A new version of innovation.
Nathan McBride, CIO, CLSSBB
Nathan McBride is a career life sciences IT executive with 30 years in IT leadership, 28 of them spent exclusively in the life sciences industry. He currently serves as CIO of Xilio Therapeutics and as Founder and Principal of Long Walk Consulting, LLC, through which he provides fractional CIO and strategic advisory services to a select portfolio of life sciences clients. He is also Founder/Principal of Ex Furia and Roomful.ai.
In addition to running the monthly “CEO In the Machine” AI Newsletters, Nathan is the author of three books: The Life Sciences IT Survival Guide, The IT Autonomy Paradox, and The New IT Leader's Survival Guide, and is the host of The Calculus of IT podcast. He brings a practitioner's perspective informed by deep operational experience, not theory.
Highlights of Nathan's career relevant to this engagement include:
10 successful drug launch lifecycles supported across clinical, SNDA, and acquisition-to-commercialization stages
7 corporate relocation projects led or co-led, and participation in 5 acquisitions
Pioneer in cloud adoption: led AMAG Pharmaceuticals to become one of the first pharma companies to achieve 100% cloud infrastructure in 2010
AI and automation governance: developed GenAI governance frameworks, policy suites, and organizational enablement programs for multiple life sciences organizations
Recognized industry speaker: regular speaker at major life sciences and pharmaceutical technology conferences on topics including IT strategy, AI governance, and organizational transformation
Why Long Walk Consulting
LWC brings focused, practical value through:
Deep life sciences IT expertise spanning 28 years across gene therapy, oncology, anti-infectives, and specialty pharma, including hands-on experience at companies of comparable size and growth trajectory to Paragon
Specific experience with AI and automation governance in biotech research environments, including development of GenAI governance frameworks, policy suites, and organizational enablement programs
Practical familiarity with the evolving data governance expectations of major pharma partners, drawn from working with life sciences companies navigating these relationships, including the AI usage and data segregation requirements that are increasingly appearing in partner agreements at this stage of company development
Vendor-agnostic, independent perspective free from referral arrangements or platform affiliations
A proven fractional CIO track record with over two dozen successful engagements with life sciences companies spanning early-stage startups through commercial-stage organizations, across a broad range of strategic IT needs
Personalized, executive-level engagement - all work is performed directly by Nathan McBride, with no handoff to junior staff