Lexeo team

R. Nolan Townsend has served as LEXEO Therapeutics Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors since the start of LEXEO’s substantive business operations in January 2020.  Prior to LEXEO, Mr. Townsend held roles of increasing responsibility at Pfizer Inc including in positions as President, Pfizer Rare Disease for the North America region and President, Pfizer Rare Disease for International developed markets; responsible for overseeing overall strategy, the cross functional organization and operating budget in those businesses. Mr. Townsend has over a decade of experience with Pfizer, first joining the company in Corporate Finance and subsequently in roles of increasing responsibility across Corporate Finance, Corporate Strategy, Operations, Marketing, General Management and Commercial leadership in Pfizer’s New York headquarters, Asia, Africa/Middle East and Europe.  Prior to Pfizer, Mr. Townsend worked in the healthcare investment banking group at Lehman Brothers, advising healthcare companies on strategic financing transactions and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Townsend received his Masters in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School and his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jay A. Barth, MD, joined LEXEO Therapeutics as Executive Vice President & Chief Medical Officer in October 2020. Most recently, Dr. Barth was Chief Medical Officer at Amicus Therapeutics, where he led a clinical research, operations, regulatory affairs, safety, and medical affairs organization focused on rare disease and gene therapy. Dr. Barth oversaw Phase 1 through Phase 4 development and clinical and regulatory activities leading to FDA, EMA, and global regulatory approvals. Prior to joining Amicus, Dr. Barth held roles of increasing responsibility at PTC Therapeutics culminating in a position as Senior Vice President, Clinical Development. Dr. Barth has over two decades of experience in drug development in both public and private company settings, translating science to therapeutics across multiple therapeutic areas. Dr. Barth received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and his undergraduate degree from Columbia University.

Paul B. McCormac, PhD, joined LEXEO Therapeutics as Chief Technical Officer in Q1 2021. Dr. McCormac is an industry expert with a proven track record in the field of gene therapy and biologics chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC). Prior to joining LEXEO, he served as Medicinal Sciences Category Lead for Pfizer Rare Disease, where he among other responsibilities led gene therapy CMC and vector supply strategy for Pfizer’s rare disease business and research units. From 2008 to 2016, he was a product development leader in Pfizer’s manufacturing organization, leading late-stage development and commercialization of large molecule products. Prior to joining Pfizer, he held positions in Process Development at Avecia Biotechnology, a leading contract manufacturer of oligonucleotide therapeutics. Dr. McCormac received his B.S. in analytical science and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Dublin City University and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Queen’s University Belfast.

Jenny Robertson joined LEXEO Therapeutics as General Counsel in Q1 2022. Prior to LEXEO, Ms. Robertson served as Chief Counsel to Pfizer’s Oncology Business Unit and has held other senior legal roles including as Chief Counsel for Pfizer’s Rare Disease Business Unit, leading its global legal team for five years. Across positions at Pfizer, Ms. Robertson counseled clients on a range of business and legal matters, including commercialization, disclosure, business development, alliance management, clinical development, intellectual property issues, and litigation. Before joining Pfizer in 2010, Ms. Robertson spent 10 years in private practice with a large international law firm in New York and Washington D.C., engaged in complex commercial litigation with a healthcare law focus. Ms. Robertson holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Southern Illinois University and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she co-founded and served as Editor-in-Chief of The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law.

Valerie Colletta joined LEXEO Therapeutics as Vice President, Clinical Operations in Q2 2022. Prior to LEXEO, Ms. Colletta served as VP of Clinical Operations at Gelesis Inc. where she supported the CMO in strategizing the development plans of all clinical research including a post-marketing registry and executing revisions to operating procedures to ensure compliance with new medical device regulations. Prior to Gelesis, Ms. Colletta served as Senior Director at uniQure and was responsible for the late clinical stage gene therapy program in hemophilia B. Earlier in her career she led a global late-stage Alzheimer’s Disease clinical trial while at Eisai. Ms. Colletta’s experience in clinical research spans many therapeutic areas in various companies in the USA and abroad including Takeda Oncology, Eisai, Cubist, Allergan, and Cromsource. Ms. Colletta received a Masters of Science degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology from Padova University in Italy.

Christopher Holterhoff joined LEXEO Therapeutics as Vice President, Business & Corporate Development in Q1 2021. Prior to LEXEO, Mr. Holterhoff served as Executive Director, Business & Corporate Development at Amicus Therapeutics, where he evaluated and executed on new strategic business opportunities for Amicus’ gene therapy pipeline, including license agreements, M&A transactions, and R&D collaborations with universities and research institutes. Prior to Amicus, he worked in healthcare investment banking at MTS Health Partners, where he advised public and private biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies on strategic buy and sell side transactions and financings. Earlier in his career, Mr. Holterhoff was a member of the Business Development team at Forest Laboratories. He also served as a senior publishing equity research analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., providing coverage of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Holterhoff received his MBA from Columbia University, MS in Biotechnology from Georgetown University, and BS from Providence College.

