Board Of Directors

Michel Lussier* has served as Chairman of the board of directors of the Company since 2007 and is also a co-founder of the Company. Mr. Lussier founded Medpole Ltd, the North American satellite of MedPole SA, a European incubator for medical technology start-up companies located in Belgium, and serves as the Chief Executive Officer for the group. In this capacity, he is an advisor to Fjord Ventures, a Laguna Hills, California based medical technology accelerator / incubator. Mr. Lussier also serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Metronom Health Inc, an early stage medical device company founded by Fjord Ventures, developing a continuous glucose monitoring system. Prior to that, from 2002 to 2013, he worked for Volcano Corporation, where he served in a number of positions, most recently as President, Clinical and Scientific Affairs from 2012 to 2013, and prior to that from 2007 to 2012, Group President, Advanced Imaging Systems, Global Clinical & Scientific Affairs and General Management of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Mr. Lussier obtained a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Electrical Engineering and Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Montreal. He also holds an MBA from INSEAD (European Institute of Business Administration), France. In addition to serving on our board of directors, he also serves on the boards of directors of several early stage medical devices companies.

Chris Buyse has served as a member of the board of directors of the Company since 2008. He brings more than 30 years of international financial expertise and experience in introducing best financial management practices. He is currently Managing Director of FUND+, a fund that invests in innovative Belgian Life Sciences companies. Between August 2006 and June 2014, Mr. Buyse served as the Chief Financial Officer and board member of ThromboGenics NV, a leading biotech company that is listed on NYSE Euronext Brussels. Before joining ThromboGenics, he was the Chief Financial Officer of the Belgian biotech company CropDesign, where he coordinated the acquisition by BASF in July 2006. Prior to joining CropDesign, he was financial manager of WorldCom/MCI Belux, a European subsidiary of one of the world’s largest telecommunication companies and he was also the Chief Financial Officer and interim Chief Executive Officer of Keyware Technologies. Mr. Buyse holds a master degree in applied economic sciences from the University of Antwerp and an MBA from Vlerick School of Management in Gent. He currently serves, in his own name or as permanent representative of a management company, as member of the board of directors of the following publicly and privately held companies: Iteos SA, Bioxodes SA, Bio Incubator NV, Immo David NV, Pinnacle Investments SA, CreaBuild NV, Sofia BVBA, Pienter-Jan BVBA, Life Sciences Research Partners VZW , Inventiva SA (FR), The Francqui Foundation and Keyware Technologies NV.

Rudy Dekeyser has served as a member of the board of directors of the Company since 2007. Since 2012 Rudy is managing partner of the LSP Health Economics Fund, a private equity fund investing in late stage European and North American health care companies. Prior to joining LSP, Rudy has been managing director of VIB (Flanders Institute for Biotechnology), where he was also responsible for the intellectual property portfolio, business development and new venture activities. He obtained a Ph.D. in molecular biology at the University of Ghent. He holds non-executive director positions in Curetis AG, Sequana Medical AG and Remynd NV and Lumeon Inc. and held non-executive director positions in Devgen NV, CropDesign NV, Ablynx NV, Actogenix NV, Pronota NV, Flandersbio VZW, Bioincubator Leuven NV and Multiplicom NV. He is a co-founder of ASTP (the European associations of technology transfer managers) and Chairman of EMBLEM (EMBL’s business arm). Rudy has been advisor to several seed and venture capital funds and to multiple regional and international committees on innovation.

Mr. Serge Goblet is part of the board of directors of Celyad Oncology where he acts as non-executive director since 2008. He holds a Master Degree in Business and Consular Sciences from ICHEC Brussels Management School and has many years of international experience as director in Belgian and foreign companies. He is the managing director of TOLEFI SA, a Belgian holding company, and reference shareholder for Celyad Oncology. TOLEFI SA is 100% owned by Mr. Serge Goblet and his wife Isabelle Thoumyre. In his function as managing director of TOLEFI SA, Mr. Serge Goblet also holds director mandates in the following companies: SG Holding SA, Essege SA, Le Haras des Isas SA, Green Holding SA, Carbobois SA, Green Real Estate SA, BSM Immo SA, Bioway Holding SA, Tolefi France SA, Ligne Plus SA, Ligne Plus Combustible SA, Bioway SA, Tecnoair System SA and Uton Ltd. Mr. Goblet has one voting rights at Celyad Oncology’s board of directors.

