Scott Hirsch, M.B.A.

CEO, Firefly Bio

Scott brings over 20 years of strategic and operational leadership in scaling biotechnology organizations. He has led oncology and immunology teams through every stage of development and commercialization, gaining direct experience on Rituxan®, Avastin®, Actemra®, Xolair® and Polivy®.

Prior to joining Firefly, Scott served as the Chief Operating Officer at Allakos, where he led pre-clinical and clinical programs. His expertise extends to managing teams across various areas such as commercial, development, portfolio, and operations. Scott has also served as the Head of Genentech’s Oncology Pipeline & Portfolio group and as a Site Head at AbbVie, overseeing early- and late-stage Antibody Drug Conjugate programs.

Scott began his career as a management consultant at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, where he provided advisory services on commercial and R&D strategy to global pharmaceutical clients. He holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Amherst College.

Megan Williams, PhD MBA

VP, Strategy and Portfolio Management

Megan has more than 15 years of biotech experience leading biologics and conjugate discovery and clinical development programs. Her team leadership expertise includes collaboration and alliance management with large pharma and biotech partners. Prior to joining Firefly, Megan was at Silverback Therapeutics working on immune agonist conjugate clinical candidates.

Megan holds a PhD in molecular and cellular biology from University of Washington and an MBA from University of Washington, Bothell.

Sean Smith, PhD

SVP, ADC Discovery & Innovation

Sean brings nearly 20 years of drug discovery experience in biopharma, including over 12 years of leading medicinal and bioconjugate chemistry research teams focused on targeted therapeutic research programs, with a particular focus and expertise in the discovery of Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) applying novel mechanism of action (MoA) payloads.

Prior to joining Firefly, Sean led discovery and CMC chemistry and bioconjugate chemistry at Silverback Therapeutics where the focus was on pioneering Immune-Stimulating Drug Conjugates (ISACs) and other novel MoA conjugates. Previously, he led chemistry and bioconjugate chemistry groups at Abzena/TCRS. Sean began his career as a small molecule medicinal chemistry at PTC Therapeutics and over the course of his career has worked across oncology, immunology, anti-infectives and rare diseases.

Sean holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a B.A. in Chemistry and B.A. in Biochemistry from the University of Colorado. Sean is an inventor on > 30 patents and patent applications, including those covering Firefly Bio’s FireLink™ and other platform technology.

Vinayak Vittal, PhD

VP, Head of Corporate Development

Vinayak brings over a decade of experience in the biopharma sector, with a primary focus on business and corporate development. Before joining Firefly, he held roles at Pfizer and Seagen, where he spearheaded transactions, negotiations, and the search and evaluation of both clinical and preclinical oncology assets, specializing in ADCs. At Seagen, Vinayak played a pivotal role in business development activities during the company’s $43B acquisition by Pfizer, collaborating closely with Seagen’s C-suite throughout the process and its aftermath. Additionally, he has expertise in Competitive Intelligence and Science Communications.

Vinayak earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Washington.

Dan Kaplan, PhD

CSO

Dan has a scientific career spanning over two decades, with more than 15 years of experience in biopharma across multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology & inflammation and cardiometabolic disease. He has a track record of advancing numerous innovative programs from inception to the clinic, successfully guiding multidisciplinary teams through discovery research, IND-enabling activities, clinical biomarker strategy, and early clinical development.

Prior to joining Firefly, Dan served as CSO at NGM Bio, where he led the discovery and development of novel antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), T cell engagers (TCEs) and immuno-oncology therapeutics. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University and holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Duke University and a B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from UC San Diego.