Richie Khanna, PhD joined LEXEO Therapeutics as Vice President, Non-clinical Development in Q1 2021. Prior to LEXEO, Dr. Khanna worked at Amicus Therapeutics for 16 years starting as employee #7, leading the comprehensive Non-clinical Development programs. Dr. Khanna established an In Vivo Pharmacology Department of 15 scientists at Bachelors, Masters, and PhD levels and led all IND-enabling animal studies for small molecules, Biologics, and AAV gene therapy programs. Dr. Khanna’s significant non-clinical achievement was global approval of Galafold for Fabry disease and successful rolling non-clinical BLA submission for ATB200 for Pompe disease. Dr. Khanna received her PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Delhi, India and obtained first post-doctoral research experience in Biomedical Science from Tufts University and second in Neuroscience from Rutgers University.

Lisa Marin joined LEXEO Therapeutics as Vice President, Human Resources in Q1 2022. Prior to LEXEO, Ms. Marin held the role of Senior Director of Human Resources at Pfizer, Inc. for the Global Rare Disease business. Ms. Marin has over a decade of experience with Pfizer where she held progressively responsible roles; first joining to support the HR function for multiple US primary care businesses, platform functions, corporate finance, and the global established product business. Additionally, Ms. Marin served as Chief of Staff to several Regional Presidents. Prior to Pfizer, Ms. Marin was the VP of Human Resources for IntegraMed America, where she was strategically responsible for designing and leading the HR function for a growing IVF business across the US. Ms. Marin has her bachelor’s in human development from Boston College.

Ryan McHenry joined LEXEO Therapeutics as Vice President, Corporate Controller in Q2 2022. Prior to LEXEO, Mr. McHenry served as Vice President, Controller and Assistant Secretary at Sio Gene Therapies, where he oversaw the SEC filing, financial reporting, technical accounting, internal control, income tax and procurement functions, and executed a transformational international corporate structure simplification effort. Prior to Sio, Mr. McHenry worked at Biocept, where he scaled-up the accounting and SEC reporting functions following its IPO, and CareFusion (since acquired by Becton, Dickinson and Company), where he led accounting for M&A transactions among other responsibilities. At the start of his career, Mr. McHenry held roles of increasing responsibility at PwC in the audit and assurance practice focusing on publicly traded and private clients in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology/life sciences and defense contractor industries. Mr. McHenry received his BSBA, Accounting and his Certificate in Advanced Accountancy from Boston University. He is an actively licensed CPA in New York and California, as well as a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Allen Reha joined LEXEO Therapeutics as Vice President, Portfolio & Program Management and Corporate Strategy in Q3 2021. Prior to LEXEO, Mr. Reha served as Vice President at Amicus Therapeutics where he held multiple roles of increasing responsibility, including overseeing a portfolio of >10 gene therapy programs spanning early preclinical stage to late clinical stage as well as serving as Program Lead for the Amicus Batten disease franchise. Mr. Reha previously held roles at PTC Therapeutics, including positions in gene therapy leadership as well as overseeing Program Management and Clinical Operations. Earlier in his career, Mr. Reha served in clinical development at Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Roche. Mr. Reha received a B.A. in Biological Sciences from Rutgers College and a M.S. in Management Science from the Wesley J. Howe School of Business, Stevens Institute of Technology.

Keith Wonnacott, PhD joined LEXEO Therapeutics as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs in Q4 2021. Prior to joining LEXEO, Dr. Wonnacott was an Executive Director of Regulatory Affairs at Pfizer where he had responsibility for gene therapies within the Rare Disease Business Unit. He provided guidance on regulatory strategy and led regulatory policy for the gene therapy portfolio, which included advancing 3 late-stage programs into phase 3 clinical trials. Dr. Wonnacott also worked at Novartis where he was a Director of regulatory CMC and led the development of Module 3 for the Kymriah BLA, which became the first gene therapy product to receive FDA approval in 2017. Dr. Wonnacott also held roles of increasing responsibility at FDA at the start of his career. He spent 13 years in the Division of Cell and Gene Therapies at FDA, the last 10 of which were as Chief of the Cellular Therapies Branch. He is a respected leader in the field, speaker, and published author, and is currently serving as the Chair of the Regulatory Affairs Committee for the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. Dr. Wonnacott received his PhD from the Pennsylvania State University and his undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University.

Ronald Crystal is a physician-scientist and pioneer in In vivo gene therapy. He is a Professor and Chairman, Department of Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, previously Chief, Pulmonary Branch, NHLBI. He also directs the Weill Cornell Belfer Gene Therapy Core facility, with 45 faculty/staff, including viral vector, pre-clinical translation, toxicology, regulatory and GMP manufacturing expertise.

​Dr. Crystal has 14 approved gene therapy investigational new drug applications with experience in CNS, cardiac, pulmonary and liver human gene therapy.

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Dr. Crystal is the founder/co-founder of several gene therapy companies including GenVec, Adverum and XyloCor.

