Leadership

Dr. Litchman has served as President and Chief Executive Officer and has been a member of Mustang’s Board of Directors since April 2017. Dr. Litchman joined Mustang from Arvinas, LLC, where he served as President and Chief Executive Officer. While at Arvinas, Dr. Litchman oversaw the advancement of the company’s pipeline of protein-degradation therapeutics for the treatment of cancers and other diseases toward Investigational New Drug applications, as well as the execution of multi-target discovery collaborations with Merck and Genentech. Prior to Arvinas, Dr. Litchman spent more than 18 years with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, where he held positions of increasing responsibility related to the development of Novartis’ oncology pipeline. Most recently, Dr. Litchman served as Senior Vice President and Executive Global Program Head, CTL019, Cell & Gene Therapies Unit, where he led a collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania investigating chimeric antigen receptor modified T cells (CAR Ts) directed against CD19 on B cell malignancies. Prior to the CTL019 collaboration, Dr. Litchman served as Novartis’ Vice President and Head, Oncology Business Development & Licensing. Earlier in his career, Dr. Litchman was a senior equity analyst at Ursus Capital and directed oncology / immunology clinical research at Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. Dr. Litchman received his M.D. from Yale University School of Medicine, and his B.A. from Princeton University. He completed his internal medicine residency and hematology-oncology fellowship at New York-Presbyterian Hospital / Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Debra Manning joined Mustang Bio as Vice President Human Resources in 2019. Ms. Manning has more than 20 years of HR leadership experience leading the human resources function in biotechnology, clinical diagnostics and medical device environments. She has developed and implemented key HR programs and practices requiring in-depth knowledge and practical experience in HR strategy, organizational development, talent acquisition, benefits and compensation, labor law, and employee relations. Prior to joining Mustang, Ms. Manning held HR leadership positions at LFB USA, Stratus Technologies, Magellan Biosciences and ESA Biosciences. She attended Northeastern University and received her SPHR Certification in 2011.

Robert Sexton joined Mustang Bio in October 2022 as Vice President, Program & Alliance Leadership where he is responsible for leading program strategy & governance activities, including CMC, Non-Clinical, Clinical Operations, and Regulatory Affairs, as the R&D Steering Committee Head for Mustang Bio development programs from phase 1 through commercial launch.   In addition, as head of alliance management he is responsible for alliance lifecycle management, collaboration, and governance activities of in-licensed products with strategic alliance partners.  Robert has more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical / biotechnology development and commercialization.  Prior to joining Mustang Bio, Robert was Senior Director, Commercial CAR-T Operations at Legend Biotech where he was responsible for developing the market enablement strategy and operating model which facilitated the successful commercial launch of the CAR-T product CARVYKTI™.  He also worked for Novartis Pharmaceuticals for 10 years holding roles in clinical operations, patient & specialty services, market access, and cell & gene therapy, most notably, he was a member of the commercial launch team responsible for commercializing, the first commercially approved CAR-T product, Kymriah™.

Robert received his M.S. in Biotechnology from The Johns Hopkins University as well as his MBA in Strategic Management and B.S in Biology from Monmouth University.

Dr. Albert Paszek joined Mustang in October 2019 as the Head of Manufacturing Science and Technology, where he is responsible for development and operations needed for execution of GMP Manufacturing of CAR-T and X-SCID therapies. Dr. Paszek was previously a Senior Director of Manufacturing and Operations at Abeona Therapeutics and led development of manufacturing processes for cell and gene therapies for rare genetic diseases with focus on the Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (RDEB) and Sanfilippo Syndrome Types A and B. Earlier in his career, Dr. Paszek was a Senior Director of Technical Services at Alexion Pharmaceuticals with responsibility for multiple bioreactor platforms, and a Senior Director and Site Head for the Synageva Biopharma Corporation where he led CMC development actions and preparation of successful FDA, EMA and Japanese applications for approval of the Kanuma® enzyme replacement therapeutic for treatment of the Lysosomal Acid Lipase Deficiency (LAL-D).  His leadership included the design, construction, startup and operation of two GMP manufacturing facilities and one development site. Dr. Paszek has also led development of genomic diagnostic technologies for improvement and management of genetic resources used by biotech and food manufacturing industries. He has held faculty and academic appointments at the University of Minnesota, executing projects based on industry collaborations and aimed at the development of biotech technologies involving genomics. Dr. Paszek holds his Ph.D. and Post-Doctoral experience in Genetics and Genomics from the University of Minnesota.

