‘Tis the season for new chief executives in the Boston area. In the past month or so, we’ve seen no fewer than 10 newly announced CEOs at technology, life sciences, and cleantech companies. So we thought we’d round them up and look for any interesting patterns.

It’s a pretty good mix of public (4) and private (6) companies. Five are in software/tech, while three are biotech/life sciences, and there’s one each in energy and manufacturing. Nothing too surprising or unusual here that we can see—just leadership changes that typically come with companies evolving in a challenging economy.

In some cases—such as Apperian, Memento, and Verdasys—the incoming CEO succeeds a founder of the company in the new role. One CEO, Richard Feldt, shows up twice in the list—he left the helm of Evergreen Solar and has joined manufacturing tech firm Advanced Electron Beams. I’m sure there are others we’ve neglected to mention, so please leave a comment or drop us a note if you have a tip.

Here’s the quick rundown of the new people and their companies, in reverse chronological order of when they were announced, so the most recent changes are on top (previous CEOs listed in parentheses):

ADI Time
East Providence, RI
John DiPippo (John Volatile)

Idenix Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IDIX)
Cambridge, MA
Ronald Renaud (Jean-Pierre Sommadossi)

Memento
Burlington, MA
John O’Malley (BC Krishna) … Next Page »

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Helicos Biosciences (NASDAQ: HLCS), the Cambridge, MA-based maker of genetic analysis instruments, said today in a regulatory filing that president Steve Lombardi has resigned. Lombardi’s exit was official as of February 11 from his full-time job and from his position on the board of directors. Helicos didn’t say why Lombardi is leaving, but noted that it wasn’t because of a disagreement with the company over operations, policies, or practices. Lombardi will continue to earn his salary through August 31, at his annual base rate of $375,000. Lombardi had been CEO of Helicos from August 2008 to December 2008, when he was replaced in the company’s top job by Ronald Lowy.

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Helicos Biosciences, the Cambridge, MA-based maker of genetic analysis tools, said today in a regulatory filing it is cutting 30 percent of its workforce, about 30 jobs, to conserve cash. The cuts will come between now and the end of the year, and cause the company to take a $450,000 charge for termination benefits. Earlier in the week, Helicos named Ronald Lowy its new CEO, replacing Steve Lombardi, who was demoted to president. Back in July, Lombardi said the company had about 100 employees, and that it planned to grow in Massachusetts because Gov. Deval Patrick’s life sciences initiative included support for workforce training.

We’ve updated the Boston layoff tracker with this news, so if you want to see the full list, click here.

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Several of the Boston area’s public life sciences companies were making news this week. But first…

—Ryan delved into the strategy and portfolio of Partners Innovation Fund, which was launched last year by Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s hospitals to invest exclusively in startups with science from the two Harvard-affiliated hospitals. Among the startups to benefit from the young fund are BioBehavioral Diagnostics, which is developing an objective means of diagnosing attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, and Freedom-2, which is out to commercialize laser-erasable tattoo ink.

—Alkermes (NASDAQ: ALKS) regained full commercial rights to its treatment for alcohol dependence when its partner Cephalon of Frazer, PA, relinquished its share of the product, an extended-release version of the drug naltrexone marketed under the name Vivitrol. Cambridge, MA-based Alkermes expects the drug to generate $5 million to $8 million in sales during the 2009 fiscal year.

—Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) of Natick, MA, reportedly participated in an $11 million second-round financing for San Ramon, CA-based Endoscopic Technologies (Estech), a maker of minimally invasive devices for cardiac surgery. Telegraph Hill Partners and Saints Capital also participated.

—Massachusetts biotech giant Biogen Idec (NASDAQ:BIIB) confirmed plans to move its headquarters from Cambridge to Weston. Biogen will continue to use 400,000 square feet of lab space and 200,000 square feet of manufacturing space in Cambridge, though.

—Cambridge, MA-based Helicos Biosciences, (NASDAQ: HLCS) replaced CEO Steve Lombardi—who took the post in August–with Ronald Lowy, former CEO of Fisher Biosciences. Lombardi will stay on as president and board member for the maker of genetic analysis tools.

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Helicos Biosciences, (NASDAQ: HLCS) the Cambridge, MA-based maker of genetic analysis tools, said it has hired Ronald Lowy as CEO, replacing Steve Lombardi, who was promoted to the top job in August. Lombardi will continue working at the company as president and as a member of the board, while concentrating on commercializing the HeliScope product line, the company said in a statement. Lowy, who joined the Helicos board in November 2007, is the former CEO of Fisher Biosciences, a division of Fisher Scientific. (Update: Helicos said Lowy will perform his CEO duties on a part-time basis, according to a regulatory filing issued later in the day.)

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