Executive Committee

Michel Lussier serves as Interim Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Lussier co-founded Cardio3 Biosciences SA the company which became Celyad SA. Mr. Lussier currently serves also on several Boards of Directors: iSTAR Medical SA and Gabi Smart Care SA as Chairman, Occlutech AG as board member. Previously, Mr. Lussier founded MedPole SA and its  North American affiliate Medpole LTD, a Medtech and cell therapy incubator for start-up companies, serving as CEO until July 2020. From May 2014 until September 2020, Mr. Lussier also served as the CEO of Metronom Health Inc, an early stage medical device company founded by Fjord Ventures. Prior to that, from 2002 to 2013, he worked for Volcano Corporation, where he served in global leadership positions. Mr. Lussier started his career with Medtronic where he held a number of technical, marketing, sales than general management roles. 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, France.

David Georges has more than 20 years of experience in the life sciences industry holding various financial and administration roles. David first joined Celyad Oncology in January 2019 as Finance Director and was appointed VP of Finance and Administration in June 2022. He first started his career in the financial department in insurance at the Axe Royale Belge and banking at Citibank’s EMEA headquarters, where he evolved in different roles including accounting, tax and financial consolidation. From there, he worked as a financial manager for Merck where he held responsibilities for financial controlling, procurement and supply chain as well as holding an active role on the finance integration team following acquisition of Serono. Before joining Celyad Oncology, David worked as the finance and administration director for DIAsource ImmunoAssays, a privately held Belgian infectious disease company where he actively worked on M&A activities. David holds a bachelor’s degree in Economy and a postgraduate degree in Finance from the University of Louvain.

Eytan Breman first joined Celyad Oncology as a R&D Project Leader in 2015 and has also held positions as a senior scientist and R&D Manager of the discovery group at the Company. As of June 2022, Eytan became Head of R&D, heading the implementation of our research and development strategy for both the current and future CAR T therapies we are developing. Prior to working at Celyad Oncology, he started his career as an engineer in the laboratory of immunology at the academic hospital of Maastricht in 2007. He then obtained a Masters in Biopharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Leiden and a PhD in transplant immunology from the University of Antwerp. He was awarded The Anthony P. Monaco Award for his work in the transplant field in 2014.

An Phan joined Celyad Oncology in September 2021 as Senior Legal Director and was appointed as Head of Legal in July 2022. An brings more than 20 years of legal experience with a strong focus on Life Sciences and Compliance, as well as a proven record of providing strategically sound counsel in highly regulated businesses. An began her law career in international law firms. In 2004, she joined Johnson & Johnson as Senior Legal Counsel providing legal support to all J&J businesses mainly in the Middle East and Africa. Seven years later, An served as Legal Director EMEA for St. Jude Medical for eight years, where she was supporting the whole region of Europe, Middle East and Africa. Following the acquisition of St. Jude Medical by Abbott, An moved to Hill-Rom as Compliance Director Europe & MEATI located in Amsterdam. Prior to Celyad, An worked as General Counsel for De Smet SA Engineering & Contractors in Belgium supporting their operations worldwide. An holds a Master in Laws from the UCLouvain (Belgium) and a postgraduate certification in International and European Tax Law from the “Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Fiscales” (Brussels, Belgium).

Hannes Iserentant serves as Head of Intellectual Property (IP) of the Company. He first joined Celyad Oncology as IP Director in 2016 and has held positions including Senior Director of IP and Senior Director of R&D at the Company. He started his IP career in private practice at Bird Goën & Co as a member of the life sciences team before moving to VIB, a research institute active in all areas of life sciences. He was a founding member of VIB’s technology watch team involved in identifying and securing access to early stage, emerging technologies. From 2013 to 2016, he was appointed as a member of the “Expert Group on the development and implications of patent law in the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering” for the European Commission. Mr. Iserentant holds a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from Ghent University and is a qualified European Patent Attorney.