Leadership
Dr Christian Itin
Christian Itin joined Autolus as Chief Executive Officer in 2016 and served as Chairman of the Board of Directors from 2014 to 2021.
From 2016 to 2019 Christian was on the board of Kuros Biosciences (SIX:KURN) serving as chairman from 2016 to 2018. Prior to Kuros he served as executive chairman of Cytos Biotechnology Ltd from 2012 to 2016 until its merger with Kuros Biosurgery, forming Kuros Biosciences.
Previously, Christian was President and Chief Executive Officer of Micromet Inc., a formerly Nasdaq-listed biopharmaceutical company which was acquired in March 2012 by Amgen, Inc. for USD 1.2 billion. Micromet pioneered T-cell engaging antibodies and with blinatumomab developed the first approved product in this field.
After serving in senior management roles at Micromet, Christian was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 2004. Prior to joining Micromet in 1999, Christian co-founded Zyomyx, Inc., a protein chip company based in Hayward, CA, USA.
Christian also served as non-executive director on the Board of Kymab, Ltd, a privately held UK company from 2012 until its acquisition by Sanofi in 2021 for USD 1.1Bn plus milestones.
He received a diploma in biology and holds a PhD in cell biology summa cum laude from the University of Basel, Switzerland. In addition, he also performed post-doctoral research at the Biocenter of Basel University and at Stanford University School of Medicine, CA, USA.
David Brochu
David Brochu joined Autolus from Kedrion USA, where he was the vice president of technical operations and program head for Kedrion SpA’s next generation IVIG development and industrialization effort. In this position, David also established various operations functions for the company, including manufacturing, supply chain, engineering, quality, regulatory, program management, and development in support of this effort. Prior to this, he was the vice president of plasma collection operations for Talecris Biotherapeutics (formerly Bayer HealthCare LLC), where he led the operations buildout in the Western United States.
Earlier in his career, David was the senior director of process development and technology at Talecris leading the preparation and implementation of the technology, process development, and facilities investment strategy for the plasma products business.
In this role he led teams of scientists, engineers and technicians in the development of new protein therapeutics from research to commercial launch. Prior to Talecris, he held engineering and technical operations leadership roles at Bayer and Warner Lambert in the US, EU and South America.
David has over 30 years of operational and development experience. He received a B.S. in chemical engineering from Northeastern University.
Rob Dolski
Rob Dolski joined Autolus as Chief Financial Officer in August 2023. He previously served as Chief Financial Officer at Checkmate Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for investor relations and the Company’s financial strategy and management. Prior to that he served as Vice President, Finance at Akcea Therapeutics, acquired by Ionis Pharmaceuticals in 2020, where he held similar finance responsibilities and supported the development and commercialization of several rare disease programs. He has also held senior finance positions at Moderna Therapeutics, Forum Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Human Genome Sciences, Inc., prior to its acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline. Mr. Dolski started his career at Amgen, Inc. He holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a BSc in civil engineering and strategic management from the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr Martin Pule
Martin Pule is Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Dept. of Haematology at UCL Cancer Institute and Honorary Consultant in Haematology at University College London Hospital. His research is focused on many aspects of genetic engineering of T-cells for cancer treatment, with a particular focus on CARs.
He entered the T-cell engineering field in 2001 as a travelling Fulbright Scholar at the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston. Here, Martin Pule was the first to describe third generation forms of CARs and described one of the first clinical studies of CARs, which showed efficacy in a solid cancer. Martin Pule is Director of the UCL Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) programme.
He holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from University College Dublin and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists.
Alexander Swan
Alexander Swan serves as Chief Human Resources Officer. Alec joined Autolus prior to the IPO in 2018 as VP, Human Resources. Prior to that he was EMEA Head of Human Resources for Kite where he was responsible for all aspects of HR, ranging from talent management, organization development, policy and procedure development and compensation and benefits. This was within a small team preparing for pre and commercial launch.
Previously Alec was involved in a number of start-up companies, Amryt Pharmaceuticals, Taiho Oncology and Aegerion Pharmaceuticals. In these roles he specialized in start-up strategies and processes for HR, preparing and enabling these companies for success.
