Yakov Kogan, Ph.D., MBA
Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Kogan was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Cleveland BioLabs in 2012. He has served as a director since the company’s inception in June 2003 and was appointed Secretary in 2006. From 2008-2012, Dr. Kogan served as Chief Operating Officer of the Company and prior to this as Executive Vice President of Business Development. From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Kogan served as Director for Business Development at Integrated Genomics in Chicago, IL, where he was responsible for commercial sales and expansion of the company's capital base. Prior to his tenure in business development, Dr. Kogan worked as a Group Leader/Senior Scientist at Integrated Genomics and at ThermoGen, Inc. and as Research Associate at the University of Chicago. Dr. Kogan holds a Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology from VNII Genetica, as well as an M.S. degree in Biology from Moscow State University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Michael Fonstein, Ph.D.
President

Dr. Fonstein is President of Cleveland BioLabs and has served as a director since the company’s inception in 2003. He was Chief Executive Officer of the company from 2003-2012. Prior to this he served as Director of the DNA Sequencing Center at the University of Chicago from its creation in 1994 to 1998, when he left to found Integrated Genomics, Inc. located in Chicago, Illinois. He served as CEO and President of Integrated Genomics from 1997 to 2003. Dr. Fonstein has won several business awards, including the Incubator of the Year Award from the Association of University Related Research Parks. He was also the winner of a coveted KPMG Illinois High Tech Award.

Andrei Gudkov, Ph.D., D. Sci.
Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Gudkov has served as Cleveland BioLabs’s Chief Scientific Officer and as a director since the company’s inception in June 2003. Prior to 1990, he worked at The National Cancer Research Center in Moscow (USSR) where he led a broad research program focused on virology and cancer drug resistance. In 1990, he reestablished his lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he became a tenured faculty member in the Department of Molecular Genetics. His lab concentrated on the development of new functional gene discovery methodologies and the identification of new candidate cancer treatment targets. In 1999, he defined p53 as a major determinant of cancer treatment side effects and suggested this protein as a target for therapeutic suppression. In 2001, Dr. Gudkov moved his laboratory to the Lerner Research Institute at the Cleveland Clinic where he became Chairman of the Department of Molecular Biology and Professor of Biochemistry at Case Western Reserve University. In 2007, Dr. Gudkov accepted the position of Senior VP Basic Science and Chair, Department of Cell Stress Biology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY. Dr. Gudkov is not employed full time by the company, but rather divides time between work for CBLI and for Roswell Park.

C. Neil Lyons, CPA
Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Lyons joined Cleveland BioLabs as Chief Financial Officer in 2011. He has more than 30 years of experience in operations, finance, strategy, SEC compliance, information systems and corporate governance in both public and private companies. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Lyons served as Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Treasurer of RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc, where he led several financial transactions, influenced clinical/corporate strategy, identified and captured government grant opportunities, directed investor relations, developed financial models and implemented investment strategies and employee benefit programs. From 2003 until 2005, Mr. Lyons founded and was the principal of Ironbridge Consulting, a firm providing financial management advisory services, including the implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance procedures, to businesses in the Washington D.C. metro area. From 1998 until 2003, he was the Vice President, Finance, of SkyBridge Limited Partnership, an international satellite broadband start-up affiliated with Alcatel, where he secured significant amounts of capital and was an active participant in acquisition and joint venture activities. Prior to that, he served in various positions at Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) and HFS, Inc., a major Department of Defense contractor. Mr. Lyons started his career practicing public accounting with Deloitte and Arthur Young. Mr. Lyons is a certified public accountant and received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting, magna cum laude, from Florida Southern College.

