officer and co-founder of Lyndra and executive chair of SQZ Biotech. In addition, she is a venture partner at Polaris Partners, serving on the firm’s life sciences investment team.

“Ironwood is committed to attracting board members who have an owner-oriented mindset, business savvy, a strong interest in our company, absolute integrity and great strategic judgment. We believe Amy embodies each of these qualities, and that she will be a valuable advisor as we seek to expand the reach and impact of our marketed products, advance our internal pipeline, and identify opportunities to access external innovation,” said Peter Hecht, chief executive officer of Ironwood.

“Ironwood has successfully advanced an innovative product to market and established a strong commercial capability, which is driving revenue growth and pipeline development,” said Schulman. “This is how innovative biopharmaceutical companies are created, and it is an honor to join this Board as we help the terrific management team bring value for patients and shareholders.”

In addition to her roles at Lyndra, SQZ and Polaris, Schulman is also a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and serves on the boards of directors of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Blue Buffalo Pet Products. She also recently served as chief executive officer of Arsia Therapeutics until its acquisition in November 2016. Prior to these roles, she was the executive vice president and general counsel of Pfizer. In this role, she led the $4 billion consumer healthcare business, including the Advil, Chapstick, Centrum, Emergen-C and Robitussin brands, while concurrently acting as general counsel and leading the company’s team of approximately 700 legal professionals as well as participating on the company’s executive leadership team. Previously, she held the position of senior vice president and general manager of Pfizer Nutrition. Before joining Pfizer, she was a partner at the law firm DLA Piper, where she was a member of the board and executive policy committees.