At Arbor Biotechnologies, we’re changing what’s possible for people living with genetic disease. We are the only gene editing biotech company focused on developing first-in-class gene editing therapeutics for CNS diseases.
Every disease is different, down to its molecular root, which means no single technology can reach all of them. We’ve built a wholly owned portfolio of gene editing technologies and one of the most talented and dedicated teams in the field to apply them, matching the right technology to each disease and advancing genetic medicines that matter.
Devyn Smith, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Mat Pletcher, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer
Don Haut, Ph.D., MBA
Chief Business Officer
Lee Ann Marchionna, MBA
Chief People Officer
Mat Lindenmayer, MSA
Senior Vice President, Finance
Chris Malcuit, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
Iya Kessler, J.D.
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Albert Misko, Ph.D., MD
Vice President, Head of Clinical Development
Devyn Smith, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Mikael Dolsten, M.D., Ph.D.
Former Chief Scientific Officer and President, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical at Pfizer, Inc.
Matthew Porteus, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Definitive and Curative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine
Nolan Townsend, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, LEXEO Therapeutics
Paul Meister, MBA
Chairman of the Board; Co-Founder, Liberty Lane Partners
David Walt, Ph.D.
Arbor Co-Founder; Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard Medical School
Keith Crandell, MBA
Co-Founder & Managing Director, Arch Venture Partners
Mark Angelino, Ph.D.
Venture Partner, Third Rock Ventures
Ira Magaziner
President, SJS Inc.
Feng Zhang, Ph.D.
Core Institute Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
David Walt, Ph.D.
Arbor Co-Founder; Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard Medical School
David Scott, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and CEO, Instance
Winston Yan, M.D., Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Director, Center for Therapeutic Genetics at the Broad Institute
Feng Zhang, Ph.D.
Core Institute Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
David Walt, Ph.D.
Arbor Co-Founder; Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard Medical School
David Scott, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and CEO, Instance
Winston Yan, M.D., Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Director, Center for Therapeutic Genetics at the Broad Institute
Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School; Associate in Neuroscience, Massachusetts General Hospital; Healey Family ALS Endowed Chair for Research
Le Cong, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Pathology and Genetics, Stanford University
Britt Adamson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University
Guangping Gao, Ph.D.
Co-Director, Li Weibo Institute for Rare Disease Research; Director, Horae Gene Therapy Center and Viral Vector Core; Professor of Microbiology and Physiological Systems; Penelope Booth Rockwell Professor in Biomedical Research, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Malin Parmer, Ph.D.
Professor, New York Stem Cell Foundation - Robertson Investigator; Research Team Manager, Professor, Developmental Regenerative Neurobiology, Lund University
Kevin Alexander, M.D., F.A.C.C., F.H.F.S.A.
Assistant Professor of Medicine - Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine
Patrick Hsu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor and Deb Faculty Fellow, University of California, Berkeley
Yizhou Dong, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology, Ohio State University, College of Pharmacy
Stephen Goff, Ph.D.
Higgins Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University
Osamu Nureki, Ph.D.
Professor, Dept of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Dept of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo School of Science
We have attracted capital from top investors in the industry including:
Chief Executive Officer
Devyn Smith, Ph.D., joined Arbor in April, 2021 as Chief Executive Officer and as a board member. Previously, Devyn served as Chief Operations Officer and Head of Strategy at Sigilon Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotechnology company. At Sigilon, he helped grow the company from 10 to over 100 FTEs in four years, build an IND engine with a novel platform focused on delivering 5 INDs in three years and move from product concept to a product entering clinical trials. Prior to this, he was head of Business Operations and Strategy at the Medicinal Sciences Division at Pfizer R&D. He was previously at Pfizer’s Neusentis Research Unit in the UK from 2011-2014 as Chief Operating Officer, responsible for strategy and operations for the unit where he helped bring two novel cell therapies and several small molecules from discovery through to clinical trials. Prior to joining Pfizer, Devyn was a principal for The Frankel Group, a boutique management consulting firm in New York City and Cambridge. In his consulting experience, he led a wide range of projects, across multiple therapeutic areas and a host of technology platforms, including basic R&D tools, regenerative medicine, gene therapy, and macromolecules/biologic products. Devyn recently served as chairman of the Alliance of Regenerative Medicine (ARM), the industry group for nearly 400 gene and cell therapy companies, and as an advisor/board member to several companies in the advanced therapies space including: AIRNA, Therna Biosciences and RBL Ventures. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School, M.S. from Idaho State University, and a B.S. from Brigham Young University. For relaxation, Devyn likes to climb high peaks, garden and raise chickens.