Michael Kurman, MD
Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Kurman joined Cleveland BioLabs in 2008. He has spent over 25 years in the oncology drug development field. Dr. Kurman is a board certified medical oncologist who practiced community oncology in New Jersey, where he participated as an investigator in oncology clinical trials sponsored by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) and the Memorial Adjunct Staff Oncology Group (MASOG). During his career in the pharmaceutical industry, he has held positions of progressive responsibility at Janssen Research Foundation as Director of Oncology, at Cyotgen Corporation as Senior Director of Research and at U.S. Bioscience as Vice-President for Research. Prior to establishing his consultancy, Dr. Kurman served as Vice-President for Clinical and Scientific Operations for Quintiles’ Oncology Therapeutics Division. In his nineteen-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Kurman has been involved in the regulatory review or commercial launch of four new oncology products. Dr. Kurman received his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in biology from Syracuse University and his M.D. degree from Cornell University Medical College. He received his training in internal medicine at the State University of New York – Upstate Medical Center, and his oncology training at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York. Dr. Kurman serves on the scientific advisory boards of several companies as well as serving on the board of Avalon Pharmaceuticals, where he is head of the compensation committee, and of Thallion Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Kurman is also an Adjunct Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Health Promotion in the Master of Clinical Trials Program at New York University and an Adjunct Professor for Pharmaceutical Technology Management at the Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management of Stevens Institute of Technology.

Ed Venkat, Ph.D.
Vice President, Pharmaceutical Development

Dr. Venkat joined Cleveland BioLabs in 2006. He has over 24 years of demonstrated leadership capability in drug development, operation and management of commercial cGMP manufacturing, process engineering, technology transfer, and regulatory and quality control systems. Dr. Venkat has drug development and manufacturing experience with biological compounds and small molecules in both large pharma and small biotech companies. Before joining CBLI, he worked in numerous research and managerial positions at Merck & Co, Inc. (Rahway, NJ) and as the Director of Process Development for GlobeImmune, Inc. (Louisville, CO). In addition to a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering, Dr. Venkat holds an M.S. degree in Biochemical Engineering from The Indian Institute of Technology (New Delhi, India), a M.S. degree in Molecular Biology and a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ), and a M.S. degree in Executive Technology Management from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ.

Ann Hards, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance

Dr. Hards joined Cleveland BioLabs in 2010. Prior to this, she was the President of Pharmaceutical Development at Bridging Health-Matters, a consulting firm serving both small and large biopharmaceutical clients. Before founding the consulting firm, she was Executive Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at ARCA Biopharma with responsibility for all aspects of health authority interactions and regulatory strategy as well as management of the entire regulatory preparation process and staff. From 1996 to 2006, Dr. Hards held several regulatory and clinical development positions at Sanofi-Aventis including Vice President of Clinical Investigation Realization and Vice President of Worldwide Cardiovascular and Thrombosis Regulatory Affairs. Prior to this, she served as Associate Director of Regulatory Affairs at Somatix Therapy Corporation and as Manager of Regulatory Affairs, including US Agent for the Establishment License Application, at Pharmacia Inc. From 1990 to 1994, Dr. Hards was with the Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research Division of Warner-Lambert where she held several positions in Regulatory Affairs and Clinical Communications. Dr. Hards holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in Biophysics and Genetics from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

Michael Paterno, O.D.
Director, Clinical Operations

Dr. Paterno joined Cleveland BioLabs in 2010. He brings twenty years of clinical research and development experience to the company. Prior to joining CBLI, Paterno was Manager, Pharmaceutical Clinical Science at Bausch & Lomb, Inc., where he led teams in the design, implementation, and conduct of Phase I – IV clinical trials in support of new product development. He has contributed to several Investigational New Drug Applications and New Drug Applications in addition to authoring clinical study results for publication. From 1989 to 2004, Paterno held several other clinical research positions at Bausch & Lomb including Manager, Internal Research Clinic; Senior Research Optometrist, Global Vision Care; and Interim Director, Clinical Management, Personal Products Research and Development, among others. Dr. Paterno holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences from the State University of New York at Binghamton, a Bachelor of Science in General Sciences and a Doctor of Optometry degree from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry.