PBS Biotech Hires Lourie Zak as CFO
PBS Biotech, a supplier of single-use bioreactors for the biotechnology market, has appointed Lourie Zak, a former executive director of finance at Amgen, as chief financial officer (CFO). For the past eight years, Zak held executive roles of increasing responsibility at biotech leader Amgen.
Joining Amgen in 2003, she served as special projects lead on the process improvements team overseeing the finance integration of Tularik a research firm acquired by Amgen and served for three years as European controller based in Breda, the Netherlands for Amgen Europe. In that post she implemented the European Union controllership function, led efforts to establish a shared service centre (SSC), and improved internal controls, financial reporting and compliance processes.
For the past four years, Zak was executive director finance for Amgen’s global commercial operations at the Thousand Oaks, CA headquarters. She provided financial analysis and decision support to executive leadership in a rapidly changing environment that included product launches, global regulatory and reimbursement volatility, the enactment of US healthcare reform and increased competition.
Prior to Amgen, Zak held controllership and vice president finance positions at various firms including Dream Works SKG, eToys, and Sony Pictures Television International. She began her career in tax with KPMG Peat Marwick and later Ernst & Young, and served as director of tax and later director of financial reporting at Orion Pictures.