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Management Team

Steven Nichtberger, M.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Nichtberger is a veteran of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries with over 15 years leading US and global organizations and overseeing successful product development, launch, commercial operations, and business development activities. As co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Tengion, Dr. Nichtberger has led the company since its inception in 2004. He has been a visionary and driving force in building the scientific, manufacturing and commercial infrastructure within Tengion capable of advancing multiple neo-organs and tissues from discovery to late stage clinical trials, including building the world's first facility to grow human organs. In 2008 and 2009, Tengion was recognized by The Scientist magazine as one of the top ten healthcare companies to work for in the US. Tengion was also recognized in 2008 when Dr. Nichtberger was awarded the prestigious Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year® award for his visionary leadership.

Prior to co-founding Tengion, Dr. Nichtberger was a member of the senior management team at Merck, where he held a variety of positions including: leadership of the global marketing organization with responsibility for developing marketing strategy for all Merck brands globally; operational leadership with P&L responsibility for a $3.5 billion US product portfolio; and, leadership of the New Product Planning function. He also played an integral role in several corporate licensing, divestiture, and product acquisition deals. Previously, Dr. Nichtberger founded and developed a profitable, privately-held company that licensed intellectual property in the field of internet-based paperless couponing. He holds a BA in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, a BS in Economics from the Wharton School, and an M.D. from the School of Medicine and Biosciences, SUNY at Buffalo. He is currently on the board of overseers of the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences, the board of directors of Pennsylvania Bio, where he is chairman, the board of directors of BioAdvance, the external advisory board of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

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Tim Bertram, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Science and Technology

Dr. Bertram has served as senior scientific executive at Pfizer, SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, and Procter & Gamble Co; a faculty member at the University of Illinois; and a visiting scientist to the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Bertram has been a leadership-mentor to scientists in government, academics, and industry. His experience includes world-wide leadership of multidisciplinary scientific teams for the pharmaceutical industry, government and private foundations focusing on resolution of challenges in pharmaceutical productivity and defining industrial applications of advanced molecular, cellular and whole organism technologies for selecting optimal drug candidates and risk assessment. Organizational leadership activities have included Pharmaceutical R&D sites in both the US and Europe with responsibility for developing and setting Discovery and Development strategies. Most recently, Dr. Bertram was responsible for operational oversight of more than 425 people in disciplines of genomics, toxicology, comparative medicine, and business support groups to enable drug development and discovery through the application of molecular, analytical, cell biology, novel imaging and investigative approaches. His organizations have supported new medicine portfolios that included Gastrointestinal, CNS, Cancer, Respiratory, Infectious, Immunologic, Cardiovascular, and Metabolic diseases with the preparation of regulatory submissions for agencies in major markets around the world. Dr. Bertram holds active academic appointments and advisory positions at leading national and European educational institutions, International Society of Stem Cell Research Industrial Committee, Tissue Engineering Regenerative Medical International Society Industrial Liaison Committee, Industrial Business Advisory Board and Industrial Advisory Committee of UCLA's Bioengineering Department. Dr. Bertram is a member of journal editorial boards for Tissue Engineering and, Regenerative Medicine. He has over 100 scientific publications, presentations and abstracts focusing on the cellular and molecular basis of diseases and tissue and organ regeneration involving the respiratory, urogenital, renal and gastrointestinal organ systems. Dr. Bertram received a DVM and PhD from Iowa State University with post-doctoral studies in cell signaling pathways.

 

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A. Brian Davis
Chief Financial Officer and Vice President, Finance

Mr. Davis comes to Tengion after 15 years with Neose Technologies, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company using enzymatic technologies to develop improved protein therapeutics. At its peak, Neose employed 200 individuals, including cGMP production, development and research personnel at three sites. Mr. Davis advanced from Controller to SVP and CFO at Neose, and brings highly relevant experience to Tengion including raising over $300 million in public and private equity and debt, financial evaluation of business development transactions, treasury and cash management, SEC reporting, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, and investor relations. Mr. Davis holds a BS in Accounting from Trenton State College and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Certified Public Accountant.

 

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Francois Dubois
Vice President, Quality

Mr. Dubois comes to Tengion with more than 25 years of experience in the industry, the last 10 of which he spent at Johnson & Johnson in increasing roles of responsibility - most recently as Vice President of Global External Manufacturing and Supplier Quality Operations. In this role at Johnson & Johnson, Mr. Dubois established a global team that was crucial for transforming the supply chain. Previously, as the Senior Director of Quality at the Centocor manufacturing facility in Leiden, the Netherlands, he led a 750-person quality organization for the Global Biologics Supply Chain. Mr. Dubois graduated with a Master’s degree in pharmacy from Leiden University, the Netherlands. Mr. Dubois will be responsible for all aspects of Tengion’s quality and compliance.

