Southeast Florida Business Players- Aug. 2009

Bert Sakmann

» Bert Sakmann, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1991, is the inaugural scientific director of the Max Planck Florida Institute at the Florida Atlantic University MacArthur campus in Jupiter. Sakmann, an M.D. as well as a Ph.D., was director of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg and had been working at the institute’s Munich location.

» Kevin J. Gould, Piper Aircraft vice president of operations, stepped up to CEO following the resignation of president and CEO Jim Bass. John Becker, vice president of engineering, becomes president. Piper was purchased in May by investment firm Imprimis from America Capital. Gould spent 12 years at Boeing and two years at Denver-based Adam Aircraft Industries before joining Piper in 2005. Becker has been with Piper for 20 years.

» Montreal scientist Rafick-Pierre Sekaly started work as scientific director of VGTI Florida, a Port St. Lucie campus of the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute at Oregon Health & Science University. Sekaly brought a team of 36 researchers with him as he continues to work on a treatment to eliminate HIV from the human body.

Tags: Southeast