Lynn E. Bayless joined Mustang Bio as Head of Regulatory Affairs in 2020. Ms. Bayless has over 19 years of global regulatory experience in the biopharmaceutical industry focusing solely on biologics, including gene therapies, for orphan genetic diseases. She is accomplished in the development and execution of innovative global regulatory strategies covering all stages of product development: proof-of-concept through commercialization and post-approval life cycle management. Prior to joining Mustang, Ms. Bayless was the Senior Director, Regulatory Affairs at Nightstar Therapeutics (Biogen), where she was responsible for the Phase 3 global development program for choroideremia, and the Director, Regulatory Affairs at Voyager Therapeutics, where she was responsible for the lead development programs for Parkinson’s Disease and ALS and supported the successful filing of a 510(k) application. Ms. Bayless also held multiple leadership positions over her 11 year tenure at Shire Human Genetic Therapies (Shire) where, in addition to supporting multiple global development programs, she successfully led the clinical and nonclinical regulatory strategy which resulted in the global launch of VPRIV® for the treatment of Gaucher disease and was a key contributor in obtaining global registrations for Elaprase® for Hunter syndrome. Ms. Bayless received her M.S. in Regulatory Affairs and Health Policy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and a B.S. degree from Quinnipiac University in Laboratory Animal Technology/Pre-Veterinary Medicine and a minor in Microbiology.

Greg Furrow joined Mustang Bio in January 2019 as head of Quality. He is responsible for leading the Quality Organization inclusive of Clinical Quality Assurance, Manufacturing Quality Assurance, Quality Control Chemistry, Microbiology and Raw Material, and Quality Systems in compliance with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), Good Clinical Practices (GCP), Good Laboratory Practices (GLP), and current ICH requirements.

Previously, Greg was Vice President of Quality and Compliance at Southern Research, an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, scientific research organization where he was responsible for Quality Assurance, Bio-safety, Environmental Health and Safety, ISO-9000 Quality Systems Management, Information Technology (IT), Human Resources (HR), Export Control and Government Security.

Prior to Southern Research, Greg was Vice President of Quality and Regulatory Compliance at WIL research (now part of Charles River), a global CRO supporting the pharmaceutical, chemical and agrochemical industries where he was responsible for global Quality Assurance (GLP, GCP and cGMP) and Environmental Health and Safety.

Greg received his B.S. and M.S. from the University of Maryland at College Park. He is a past president of the Society of Quality Assurance, an honorary life Fellow of the Research Quality Association, a lecturer in Purdue University’s Regulatory and Quality Compliance graduate program and he is the EPA industry representative to the OECD GLP discussion group.

Dr. Edinger has served as Vice President of Preclinical Sciences since September 2019. In this capacity, he oversees Mustang’s Research, Translational, Analytical and Process Development activities. Prior to Mustang, Dr. Edinger was Senior Director of Integrative Research and Strategy at Celularity, focused on scientific oversight of Intellectual Property, Research, Translational and Process Development in a matrixed environment, as well as driving scientific due diligence of external opportunities. Research efforts focused on developing products in several areas of cellular therapeutics, including placental mesenchymal stem cells, T cells, NK cells, CAR-T cells, CAR-NK cells and genetic modifications thereof. He previously served as Director of Research Strategy and Innovation at Celgene Cellular Therapeutics, leading Intellectual Property, Research, Translational and Process Development for an autologous HPV antigen specific T cell product in early development. His early career included academic appointments at Columbia University and Hunter College of CUNY, developing research programs in mouse and human immunology. Dr. Edinger holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Chemistry from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and he completed his postdoctoral research at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.

