Skip to content
Cellective BioTherapy
About · Team

Leadership Team

Dr. Tedder received his PhD in molecular cell biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he was an American Society for Microbiology President’s Fellow. He was a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and joined the faculty in 1985, rising to Associate Professor and principal investigator in the Division of Tumor Immunology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In 1993, Dr. Tedder became the inaugural chairman and professor of Duke University Medical Center’s Department of Immunology and served as director of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center Immunobiology Program. He was a Scholar of the Leukemia Society of America and received the LeRoy Collins Distinguished Alumni Award, an NCI/NIH Shannon Award, the Stohlman Scholarship, the Leukemia Society's highest award for research in the field of hematology/oncology, and the Alter Geller Professorship for Research in Immunology at Duke. He founded Cellective Therapeutics in 2003 with the largest Series A financing in the Southeast at that time. The company was acquired by MedImmune/AstraZeneca in 2005. In 2015, he founded Cellective BioTherapy, Inc. and serves as CEO and a director. Dr. Tedder has and continues to serve as a consultant and SAB member to more than 20 national and international biopharmaceutical companies and private foundations. He has authored over 400 scientific papers and was recognized as an ISI “100 Most-Cited Authors” in the field of immunology. Dr. Tedder holds 25 patents issued in the U.S.

Thomas F. Tedder, PhD - Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Director

Robert Bonczek, JD, MBA - Chief Financial Officer & Director

Mr. Bonczek is Chief Financial Officer and a director of Cellective BioTherapy, Inc. He also serves as Chief Administrative Officer at Istari Oncology, Inc. and President and Chief Financial Officer of MedBlue Incubator, Inc. Mr. Bonczek has served as President, Director, CFO and General Counsel of b3 bio, Inc.; CFO, General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer of Trimeris, Inc.; and Chief Counsel and Global Director of Safety, Health and Environment, Dupont. Mr. Bonczek is founding partner, Director and President of Aspen Tree Capital. He also serves on the boards of several life science-related companies including NeurOp, Inc., Senex Biotechnology, Upstream Therapeutics, Inc., Deep Blue Medical Advances, Inc., Track X Technology, and Istari Oncology, Inc. He is a member of the advisory boards for several companies, including Valence Advantage Life Sciences Fund and Centre Partners. Mr. Bonczek received an AB in chemistry and a JD degree from the University of North Carolina. He also holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Bud Nelson, JD, PhD - General IP Counsel

Dr. Nelson has extensive experience in intellectual property protection, technology development and management, and in general corporate legal matters. In addition to his role at Cellective, he serves as Chief Intellectual Property Counsel of Istari Oncology, Inc.; Director of Operations of DILIsym Services, Inc., and General Counsel and Chief Technology Officer of MedBlue Incubator, Inc. His previous positions were senior leadership roles at several life science, biotechnology and medical device companies, including Vice President of BioCrystal Ltd.; Chief Intellectual Property and Corporate Counsel of Trimeris, Inc.; Vice President, Corporate Counsel and Director of Intellectual Property of Affinergy, Inc.; Chief Intellectual Property Counsel of b3Bio, Inc.; General Counsel, Executive Director, Technology Development and Co-Managing Director of The Hamner BioSciences Accelerator of The Hamner Institutes; and a member of the board of directors of DILisym Services, Inc. He holds a JD degree and a PhD degree in immunology and microbiology, both from the University of Buffalo.

George (Barney) Koszalka, PhD - Advisor

Dr. Koszalka is a senior executive with more than 38 years of leadership experience in global pharmaceutical drug development at Burroughs Wellcome, Glaxo Wellcome, GlaxoSmithKline, Trimeris, Inc., Argolyn Biosciences and NeurOp, Inc. He has extensive knowledge of pharmaceutical R&D, joint ventures, business development, product development and medical marketing. Dr. Koszalka has initiated and advanced numerous pre-clinical and clinical projects and has contributed in a significant manner to the discovery, development and/or life cycle management of 12 marketed drugs. He received his PhD in biochemistry from North Carolina State University.