Leadership

Michael Wyzga has served as a director since October 2013 and as our Chairman since March 2016. Mr. Wyzga is currently the President of MSW Consulting, Inc., a private company focused on strategic biotechnology consulting. Prior to that, Mr. Wyzga served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Radius Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: RDUS), a biopharmaceutical company, from
December 2011 until November 2013.

Prior to that, Mr. Wyzga served in various senior management positions at Genzyme Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, which was acquired by Sanofi in 2011. Mr. Wyzga joined Genzyme in February 1998 and most recently served as Executive Vice President, Finance from May 2003 until November 2011 and as Chief Financial Officer from July 1999 until November 2011.

Since February 2014, Mr. Wyzga has served as a member of the board of directors of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKBA), a biopharmaceutical company, where he is also a member of the compensation committee and chair of the audit committee. Since February 2013, Mr. Wyzga has also served as a member of the board of directors and chair of the audit committee of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: OMED), a biopharmaceutical company.

Since February 2015, Mr. Wyzga has also served as a member of the board of directors of Exact Sciences Corporation (Nasdaq: EXAS), a medical technology company, where he is also a member of the audit and compensation committees.

Mr. Wyzga also previously served as a member of the board of directors of Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company that was acquired by Merck in August 2014, where he also served as the chair of the audit committee and a member of the compensation committee, Altus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company that ceased operations in November 2009, and as a member of the supervisory board of Prosensa Holding B.V., or Prosensa, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, from June 2014 until the Prosensa acquisition by BioMarin Falcon B.V. in December 2014. Mr. Wyzga received an MBA from Providence College and a B.S. from Suffolk University.

Maritza McIntyre, PhD, has 20 years of experience in the development, evaluation and regulation of biological and small molecule products within startup biotech firms, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and as a consultant.

Dr. McIntyre was a product reviewer and ultimately Branch Chief in the Division of Cellular and Gene Therapies at FDA/CBER. She has since worked in senior roles in regulatory affairs and product development at Bavarian Nordic, REGENXBIO, NanoCor Therapeutics and Bamboo Therapeutics. As president of Advanced Therapies Partners, Dr. McIntyre provides strategic regulatory and product development advice to biotech companies, academics, and venture capital firms. She has proven success in defining development strategies for products with complex regulatory challenges. She has also been involved in the preparation of some of the first BLA and MAA submissions for gene therapy products to FDA and EMA.

Dr. McIntyre received a Ph.D. in virology from the University of Chicago and graduated magna cum laude with an Honors B.S. in biology from Wayne State University.

Cédric Moreau is a Partner in the Crossover investment team at Sofinnova Partners.

When he joined Soffinova in June 2018, he brought 18 years of experience in life sciences investment banking. Previously, Cédric was Managing Director and Head of Healthcare Corporate Finance at Oddo BHF, which was the top-ranked firm for European biotech equity capital market deals in 2017. Prior to this, he was Director at Bryan Garnier & Co where he completed several sizeable cross-border transactions and managed more than 2 billion euros in European healthcare transactions. Before his corporate finance career, he spent 10 years as a Healthcare Equity Analyst and was several times EXTEL top-ranked at Natixis and Fortis. He was in charge of coverage of both listed biotech and pharma companies.

Cédric holds a Master’s in Economics and post-graduate diploma in Finance and Taxation (Sorbonne) and diploma from the Société Française des Analystes Financiers (SFAF).

Simone Seiter, M.D., Ph.D., has served as a director since April 2017. Dr. Seiter is a Vice President with IQVIA (formerly QuintilesIMS) based in Frankfurt, Germany and has held the role for 12 years.

Prior to joining QuintilesIMS, Dr. Seiter worked at Capgemini as a consultant for six years and served as a postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institutes of Health (United States) for two years. Previously, Dr. Seiter worked at the Universities of Heidelberg and Homburg, Germany as board-certified dermatologist.

Dr. Seiter holds an M.D.-Ph.D. degree from the University of Heidelberg and an MBA from the University of Applied Sciences in Neu-Ulm Germany.

