Castle Biosciences, Inc., a company improving health through innovative tests that guide patient care, has announced that Rodney Cotton has been appointed to its board of directors, effective immediately, and will stand for election at Castle’s 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, expected to be held in May 2024. The Company further announced that Mara G. Aspinall will not stand for re-election to its board, and her current term will expire at the 2024 Annual Meeting. Aspinall has served on the Company’s board since 2015.
“Mara has been a great partner and contributor,” said Derek Maetzold, director, president and chief executive officer of Castle Biosciences. “We thank her for her dedicated service to Castle.
“Rod’s broad range of leadership experience in the diagnostic industry will be a significant benefit to our board. We are pleased to welcome him.”
Cotton (age 64) is a leader in the diagnostics industry who is known for his holistic perspective, bias for action in the face of challenges and commitment to agile processes. He built a successful career at Roche spanning more than two decades and culminating in the role of senior vice president, head of strategy & transformation, and chief of staff to the CEO for Roche Diagnostics, the North American headquarters of the world’s largest diagnostics company. While at Roche, Cotton led key enterprise initiatives, such as milestone corporate communications, health equity coalitions, the U.S./Roche Group audit, and global/U.S. acquisition integrations. With 40-plus years of experience, he drove the financial turnaround and cultural transformation of four global healthcare companies, led teams of up to 280 total reports, managed a P&L of more than $1 billion in revenue, and served as a key member of the senior leadership team executing the most significant restructuring of the company in two decades. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cotton and his team at Roche accelerated six ground-breaking products in 11 months, including the first launch of the market’s most accurate and in-demand molecular diagnostic test. He also solved challenges of product scarcity, supply chain, product allocation, and logistics to achieve accelerated global sourcing and self-manufacturing in line with testing guidelines. He received The Sagamore of the Wabash Award, one of the highest Indiana State honors, bestowed by Indiana Governor Eric J. Holcomb.
Cotton currently serves on the board of directors of Eisai Pharmaceutical U.S., a research and development pharmaceutical company and subsidiary of Eisai Company, Ltd., Orchard Software, a private equity-backed health technology company owned by Francisco Partners; an advisory board member to Flo2 Ventures, a venture capital-backed healthcare and health equity accelerator; and serves as a member of the board of directors and on three board committees (Audit, Compliance & Finance; Governance & Equity; and Quality of Care) for Community Health Network.
Cotton holds an MBA from California State University, Dominguez Hills, an M.S. in strategic management from the University of Southern California, and a B.A. in biological sciences & technology from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
With Cotton’s addition, the Company’s board will be comprised of nine directors, five of whom have been appointed in the past four years.
