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Jeff Wolf is founder and CEO of Scorpius Holdings. He also founded Seed-One Ventures, a firm focused on the systematic formation and management of new biomedical companies founded on breakthrough ideas and technology.
Throughout his career, Mr. Wolf has specialized in building new life-science companies from the ground up and plays an active role in supporting the growth of his companies. Mr. Wolf's start-ups include Avigen (co-founder and director), a NASDAQ-listed gene therapy company; TyRx Pharma (co-founder and chairman), which was focused on the development of novel biocompatible polymers and acquired by Medtronic; and EluSys Therapeutics (co-founder and founding CEO), a biodefense company focused on the development of Anthim® antibody therapeutic, an approved medical countermeasure to mitigate the effect of anthrax exposure after a natural incident or intentional attack.
Mr. Wolf received his M.B.A. from Stanford Business School, his J.D. from New York University School of Law, and his B.A. from the University of Chicago where he graduated with honors in economics.
John Prendergast is co-founder of Palatin Technologies, a biopharmaceutical company developing targeted, receptor-specific peptide therapeutics for the treatment of diseases with significant unmet medical need and commercial potential. He has been Chairman of the Board at Palatin since June 2000, and Director since August 1996. Dr. Prendergast is also President of Summercloud Bay, an independent consulting firm providing services to the biotechnology industry, and director and executive board chairman of Antyra, a privately-held biopharmaceutical firm. From 1991 through 1997, he was Managing Director of The Castle Group Ltd., a medical venture capital firm. Dr. Prendergast received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of New South Wales, and a C.S.S. in Administration and Management from Harvard University.
Dr. Monahan co-founded Avigen, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGN) in 1992, a company that has become a leader in its sector for the development of novel pharmaceutical products for the treatment of serious human diseases. Over a 12-year period as CEO of Avigen, he raised over $235M in several private and public financings including its IPO. From 1989-1992, he was VP of R&D at Somatix Therapy Corp., and from 1985-1989 he was Director of Molecular & Cell Biology at Triton Biosciences, Inc. Prior to that, he served as Research Group Chief, Department of Molecular Genetics, Hoffmann-LaRoche, Inc., and from 1975 to 1977, he was an Instructor at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston TX. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from McMaster University, Canada and his B.Sc. from University College Dublin, Ireland. Dr. Monahan is a Scientific Advisory Board member of Agilis Biotherapeutics. He is also a Board member of Synthetic Biologics, Inc., a clinical stage company developing therapeutics to protect the gut microbiome (NYSE MKT: SYN), the biotech company ITUS Corporation, and several Irish biotech companies including Genable, Cellix, Luxcel, and GK Technologies.
We selected Dr. Monahan to serve on our Board because he brings extensive knowledge of the pharmaceutical and biologics industry. Having served in senior corporate positions in many medical companies, he has a deep knowledge of the industry.
In addition to serving on the Scorpius Holdings Board, Mr. Smith is Executive Chairman of Population Bio, Inc., a genetics company focused on drug safety and drug repurposing. He is also Managing Partner of Aristar Capital Management, LLC (“Aristar”), a New York-based investment firm founded in 2015. Mr. Smith also served as a Board Member and Chief Executive Officer of Agritech Worldwide, Inc., a manufacturer of functional food ingredients which produced commercial products both in its own plant as well as at a CDMO. Prior to founding Aristar, Mr. Smith co-founded and previously served as Co-Managing Partner of Brightline Capital Management, LLC. He also worked at Gracie Capital, GTCR Golder Rauner and Credit Suisse First Boston. Mr. Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He is a co-inventor of several biotechnology patent families and has authored papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Dr. Kutzer brings more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, managing successful contract development and manufacturing organizations. He previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Alcami Corporation, a leading provider of development, analytical testing, and manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Prior to this, he served as President, Divisional CEO and Chief Operating Officer of the Pharma Biotech & Customer Manufacturing division of Lonza Group AG, a multinational manufacturing company serving the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, where he had full oversight of the division, which generated over $1.6 billion in annual sales.
Dr. Kutzer also served as a member of the Executive Management Board of Lonza Group AG; President of Lonza Biologics Inc; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lonza Singapore Inc; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Teva-Lonza TL Biopharmaceuticals AG; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lonza Biologics plc.; and President and Chairman of Lonza Inc. He previously served as an Executive Director on the board of directors for the Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association (DCAT). Dr. Kutzer earned a master’s degree in Chemical and Process Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences from the Technical University of Munich, Germany.