From 2004 to 2012 Alec was responsible for developing and leading all HR associated activities for Celgene in EMEA. He was part of a team that saw a successful launch across Europe bringing lifesaving therapies to patients in need. He has also held a number of positions within local government and NHS, helping strategically with talent acquisition and organization development.
Alec holds a Master’s degree in Law and is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Christopher Vann
Christopher Vann leads commercial activities for Autolus. An industry veteran with 30 years’ experience in both development and business roles, he joined Autolus from Hoffmann-La Roche’s Swiss headquarters, where he was latterly responsible for leading the lung cancer commercial team and general management of the Tarceva brand.
He has extensive experience of global lifecycle management of oncology products as well as implementing marketing strategy at a regional and national level. This includes launching several oncology, immunology and transplant products in countries such as China, Japan, Romania, Russia, South Africa, the UK and the USA.
He gained his degree in toxicology and pharmacology from the School of Pharmacy, University of London.
Dr Chris Williams
In February 2024 Dr Chris Williams was promoted to Chief Business Officer. Chris was part of the team that founded Autolus in 2014 and he initially served on the Company’s board as a Non-Executive Director. In 2016, Chris transitioned into the Company to establish Autolus’ business development function.
Previously he worked at UCL Business where he led the establishment of strategic collaborations, licensing deals, new companies, and financing transactions across a portfolio of cell and gene therapies in oncology and rare diseases. Prior to that he served as non-executive director of Orchard Therapeutics, another company he founded during his tenure at UCL Business, and has worked in business development roles at Thiologics, Canbex and Eli Lilly.
He has also worked in research roles at GSK, Inpharmatica and Imperial College London and holds a PhD in Biochemistry from Imperial College London.
Dr Matthias Will
Matthias Will serves as Autolus' Chief Development Officer. Previously he served as Chief Medical Officer at the privately held biotech company, Dren Bio, Inc., During his tenure, Matthias led the expansion of the clinical team and oversaw the submission of two INDs for candidates to potentially treat hematologic cancers. Prior to that he served as Vice President of Clinical Development for CRISPR Therapeutics where he led the development of that company's allogeneic CAR T programs targeting CD70 in T-cell lymphomas and renal cell carcinoma and the early stage CD70-NK cell program in collaboration with NKarta Inc. Previously, Dr. Will was in charge of clinical development at CytomX Therapeutics Inc. and held roles of increasing responsibility in clinical development at Gilead Sciences, Inc. and Novartis Oncology. Earlier in his career he served with McKinsey & Company, where he strategically advised clients in the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Will received his Medical Degree from the Hannover Medical School and his training in hematology/oncology at the University of Tȕbingen, Germany.
Dr Veronica Hersberger
Dr. Veronica Hersberger joined Autolus as Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs in 2023. Previously she served as Chief Medical Officer at TargImmune Therapeutics AG. Prior to that she was at AstraZeneca, as Global Product Leader for the cancer therapies Calquence and Lumoxiti. She also had a long career at F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG where she was Medical Affairs Franchise Head Hematology and was involved in the development and delivery of a number of significant cancer therapies, including Herceptin SC, Kadcyla and Perjeta across the full range of clinical development from early stage through to commercialization. She was responsible for the first in human Perjeta studies and was involved in the regulatory interactions for filing Herceptin in adjuvant breast cancer, gastric cancer, and 1-weekly dosing and for Kadcyla in metastatic breast cancer. She has broad experience across many aspects of oncology including most solid tumors and various hematological malignancies, plus experience in non-malignant diseases such as hemophilia. Dr. Hersberger holds a medical degree from the University of Buenos Aires. She is a board-certified dermatologist and brings more than 20 years of industry experience in oncology and hematology.
Miranda Neville
Miranda Neville joined Autolus in 2018 from the consulting firm AllianceBio where she spent 4 years as a Partner and supported several clinical stage CDMO and commercial biopharmaceutical companies. Following her BS at West Virginia University, she started her career at Human Genome Sciences, Inc. She spent 10 years at HGS in a variety of roles including Manufacturing, Engineering & Program Management, prior to its acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline.
