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Thursday, July 2, 2009
The Mover
Zafgen's Matthias Jaffé juggles multiple roles
By Lynette F. Cornell, Special to Mass High Tech
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If you invite Matthias Jaffé to your house for barbecue food, make sure you do it right. The new CFO and vice president of business development at Cambridge-based Zafgen Inc. is a certified competitive barbecue judge and knows quality when he tastes it.
Jaffé became certified when he found out there was a shortage of judges. As a big fan of barbecue, he jumped on the opportunity. That same ability to recognize and pursue a good thing has guided him in various positions around the world.
Growing up in Venezuela, his career in science began with an undergraduate degree in chemistry at Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela. Translating his grades and degree to the United States’ guidelines for education delayed his graduate studies for a year. He took that time to save up money by working in product development at Procter & Gamble Co.
He said he figured that between curing cancer and developing new shampoos, he wouldn’t lose focus on his goals.
“I just decided to take the most boring job I could get,” he said. “Much to my surprise, it was a very, very interesting job.”
The job demanded that when deadlines arrived, he had to present his product as it was and make changes as necessary later. Jaffé cherished the practical, pragmatic approach, and the experience persuaded him to not pursue a doctorate.
Since then, Jaffé has been a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, a principal at Earlybird Venture Capital in Munich and most recently, a chief financial officer at Cambridge-based Alantos Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Along the way, he has drawn inspiration from Keith Dionne, the former CEO of Alantos who now serves as the president and CEO of Surface Logix Inc. Jaffé said he learned from Dionne that you can do the right thing and still be very successful in business.
In March, Jaffé joined Zafgen, a biopharmaceutical company researching a cure for obesity that involves restricting blood flow to adipose tissue.
As the CFO and vice president of business development at Zafgen, Jaffé’s goal is to bring the company to a major collaboration or exit within the next 12 to 24 months. The fact that Zafgen is a virtual company intrigued Jaffé, who along with the company’s four other employees wears multiple hats.
‘My true title would be three or four lines long,” said Jaffé.
To serve his many roles, he draws on his venture capital and consulting backgrounds. Having been a consultant, he said, he is familiar with communicating ideas, which he is constantly doing at Zafgen. Knowing the priorities of a venture capitalist helps him understand the needs and views of the stakeholders better. “It gives you a completely different perspective of actually delivering on goals,” he said.
Lynette Cornell is a freelance writer in Manchester, N.H.
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