Our Firm

Mike Stella services as an Advisory Partner

Mike is the CEO of Ascend Advanced Therapies, a contract development and manufacturer (CDMO) of AdenoAssociated Virus (AAV) gene therapy products headquartered in Rockville, Maryland. Mike has over 20 years of business and operations leadership experiences in the manufacturing of cell and gene therapies. Prior to joining Ascend, he spent over 15 years at Cognate Bioservices, a cell and gene therapy CDMO, where he held executive leadership roles in operations, first as the EVP of Global Operations and for the last 7 years as the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO). In his last five years at Cognate, Mike’s responsibilities increased to include the role of Board Member and the Chief Business Officer (in addition to serving as the COO) – helping to guide the company to an exit for $875M.