From a pair of Air Jor­dans to a $200M-plus IPO, Carl Hansen is craft­ing an overnight R&D for­tune fu­eled by Covid-19

Back in the sum­mer of 2019, Carl Hansen left his post as a pro­fes­sor at the Uni­ver­si­ty of British Co­lum­bia to go full time as the CEO at a low-pro­file an­ti­body shop he had found­ed called Ab­Cellera.

As biotech CEOs go, even af­ter a fundraise Hansen wasn’t paid a whole heck of a lot. He end­ed up earn­ing right at $250,000 for the year. His com­pen­sa­tion pack­age in­clud­ed a loan — which he lat­er paid back — and a pair of Air Jor­dan ten­nis shoes. His new­ly-hired CFO, An­drew Booth, got a sweet­er pay pack­et than that — which in­clud­ed his own pair of Air Jor­dans.

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