Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Scientific Officer
Michael D. West, Ph.D. Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. West has extensive academic and business experience in age related degenerative diseases, telomerase molecular biology and human embryonic stem cell research and development. Dr. West founded Geron Corporation, and from 1990 to 1998 served as a Director and senior executive officer of Geron, where he initiated and managed programs in telomerase diagnostics, telomerase inhibition, telomerase mediated therapy and human embryonic stem cell research. After leaving Geron, Dr. West co founded and served as Chairman of Origen Therapeutics, a company focused on the development of avian transgenic technologies. He is the inventor of patents assigned to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas licensed to Geron Corporation (Nasdaq: GERN) relating to telomere biology. Dr. West receives royalties from the license of these patents. In 1999, Dr. West formed ACT Group for the purpose of acquiring a controlling interest in ACT. 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. Dr. West is also a director of Biotime, Inc. (Symbol: BTX; AMEX) a reporting company, and a director of the Life Extension Foundation, and the privately-held company BioMarker Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. West is not an officer or director of any other reporting company.
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Caldwell brings over 30 years of management expertise to Advanced Cell Technology and has worked with emerging technology companies, public companies and corporate restructurings. During his career he has served in senior executive positions both in marketing and finance. He has worked with Booz Allen and Hamilton; the Flying Tiger Line Inc., where he co authored an article for the Harvard Business Review on “Airfreight Deregulation”; Van Vorst Industries; and Kidder Peabody. He started a firm specializing in strategy and financial planning, which was instrumental in restructuring over $1.0 billion of debt for over twenty companies and partnerships. He was a pioneer in the satellite radio auctions as President of Digital Satellite Broadcasting Corporation; assisted in the financing and became President and ultimately CEO in the restructuring of CAIS Internet. During his tenure at CAIS, the Company raised over $600 million in public and private capital and grew from 50 to over 800 employees. He has broad industry experience, which includes advising corporations, both public and private, in technology, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, retailing, real estate, hospitality, publishing, and transportation. He received his B.A. degree from the University of Southern California and was a Multinational Enterprise Fellow at the Wharton School of Finance. He serves as a director of Lee Pharmaceuticals and King Koil Franchising Corp. Mr. Caldwell is not an officer or director of any other reporting company.
Vice President of Medical & Scientific Development
Dr. Lanza joined ACT in 1999. Dr. Lanza has over 25 years of research and industrial experience in the area of stem cells and regenerative medicine. From 1990 to 1998, he was Director of Transplantation Biology at BioHybrid Technologies, Inc., and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He has several hundred scientific publications and patents, and has authored/edited 16 books, including the “Handbook of Stem Cells” (as Editor-in-Chief), Principles of Tissue Engineering, XENO, the Yearbook of Cell & Tissue Transplantation, and One World: The Health & Survival of the Human Species in the 21st Century (as editor, with forewords by C. Everett Koop and former President Jimmy Carter). He is a former Fulbright Scholar, and studied as a student in the laboratory of Richard Hynes (MIT), Jonas Salk (The Salk Institute), and Nobel laureates Gerald Edelman (Rockefeller University) and Rodney Porter (Oxford University). He also worked closely (and coauthored a series of papers) with the late Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner and heart transplant pioneer Christiaan Barnard. Dr. Lanza received his B.A. and M.D. Degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was both a University Scholar and Benjamin Franklin Scholar. Dr. Lanza is not an officer or director of any reporting company.
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Stewart brings more than 25 years leadership experience and strategic financial oversight to Advanced Cell Technology. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Stewart held a number of senior financial and operating roles with privately held, venture backed companies in a number of industries, including telecommunications, corporate ethics and governance, and wireless sensors. From February 1999 to March 2001, Mr. Stewart served as Chief Financial Officer at Ventro Corporation, a leading business to business marketplace company, where he was responsible for raising significant capital in the Company’s initial public offering and subsequent debt offering. From June 1995 to February 1999 Mr. Stewart served as Chief Financial Officer of CN Biosciences, Inc., a publicly traded life sciences company. At CN Biosciences Mr. Stewart was responsible for the Company’s initial public offering and management of finance and other operating responsibilities culminating in the successful sale of the business to Merck KgaA Darmstadt. Prior to CN Biosciences, Mr. Stewart held key finance and operating responsibilities at two other companies after leaving Ernst & Young (formerly Arthur Young & Co.) as an audit partner after 13 years with the firm. Mr. Stewart holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Bringing years of expertise in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, securities, and technology and science, Jonathan Atzen joined Advanced Cell Technology in 2005. Prior to joining the ACT team, Atzen was an attorney at Heller Ehrman/Venture Law Group LLP and worked as a corporate/securities attorney for other large international law firms including Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP and Morrison & Foerster LLP. His corporate practice has focused on the representation of emerging growth and established technology companies in such industries as life sciences, semiconductors, wireless communications, software and alternative energy technologies. He has significant experience with venture capital financings representing companies and venture capital funds. Mr. Atzen has provided general corporate counsel to public companies with respect to securities offerings including initial public offerings, secondary offerings, PIPEs and spin-offs, and reporting and compliance matters under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Mr. Atzen also has experience in public and private company mergers and acquisitions. He received his B.A. degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara and his J.D. from Loyola Law School.