Leadership

James Noble, M.A., most recently served as chief executive officer of Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc until 2019 after co-founding it in 2008 and served on the board of directors until May 2023. Prior, Mr. Noble was chief executive officer of Immunocore, which he also co-founded. Mr. Noble has also served as a non-executive board director for publicly traded life science companies, including as deputy chairman of GW Pharmaceuticals until its acquisition by Jazz Pharmaceuticals in 2021. Currently, Mr. Noble is chairman of Orexo AB, Sutura Therapeutics and IngenOx Therapeutics (formerly Celleron Therapeutics). Mr. Noble received an M.A. from the University of Oxford.

Christy J. Oliger has over 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and is recognized for building highly effective teams, leading significant product launches and having broad therapeutic expertise. Most recently, Ms. Oliger served as senior vice president, Oncology Business Unit Head at Genentech, where she also held numerous senior leadership roles of increasing responsibility across a variety of therapeutic areas including oncology, neurology, rare disease, respiratory, dermatology and immunology. In addition, she led Roche’s global portfolio management function comprised of a late-stage development portfolio of greater than 300 projects. Prior to Genentech, Ms. Oliger held management positions at Schering-Plough. She currently serves as a member of the board at Karyopharm Therapeutics, Reata Pharmaceuticals, and Replimune Therapeutics. She was a member of the board of Sierra Oncology until the company was acquired by GSK in 2022. Ms. Oliger holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Ms. Mary Wadlinger is a board director at LAVA Therapeutics. Ms. Wadlinger brings 25 years of experience as a strategic human resources leader in biotechnology and global biopharmaceuticals. Ms. Wadlinger was senior vice president and Chief Human Resources Officer at Forma Therapeutics where she led the organization and people strategy through critical growth and reorganization as the company transformed from drug discovery to a fully integrated drug development and commercial readiness company. Prior to Forma, she served as vice president, human resources at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceuticals where she served as a key leader in numerous corporate transformations, growth initiatives, M&A activity, and overall integration within Takeda. Ms. Wadlinger earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Maine Business School.

Karen Wilson, C.P.A. has served as one of the LAVA Therapeutics supervisory directors since March 2021. She currently serves on the board of directors of Elicio Therapeutics, Inc. (formerly Angion Biomedica) and Connect Biopharma. She previously served on the board of directors of Vaxart, Inc. Ms. Wilson served as senior vice president of finance at Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc until September 2020 after serving as vice president of finance and principal accounting officer. Prior to joining Jazz Pharmaceuticals in February 2011, Ms. Wilson served as vice president of finance and principal accounting officer at PDL BioPharma, Inc. She also previously served as a principal at the consulting firm of Wilson Crisler LLC, chief financial officer of ViroLogic, Inc., chief financial officer and vice president of operations for Novare Surgical Systems, Inc., and as a consultant and auditor for Deloitte & Touche LLP. Ms. Wilson is a certified public accountant and received a bachelor of science degree in business from the University of California, Berkeley.

Steve Hurly, MS.c., M.B.A. is the chief executive officer and a board director at LAVA Therapeutics. He brings nearly two decades of leadership experience in the life sciences industry. He served as president and chief executive officer of Sesen Bio, a NASDAQ-listed, late-stage oncology firm. Prior he served as the president and chief executive officer of Viventia Bio Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company acquired by Sesen Bio Inc. in September 2016. Steve has more than 15 years of experience in the investment banking business. He has served on the board of directors of PHusis Therapeutics Inc., a private targeted small molecule therapeutics company, since May 2011. Previously, he was the chief executive officer of Burrill & Co.’s merchant banking division, a finance business for life science companies. He was also the head of the life sciences investment banking practice at Boenning & Scattergood, a securities asset management and investment banking firm. He graduated from Swarthmore College with a bachelor of arts degree in engineering and earned a master of business administration from the University of Chicago.

Ton Adang, Ph.D. worked at several biotech companies and at Merck/MSD, Schering-Plough and Organon in research and development positions with increasing responsibilities. He held leadership positions in the lead discovery unit and in project management, developing a product through U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval and targeting new indications like breast cancer, osteoporosis as well as working with human vaccines, biosimilars and in immuno-oncology. He received a doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Leiden at the divisions of biopharmaceutical sciences and bio-organic chemistry.

Amy Garabedian, J.D. has extensive global and diversified legal and team building experience. During her more than 15 years practicing law, she has advised pharmaceutical & biotech companies from start-ups to multi-national public companies on the complex legal issues facing industry today.  Ms. Garabedian most recently served as associate general counsel of Spark Therapeutics (Roche), where she served as a strategic and innovative advisor, playing an instrumental role in the successful U.S. launch of the first gene therapy for a genetic disease, led key business development transactions, and enabled pre-clinical, clinical and commercial product development.  Earlier in her career, Ms. Garabedian held positions of increasing responsibility at Sandoz (Novartis) and as a business and finance attorney at Ballard Spahr LLP.   She holds a bachelor of science degree in genetics and developmental biology from Penn State University, a master of science degree in regulatory affairs from Temple University and a juris doctor degree from Widener University Delaware School of Law.

Charles Morris. MBChB, MRCP, is a medical oncologist with over 25 years of oncology drug development experience in the international biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Most recently, Dr. Morris was chief medical officer for Celyad Oncology, a CAR-T focused cell therapy company. In other CMO roles with Radius Health, PsiOxus Therapeutics, ImmunoGen and Allos Therapeutics, he contributed to all phases of development for several novel programs targeting solid and hematological tumor indications. He served as vice president of worldwide clinical research at Cephalon where he supported the approval of TREANDA® (bendamustine) for the treatment of indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma and chronic lymphocytopenia.

Dr. Morris began his career at AstraZeneca where he held roles of increasing responsibility including global medical lead for Faslodex® (fulvestrant) through its approval for breast cancer. He received a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Medical Science in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics degree from Sheffield University Medical School and is a Member of the Royal College of Physicians of London.

Fred M. Powell has over 20 years of global CFO experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, including investor relations, administration, operations and information technology. Most recently, Mr. Powell served as the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Antares Pharma, playing a strategic role in the successful $1.0 billion acquisition of Antares by Halozyme Therapeutics in May 2022. His prior CFO roles have been at companies including Celator Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals), OraPharma, Inc. (acquired by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International) and BMP Sunstone Corporation (acquired by Sanofi-Aventis), and he also held various positions of increasing responsibility at KPMG LLP. Mr. Powell is the vice chairman of the Advisory Board for Penn State Scranton. He holds a B.S. in accounting from Pennsylvania State University.

Hans van der Vliet, M.D., Ph.D. is chief scientific officer of LAVA Therapeutics. Dr. van der Vliet is also a professor in medical oncology at the Amsterdam UMC in the Netherlands. He received his medical doctor degree from the University of Amsterdam in 1998, his doctor of philosophy degree (cum laude) from the VU University in Amsterdam in 2003, and was trained in internal medicine, specializing in medical oncology, at the VU University medical center (currently Amsterdam UMC). He performed post-doctoral research at the division of hematology and oncology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School in Boston.