Management
Thomas Klein - Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Thomas Klein is an experienced business entrepreneur with a proven track record of success and more than twenty years of professional experience as a founder and CEO in the biotechnology and software technology areas.
He is the founder and CEO of Cytolon AG, a private company based in Berlin, Germany, that has developed a proprietary, patent-pending, global, internet-based cord blood brokering platform termed CordMatch®, that will allow providing the best-matched cord blood unit to the patient that needs it in a timely manner, based on his histocompatibility characteristics and genetic needs.
Since 2006, Thomas Klein has been a consultant for a NASDAQ-listed company involved in the development of stem cell therapies, and is their legal representative for the first clinical study on allogeneic stem cells in Europe. From 1997 to 2006, Mr. Klein was the founder and CEO of NOXXON Pharma AG. Under his leadership, the company developed pharmaceutical RNA products from scratch to industry readiness. He negotiated multiple cooperative agreements with US and European pharmaceutical industries. Mr. Klein also acquired more than EUR 50 million in equity for NOXXON and, in 2006, closed a multi-million dollar deal with Pfizer Inc.
Additionally, in 2004, Thomas Klein co-founded the software company ARCWAY AG, a spin-off from the Hasso-Plattner-Institut für Softwaresystemtechnik in Potsdam, Germany, a world leading center of excellence in IT-systems engineering. Arcway is specialized in the business analysis and business process-driven requirement engineering.
For more than ten years Mr. Klein was also active as a political leader in the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg. Mr. Klein holds an M.A. in History and Political Sciences from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich. In June 2009 Thomas Klein and Cytolon received the "MOST PROMISING COMPANY LAUNCHED IN 2009 AWARD" at the 5th Hasso Plattner Ventures Forum on Entrepreneurship by Dr. Joseph Ackermann, CEO of Deutsche Bank.
Ralf Schliehe-Diecks, M.Sc. - Vice President IT-Systems
Ralf Schliehe-Diecks joined Cytolon AG as VP IT-Systems in January 2010. He is responsible for the development and operation of the company´s IT systems. His main task is the coordination of Cytolon's international development projects with clinical partners, cord blood banks and IT development and operation partners as well as service providers. Currently, Mr. Schliehe-Diecks’ main activity is coordinating the development of the CordMatch® platform in cooperation with Cytolon's development and hosting partner CSC, partnering clinics and cord blood banks.
Ralf Schliehe-Diecks is an experienced IT project manager and business analyst with more than six years of experience in the IT business, especially in the specification of IT systems and the coordination of expert IT development teams.
Mr. Schliehe-Diecks has worked for a variety of customers in different areas, e.g. SAP, SafeID and Volkswagen. From 2005 to 2007 he was part of a global governance coaching team of SAP, supporting the development of SAP's ESOA methodology, their composite strategy and the development of SAP's Business ByDesign Platform. Another main focus of his work was in the public sector, e.g. the BBI (Berlin Brandenburg International Airport) IT project of the Berliner Flughäfen, the complete restructuring of the IT systems of the FernUniversität in Hagen and different IT projects for the Berliner Wasserbetriebe.
Ralf Schliehe-Diecks earned his Master of Science in Software Engineering at the Hasso-Plattner-Institut in Potsdam in 2004 (first cohort). Upon graduation he became IT consultant at ARCWAY AG. His main fields of interest as a business analyst and project manager were Business Process Modeling, Requirements Management, Systems Architecture and Project Management. In 2008, he was promoted to Head of Consulting at ARCWAY AG, where he was the responsible project leader for the CordMatch® specification project.
Dr. William Prather - Senior Consultant US Corporate Development
William Prather has more than 17 years of experience in the development and financing of US biotechnology companies. Since 2006, Dr. Prather has been a senior consultant for a NASDAQ-listed stem cell therapeutics company. Prior to 2006, Dr. Prather was a co-founder of Panacos Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ-PANC), involved in antiviral therapies, and from 1990 to 2004 was a senior biotechnology analyst for a variety of investment banking firms. Dr. Prather received his BS in Pharmacy and MD degrees from the University of Missouri and completed a fellowship at Harvard University.
Ms. Sunghee Cho - Senior Consultant Corporate Development Asia
Sunghee Cho is an expert in strategy, market analysis, and business development and brings in more than 13 years of experience as consultant to diverse international clients. Her professional background includes from senior level position at IHS CERA in US to project manager at TSB Technology Foundation Berlin. Ms. Cho is also a founding member and managing director of a biotechnology start up located in Berlin, Germany. Since 2009, Ms. Cho advises Cytolon AG, which has developed the world first online matching platform for cord blood units, on its strategy and business development in Asia. She has degrees in mathematics and economics from Georgetown University and studied graduate course in economics at Harvard University.