Prior to joining bluebird, Derek was the senior vice president of CMC at Evelo Biosciences. At Evelo, Derek established the initial process development function and supply chain for clinical studies and drove strategy for product development. Prior to his time at Evelo, he served as vice president of technical and Strategic Product Development at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, where his responsibilities included developing and supporting all manufacturing processes globally as well as global clinical supply chain. Derek holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering with High Distinction from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).

Jean Bender leads Visterra’s Pharmaceutical Sciences department, responsible for development, technology transfer and manufacturing, clinical supply and CMC sections of regulatory submissions. Prior to Visterra, Jean was Senior Director, BioProcess Engineering at Medimmune. She has authored more than 15 publications and presentations and holds a patent for preparing highly concentrated antibodies by ultrafiltration. Jean received her MS in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and her BS in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University. Jean has been on Pall’s Scientific Advisory Board and serves on the Recovery of Biological Products Board and on the Chemical Engineering Advisory Board for Lehigh University. Jean is active in the American Chemical Society and the BioInnovation Group (BIG).

As Senior Director at Sanofi Genzyme, David is responsible to drive execution and delivery of Allston Site Strategy and the Cerezyme Manufacturing Project Portfolio. Responsibilities included the construction, installation and qualification of new process areas within the Allston Facility, while maintaining Cerezyme production to the market. Previously, David has acted as Senior Director, Engineering at Gallus Biopharmaceuticals (acquired by Patheon) where he was responsible for driving the development and growth of a multi-site, contract manufacturing organization (CMO) for the biopharmaceutical industry. David holds a B.S. Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. David is a Senior leader with extensive business and operations management experience in biologics, pharmaceuticals and chemicals manufacturing.