Andrew Witty and Ned Sharpless Join Durham's Hatteras Venture Partners

Andrew Witty and Ned Sharpless are joining Hatteras Venture Partners, the Durham-based venture capital firm confirmed in a report published by the Triangle Business Journal on September 30, 2026.

The move puts two of the most recognized names in healthcare on the roster of one of the Research Triangle's most prominent investors. Witty is the former chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline. Sharpless previously led GSK's oncology business and later served as director of the National Cancer Institute.

Triangle Business Journal reporter Zac Ezzone, who broke the story, framed the hires around the firm's ambitions: "A pair of big names in healthcare are joining a prominent Durham firm as it pushes to back more promising startups in the Triangle and beyond."

The specific roles Witty and Sharpless will hold at Hatteras were not disclosed in the publicly available portion of the report. The article sits behind the Business Journals' subscriber paywall, and the firm has not yet published details of the appointments on its own channels.

For Sharpless, the Hatteras appointment extends a busy stretch in the Triangle's startup ecosystem. In April 2025, Triangle Business Journal reported that he had launched a new venture, Jupiter Bioventures, aimed at reshaping how drugs are developed. Six months later, in October 2026 coverage marking a lifetime achievement award, Sharpless described his current work as his "most fun job" ever.

For Hatteras, the hires arrive at a moment of institutional strength. The firm closed a record-breaking fundraising round in August 2025, pulling in $200 million across its funds, according to Triangle Business Journal. Partner Clay Thorp has steered portfolio companies to billion-dollar exits, the publication reported in September 2025.

The firm's recent returns underscore why seasoned operators might find the platform attractive. In June 2026, Bayer agreed to acquire Perfuse Therapeutics, a Hatteras-backed biotech, in a deal worth up to $2.45 billion — an exit that Triangle Business Journal reported as a major cash-in for the Durham investor.

Hatteras has built its franchise on life sciences investing in the Southeast and beyond. Adding Witty and Sharpless gives the firm direct access to two executives who have run organizations at global and federal scale — experience that early-stage biotech founders rarely encounter inside a boardroom.

Witty brings deep pharma commercialization expertise from his years at the top of GSK. Sharpless pairs scientific credentials from the National Cancer Institute with operational experience inside a top-five pharmaceutical company's oncology unit. Both are also North Carolina-rooted figures in a regional ecosystem that has made biotech a centerpiece of its economic development pitch.

The hires signal where Hatteras sees its next phase: more capital deployed into more ambitious life science startups, with heavyweight operators helping pick and build the companies. Whether Witty and Sharpless take partner titles, advisory seats, or operating roles, their arrival concentrates unusual amounts of industry firepower in a single Durham firm — and raises the bar for competing venture houses courting the same Southeastern biotech dealflow.