Brent Rice
Brent Rice joined Autolus in 2018 and serves as SVP, Chief Commercial Officer & Site Head (US). He is an industry veteran with over 25 years of broad cross-functional leadership experience in biotech/pharmaceutical sales, marketing, operations, and reimbursement. He is skilled in building scalable commercial organizations, customer facing teams, strategic planning, marketing, product launch strategies, and negotiation of multi-million dollar ($100M-$1B) customer agreements that enhance patient access and profitability across all channels. Brent joined Autolus from Juno Therapeutics, where he was the Head of Managed Markets and responsible for building their Payer, Access and Reimbursement strategy and capability. Prior to joining Juno Therapeutics, Brent spent 18 years with Amgen where he was recognized as a strong cross-functional leader supporting Amgen’s portfolio of products through innovative partnerships and life cycle management.
Brent also co-founded Building Employee Ownership, a financial services company focused on maximizing employee participation within their employer sponsored ESPP. He served on the Board of ACTION (Area Christians Taking Initiative On Needs), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that connects volunteers with meaningful projects to serve seniors, foster children, veterans, disabled individuals and low income families.
Brent received his undergraduate degree in Russian Studies from the University of California at Los Angeles and his Master of Business Administration from the University of Denver.
Vesna Cizej
Vesna Cizej serves as SVP Strategic Development. She joined Autolus full time in January 2024 after working for the company for several years as an Executive Advisor Strategic Development, bringing with her more than 20 years of pharmaceuticals experience in big multinational companies such as Roche and Novartis and, specialised biotech company Biogen.
Previously, she held different positions on international scale with full P&L responsibility for more than 15 years, from Europe, Canada to Emerging Markets (Russia, Turkey, MENA, Africa and India), as well as 4 years’ experience in strategic consulting (CGT and new modalities). She was leading part of more than 20 successful launches of innovative small molecules, biotech products, and biosimilars in different Therapeutical Areas (Oncology, Virology, CNS, Haemophilia, Anaemia, Osteoporosis, RA and Rare Diseases).
Vesna was creating numerous decision-making business and strategy mid- to long-term footprint development plans for different companies (Europe, North America, Africa, Middle East), resulting in affiliate creation or outsourcing business to partners. She was operational part of prelaunch activities for first globally available large scale CGT Therapy - CAR-T in Haematology, later-on facilitating next generation CGT therapy introduction by building governance, long range planning, forecasting and commercial organisation.
Vesna Cizej holds Master’s degree in Science in addition to Master’s degree in Pharmacy from University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Alex Driggs
Alex serves as Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs and General Counsel at Autolus. He joined the Company in August 2018 as Vice President, Legal Affairs and General Counsel. Prior to joining Autolus, Alex served in roles of escalating responsibility at Sucampo Pharmaceuticals between May 2015 and February 2018, when as Senior Vice President and General Counsel he oversaw all legal aspects of Sucampo’s acquisition by Mallinckrodt. Earlier in his career, Alex served as Associate General Counsel for Micromet prior to its acquisition by Amgen, and following the acquisition, as Senior Counsel in the licensing transactions group at Amgen.
Alex began his legal career as an associate in the Life Sciences and Technology Transactions groups at Cooley LLP. He holds a J.D. from the New York University School of Law and an A.B. in Philosophy from Harvard University.
Dilip Patel
Dilip Patel Joined Autolus in 2022, now serving as Senior Vice President, leading global pricing and market access strategy, an industry veteran with over 30 years’ experience in the Pharma and Biotech industry. Prior to joining Autolus Dilip successfully established and led UK and EU organizations with full P&L responsibility. His leadership has resulted in numerous pricing and reimbursement successes across the US, Europe and ROW, which has resulted in timely commercial access and local availability of innovative and disruptive medicines. Over the past 25 years, he has played a pivotal role in the commercialization and reimbursement of groundbreaking therapies working at JNJ, Novartis and Kite/Glead. He is currently Vice President of EU Advisory group within Alliance for Regenerative Medicines where is works with industry colleagues to shape the future of Cell and Gene Therapy access in Europe. He holds a BSc (Honors) degree in Medicinal Chemistry from UMIST.
