Kincell Bio Updates Leadership Team

Kincell Bio, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has promoted three executives to strengthen its leadership team and advance its mission of delivering life-changing therapies to patients worldwide:

• Bruce Thompson, PhD, President and Chief Technology Officer
• Melodie Bryce, Chief Quality Officer
• Matt Haines, Chief Operations Officer

“Bruce, Melodie, and Matt have demonstrated exceptional leadership and expertise, and their expanded roles further strengthen our ability to deliver innovative, high-quality solutions for our clients while accelerating access to transformative therapies for patients. Together with our highly skilled teams, we will continue to expand our clinical development and commercial supply infrastructure, accelerate technology transfer, and strengthen our commitment to delivering life-changing cell therapies efficiently and reliably,” said Larry Pitcher, who became CEO of Kincell earlier this month.

Bruce Thompson, PhD

Bruce Thompson, PhD, has been promoted to President and Chief Technology Officer, driving technology strategy and innovation to provide technical solutions for clients. As Kincell’s founding CEO, he established the company’s technical and operational foundation.

His prior leadership roles include VP of Process Sciences at Lyell Immunopharma, technical and operational leadership positions at Resilience and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center where he led GMP manufacturing of cell and gene therapy products. Thompson holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Louisville and he brings over 25 years of experience in cell therapy development and manufacturing.

Melodie Bryce

Melodie Bryce has been promoted to Chief Quality Officer. In this capacity, Bryce will lead the organization’s quality strategy, ensuring best-in class quality systems and robust regulatory compliance across all operations.

Bryce has nearly three decades of experience in quality leadership, with deep expertise spanning cell therapy, antibody and aseptic production. Throughout her career, she has successfully designed and implemented comprehensive quality frameworks and led organizations through regulatory inspection readiness including for cell therapy commercial supply. Her professional background includes senior quality leadership roles at KBI Biopharma, Cognate BioServices, Matica Biotechnology and Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies.

Bryce earned her B.S. from North Carolina Wesleyan University and is widely recognized for her disciplined, pragmatic, approach to quality excellence in highly regulated environments.

Matt Haines

Matt Haines is being promoted to Chief Operations Officer, leading supply of cell therapy products to the clinic, operational excellence and manufacturing scalability. In addition, he will be responsible for driving Kincell Bio’s physical expansion planning through designing, building and maintaining compliant facilities including capacity for cell therapy innovators.

Haines brings over 20 years of biotech industry experience, specializing in manufacturing sciences and operations at Biogen, Amgen and Merck. Before joining Kincell, he served as VP of Manufacturing Operations at Inceptor Bio, a cell therapy innovator, and Senior Director at AveXis/Novartis Gene Therapies, contributing to the approval and launch of a leading commercial gene therapy. Haines holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University.