Chief Scientific Officer
Mat brings deep scientific leadership experience across gene therapy, rare disease, and genetic medicine. He has served as Chief Scientific Officer at Weaver Biosciences, where he built a platform of heterobifunctional molecules enabling targeted transcriptional regulation, and previously as Chief Scientific Officer at Kisbee Therapeutics and as SVP and Division Head for Gene Therapy Research and Technical Operations at Astellas Gene Therapies, leading preclinical gene therapy portfolio and manufacturing activities. Mat also served as Head of Rare Disease at Roche, directing early development and research activities and supporting the approval of Risdiplam (Evrysdi) for spinal muscular atrophy. Additionally, he has held leadership roles at Pfizer, including Director of Medical Genetics for the Rare Disease Research Unit, and began his career at The Scripps Research Institute. Mat holds a Ph.D. in human genetics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed postdoctoral training at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation. Outside of work, Mat enjoys gardening, woodworking, and sports—especially spending time at Fenway Park.
Chief Business Officer
Don brings more than 20 years of experience in company building, corporate strategy, and business development across a broad range of therapeutic areas, modalities, and development stages. Over the course of his career, he has executed more than $8.3 billion in transactions across the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
Don has served in senior leadership roles at both public and private biotech companies, including as CEO of Carmine Therapeutics and CBO of EG427, AskBio, and Histogenics. He has also held key leadership positions at Sherlock Biosciences, The Medicines Company, Smith & Nephew, and 3M. In addition to his operating roles, Don brings valuable governance experience, serving on the Boards of Aspect Biosystems, Immvention Therapeutix (as Chairman), and Orthox Ltd. (also as Chairman).
He holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and an MBA from the John M. Olin School of Business at Washington University.
When he’s not closing deals or shaping strategy, Don can most often be found in the pool—or in just about any body of water nearby.
Chief People Officer
A 25-year veteran of Human Resources, Lee Ann Marchionna has extensive experience in leading transformations, driving company-wide organizational effectiveness initiatives, and establishing talent, culture, and engagement practices. Before joining Arbor in July 2022, Lee Ann was a principal at Vitality HR, a consultancy she founded to support both start-ups and growing biotechnology companies. At Vitality, she was instrumental in leading strategies to help attract top talent, bolster organizational culture, and establish people practices that are essential for business growth for a range of VC-backed life sciences companies, including many within portfolios of Atlas, Third Rock, 5AM, Versant, Polaris and OrbiMed. Prior to founding Vitality, Lee Ann served as Vice President of Human Resources at ThermoFisher Scientific, where she was responsible for the organizational development and talent strategy to help the company scale. Prior to ThermoFisher, she held HR leadership roles at Hologic, Dell EMC, Biogen Idec, Sanofi Genzyme, Jabil Circuit, Inc., and Kimberly-Clark. Lee Ann earned an MBA from Binghamton University and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources Management from the State University of New York. Outside of work, Lee Ann enjoys spending time with her three children, traveling to new places, and is an avid runner and triathlete.
