Our world-class leadership team consists of innovative and strategic individuals who continue to push the boundaries of cell and gene therapy manufacturing. They are all committed to better serving our clients and supplying therapeutics to patients across the globe.
Together they have more than 100 years of experience in cell and gene therapy and the healthcare sector. Read their profiles below.
The leaders in our Management Strategic Council include our General Manager and region-specific executive leaders. They work together collaboratively to serve our clients.
Those within our Global Functional Team are leaders of global functions who align across all our regions.
Hiroto Bando, PhD, is General Manager, Regenerative Medicine Business Sector of Resonac Corporation as well as President and CEO of Minaris Regenerative Medicine Co., Ltd. (Japan), Minaris Regenerative Medicine, LLC (United States) and Minaris Regenerative Medicine GmbH (Germany). Hiroto brings the company over 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry.
In November 2020, Hiroto joined the company as Deputy General Manager, Regenerative Medicine Business of Resonac Corporation (then Showa Denko Materials Co., Ltd.), and was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Minaris (Japan) in August 2021. He was appointed to the role of President and Chief Executive Officer of Minaris (United States) in January 2022 and CEO of Minaris (Germany) in January 2024.
Previously, Hiroto worked at Fujifilm as Senior Manager, Pharmaceutical Products Division to initiate CDMO business via Fujifilm’s own technologies. He has also spent almost 22 years of his career at Takeda Pharmaceutical Company in roles of increasing responsibility, including Senior Director and Global Head of Cell Manufacturing Strategy for the company’s Regenerative Medicine Unit from 2016-2018. Hiroto was the chairman of the Committee for Non-Clinical Safety Evaluation of Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived Product in FIRM (Forum for Innovative Regenerative Medicine), which is funded from AMED (Agency for Medical Research and Development).
Hiroto received his PhD in pharmaceutical science at Kyoto University and performed post-doctoral work at the College of Pharmacy at the University of Texas. He also holds an MBA from Kenichi Ohmae Graduate School of Business.
Takuya Muramoto, PhD, is Chief Operating Officer of Minaris Regenerative Medicine, Co., Ltd. (Japan). An accomplished leader with over 15 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Takuya brings the company extensive knowledge of cell therapy manufacturing and supply chain.
Prior to joining the company, Takuya most recently served at Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. as director of project management for manufacturing process development, technical transfer, and clinical manufacturing of cell and gene therapy product development. Additionally, Takuya has experience of cell manufacturing strategy, PMDA* consulting, and autologous CAR T-cell therapies supply chain establishment. Previously, Takuya has served in project management, manufacturing process development, technology transfer, and process validation in the field of regenerative medicine and biologics.
In January 2022, Takuya was appointed COO of Minaris (Japan). In this role, he is responsible for oversight of our Japanese development and manufacturing operations, including commercialization, expansions, and infrastructure investment.
Takuya received his PhD and Master’s Degree in Biosciences from Nara Institute of Science and Technology and his Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture from Iwate University.
* Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency
Helmut Lerch, PhD, is Global Quality Head of Minaris Regenerative Medicine since December 1, 2022. He joined the company in July 2022 as Head, Quality Management for Minaris Regenerative Medicine GmbH (the company’s Germany region).
Helmut is an accomplished Quality leader with over twenty years’ experience in the biopharmaceutical industry in Quality roles. Helmut most recently served as Head, Quality Control and then Senior Director, Quality CMC at Alvotech Iceland. Prior to that, he spent two years at Polpharma Biologics as Head, Quality Control and seventeen years at Sandoz/Novartis in roles of increasing responsibility including Global QA Project Manager, Head Compliance Department Biopharma, Head Drug Product Analytics and Supervisor Analytical Laboratory. He received his PhD in Analytical Chemistry from the Leopold Franzens University of Innsbruck in Austria.
Shinji Fujita, who joined our company in 2022 as Business Planning Department Manager, is Global Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Financial Officer of Minaris Regenerative Medicine Co., Ltd. (our Japan region) since Jan 1, 2023.
Shinji has spent twenty years in sales and business development planning at Resonac Corporation (previously under the name Showa Denko Materials and Hitachi Chemical, respectively) in the display/semiconductor business. He was most recently Deputy General Manager of display/semiconductor materials at Resonac Corporation (then Showa Denko Materials). He received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Systems Engineering from Kansai University.
William Burckardt, CPA is the Chief Financial Officer of Minaris Regenerative Medicine, LLC (USA). William brings over 10 years of experience in the health care and pharmaceutical industries and an extensive background in finance, accounting, audit and tax. William joined Minaris over six years ago as the Corporate Controller for the USA region and then was appointed the Chief Financial Officer, USA, in 2021.
Prior to joining Minaris, William worked at Restorix Health, a provider of wound care centers, as the Director of Accounting where he oversaw the Accounting department and supported the organization through significant growth through mergers and acquisitions. Prior to that he spent more than five years in public accounting performing audit, attestation and tax services for many clients. During this time he received his certification as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
Prakash Manwani is the Chief Digital Officer of Minaris Regenerative Medicine, LLC (USA). Prakash brings over 20 years of experience in Information Technology with extensive experience in strategic planning, developing IT roadmaps, Enterprise Solution architecture, designing and executing software implementations that align with the Business goals of the Organization, with a focus on ERP and integration systems like MES, LIMS, and eQMS. He joined Minaris in 2021.
Prior to joining Minaris, Prakash worked at Catalent Pharma for over seven years. Before that, he worked for Accenture, USA, and has held various consulting roles with MAKO Surgical Devices and PSS/World Medical, Inc. Prakash is a certified Project Manager (PMP) and holds a degree in Digital Electronics and an advanced diploma in Computer Systems Management, both from the National Institute of Information Technology, Mumbai, India.
Since mid-2021, Renate Sporrer has served as the Chief Operating Officer and a key member of the management team at Minaris Regenerative Medicine GmbH.
With over two decades of expertise in the biopharmaceutical industry, Renate is a seasoned executive in operations and quality assurance. Her recent roles include serving as the Site Quality Head at Roche in Basel and, before that, as the Site and Global Quality Head at Polpharma Biologics. Renate has also contributed significantly to the biosimilars field during her tenure at Sandoz and Novartis, gaining extensive experience in development, production, quality, and regulatory affairs.