ASU Alumni Mark and Sheri McKenna Invest in the Next Generation of Life Science Leaders
For one thing, it’s where the winner of this year’s Alumni Achievement Award met his wife, Sheri McKenna (BS Marketing/Finance ’02), during their first year.
It’s also where he learned the value of applying a multidimensional, cross-disciplinary approach to business operations. That strategy has had a significant impact on his career accomplishments, which include serving as CEO of Prometheus Biosciences, a biotechnology startup that was acquired by Merck in 2023 for $10.8 billion — one of the largest clinical-stage biotech acquisitions in history.
Now, with a generous gift to the university, the McKennas are launching an innovative educational opportunity — the McKenna Life Sciences, Business and Entrepreneurship Program — designed to open doors in the modern economy by equipping students with a powerful blend of biotech insight and business acumen. One of the few programs of its kind, it offers a distinctive edge to future leaders in biotech, pharma, and beyond.
(BS Marketing ’02) and
Sheri McKenna
(BS Marketing/Finance ’02)
Sowing the seeds of innovation
“I like things that are very dynamic, where you’re putting pieces of the puzzle together,” he says.
Marketing Professor Mark Rosenbaum (PhD Marketing ’03) reinforced Mark’s penchant for assembling disparate ideas.
“Dr. Rosenbaum said that if your studies are monolithic, you will be one-dimensional and less valuable. I’ll never forget that. He was ahead of his time — today, the most highly sought-after employees are those who have multiple skill sets.”
By the time they graduated in 2002, Mark and Sheri, who had been dating through most of college and had taken some of the same classes, had already racked up a substantial array of business skills — which is likely how they wound up interviewing for the same job.
After learning the Johnson & Johnson role was in Jacksonville, Florida, Sheri politely declined to pursue it. But in his interview an hour and a half later, Mark said, “This sounds perfect!”
“He walked out and told me, and I was like, ‘Wait!’ ” Sheri recalls.
Mark landed the job and proposed marriage soon afterward. The engaged couple packed for Jacksonville, the first in a series of cross-country moves as Mark ascended to leadership roles in the medical and pharmaceutical industry. At the same time, Sheri, after a rewarding stint teaching inner-city kids math and science, rose through the ranks at Bank of America, where she retired as a senior vice president in 2023.
Playing with fire at Prometheus
Looking back, Mark recalls the leap of faith it took to join Prometheus. “The company was small and burning capital, but the science was electric — too promising to ignore,” he explains. “Embracing the opportunity meant more than a career shift; it meant uprooting my life, financial stability, and moving across the country to chase a vision I believed in.”
He arrived optimistic, telling employees at his first town hall meeting they would build a billion-dollar company. But like the mythological Prometheus — whose bold theft of fire from Mount Olympus brought severe consequences — the company’s daring vision came with unexpected and formidable challenges.
“When I arrived, I was under the impression we had 20 months of cash runway, Mark recalls. “In reality, we had less than eight.” Faced with that stark reality, he asked his CFO, “What happens if we can’t raise the money?”
Her answer was blunt: The company would file for bankruptcy, creditors would take the assets, and he would have to lay off all the employees.
In that moment, the weight of leadership was clear. “What’s behind Door No. 2?” Mark asked.
“You go and raise the money.”
And so he did.
Over the next four years, Mark led Prometheus through an extraordinary transformation, raising over $1 billion in investor capital and building a precision immunology powerhouse. His vision and execution ultimately culminated in one of the largest biotech mergers in recent years — a $10.8 billion acquisition.
Along the way, Mark deepened his expertise in precision medicine and its powerful potential in immunology — much like its revolutionary impact in oncology — positioning Prometheus at the forefront of a new era in targeted therapies.
The knowledge he had acquired, combined with his business acumen, made Mark a highly renowned leader in the biotech world.
In recognition of his accomplishments, Mark was named a winner of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2023 Pacific Southwest Award, which celebrates high-growth business leaders shaping a more equitable and prosperous world.
Today, he’s the founder, chairman, and CEO of Mirador Therapeutics, which combines genetic research and data science to develop precision medicine for chronic immune and inflammatory diseases.
Beyond his leadership at Mirador, Mark contributes his expertise to several biotech and investment organizations. He serves as chairman of the board at Apogee Therapeutics and sits on the board of Spyre Therapeutics and NewAmsterdam Pharma. He also holds advisory roles with ARCH Venture Partners, which invests in early-stage biotech innovation, and Fairmount Funds Management, a health care-focused investment firm.
A lighthouse for future leaders
“I think there’s a fundamental gap between science and business,” says Mark. “Someone who develops an idea in a lab often has no exposure to the tools for capitalizing on it, and the reverse is true for business leaders. We need to bridge that divide with cross-functional expertise.”
At Bank of America, Sheri also discovered the value of combining different approaches, spearheading a visionary program to convert training from a paper-based, in-person format to a blended curriculum with online, virtual, and in-person elements. That was back in 2010, long before the pandemic and Zoom made virtual work normal.
“Hybrid learning was quite new,” Sheri recalls. “It created significant efficiencies, reducing employee ramp-up time and substantially lowering expenses.”
The MLSBE Program, which will begin in fall 2026, combines multidisciplinary learning with real-world experience and industry access. Applications are now open for this innovative program, in which students will earn two bachelor’s degrees in four years — one in finance and one in a natural science field such as biology, biochemistry, or neuroscience. They will also receive a certificate in entrepreneurship and innovation.
Embracing the opportunity meant more than a career shift; it meant uprooting my life, financial stability, and moving across the country to chase a vision I believed in.
He says the program fits perfectly with ASU’s longstanding role as a leader in innovation. “The vision is to build the biggest, most dynamic life sciences program in the U.S. It’s going to be grueling, but we’re going to put the right faculty and resources behind it to make it succeed.” If anyone has the moxie and the expertise to do that, it’s Mark McKenna.