Steven Altschuler, MD, joined LEXEO as Chairman in January 2021, bringing nearly 20 years of experience building and leading world-class, integrated, translational, value-based health care systems and transformational biotechnology companies. Dr. Altschuler currently serves as Managing Director of Healthcare Ventures at Ziff Capital Partners and was previously chair of the board of directors at Spark Therapeutics (now part of Roche) for six years, from its founding until it was acquired in 2019. Dr. Altschuler previously co-founded Spark Therapeutics to develop and commercialize the preclinical and clinical gene therapy programs advanced at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and other institutions. Dr. Altschuler served as Spark’s board chair from its founding through its acquisition in 2019, which included leading the company through a successful transition to a public company and the launch of an approved commercial product, which was the first gene therapy for an inherited disease approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency. Dr. Altschuler formerly held chief executive positions at CHOP and University of Miami Health System. He is a member of the board of directors of WW (formerly Weight Watchers International), Orchard Therapeutics, AsclepiX Therapeutics, ImVaX and Platelet Biogenesis. He is also an independent trustee of the Brigham and Women’s Physician Organization at Mass General Brigham. Dr. Altschuler holds a B.A. in Mathematics and an M.D. from Case Western Reserve University.

Bernard Davitian is a Partner at Omega Funds. He has extensive experience in the life sciences and biotech industry, marked by a number of successful transactions including financings and M&A. Mr. Davitian previously served as SVP and Managing Director at Sanofi Ventures, having first joined Sanofi in 2010 as Vice President, Deputy Global Head, Business Development. Over his 7-year tenure, Sanofi Ventures invested in 28 new companies and generated 14 exits (12 NASDAQ IPOs, 1 trade sale and 1 option deal).

Prior to Sanofi, Mr. Davitian held CEO, CFO and other leadership roles at Fovea Pharmaceuticals (which was sold to Sanofi in 2009 in a $540 million cash transaction), Neurotech Pharmaceuticals, Transgene (which successfully raised $100 million in a 1998 IPO on the NASDAQ/EuroNext) and Institut Mérieux (now Sanofi Pasteur). Mr. Davitian received a Masters in Management from EM Lyon in France, as well as an MBA from The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School.

Mette Kirstine Agger is a Senior Advisor at Lundbeckfonden BioCapital. Ms. Agger has extensive industry experience, intellectual property knowledge and serves on the boards of directors for numerous biopharmaceutical and medtech companies. Ms. Agger currently serves on several boards, including KLIFO, Dysis Medical, Psioxus, ScPharmaceuticals, and C.V Obel A/S, an investment company.

Prior to her Senior Advisor role at Lundbeckfonden BioCapital, Ms. Agger was a managing partner of Lundbeckfonden Ventures, a life science venture fund, as well as a co-founder of 7TM Pharma A/S, a biotech company engaged in therapeutic drug discovery and development and served as its chief executive officer from founding to 2009. Prior to founding 7TM Pharma, Ms. Agger was part of the management team of NeuroSearch A/S, a former drug research and development company.

Ms. Agger graduated with an M.Sc. in Biology from the University of Copenhagen and has an M.B.A. from Henley Business School University of Reading.

Paula Cholmondeley is a member of the Board of Directors of Terex Corporation (NYSE) and Bank OZK (NASDAQ). She is also an independent trustee of Nationwide Mutual Funds. Across her board career she has served on the audit, investments, governance, strategy, corporate social responsibility and compensation committees. She has also chaired 5 audit committees, a nominating and governance committee and a strategy and corporate social responsibility committee. She currently chairs the Terex audit committee. She is member of the faculty of the National Association of Corporate Directors In-Board Room and Board Advisory Services where she teaches and conducts board evaluations. She is also an NACD Certified Director and a Board Leadership Fellow. In 2015 she was elected to NACD Directorship 100. Her previous public company boards include Dentsply Corporation, Ultralife Inc.; Armco Steel Inc.; Albany International and Minerals Technologies. During her executive career, Ms. Cholmondeley has had profit and loss responsivity for global divisions with revenues up to $750M, served as CFO of companies with revenues up to $2B, brought new technologies to market, served as the head of strategy for two large corporations and held seats on numerous non-profit Boards. Her company “The Sorrel Group” conducts individualized board eduction for new directors. She chairs the Corporate Board Initiative of the Executive Leadership Council.

Reinaldo Diaz is a Venture Partner of Longitude Capital. Concurrently, Mr. Diaz serves as the Chief Business Officer of Opna-IO, a Longitude portfolio company, as well as a consultant for various companies in the healthcare industry, including Auven Therapeutics, where he previously served as Managing Director from 2008 to 2018. Prior to joining Auven Therapeutics, he was a Managing Member and co-founder of Diaz & Altschul Capital Management (D&A Capital). Prior to founding D&A Capital, Mr. Diaz was a Managing Director and Head of the Healthcare group at Schroder Wertheim & Co. Mr. Diaz started his career at PaineWebber, where he was a key member of the PaineWebber Healthcare Investment Banking Group and President of PaineWebber Development Corporation. He currently serves on the board of Inozyme (INZY). Mr. Diaz holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Harvard University.