Management Team

Jeffrey Wolf

Founder, Chairman and CEO

Jeffrey Wolf is founder and CEO of NightHawk Biosciences. He also founded Seed-One Ventures, a firm focused on the systematic formation and management of new biomedical companies founded on breakthrough ideas and technology.

Throughout his career, Mr. Wolf has specialized in building new life-science companies from the ground up and plays an active role in supporting the growth of his companies. Mr. Wolf's start-ups include Avigen (co-founder and director), a NASDAQ-listed gene therapy company; TyRx Pharma (co-founder and chairman), which was focused on the development of novel biocompatible polymers and acquired by Medtronic; and EluSys Therapeutics (co-founder and founding CEO), a biodefense company focused on the development of Anthim® antibody therapeutic, an approved medical countermeasure to mitigate the effect of anthrax exposure after a natural incident or intentional attack.

Mr. Wolf received his M.B.A. from Stanford Business School, his J.D. from New York University School of Law, and his B.A. from the University of Chicago where he graduated with honors in economics.

William L. Ostrander

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Ostrander has over 22 years of experience in financial management at public and private companies. Mr. Ostrander previously served as Executive Director of Finance at Liquidia Technologies, a publicly-traded biopharmaceutical company. Prior to that, he served as Senior Director of Finance and Accounting at KBI Biopharma, a biopharmaceutical contract services company. He also served as Manager of Finance at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a data analytics solutions company. Prior to that, he served as Controller of Seisint Inc., a private information products company that was acquired by LexisNexis. Other previous roles include Senior Manager of Finance and various other accounting and finance positions for Boca Research, a data communications hardware manufacturer. Mr. Ostrander holds a B.S. in Finance from Central Michigan University.

Ryan D. Michalek, Ph.D.

Senior Vice President of Operations and Strategic Development

As Senior Vice President of Operations and Strategic Development, Dr. Michalek leverages scientific, clinical, and program management expertise to drive organizational growth through the alignment of projects with corporate objectives, the identification of strategic risks, and the development of partnership opportunities.

Dr. Michalek received his Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from Wake Forest University with a focus on redox regulation of T cell activation.  Subsequent postdoctoral studies at Duke University included foundational studies on the metabolic regulation of T cell differentiation, while biochemical profiling work with Metabolon resulted in publications encompassing cancer, autoimmune disease, and diabetes.  Dr. Michalek’s experience also includes oversight of early and late phase clinical trials across several treatment modalities (cell and gene therapy, immunotherapy, small molecule inhibitors) with previous roles as the therapeutic area head of oncology for Pharm-Olam, co-chair of the Gene Therapy Operational Center of Excellence at PPD, and project leadership within IQVIA and Chiltern.

With over 30 peer-reviewed publications, ~5,000 citations, a previous appointment to the NIH Biomarker Consortium steering committee for Inflammation and Immunity, and awards from the Cancer Research Institute and American Association of Immunologists, Dr. Michalek is committed to identifying and advancing medical breakthroughs.

Guillermo (Bill) Arana, M.S.

Vice President of Clinical Development

As Vice President of Clinical Development, Bill Arana oversees the strategic and operational aspects of clinical drug development for NightHawk Biosciences and its subsidiary companies.

Mr. Arana has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, holding director and management positions in clinical development and operations. At Emergo Therapeutics he worked on a novel immunological treatment for influenza-like infection. While at Argos Therapeutics, Mr. Arana led the clinical department in conducting a phase 3 clinical trial of an autologous cellular immunotherapy for oncology and was responsible for planning the clinical development strategy and regulatory authority interactions for the program. At Kowa Research Institute, he initiated the first clinical trial the company conducted in the United States and grew the Clinical Operations department. Prior to joining Kowa, he worked in CROs where he managed international clinical trials in infectious diseases for large and mid-sized pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Arana also worked at Trimeris, Inc., managing the conduct of the proof-of-concept trials for Fuzeon, the first fusion inhibitor approved to treat HIV infection. He began his career in clinical research as a CRA, working initially for a CRO and later as an independent contractor. Before entering the pharmaceutical industry, he worked as a senior research technician at Duke University Medical Center in the Bryan Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

Mr. Arana holds an M.S. Degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from East Carolina University and B.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Matthew M. Seavey, Ph.D.

Vice President of Research

As Vice President of Research, Matthew Seavey holds over a decade of preclinical drug development experience. Originally trained as an immunologist, Dr. Seavey is an expert in early drug development and has been involved in the development of different drug modalities (biologics, small molecules, cellular therapeutics, vaccines) across multiple therapeutic areas, including GI, CNS, immuno-oncology, respiratory, inflammation and cardio-metabolics. He has held former positions as Drug Discovery Team Leader at Cephalon, Global Pharmacology Project Leader at Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Oncology Program Director at United Therapeutics. Dr. Seavey is a co-inventor on several patents and has contributed to the intellectual property base of Advaxis and founding of Oncoceutics. Most recently, Dr. Seavey served as Director of Preclinical Pharmacology for CinRx Pharma and founding partner of BioPoint Consulting, LLC. Dr. Seavey holds a B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Vermont, an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Rochester, and an M.B.A. from West Chester University.

Cheni Kwok, Ph.D., CLP

Senior Business Development Advisor

Dr. Kwok is a senior biopharmaceutical executive with broad operational expertise who has executed over 150 transactions including M&A, strategic partnerships, licensing, divestitures, spin-offs, and project financing. Since 2011, Dr. Kwok has served as Managing Partner and Founder of Linear Dreams LLC, a management consultancy for the life sciences industry. The firm engages a broad range of business and corporate development activities for 49 biopharmaceuticals companies, contract research and non-profit organizations, research institutes, and investors across USA, Europe, China, Taiwan, and Singapore.

As Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at Poniard Pharmaceuticals Inc., Dr. Kwok established corporate and business development, strategic and commercial planning, new product planning, competitive intelligence, and forecasting functions. Previously, she served as Director of Business Development at Celera Genomics Inc., where she led the business development efforts for Celera's small molecule therapeutics, including the divestiture of the oncology pipeline (including Imbruvica® [ibrutinib]) to Pharmacyclics, Inc. (now an AbbVie Company). Dr. Kwok has held business development positions of increasing responsibility at Exelixis, Inc., where she initiated multiple partnerships and served as the alliance manager for the GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) collaboration. Prior to joining Exelixis, Inc., she held various research management, technology assessment, and alliance management roles at SmithKline Beecham PLC (now GSK).

Dr. Kwok received a bachelor's degree with first class honors in Biotechnology from the Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine, University of London, UK, a Ph.D. in Human Molecular Genetics from the University of Cambridge, UK, and has earned the Certified Licensing Professional (CLP) credential. At present, Dr. Kwok is serving on the Board of Directors of Chinese-American Biopharmaceutical Society (CABS) and serves on the Standards, Admissions & Recertification committee of Certified Licensing Professionals, Inc.