Michael A. Griffith

Michael A. Griffith joined Laureate Biopharma as Chief Executive Officer in April 2010. He is also a member of the Board of Directors.

Mr. Griffith was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Aptuit, Inc. a leading global pharmaceutical contract research, development and manufacturing company, and a leading global clinical trial supplies company. Aptuit was co-founded by three former ChiRex executives in 2004 and by September 2008 served nearly one in four drug discovery companies with 2,700 employees working in 18 facilities globally including the Aptuit Laurus (India) joint venture.

Before Aptuit, Mr. Griffith was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ChiRex Inc., (Nasdaq:CHRX) a pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization specializing in small-molecule drug substance development. When acquired by Rhodia in 2000, the Company had 620 employees in five facilities in the U.S. and the U.K.

Mr. Griffith was a commercial and investment banker for nearly 15 years. He is a graduate of the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and the University of Kansas.

Michiel E. Ultee, Ph.D.

Michiel E. Ultee, Ph.D., has more than 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and has worked with antibodies since 1975. He serves as Laureate Biopharma’s scientific head and is the leader behind Laureate’s Scientific Series, which spotlights the organization’s strategies and methods in working together with our clients’ scientists to overcome challenges in biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing their biopharmaceutical products.

Dr. Ultee has been part of Laureate’s biopharmaceutical operations team since 1987 with positions including Vice President of Process Sciences and Director of Manufacturing & Technical Operations.

Dr. Ultee began his career in Research and Development, where he was part of the team that developed two licensed biopharmaceuticals. He holds four U.S. patents and has published numerous scientific articles. Prior experience includes postdoctoral research in immunology at NYU Medical School. He is a frequent speaker at biopharmaceutical conferences, and a member of the editorial advisory boards of Bioprocess International and Biopharm International. Dr. Ultee earned his graduate and undergraduate biochemistry degrees from Northwestern University and Dartmouth College.

Les Mintzmyer

Les Mintzmyer has more than 25 years of experience in biopharmaceutical manufacturing operations, development, facilities and engineering, materials management, validation and operational excellence. He is responsible for leading Laureate's manufacturing operations, which include upstream processing, downstream processing, formulation and filling, facilities maintenance, warehouse operations, and environmental, health and safety regulations.

Prior to joining the organization in January 2012 as Vice President, Operations, Mr. Mintzmyer has served as Vice President, Manufacturing Operations for Avid BioServices, Senior Director, Manufacturing Operations at ImClone, Director, Operational Excellence and Director, Manufacturing for Genentech, and Director of Manufacturing at Bristol-Myers Squibb. As Director of Manufacturing at Bristol-Myers Squibb, he led the creation of a biologics manufacturing capability which obtained FDA licensure and launched Orencia® in 2005. Mr. Mintzmyer earned a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Colorado State University and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Ann Daus, Ph.D.

Ann Daus, Ph.D. joined Laureate Biopharma in February 2011. Dr. Daus has more than 20 years of industry experience, including 15 years of management of quality and technology functions including quality assurance, quality control, protein characterization and methods development. Most recently, she has been an independent consultant providing training, technical and management support. Prior to this, Dr. Daus was Vice President of Quality Control & Bioanalytical Sciences for ImClone Systems, Inc., supporting the manufacture of both pilot plant and commercial biopharmaceuticals. She also held the position of Associate Director of QA for Smith Kline Beecham, managing the QA of bulk biopharmaceutical agents through all phases of clinical development. Dr. Daus started her career with Johnson & Johnson holding a series of Quality Assurance and Quality Control functions for commercial parenteral pharmaceuticals and diagnostic products.

She holds a BS from Millersville University of Pennsylvania, and earned both an M.S. in Microbiology and a Ph.D. in Microbiology & Molecular Genetics from Rutgers University.

Robert G. Burford, Ph.D.

Robert G. Burford, Ph.D. joined Laureate Biopharma in November 2010 with an impressive career in the pharmaceutical industry that has spanned the past 41 years.

