Centogene N.V. has announced plans for the transition of chief financial officer René Just and the appointment of Miguel Coego Rios as executive vice president of Finance & Legal and interim CFO. Just resigned from the company effective March 31, 2022. Rios will join the company on February 08, 2022, and work closely through the transition with Just.

The company has initiated a search for a permanent chief financial officer; both internal and external candidates will be evaluated.

"It is a privilege to welcome Miguel Coego Rios to the Centogene team. With more than a decade of experience in senior finance roles in the biopharma sector, the expertise that Miguel brings is invaluable. I have worked with him in previous roles, and we are looking forward to the contributions he will bring to Centogene as we position ourselves as the unique and essential partner in rare, metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases,” said Kim Stratton, Centogene’s chief executive officer.

“The work that Centogene is doing from diagnostics, to discovery, to clinical development, to market access & expansion, in rare, metabolic, and neurodegenerative diseases offers real hope to patients around the world,” said Rios. “The company has recently attracted a very solid financial foundation to accelerate growth and innovation. Centogene can now focus on the next step in the evolution of its strategy, and I look forward to enhancing the value of Centogene by ensuring optimal resource allocation on our strategic path forward and to thereby contribute to maximizing stakeholder value. I am excited to be joining a highly motivated team with the goal to deliver results and inflection milestones.”

About Miguel Coego Rios

Rios is an experienced senior executive with broad expertise in finance and commercial leadership roles in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors. He has an extensive track record in achieving sales and expenses targets, team management and development, and steering multi-country projects. Most recently, he was vice president & general manager South Europe at Orphazyme A/S, a late-stage clinical biotech. Before that he was vice president & CFO EMEA at Mundipharma, a multinational pharmaceutical company. Earlier in his career, he served in several senior management positions at Shire Pharmaceuticals between 2011 and 2019, most recently as CFO LATAM and General Manager of the Andean region. Miguel Coego Rios has gained notable international exposure having completed positions in Colombia, Brazil, Spain, and the UK.

Kim Stratton added, "I would like to thank René for his contributions over the past year. He has significantly improved our internal processes and has initiated a cost reduction process and an acceleration of our annual reporting cycle. I want to specifically commend him on securing a strong financial foundation for Centogene with the recently closed financing transactions. With that milestone behind us, with a strong management team, and with a significantly improved financial position, it is now time to deliver on our long-term strategy. We wish René all the best in his future endeavors, and we look forward to working with him through the transition.”