Senior Vice President, Finance
Mat Lindenmayer brings more than 15 years of diversified financial, operations, and leadership experience to Arbor. Mat joined Arbor from Thermo Fisher Scientific where he led the global finance function for the gene therapy CDMO business. Prior to his time at Thermo Fisher Scientific, Mat was the Corporate Controller at viral vector CDMO, Brammer Bio, where he oversaw the accounting, tax and treasury functions through a period of rapid growth and expansion. Mat began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he spent more than a decade advising companies on complex mergers and acquisitions and capital raising transactions in the biotechnology and technology industry sectors. Mat received his MS in Accounting from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College and his BS in Business Administration from Stonehill College, where he also played baseball. A native of Upstate New York, Mat enjoys spending time with family and friends outside of work and is an avid sports fan.
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
Chris brings more than two decades of leadership experience in the development and manufacturing of advanced therapeutics, encompassing gene editing, cell therapy, and regenerative medicine. He has a distinguished record of translating innovative technologies and therapeutic modalities into first-in-human clinical programs.
Prior to joining Arbor in 2024, Chris served as Vice President of Process Sciences at TScan Therapeutics, where he established the company’s non-viral cellular engineering and manufacturing platform to enable the development of TCR-T cell therapies for relapse prevention in AML/ALL and for the treatment of solid tumors.
Previously, he served as CMC Lead and Head of Manufacturing at Editas Medicine, where he was responsible for the development and manufacturing of EDIT-301, a gene-edited autologous cell therapy designed to restore healthy hemoglobin levels in patients with hemoglobinopathies such as sickle cell disease. Earlier in his career, Chris held scientific and operational leadership roles at SQZ Biotech, OvaScience, and Advanced Cell Technology, which was acquired by Astellas in 2016.
Chris earned his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Outside of Arbor Chris enjoys hiking, fishing, and spending time with his family.
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Iya Kessler is a solution-oriented legal executive with nearly two decades of experience in business development, securities, corporate governance, and global operations. Iya joined Arbor from 2seventy bio, a commercial-stage cell therapy biotech company, where she was Head of Legal and Corporate Secretary, driving the company’s strategy, advising on critical business matters, and overseeing all aspects of legal and compliance. Iya led the successful sale of 2seventy bio to Bristol-Myers Squibb. Prior to her role at 2seventy bio, Iya led the global legal function of Thermo Fisher Scientific’s cell and gene therapy division. Before joining Thermo Fisher Scientific, she held positions of increasing responsibility in the legal department of State Street Corporation. Iya started her career as a business lawyer at Ropes & Gray LLP. She received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law and her B.S. from Ithaca College. Iya serves on the Executive Committee of the BU Law Alumni Association and was most recently President of the Executive Committee. Outside of Arbor, Iya enjoys spending time with her family and friends, traveling, reading and gardening.
Chief Executive Officer
Devyn Smith, Ph.D., joined Arbor in April, 2021 as Chief Executive Officer and as a board member. Previously, Devyn served as Chief Operations Officer and Head of Strategy at Sigilon Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotechnology company. At Sigilon, he helped grow the company from 10 to over 100 FTEs in four years, build an IND engine with a novel platform focused on delivering 5 INDs in three years and move from product concept to a product entering clinical trials. Prior to this, he was head of Business Operations and Strategy at the Medicinal Sciences Division at Pfizer R&D. He was previously at Pfizer’s Neusentis Research Unit in the UK from 2011-2014 as Chief Operating Officer, responsible for strategy and operations for the unit where he helped bring two novel cell therapies and several small molecules from discovery through to clinical trials. Prior to joining Pfizer, Devyn was a principal for The Frankel Group, a boutique management consulting firm in New York City and Cambridge. In his consulting experience, he led a wide range of projects, across multiple therapeutic areas and a host of technology platforms, including basic R&D tools, regenerative medicine, gene therapy, and macromolecules/biologic products. Devyn recently served as chairman of the Alliance of Regenerative Medicine (ARM), the industry group for nearly 400 gene and cell therapy companies, and as an advisor/board member to several companies in the advanced therapies space including: AIRNA, Therna Biosciences and RBL Ventures. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School, M.S. from Idaho State University, and a B.S. from Brigham Young University. For relaxation, Devyn likes to climb high peaks, garden and raise chickens.