Steven A. Kriegsman - President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Kriegsman has been Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of CytRx Corporation since July 2002. He previously served as Director and Chairman of Global Genomics from June 2000. Mr. Kriegsman is an inactive Chairman and Founder of Kriegsman Capital Group LLC, a financial advisory firm specializing in the development of alternative sources of equity capital for emerging growth companies in the healthcare industry. He has advised such companies as SuperGen Inc., Closure Medical Corporation, Novoste Corporation, Miravant Medical Technologies, and Maxim Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Kriegsman has a BS degree with honors from New York University in Accounting and completed the Executive Program in Mergers and Acquisitions at New York University, The Management Institute. Mr. Kriegsman was formerly a Certified Public Accountant with KPMG in New York City. He serves as a Director and is the former Chairman of the Audit Committee of Bradley Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He is licensed with the Series 7 and 66. In February 2006, Mr. Kriegsman received the Corporate Philanthropist of the Year Award from the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the ALS Association and in October 2006, he received the Lou Gehrig Memorial Corporate Award from the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Mr. Kriegsman has been active in various charitable organizations including the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the ALS Association, the Los Angeles Venture Association, the Southern California Biomedical Council, the New York University Club, the American Association of Dance Companies, and the Palisades-Malibu YMCA.

 

Daniel Levitt, M.D., Ph.D. – Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Levitt brings more than 24 years of senior management experience, spearheading numerous drug development programs to commercialization at leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.  Prior to joining CytRx, Dr. Levitt served as Executive Vice President, Research and Development at Cerimon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he implemented three Phase III pivotal trials.  Prior to that, he was Chief Medical Officer and Head of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs at Dynavax Technologies Corporation, managing clinical trials for four programs and overseeing multi-country regulatory strategies.  Dr. Levitt was also Chief Operating Officer and Head of Research and Development at Affymax, Inc., where he spearheaded all aspects of that company’s research, development, and commercialization operations, and he spent six years at Protein Design Labs, Inc., completing his tenure as that firm’s President and Head of Research and Development.  Dr. Levitt’s past experience includes a position as Head of Drug Development at Geron Corporation, and Head of the Cytokine Development Unit and Global Clinical Oncology at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Ltd., and as Director, Clinical Oncology and Immunology at Hoffmann-LaRoche, Inc.  Dr. Levitt graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandeis University.  He earned both his M.D. and his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.  Dr. Levitt has received 10 major research awards and authored or co-authored nearly 200 papers and abstracts.

 

John Y. Caloz  - Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Caloz has an accomplished history of providing senior financial leadership in the life sciences sector, including as Chief Financial Officer of Occulogix, Inc, a NASDAQ listed, a medical therapy company. Prior to that, Mr. Caloz served as Chief Financial Officer of IRIS International Inc., a Chatsworth, CA based medical device manufacturer. He served as Chief Financial Officer of San Francisco-based Synarc, Inc., a medical imaging company, and from 1993 to 1999 he was Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Phoenix International Life Sciences Inc. of Montreal, Canada, which was acquired by MDS Inc. in 1999. Mr. Caloz was a partner at Rooney, Greig, Whitrod, Filion & Associates of Saint Laurent, Quebec, Canada, a firm of Chartered Accountants specializing in research and development and high tech companies, from 1983 to 1993. Mr. Caloz, a Chartered Accountant, holds a degree in Accounting from York University, Toronto, Canada.

Jaisim Shah - Chief Business Officer and Senior Vice President of Business Development

Mr. Shah joined us in May 2009 as our Chief Business Officer and Senior Vice President-Business Development.  From January 2009 until joining us, Mr. Shah served as an independent consultant for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies focusing on business and product development. Prior to that time, he served in various senior management positions with a number of global pharmaceutical companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb and Hoffman La-Roche AG. Most recently, from December 2008 to January 2009, he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer of Facet Biotech, and from July, 2000 until December 2008, he served in the same capacities for PDL BioPharma. Mr. Shah received his M.A. degree in economics from the University of Akron.

 

Benjamin S. Levin - General Counsel, Vice President of Legal Affairs and Corporate Secretary

Until 2004, Mr. Levin practiced at O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Los Angeles as a transactional attorney.  He worked in a wide variety of disciplines including mergers and acquisitions, public and private securities offerings, corporate governance and SEC reporting and disclosure.   Mr. Levin graduated from Stanford Law School with distinction, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a S.B. in Economics.

 

Scott Wieland, Ph.D. - Senior Vice President of Drug Development 

Prior to joining CytRx, Dr. Wieland was Vice President of Drug Development and Regulatory Affairs, with clinical and regulatory oversight of a Alzheimer's disease development program.  His fifteen years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry has provided Scott a balanced approached to developing products for the market place.  His experience ranges across all aspects of drug development with a focus on neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and stroke. Scott received a M.A. and Ph.D. in biopsychology from the University of Arizona and a M.B.A. from Webster University.

Scott Geyer - Senior Vice President of Manufacturing

Mr. Geyer brings more than 28 years of manufacturing and technical operations knowledge overseeing all aspects of product manufacturing in oncology and other fields, including direct experience with small molecules, biologics and topicals.  He most recently served as Vice President, Technical Operations at Cerimon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he was responsible for developing FDA-compliant quality systems manufacturing processes, led the contract manufacturing function and evaluated in-licensing opportunities.  In this position, he established state-of-the-art bioanalytical methods and developed formulations to support clinical advancement of several lead programs.  He previously served as Senior Vice President, Technical Operations & Product Development at TRF Pharma, Inc.; Vice President, Technical Operation at Xencor, Inc.; and Vice President, Manufacturing and Process Development at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals Inc.  Mr. Geyer's past experience includes holding senior positions at Onyx Pharmaceuticals and Protein Design Labs, Inc., as well as positions at Ares-Sorono Group and SmithKline Beckman, among others.  Mr. Geyer has co-authored numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals.  He holds an M.S. in veterinary microbiology from Texas A&M University and a B.S. in microbiology from the University of Southwestern Louisiana.

David J. Haen - Vice President, Business Development
Graduated Cum Laude from Loyola Marymount University in Business and Communications. Mr. Haen assists in negotiating strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, and in-licensing and out-licensing of product opportunities.