Board of Directors

Don M. Bailey

Don M. Bailey has been a director and our Chairman since February 2016. He serves on the company’s Audit Committee and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Mr. Bailey has also served as an independent director on the board of Oncocyte Corporation since August 2016 where he is a member of its Audit Committee and its Science Committee.

Mr. Bailey served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from November 2007 until Questcor was acquired by Mallinckrodt plc in August 2014. He was also a director of Mallinckrodt plc from August 2014 to March 2016, and during this time he was the Chairman of its portfolio committee. He initially joined the Questcor board in 2006 as an independent director and Chairman of its Audit Committee.

From June 2015 until May 2016 Mr. Bailey was also an independent director and audit committee Chair of Biotie Therapeutics Corp., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company headquartered in Turku, Finland. Mr. Bailey was an independent director and the non-executive Chairman of the board of directors of STAAR Surgical Company from April 2005 until January 2014 and a member of its board until June 2014. Mr. Bailey served on its audit committee and was chair of its nominating and corporate governance committee. STAAR Surgical Company is a leader in the development, manufacture, and marketing of minimally invasive ophthalmic products employing proprietary technologies. Mr. Bailey was the Chairman of the board of directors of Comarco, Inc., a defense services company transformed into a wireless communication products company, from 1998 until 2007, where he served as Chief Executive Officer from 1991 until 2000.

Mr. Bailey holds a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the Drexel Institute of Technology, an M.S. degree in operations research from the University of Southern California, and an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University. Mr. Bailey has also served as a board member on several non-profit and academic enterprises. Mr. Bailey serves on the board of the Business School at Chapman University in Orange, CA and is a Founding Board member of the University of California Irvine’s (UCI) Applied Innovation Institute.

Mike Mulroy

Mike Mulroy has been our President, CEO and a Board member since July 2017. Prior to July 2017, Mr. Mulroy most recently served as a Senior Advisor to CamberView Partners, LLC, which assists companies in connection with investor engagement and complex corporate governance issues. Mr. Mulroy served until September 2014 as Executive Vice President – Strategic Affairs and General Counsel of the Autoimmune and Rare Diseases Business Unit of Mallinckrodt plc following its acquisition of Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in August 2014. Mr. Mulroy was appointed Executive Vice President, Strategic Affairs and General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Questcor during February 2014, having previously served as Chief Financial Officer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary since January 2011. From 2003 to 2011, Mr. Mulroy was employed by the law firm of Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, where he served as a partner from 2004, and represented Questcor and other publicly-traded companies. From 1997 to 2003, Mr. Mulroy was an investment banker at Citigroup and Merrill Lynch. Mr. Mulroy is currently on the Board of Directors of BioTime, Inc. From July 2011 to August 2014, Mr. Mulroy served as a member of the Board of Directors of Comarco, Inc., which developed and designed innovative technologies and intellectual property used in power adapters. Mr. Mulroy earned his J.D. degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and his B.A. (Economics) from the University of Chicago.

Andrew Arno

Andrew Arno joined the Board in August 2014. He serves on the company’s Audit Committee, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, and Compensation Committee. Mr. Arno has 30 years of experience working with emerging growth companies. He is currently Vice Chairman of The Special Equities Group at Chardan Capital Markets, LLC, a privately held investment banking firm, and from June 2013 until July 2015 served as Managing Director of Emerging Growth Equities, an investment bank, and Vice President of Sabr, Inc., a family investment group. He was previously President of LOMUSA Limited, an investment banking firm. From 2009 to 2012, Mr. Arno served as Vice Chairman and Chief Marketing Officer of Unterberg Capital, LLC, an investment advisory firm that he co-founded. He was also Vice Chairman and Head of Equity Capital Markets of Merriman Capital LLC, an investment banking firm, and served on the board of the parent company, Merriman Holdings, Inc. Mr. Arno currently serves on the board of Smith Micro Software, Inc. and OncoCyte, Inc., a majority-owned subsidiary of our largest shareholder, BioTime, Inc. (“BioTime”).

Stephen L. Cartt

Stephen L. Cartt has been a director since February 2016 and was President and CEO of Asterias from February 2016 to July 2017. Mr. Cartt served as Chief Operating Officer of Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., from February 2012 until August 2014, when the company was acquired by Mallinckrodt plc. Mr. Cartt served as Chief Operating Officer of the Autoimmune and Rare Diseases Business Unit of Mallinckrodt plc on an interim basis following the merger with Questcor from August 2014 until October 2014. Mr. Cartt joined Questcor as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development, in March 2005. He was later appointed Chief Business Officer before being appointed Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Cartt was a private consultant from August 2002 until March 2005. From March 2000 through August 2002, Mr. Cartt was the Senior Director of Strategic Marketing for Elan Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, Mr. Cartt held a variety of R&D; and Commercial positions at ALZA Corporation from July 1985 to March 2000. Mr. Cartt holds a B.S. degree from the University of California at Davis in Biochemistry, and an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University.

Alfred D. Kingsley

Alfred D. Kingsley joined the Board in September 2012. He was the Chairman of the Board from September 2012 to February 2016. Mr. Kingsley is Chairman of the Board of BioTime, Chairman of the Board of OncoCyte, Inc., and one of the directors of Ascendance Biotechnology. Mr. Kingsley has been general partner of Greenway Partners, L.P., a private investment firm, and President of Greenbelt Corp., a business consulting firm, since 1993. Greenbelt Corp. served as BioTime’s financial advisor from 1998 until June 30, 2009. Mr. Kingsley was Senior Vice-President of Icahn and Company and its affiliated entities for more than 25 years. Mr. Kingsley holds a B.S. degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a J.D. degree and LLM in taxation from New York University Law School.

Richard T. LeBuhn

Richard T. LeBuhn joined the Board in April 2014. He serves as Chairman of the company’s Audit Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and is a member of the company’s Compensation Committee. Since June 2006, he is Senior Vice President at Broadwood Capital, Inc., the investment manager of Broadwood Partners, L.P. Previously, Mr. LeBuhn was Principal of Broadfield Capital Management, LLC, a private investment firm, from 2005 to 2006, and Vice President of Derchin Management, a private investment firm, from July 2002 to May 2005. Earlier in his career, Mr. LeBuhn founded and was Managing Member of Triple Eight Capital, LLC, an investment analysis and financial advisory firm, was Managing Director of Craig Drill Capital, Inc., a private investment firm, and served as an operating business manager for Chubb and Son, Inc., the property and casualty insurance division of The Chubb Corporation. Mr. LeBuhn received a M.B.A. in Finance with Distinction from Columbia University Graduate School of Business in 1996. He received a B.A. in Economics from St. Lawrence University in 1988. Mr. LeBuhn currently serves as a director of Comarco, Inc.

Aditya Mohanty

Aditya Mohanty joined the Board in 2016. Mr. Mohanty joined our majority shareholder, BioTime, Inc. as its Chief Operating Officer in 2014, and has been its Co-Chief Executive Officer since 2015. Mr. Mohanty previously served in a number of executive positions at Shire plc, including as President/Head Regenerative Medicine from 2013 to 2014, as Senior Vice President, Business and Technical Operations from 2012 to 2013, as Global Franchise Head MPS from 2010 to 2012, and as Vice President of Operations/Product General Manager from 2005 to 2012. Shire plc is a biotechnology company focused on research, development and commercialization of novel biological products for rare diseases. Mr. Mohanty was VP of Manufacturing and Operations at Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc. from 2002 to 2005 when it was acquired by Shire. Before joining Transkaryotic Therapies, Mr. Mohanty held a number of management positions at Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Bioscience Division from 1990 to 2002. Mr. Mohanty currently serves on the Boards of Directors of OncoCyte Corporation, BioTime, Inc. and Cell Cure Neurosciences. Mr. Mohanty received an M.B.A. degree from Saint Mary’s College, an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University, and a B. Tech in Chemical Engineering from REC Trichy, in India.

Natale S. Ricciardi

Natale S. Ricciardi joined the Board in August 2014 and currently serves as Chairman of the company’s Compensation Committee and a member of the company’s Audit Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. He spent his entire 39-year biopharmaceutical career at Pfizer Inc., retiring in 2011 as a member of the Pfizer Executive Leadership Team after holding the positions of President, Pfizer Global Manufacturing and Senior Vice President of Pfizer Inc. In addition to his corporate leadership role, he was directly responsible for all of Pfizer’s internal and external supply organization, a global enterprise that grew to more than 100 manufacturing facilities supplying small and large molecule pharmaceuticals, vaccines, consumer, nutrition and animal health products. Mr. Ricciardi maintained responsibility for global manufacturing activities from 2004 through 2011.

Previously, from 1999 to 2004, he had oversight for Pfizer’s US manufacturing operations and from 1995 to 1999 was Vice President of Manufacturing for Pfizer’s Animal Health Group. Mr. Ricciardi received a B.E. degree in Chemical Engineering from The City College of New York (CCNY) and an M.B.A. in Finance and International Business from Fordham University. He currently is on the Advisory Board of HealthCare Royalty Partners, a Director and a member of the nominating and corporate governance committee of Dynavax Technologies Corporation, a Director and a member of the compensation committee of Rapid MicroBiosystems, Inc., and a Director and member of the compensation, audit and nominating and corporate governance committees of Prestige Brands Holdings. He also serves as a member of the CCNY 21st Century Foundation.

Dr. Howard I. Scher, M.D.

Dr. Howard I. Scher, M.D. recently joined the Board of Directors in April 2016. Dr. Scher has been the Chief of Genitourinary Oncology Service and D. Wayne Calloway Chair in Urologic Oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center since 1992, and was previous a Professor of Medicine at the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College at Cornell University. He completed fellowships at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Dr. Scher received his B.S. Degree from Bates College and a M.D. Degree from the New York University School of Medicine.

Michael D. West, Ph.D.

Michael D. West, Ph.D. has been a director of Asterias since 2012, and was our Vice President from September 2012 to December 2015, except for an interim period from April 2014 to June 2014 when he served as our President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. West was Chief Executive Officer of BioTime from October 2007 to October 2015, has been Co-Chief Executive Officer since October 2015, and has served on BioTime’s Board of Directors since 2002. Prior to becoming BioTime’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. West served as Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chief Scientific Officer of Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., a company engaged in developing human stem cell technology for use in regenerative medicine.

Dr. West also founded Geron Corporation, and from 1990 to 1998 he was a director and Vice-President of Geron, where he initiated and managed programs in telomerase diagnostics, oligonucleotide-based telomerase inhibition as anti-tumor therapy, and the cloning and use of telomerase in telomerase-mediated therapy wherein telomerase is utilized to immortalize human cells. From 1995 to 1998 he organized and managed the research between Geron and its academic collaborators, James Thomson and John Gearhart, which led to the first isolation of human embryonic stem and human embryonic germ cells. Dr. West is currently on the board of directors of OncoCyte, Inc. Dr. West received a B.S. Degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1976, an M.S. Degree in Biology from Andrews University in 1982, and a Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in 1989 concentrating on the biology of cellular aging.