Dr. Burford holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology/toxicology from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and has held various positions with innovator and emerging drug companies, as well as contract research firms. These positions included preclinical pharmacology and toxicology at Bio-Research Laboratories in Montreal, and 17 years at Searle Pharmaceuticals, where he held various positions including Director of Clinical Research, Medical Director of Life Sciences Division, and Director of Scientific Affairs. Thereafter, he was the Director of Clinical Research at Biovail Laboratories, V.P. of Product Development at Axonyx Inc, and V.P. of Preclinical and Regulatory Affairs at Sequoia Pharmaceuticals.

For the past 16 years he has been President of the American Clinical Research Consultants Inc. where, as an industry consultant, he has offered expert advice and counsel in preclinical toxicology and early phase clinical development of new drug products and medical devices. He has represented both domestic and foreign clients before the FDA and HPB, being thoroughly familiar with the regulatory requirements of medical product approval in the U.S. and Canada. He is a past president of the Society of Toxicology, Canada, Secretary General of the International Union of Toxicology and a member of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, among others.

Robert J. Broeze, Ph.D.

Robert J. Broeze, Ph.D.,has over 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. His technical expertise spans research, development, characterization, validation, testing and cGMP manufacture of biopharmaceutical products, from pilot to phase III clinical and commercial scale with a strong emphasis on monoclonal antibody products for therapeutic and diagnostic use. Prior to joining the organization in 1990, Dr. Broeze held positions of Vice President, Biologics Research at Purdue BioPharma L.P. and Vice President, Operations at Bard BioPharma L.P, where he was responsible for the development and manufacture of the company's proprietary monoclonal antibody and biopharmaceutical products.

Prior to this he held positions of increasing responsibility at Cytogen Corporation (Princeton, NJ) with overall responsibility for development and cGMP manufacture of Cytogen's products and at Collaborative Research (Bedford, MA) where he held various technical positions. Dr. Broeze worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry at Yale University where he studied the molecular biology of the interferon system and is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he earned both his B.S and Ph.D. degrees.

Lisa Cozza

Lisa Cozza has more than 25 years of business development and operations experience in biopharmaceutical process development, quality, clinical laboratory sciences and manufacturing. She is responsible for leading Laureate’s business development and marketing organization.

Most recently, Ms. Cozza was the Executive Director of Manufacturing Alliances at Human Genome Sciences. Prior to joining HGS, she spent nine years at Lonza Biologics, where she was the Director of Commercial and Clinical manufacturing, training and process technology teams. Before joining Lonza, Ms. Cozza spent seven years with Genetics Institute (now Pfizer) in various tactical and lead roles in Quality Control, purification process development and the clinical manufacturing areas. She holds a B.S. in Medical Technology from the University of Massachusetts and spent 8 years working in hospital clinical hematology, microbiology and chemistry labs, and later received an MBA from Northeastern University, Boston, MA.

Kathleen P. Bloch

Kathleen P. Bloch joined Laureate Biopharma in November 2010.

Ms. Bloch has more than 20 years of executive financial experience at both public and private companies. From 2008 to 2010, she served as the Chief Operating Officer of PC Group, Inc., where she was hired as CFO in 2007. Prior to this, Ms. Bloch managed the day-to-day operations for The Silverman Group, a real estate and investment company. For ten years prior she was employed by Silver Line Building Products Corporation, a leading privately-held manufacturer of vinyl windows. She served as CFO from 1999 until 2006 when the company was acquired by Andersen Corporation, a leading manufacturer of windows.

She holds a Master of Business Administration degree and a Bachelor of Science Accounting degree from LaSalle University.

Elizabeth Levine

Elizabeth Levine, SPHR, has more than 20 years of progressive HR management experience in diverse industries.  She is responsible for Performance Management, Employee Relations and Development, Compensation, Staffing, Compliance and Benefits.

Prior to joining Laureate in 2002, Ms. Levine was the Human Resources Manager at Nextran, Inc., a multi-state Biotechnology subsidiary of Baxter International. Prior to Baxter, she held positions of increasing responsibility in Human Resource management at the Mediplex Rehabilitation Hospital and at Raytheon Engineers and Constructors. While at Raytheon Ms. Levine had multiple-state Human Resources responsibilities, which included Start-Up, Affirmative Action, OFCCP interaction, and conducting workplace investigations of harassment and discrimination claims. Ms Levine has a BS in Education from the University of Southern Maine and is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). She is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).