Thomas Farrell, MBA

Tom Farrell has a twenty-five year track record as a serial biotech company builder and executive. He has been the founding CEO of two public cell therapy companies, most recently Artiva Biotherapeutics, a leader in off-the-shelf primary NK cell therapies for autoimmune disease and cancer, where he raised a $78 million Series A and supported the company through a successful crossover financing, major strategic partnership with Merck, and journey to a first S-1 filing. Previously, Tom was President and CEO of Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, a pioneer in the development of controllable cell therapies. At Bellicum, which he built from a virtual startup through a highly successful IPO in 2014, raising a total of more than $300 million in the process, Tom brought five genetically modified cell therapies into clinical development, including one into pivotal trials. Previously, he was the founding President and CEO of Cylene Pharmaceuticals, a small molecule rational drug design company targeting secondary DNA structures to regulate oncogene expression. Tom received his B.A. in Engineering from the University of Cambridge and MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller scholar.