 

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Jason Krentz
Executive Director, Technical Operations

Mr. Krentz brings over 15 years of operations leadership and process engineering experience to Tengion. Since joining Tengion in 2007 as Director of Manufacturing, Mr. Krentz led completion of the commercial manufacturing center in East Norriton, PA and has been responsible for operation and maintenance of all Tengion facilities. Prior to joining Tengion, Mr. Krentz was employed at Johnson & Johnson within the Global Biologics Supply Chain organization as Associate Director of Cell Culture Operations and was responsible for upstream manufacturing of REMICADE, a monoclonal antibody indicated for treatment of numerous inflammatory disorders. While at Johnson & Johnson, Mr. Krentz worked throughout the supply chain organization to optimize the REMICADE process and successfully implemented novel process applications to increase production efficiency and reduce costs. He also completed certification as a Six Sigma Black Belt while leading and training process improvement teams within the Manufacturing, Logistics, and Quality organizations. Prior to his work at Johnson & Johnson, Mr. Krentz held various Engineering roles at Lucent Technologies and was a Submarine Officer in the U.S. Navy. Mr. Krentz received a BS in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Saint Joseph’s University.

 

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Joseph W. La Barge, Esquire
Executive Director, Corporate Counsel

Mr. La Barge brings over 10 years of legal expertise in corporate finance, governance, securities laws and counseling life science and technology companies. Since joining Tengion in 2006, he has guided the company through multiple rounds of private financing, debt restructurings and its recent initial public offering. Prior to joining Tengion, Mr. La Barge was the Assistant Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at PMA Capital Corporation, a holding company whose operating subsidiaries provide specialized risk management solutions to US customers. Prior to his work at PMA Capital Corporation, Mr. La Barge was an associate in the Business and Finance Department at Ballard Spahr, LLP where he counseled private and public companies in a variety of securities, merger and acquisition and licensing transactions. Mr. La Barge has also participated as a speaker in numerous symposia on the Federal Securities Laws. Mr. La Barge received a BA from Bucknell University and a JD from Temple University.

 

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Drew Sansone, MS
Executive Director, Regulatory Affairs

Mr. Sansone brings over fifteen years of experience in Regulatory Affairs and Operations at both multinational pharmaceutical and US based biotechnology companies. Since joining Tengion in early 2006, he has led Regulatory Affairs for the Company. Prior to joining Tengion, Mr. Sansone led Regulatory Affairs and Operations at Vicuron Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for the successful filing of various regulatory applications including two New Drug Applications (NDAs), major NDA amendments, and international regulatory activities, until the Company was acquired by Pfizer. Mr. Sansone also played a leadership role in the due diligence process prior to acquisition and the integration process after Vicuron was acquired by Pfizer. Previously, Mr. Sansone held roles of increasing responsibility in the Regulatory Affairs department at AstraZeneca, ultimately leading an organization of 75 employees with extensive involvement in various regulatory submissions across multiple therapeutic areas. Mr. Sansone received a BA from Siena College and an MS in Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance from the Temple University School of Pharmacy.

 

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Sunita Sheth, MD
Chief Medical Officer, Vice President Clinical & Regulatory Affairs

Sunita Sheth, MD joined Tengion in 2010 as the Chief Medical Officer, VP of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs. She previously headed up the Cardiovascular, Metabolism and Infectious Diseases Therapeutic Area at Pfizer (formerly Wyeth). She also worked at AstraZeneca and GSK in the development of antithrombotics and other agents in neuroscience and vascular medicine. Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry she held a tenure track appointment at Temple University Medical School where she did research in the area of phosphodiesterases. Dr. Sheth is a hematologist/oncologist and maintains certification in hematology participating in the outpatient hematology clinic at Temple University Hospital where she holds an adjunct Professor of Medicine appointment.

 

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Mark Stejbach
Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer

Mr. Stejbach joined Tengion in August 2008 from Merck & Co., where he most recently served as Vice President of Managed Care Marketing in Merck's United States Pharmaceutical Division. Mr. Stejbach started his pharmaceutical career at Merck in 1987, where he went on to lead marketing campaigns for VASOTEC and PROSCAR. From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Stejbach worked for Biogen, Inc. and was responsible for the development and execution of the launch marketing plan for the company's highly successful first marketed product, AVONEX, for multiple sclerosis. Mr. Stejbach then rejoined Merck in 1997 and over the following 11 years held numerous senior leadership positions including Senior Director roles in market development, specialty sales, marketing, and investor relations. Mr. Stejbach earned his MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and a BS in mathematics from Virginia Tech. He was recently named a 2008 Emerging Pharma Leader by Pharmaceutical Executive magazine.

 

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