Susan has served as Vice President of Clinical Operations since January 2021, where she oversees Mustang’s clinical study management, data management, and statistics activities. Prior to Mustang, she was Head of Clinical Operations at BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics, a biotechnology company engaged in the development of adult stem cell therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Ward began her career at a CRO, Clinquest, rejoining years later as Vice President, Global Clinical Affairs, where she provided clinical, regulatory, and quality services to small to mid-sized companies. She then held positions of increasing responsibility at Pfizer, Roche, OvaScience, EnVivo Pharmaceuticals, Biogen Idec, and Sepracor. In addition to her clinical operations experience, Dr. Ward worked in translational and experimental medicine at Biogen Idec developing exploratory studies and building clinical research collaborations. Dr. Ward earned a Doctorate in Behavioral Neuroscience from the Boston University School of Medicine in 2001, while working as a researcher and a Post-Doctoral Training Fellow at the Harold Goodglass Aphasia Research Center from 1993 to 2002. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Cognitive Science and Psychology from the University of Rochester.

Dr. Dezube has served as Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Development since June 2021. Dr. Dezube joined Mustang from Alkermes Inc., where he served as Vice President and Clinical Head of Oncology. While at Alkermes, Dr. Dezube oversaw the advancement of the company’s interleukin-2 variant from Phase 1 to registrational studies for the treatment of cancers. Prior to Alkermes, Dr. Dezube spent more than 9 years with Millennium (now Takeda Oncology) and Tesaro (now GlaxoSmithKline), where he held positions of increasing responsibility related to the development of their oncology pipelines. Fields of industry focus included myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), lymphoma, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, melanoma and renal cell cancer. Earlier in his career, Dr. Dezube was an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where he served as an Attending Physician for more than 20 years. There he served on the Board of Trustees and was the Director of the Experimental Therapeutics/Phase 1 unit, Director of AIDS Oncology, and Deputy Director of the Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office. He is triple board certified – internal medicine, hematology, and oncology and has authored more than 200 publications on PubMed. He completed his internal medicine residency training at Tufts/New England Medical Center and hematology-oncology fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School.

Matthew Wein has served as Vice President, General Counsel since September 2021.  Mr. Wein has more than 20 years of biopharmaceutical experience as an attorney and business professional.  He joined Mustang from Sanofi, serving in various roles as Senior Director within Sanofi’s corporate busines strategy and alliances organization, managing global relationships for the company’s rare disease, diabetes, and consumer health businesses.  He joined Sanofi in 2016 as the Head of Biologics Partnerships Management specifically in support of an expansion of Sanofi’s biologics operations.  Prior to Sanofi, Mr. Wein was in-house counsel at Amgen in Thousand Oaks, CA, where for more than 14 years he held various leadership roles in support of Amgen’s commercial, clinical and global manufacturing site and supply operations.  Before transitioning in-house, Mr. Wein was an associate at the law firm of Arter & Hadden in Los Angeles, with focus on healthcare and corporate transactions.  Prior to his legal career, Mr. Wein worked in Los Angeles and New York in the field of corporate communications and crisis management, specifically for biopharmaceutical companies.  Mr. Wein received his Juris Doctor at the Gould School of Law at University of Southern California, and his B.A. with specialization in Biology and Government from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

Rick Bodmer joined Mustang Bio in August 2022 as Head of CMC Development.  Rick has spent more than 25 years in biotechnology in engineering and manufacturing partnerships.  Prior to Mustang, Rick was Vice President of External Manufacturing and a CMC Leader at AVROBIO in Cambridge, MA.  Before that, Rick was at Bioverativ, a Biogen spin-off, where he served in several different roles, most recently as Executive Director of External Manufacturing for Cell & Gene Therapies and prior to that leading the Facilities & Engineering function for the company.  He also served as Head of Process Engineering at Shire (MA).  Rick worked for 19+ years at Genzyme/Sanofi Genzyme in a variety of engineering roles, directly supporting manufacturing sites and in Global roles.  His work primarily focused on leading tech transfers, implementing major capital programs and process improvements, and building and leading engineering teams.

Before joining biotech in Massachusetts, Rick spent several years each at Merck (VA) and Allergan (NY).

Rick received his M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.