Michael Johannesen

Mike Johannesen has served as Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Taysha Gene Therapies since 2026.

Mike is a seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in corporate law, governance, compliance and strategic transactions across the biopharmaceutical and healthcare industries. Before joining Taysha, Mike served as Chief Legal Officer at Advanced Medicine Partners, where he led the organization’s legal affairs, including corporate transactions, contracting and organizational structuring to support growth and risk management in the highly regulated gene therapy sector. Before Advanced Medicine Partners, Mike served as Chief Legal Officer at Jaguar Gene Therapy, where he oversaw the company’s legal, human resources and compliance functions, helping guide the organization through a critical stage of development and growth. Before Jaguar Gene Therapy, Mike served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at AveXis, where he helped guide the company through its acquisition by Novartis and led the legal and compliance teams supporting the development and approval of Zolgensma for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, the first U.S. FDA approved one-time gene therapy to treat a monogenic CNS disorder. Prior to AveXis, Mike served as Vice President, Associate General Counsel & Assistant Secretary at Hospira, as Senior Counsel at Abbott Laboratories, as Counsel at Whirlpool Corporation, and as an Associate at D’Ancona & Pflaum LLC and Winston & Strawn LLP.

Mike earned a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.A. in political science and public administration from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.