Leadership

 

William Obi Greenman

William ‘Obi’ M. Greenman
President and CEO

Mr. Greenman was named our President and Chief Executive Officer in April 2011. He had served as Cerus’ Chief Business Officer since April 2010. Previously, he was Senior Vice President, Business Development and Marketing. From 2006 to 2008, he held the position of President, Cerus Europe, and prior to that, he served as Vice President, Business Development. Prior to joining Cerus in 1995 as director of business development, he worked in various marketing and business development positions in Baxter’s Biotech Division from 1991 to 1995. Mr. Greenman previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of both Aduro Biotech and Chinook Therapeutics, as Audit and Compensation Committee Chairs, respectively, for a combined period of more than a decade. He received his B.A.S. in Economics and Biological Sciences from Stanford University.

Richard J Benjamin

Richard J. Benjamin, MBChB, Ph.D., FRCPath
Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Benjamin was appointed as our Chief Medical Officer (CMO) in July 2015. Previously, he served as CMO for the American Red Cross where he oversaw donor and patient safety issues for 40% of the US blood supply. Prior to Red Cross, he served as Medical Director at the Adult Transfusion Service at the Joint Program in Transfusion Medicine at Harvard University. Dr. Benjamin served as a Board Member and Regional Director for North America for the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) and is an active member of the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB). He has also served on the DHHS Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability (ACBTSA) in the U.S. Dr. Benjamin is an Adjunct Professor of Pathology at Georgetown University and author of 130 peer-reviewed publications. He received his M.D. from the University of Cape Town and his Ph.D. from Cambridge University, England in Immunology, and he completed post-doctoral research at Stanford University, CA.

Richard J Benjamin

Laurence M. Corash, M.D.
Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Corash, a co-founder of Cerus, was appointed as our Chief Scientific Officer in 2009. He has held various medical positions within the company, including Chief Medical Officer from 1994-2015. Dr. Corash was a consultant to us from 1991 to 1994. He has been a Professor of Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco since July 1985 and was Chief of the Hematology Laboratory for the Medical Center at the University of California, San Francisco from 1982 to 1997. From February 1990 to July 1994, Dr. Corash was a consultant to the FDA Advisory Panel for Hematology Devices. He previously served on the U.S. Health and Human Services’ Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability. Dr. Corash has published over 200 original peer-reviewed research publications in the field of hematology and transfusion medicine. Dr. Corash is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology, and Hematology Pathology. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth College and his M.D. from New York University School of Medicine.

Richard J Benjamin

Alicia Goodman
Chief Human Resources Officer

Ms. Goodman was appointed as our Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) in September 2023. Ms. Goodman has over 30 years of experience in HR and has held various head of HR roles including most recently at Aimmune Therapeutics, which was bought by Nestle Health Science in 2020. She currently serves as a Board member for the Bay Area Red Cross. Ms. Goodman received her M.Sc.A. in Human Resources from Central Michigan University and her B.A. from Michigan State University.

Richard J Benjamin

Kevin D. Green
Vice President Finance and Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Green was appointed our Chief Financial Officer in 2013. From 2006 to 2013, Mr. Green served in several roles for us including Senior Director of Finance, Controller, and later, Vice President, Finance and Chief Accounting Officer. From 2000 until 2006, Mr. Green held various financial management positions with Macromedia, Inc. (acquired by Adobe Systems in 2005), including Director of Finance and Assistant Controller. Prior to joining Macromedia, Mr. Green was a member of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in the Assurance and Business Advisory Services division.

Mr. Green is a certified public accountant (inactive).

Richard J Benjamin

Vivek K. Jayaraman
Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Jayaraman was appointed as our Chief Operating Officer in March 2020. In his role, Mr. Jayaraman oversees commercial operations, supply chain, customer service, and manufacturing operations. Previously, Mr. Jayaraman served as Cerus’ Chief Commercial Officer from August 2016. Prior to joining Cerus in 2016, Mr. Jayaraman led TriVascular’s commercial expansion as the company grew from a preclinical, venture-backed startup into a publicly traded, global medical device company. At the time of its merger with Endologix, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELGX) in February 2016, TriVascular’s products were sold in over 30 countries. Prior to TriVascular, Mr. Jayaraman served in roles of increasing responsibility at Medtronic, Inc.; most recently serving as Vice President of Global Marketing for Medtronic’s endovascular innovations business. Mr. Jayaraman received his M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and holds dual bachelor’s degrees from the University of Michigan.

Richard J Benjamin

Chrystal Jensen
Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel

Ms. Jensen was appointed Chief Legal Officer in 2012. Prior to joining Cerus, Ms. Jensen served as senior corporate counsel at Zynga, Inc. From 2000-2011, she was a partner at Cooley LLP, where she had practiced corporate and securities law. Ms. Jensen received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago and her Bachelor of Science in finance and accounting from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Richard J Benjamin

Carol Moore
Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality

Ms. Moore was promoted to Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Quality, and Clinical in 2013. She has been at Cerus since 2008, previously serving as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Quality and Clinical. Prior to joining Cerus, she served as Vice President, Worldwide Regulatory Affairs at Bayer Corporation. Ms. Moore was with Bayer for over 30 years, during which she was involved with registration and regulatory compliance of Bayer’s biological and biotech products, health policy, and strategic planning.

Richard J Benjamin

Nina Mufti, Ph.D.
Vice President, Development and Red Blood Cell Program Leader

Dr. Mufti was promoted to Vice President, Development and Red Blood Cell (RBC) Program Leader at Cerus Corporation in March 2020. In her role, she oversees development of the RBC program including manufacturing scale-up, clinical study execution, and commercial launch readiness. She also oversees the government-funded feasibility projects for lyophilized INTERCEPT Fibrinogen Complex and whole blood pathogen inactivation. Since joining Cerus in 2007, Dr. Mufti has guided the product design and development efforts for the INTERCEPT RBC System and served as Vice President, Development since 2012, overseeing Cerus’ PMA submissions and approvals for INTERCEPT platelets and plasma. Prior to Cerus, Dr. Mufti worked at Nektar Therapeutics on the development, registration and commercialization of drug and device combination products. Dr. Mufti completed her Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering at Cornell University, and her Bachelor of Science, Biochemistry and Bachelor of Applied Science, Chemical Engineering at the University of Ottawa.

Richard J Benjamin

Lori L. Roll
Vice President, Administration and Corporate Secretary

Ms. Roll was appointed our Vice President, Administration in 1999. From 1997 to 1999 she was our Director of Administration, and from 1992 to 1997 she served as our Controller. Prior to joining Cerus, Ms. Roll spent six years working as a certified public accountant for Ernst Young and also served as a Controller for two private companies.

Richard J Benjamin

Yasmin Singh, Ph.D.
Vice President, Development and Platelet, Plasma, and
Therapeutics Program Leader

Dr. Singh was appointed Vice President, Development and Platelet, Plasma, and Therapeutics Program Leader in March, 2020. Previously, from 2017 to 2020, Dr. Singh held the role of Vice President, Program and Portfolio Management. Prior to that she headed the global Project Management department at Zogenix and at Jazz Pharmaceuticals. From 1996 to 1998 and again from 2001 to 2006, Dr. Singh served Cerus in various roles including Toxicologist and Intercept Project Team Leader. Dr. Singh received her Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences and Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from U.C. Davis.