In her last position, Mrs. de Craecker led the EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) region at AveXis, further acquired by Novartis. She built from scratch the multifunctional team launching Zolgensma, the first one-shot Gene Therapy for the treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy, in the EMEA region. She paved the way for the approval, distribution, market access and commercialization, working with authorities on innovative funding pathways and early access. She also established a wide presence in the main European markets and a network of distributors in the Middle East and other European countries.

Prior to joining AveXis, Mrs. de Craecker was leading European operations for Raptor Pharmaceuticals at the critical phase of a shift from R&D to commercialization of their lead product in Cystinosis. Before that, she was part of the team launching the first Orphan Drug approved in Europe and took different positions of increasing responsibilities within Shire Human Genetics. She also led various strategic and operational teams, locally and globally for 14 years.

Mrs. de Craecker holds a Master’s in Science from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Leuven (Belgium).

Elsy is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bio-Up, a healthcare advisory firm supporting companies in strong scale up or transformation phases, mainly in the field of cell and gene therapy. She has far-reaching expertise and a broad network within the pharma and medtech industries.
Before she created Bio-Up, Elsy was Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer at Cellectis, a French biotechnology company focused on gene editing and its applications in oncology. At Cellectis she led various strategic and operational functions: strategy, business development, clinical trials program management, as well as manufacturing, with the objective of building in-house capacity. Prior to joining Cellectis, Elsy worked at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for 12 years. She served as Partner and Managing Director in the Paris Office, was the leader of BCG’s biotech-focused business in Europe. She worked closely with biotech and pharma companies on topics such as specialty product launch optimization, partnering and M&A.
Elsy graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, France and holds a master’s degree in economy and management from the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain. She also completed a College degree in Immuno-oncology at Institut Gustave Roussy in Paris, France.

Prof. Sahel is an internationally renowned French ophthalmologist and scientist who has pursued an exceptional academic and hospital career in France, the United Kingdom and the United States. A graduate of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris (medalist in 1980), he specialized in ophthalmology in Strasbourg, Paris and Harvard University. He led the ophthalmology department at the National Eye Hospital of Quinze-Vingts in Paris from 2001 and founded the Vision Institute in 2008; the institute has become one of the largest integrated research centers in Europe for vision diseases. He was a Professor at Sorbonne Université and also held the Cumberlege Chair of Biomedical Sciences at the Institute of Ophthalmology at University College London. He is currently Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh, where he directs the UPMC Vision Institute.

Prof. Sahel's pioneering work in understanding and treating incurable retinal diseases has led to major advances in gene therapy, optogenetics, artificial retina and neuroprotection, all leading to first-in-human trials. He is notably the co-discoverer of the cone viability factor (RdCVF), paving the way for new therapeutic strategies to preserve central vision in retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. Prof. Sahel is the author of more than 700 scientific publications, the inventor of numerous patents, and the recipient of prestigious awards and distinctions, including the Legion of Honor, the National Order of Merit, the CNRS Innovation Medal, and the Wolf Prize in Medicine 2024.

William Monteith has over 43 years of experience in both small molecule and large molecule pharmaceutical manufacturing, during which he held increasing positions of responsibility for Operations, Quality and Technical Support. He has been directly involved in the site search, design and build out of 6 pharmaceutical and biotech facilities. While at Wyeth and Sandoz he oversaw the successful implementation of remediation activities for regulatory actions. At Dendreon, he was the General Manager and later Executive Vice President of Dendreon responsible for the manufacturing, supply chain and the launch of Provenge® in Europe.

He served as Chief Operating Officer at Progenitor Cell Therapy and then joined Cellectis as the Vice President Manufacturing, North America, later being appointed the Executive Vice President of Global Operations, responsible for operational departments in both Raleigh and Paris. Bill was named Chief Operating Officer for Stridebio, a research development company focused on AAV products for rare diseases, where he was responsible for the buildout of the operations departments and a clinical manufacturing facility. Since his retirement, Bill has taken the role of Program Director for the North Carolina Life Sciences Biomanufacturing Forum, a trade organization that advocates for the life sciences companies that operate in the state.