Erika Jones
Senior Vice President, Finance (Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer) at Black Diamond Therapeutics
Executive
About Erika Jones
Erika Jones is Senior Vice President, Finance and serves as both Principal Financial Officer (appointed October 7, 2024) and Principal Accounting Officer of Black Diamond Therapeutics (BDTX). She joined BDTX in 2019, previously serving as Senior Director, Finance; Corporate Controller; and Vice President, Finance before promotion to SVP Finance in February 2024 . She is 40 years old, holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Accounting from Miami University, and is a licensed CPA; earlier roles include Director of Finance at Axcella Health and Manager, Advisory Services at Ernst & Young . Company performance context during her finance leadership includes 2024 R&D and G&A discipline and extended cash runway into Q4 2026 per company disclosures (see table below) .
Company performance context
| Metric | FY 2023 | FY 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash, cash equivalents and investments (period-end) | $131.4 million | $98.6 million |
| Net cash used in operations | $66.7 million | $62.3 million |
| R&D expenses | $59.4 million | $51.3 million |
| G&A expenses | $27.1 million | $27.5 million |
| Net loss | $82.4 million | $69.7 million |
| Liquidity outlook | — | Cash runway expected into Q4 2026 |
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Diamond Therapeutics | Principal Financial Officer (also Principal Accounting Officer) | Oct 7, 2024 – present | Appointed PFO amid restructuring to focus resources and extend runway |
| Black Diamond Therapeutics | Senior Vice President, Finance | Feb 2024 – present | Finance leadership for operating discipline and runway extension |
| Black Diamond Therapeutics | Vice President, Finance | Oct 2021 – Feb 2024 | Led finance function; Corporate Controller concurrently |
| Black Diamond Therapeutics | Corporate Controller; Principal Accounting Officer | Jan 2021 – present; PAO since Nov 19, 2021 | Principal Accounting Officer appointment; SEC reporting oversight |
| Black Diamond Therapeutics | Senior Director, Finance | Oct 2019 – Jan 2021 | Built early finance infrastructure |
| Axcella Health Inc. | Director of Finance | May 2016 – Oct 2019 | Led accounting/finance operations and reporting |
| Ernst & Young LLP | Manager, Advisory Services | Sep 2008 – Feb 2015 | Advisory/technical accounting experience |
External Roles
- None disclosed for public company boards or concurrent external directorships .
Fixed Compensation
- Not disclosed. BDTX provides scaled EGC “smaller reporting company” disclosures and reports compensation only for named executive officers (NEOs), which does not include Jones in 2024–2025 proxies .
Performance Compensation
- Executive annual bonus plan design: for executives other than the CEO, target awards are based 80% on corporate goals and 20% on individual goals; the company assessed 2024 corporate performance at 90% of target (targets for Jones not disclosed) .
- No disclosure of Jones’s target bonus %, actual payout, or equity grant details in the proxies .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
- Beneficial ownership tables list directors and NEOs; Jones is not listed, and her shareholdings are not disclosed in the 2025 proxy .
- Pledging/hedging: Company insider trading policy prohibits short sales, derivative transactions, and pledging/margin arrangements; Rule 10b5-1 plans are permitted under policy .
- Clawback: Board-approved compensation recovery policy compliant with SEC/Nasdaq for incentive comp tied to financial reporting measures .
- No related party transactions reported for Jones upon appointment as PFO (Item 404(a) check) .
Employment Terms
- Appointment dates and roles: appointed Principal Accounting Officer on Nov 19, 2021; appointed Principal Financial Officer on Oct 7, 2024; continues as Principal Accounting Officer and SVP, Finance .
- No individual employment agreement, severance, or change-in-control terms disclosed for Jones (company disclosures provide such terms only for CEO, COO/GC, CMO, and former CFO) .
- No material legal proceedings involving executive officers reported .
Investment Implications
- Promotion-from-within to PFO during the Oct. 2024 restructuring signals strong institutional knowledge and continuity in finance leadership as BDTX prioritized BDTX-1535 and targeted cost discipline to extend cash runway into 2H 2026 .
- Pay alignment visibility is limited (non-NEO), but governance safeguards reduce misalignment risk: anti-hedging/anti-pledging policy, 10b5-1 plan policy, and SEC/Nasdaq-compliant clawback .
- Monitor Form 4 filings for insider activity, grants, and any 10b5-1 plans given lack of detailed ownership disclosures; also track liquidity runway updates and milestone execution for BDTX-1535 as catalysts impacting retention risk and incentive realizability .
Key facts
- Current role: SVP Finance; PFO and PAO (PFO since Oct 7, 2024) .
- Tenure: Joined 2019; progressed through senior finance roles .
- Education: Bachelor’s/Master’s in Accounting (Miami University); CPA .
- No related-party transactions on appointment; no material proceedings .