Board of Directors

Dr. Ismail Kola has served as Chairman of the Board since February 2021, and prior to that, as Lead Director since August 2020 and a Director since October 2010. Dr. Kola served as Executive Vice President of UCB S.A. in Belgium, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of innovative medicines focused on the fields of central nervous system and immunology disorders, and President and Chief Scientific Officer of UCB New Medicines, UCB’s discovery research through to proof-of-concept in man organization. Dr. Kola was formerly Senior Vice President, Discovery Research and Early Clinical Research & Experimental Medicine at Schering-Plough Research Institute, the pharmaceutical research arm of Schering-Plough Corporation, a pharmaceutical company, and Chief Scientific Officer at Schering-Plough Corporation, from March 2007 until his appointment at UCB. Prior to Schering-Plough, Dr. Kola held senior positions from January 2003 to March 2007 at Merck, a pharmaceutical company, where he was Senior Vice President and Site Head, Basic Research. From 2000 to 2003, Dr. Kola was Vice President, Research, and Global Head, Genomics Science and Biotechnology, at Pharmacia Corporation, a pharmaceutical company. Prior to his position with Pharmacia, Dr. Kola spent 15 years as Professor of Human Molecular Genetics and was Director of the Centre for Functional Genomics and Human Disease at Monash Medical School in Australia. Dr. Kola received his Ph.D. in Medicine from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, his B.Sc. from the University of South Africa, and his B.Pharm. from Rhodes University, South Africa. Dr. Kola currently serves on the board of directors of Biotie Therapies, Inc. (NASDAQ: BITI) (and previously Synosia who merged with Biotie) since February 2011, where he serves on the compensation committee. Dr. Kola served on the board of directors of Astex Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ASTX) since May 2010 until its sale to Otsuka Pharmaceuticals in October 2013, Ondek Pty Ltd from 2009 to 2011, and Promega Corporation from 2003 to 2007. Dr. Kola has authored 159 technical publications in scientific and medical journals and is the named inventor on at least a dozen patents. Dr. Kola holds Adjunct Professorships of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and Monash University Medical School; a Foreign Adjunct Professorship at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden; and was elected William Pitt Fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge University, UK in 2008. Dr. Kola has also been appointed a Visiting Professor at Oxford University, Nuffield School of Medicine, Oxford UK, since September 2012.

Dr. Kola has led numerous teams that have brought a large number of medicines successfully to the market. Dr. Kola’s experience and leadership in taking numerous drugs from the research stage to market or late stage development brings a unique and valuable perspective to our Board.

Independent Director
Chairman
Member of the Audit Committee
Member of the Nominations, Governance and Compliance Committee
Chairman of the Compensation Committee

Mr. Camardo joined Athersys in February 2022 as our Chief Executive Officer. Prior to him joining the team, Mr. Camardo served as Executive Vice President and Head of the Rare Disease and Inflammation Business Units and President, U.S. at Horizon Therapeutics (Horizon). In this previous role, Mr. Camardo led a broad commercial transformation, built out new capabilities to support a portfolio of products in the rare disease and specialty medicines space, and helped transform the small specialty products company into a global biotechnology company focused on rare, autoimmune, and severe inflammatory diseases. He has worked in commercial leadership roles for other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including Astellas and has been involved in more than 10 medicine launches across various therapeutic areas, including small molecules and biologics. Mr. Camardo is recognized for creating innovative solutions to overcome marketplace challenges and fostering cross-functional collaboration to drive results. Mr. Camardo holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Rochester and a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

CEO and Director

Ms. Wasman has served as Director since November 2020. Ms. Wasman was President, International & General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. , a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, from 2012 through December 2019, managing its international, legal, quality, intellectual property and compliance functions, after serving in other executive roles at Acorda starting in 2004. Before joining Acorda, Ms. Wasman was with Schering-Plough Corporation, a global pharmaceutical company, for over eight years, holding various U.S. and international leadership positions, including Staff Vice President and Associate General Counsel. Ms. Wasman earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School and her undergraduate degree from Princeton University. She chairs the board of directors of Sellas Life Sciences, a publicly traded biotechnology company, chairs its nominations & governance committee, and is a member of its audit, compensation and finance committees. She also is a member of the board of directors of Rigel Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded biotechnology company, where she is a member of its nominations, governance & compliance committee and its scientific committee, and of the board of Cytovia Therapeutics, a private biotechnology company, where she is a member of its finance committee. She has been a member of the board of directors and a member of the executive committee of the New York Biotechnology Association since 2007. Additionally, she is co-founder of the NY Hub of BioDirector, an organization supporting board effectiveness and diversity. Ms. Wasman is a strategic leader with almost 25 years in the biopharma industry, with extensive U.S. and international experience. Her expertise includes M&A, strategic development, corporate governance, international, litigation, commercial, compliance and government affairs, as well as operational implementation.

Independent Director
Member of the Nominations, Governance and Compliance Committee
Member of the Compensation Committee
Chairman of the Audit Committee

Mr. Wyszomierski has served as a Director since June 2010. From 2004 until his retirement in June 2009, Mr. Wyszomierski served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of VWR International, LLC, a supplier and distributor of laboratory supplies, equipment and supply chain solutions to the global research laboratory industry. From 1982 to 2004, Mr. Wyszomierski held positions of increasing responsibility within the finance group at Schering-Plough Corporation, a pharmaceutical company, culminating with his appointment as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in 1996. Prior to joining Schering-Plough, he was responsible for capitalization planning at Joy Manufacturing Company, a producer of mining equipment, and was a management consultant at Data Resources, Inc., a distributor of economic data. Mr. Wyszomierski currently serves on the board of directors of Solenis, Inc., a privately held chemicals company since 2014, where he serves as Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee, Xoma Corporation (NASDAQ: XOMA) since 2010, where he also serves as chairman of the compensation committee and as a member of the audit committee, and Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXEL) since 2004, where he serves as chairman of the audit committee. Mr. Wyszomierski was also a member of the board of directors and chairman of the audit committee at Unigene Laboratories, Inc. (OTC: UGNE) from 2012 to 2013. Mr. Wyszomierski holds a M.S. in Industrial Administration and a B.S. in Administration, Management Science and Economics from Carnegie Mellon University.

Mr. Wyszomierski’s extensive financial reporting, accounting and finance experience and his service on the audit committees of other public companies, as well as his experience in the healthcare and life sciences industries, provides financial expertise to the Board, including an understanding of financial statements, corporate finance, developing and maintaining effective internal controls, accounting, investments and capital markets.

Independent Director
Member of the Audit Committee
Member of the Compensation Committee
Chairman of the Nominations, Governance and Compliance Committee

Mr. Nolan has served as a Director since January 2023. Mr. Nolan serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Jaguar Gene Therapy, a biotechnology company with a mission to accelerate breakthroughs in gene therapy for patients suffering from severe genetic diseases. Prior to this, Mr. Nolan served as General Manager of AveXis, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company which developed one of the first gene therapies approved by the FDA for spinal muscular atrophy and was acquired by Novartis Gene Therapies for $8.7 billion. From 2001 to 2018 Mr. Nolan held leadership positions to support global licensing, marketing, business development, and commercialization at Abbott Laboratories, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Lundbeck, Marathon Pharmaceuticals, Eversana, and KJE Health Pharma Science. Mr. Nolan holds an M.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Notre Dame and a B.S. in Finance from Tulane University.

Mr. Nolan's extensive experience provides unique business development and marketing expertise to the Board, including an understanding of specialty pharma marketing and sales, acquisitions, product launches, recruiting, training, and developing teams, and market access strategy.

Independent Director