Markus Gruell
Markus Gruell serves as SVP Head of Corporate Quality and oversees Quality Assurance across all GxP areas, including computerised systems, Supplier Management and leading the inspection readiness for regulatory inspections. He joined Autolus from Atrium Innovations in Berlin, where he was Senior Director & Site Quality Head/ QP, overseeing the manufacturing and release of solid and semi-solid dosage forms of enzyme products. Earlier in his career, Markus gained experience in NHS hospitals in the UK, where he was working in Clinical Pharmacy and aseptic manufacturing in various Quality and Production roles, before moving to Switzerland as Senior QA Manager for a Ivers-Lee, a CMO for Johnson & Johnson, Roche and Novartis. In subsequent roles he was Head of Quality Control, QP and Director QA of the European Distribution and Manufacturing Centre of Parexel in Berlin, Germany. In these roles he was responsible for GMP Quality Assurance, batch release of IMPs and auditing manufacturing sites in Asia and the Americas.
Markus is a trained and certified pharmacist and holds a Master’s degree in Pharmacy from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany, and a postgraduate Master of Science degree in Pharmaceutical Technology and Quality Assurance from Leeds University, UK. In addition, he completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Pharmacy and various other professional courses. He is also an EU/ UK Qualified Person.
Dr Andrea Braun-Scherhag
Dr Andrea Braun-Scherhag serves as Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs of Autolus. Andrea joined Autolus in 2022, she has over 20 years of leadership experience in global regulatory affairs and strategic drug development in a variety of therapeutic areas such as metabolic diseases, oncology, virology, neurology including rare diseases. Prior to Autolus Andrea worked for Ultragenyx, where she was Vice President, Regulatory Affairs Europe. She started her career at F. Hoffmann-La Roche where she served for over 20 years in global and regional regulatory roles with increasing responsibility in Switzerland and the USA. Andrea studied pharmacy at the University of Heidelberg, Germany and received her PhD from the University of Basel, Switzerland.
Claudia Mercedes Mayer
Claudia Mercedes Mayer serves as SVP, Manufacturing Strategy & Technology. She joined Autolus in July 2019 as Director of Supply Chain and Contract Manufacturing where she was tasked with creating the new Supply Chain function within the nascent operation in Stevenage. In July 2020 she took on leadership of the Production function, and led the scale up of capacity, the outcome of which facilitated execution of the FELIX trial. In 2022 and 2023 she led operational readiness activities at The Nucleus culminating in the operational activity that provided the registrational data for The Nucleus – the capacity challenge, tech transfers, aseptic process simulations, stability runs, PPQ and comparability study runs.
Before joining Autolus, Claudia was at Mundipharma / Napp / Bard, in both Singapore and Cambridge, UK. Most notably she served as Head of Production and Planning for a liquid manufacture facility build in Tuas, Singapore, as well as managing new product introductions, manufacturing management, and packaging artwork management in Cambridge. In between the Mundi roles above, she served as a Supply Manager in GSK’s Consumer Hub, as well as a Programme Manager for GSK’s Child Resistant Senior Friendly packaging programme. Prior to that she worked for Colgate Palmolive in a variety of roles, including operations / production planning, packaging artwork quality, and supply network planning. For the first five years of her career she worked as a Mechanical Design Engineer focusing on avionics test equipment that serviced F14, F15, and F18 fighter jets.
Claudia holds a Master of Science in Engineering Management and a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) from Stevens Institute of Technology. Additionally, she is studying for a second MSc at Oxford’s Department of Oncology.
Chris Gray
As Senior Vice President of Technical Operations & Site General Manager Chris has responsibility for manufacturing activity at the Stevenage site. This includes Production, Engineering, Supply Chain, Patient Scheduling, Training & Validation functions. Chris is an experienced Operations Lead with more than 20 years' experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Leading Production and Supply Chain teams delivering significant change initiatives.
Chris joined Autolus in September 2021 as Site General Manager becoming Vice President in October 2021. During his time at Autolus, Chris has primarily been responsible for building a team capable of delivering early phase patient batches and establishing The Nucleus manufacturing centre in Stevenage ready for launch. Chris worked extensively with developers, local government, and construction firms to drive the expedited delivery of the Nucleus in under 18 months.
Prior to joining Autolus Chris was Head of Established Brands at Mundipharma International in Cambridge, responsible for a £500m portfolio. Chris has also worked in Germany at the Mundipharma Limberg facility managing the divestment of that facility. Chris has also led key supply chain projects as well as leading the Production & Supply Chain functions.
Chris holds a BA in Finance & Economics from the University of Sheffield.