Dr. Koehler has more than 20 years of experience in oncology drug development. She currently serves as Chief Medical Officer at Repare Therapeutics. Prior to her current role, she was Chief Medical Officer of Bicycle Therapeutics. She previously served as Vice President of Strategy and Innovation for Pfizer Oncology, spearheading major acquisitions and strategic portfolio decisions. As the Pfizer Oncology Integrated Development Leader, she was integral in the development of IBRANCE^® (palbociclib) for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Her professional experience includes academic clinical work in Poland, Germany and the United States, and executive positions at AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. In addition to her extensive pharmaceutical executive experience, Dr. Koehler is also known for a number of accomplishments in academia, including serving as an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh and the director of Bone Marrow Transplant at St. Christopher’s Hospital in Philadelphia. Her advisory roles included scientific and strategic support for NCI, ASCO, EORTC and Breast Cancer IMPAKT Scientific Boards, and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. She received her M.D. and Ph.D. from the Silesian Medical School in Poland.

Mr. Piscitelli brings more than 20 years of industry experience, including debt and equity financings, in-licensing transactions, acquisitions, marketing partnerships and commercial product launches, including playing a part in the commercials launches of XTANDI^® (enzalutamide) and Tarceva^® (erlotinib). Since September 2019, Mr. Piscitelli has served as the Chief Financial Officer of ORIC Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded clinical-stage oncology company. Prior to joining ORIC, from 2017 until 2019, he was Chief Financial Officer of AnaptysBio, where he helped raise over $500 million in an IPO and follow-on financings. From 2012 until 2017, Mr. Piscitelli was Vice President of Finance, Strategy and Investor Relations at Medivation and played a key role in its acquisition by Pfizer Inc. in 2016. Prior to his tenure at Pfizer, he served as Senior Director of Collaborations and Operations Finance at Astellas Pharma. Mr. Piscitelli also served in various roles, and ultimately as the Vice President Treasury & Management Finance, at OSI Pharmaceuticals and played a significant role in their acquisition by Astellas in 2010. Mr. Piscitelli began his career with KPMG and is a certified public accountant. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA from Hofstra University.

Marina Udier, Ph.D., currently serves as CEO of Nouscom after joining as Chief Operating Officer in 2016 from Versant Ventures, where she was Operating Principal. Prior to Versant, she held senior development and commercial roles at Novartis in Basel including work as a Global Commercial Head. Previously, Dr. Udier worked for McKinsey & Company in the US, working with Healthcare Fortune 500 companies in areas of marketing, strategy and pricing. She has a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Yale University.

Hilde Windels is CEO of Mycartis NV and member of its board of directors. Hilde brings 20 years of experience in biotech with a track record of business and corporate strategy, building and structuring organizations, private fundraising, mergers and acquisitions and public capital markets. Hilde has worked as Chief Financial Officer for several biotech companies, amongst those the Belgium based molecular Dx company Biocartis where she started as CFO in 2011. She transitioned to the co-CEO role in 2015 and CEO a.i. in 2017. She still serves as board member at Biocartis. In addition, Hilde is member of the boards of Erytech, MdxHealth and VIB. She holds a Masters in Economics (Commercial Engineer) from the University of Leuven (Belgium).

Filippo Petti joined Celyad Oncology in September 2018 as the Chief Financial Officer, and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in April 2019 and continues to act as CFO. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Petti worked in healthcare investment banking both at Wells Fargo Securities and William Blair & Company. Prior to his roles in investment banking, Filippo spent several years in equity research covering U.S. biotechnology companies both at William Blair & Company and Wedbush Securities. He began his career as a research scientist at OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. focused on drug discovery and translational research before transitioning into corporate development with the company. Mr. Petti holds a Master of Business Administration from Cornell University, a Master of Science from St. John’s University and a Bachelor of Science from Syracuse University.