Dave Stewart named Chief Technology and Transformation Officer at Avid.  Read the Release

Leadership

LEADERSHIP

The visionaries behind our success.

Our leadership team leads the way with an unrivaled level of experience.

Kenneth Bilenberg

President & Chief Executive Officer

Rich McAvoy

Chief Business Officer

M. Greg Terry

Interim Chief Commercial Officer 

Richard Richieri

Chief Operations Officer

Dave Stewart

Chief Technology & Transformation Officer

Pramthesh Patel, Ph.D

VP Process Development & MSAT

Ray Marzouk

VP Quality

Demetrice Tillman

VP People

Kenneth Bilenberg

President & Chief Executive Officer

Rich McAvoy

Chief Business Officer

M. Greg Terry

Interim Chief Commercial Officer

Richard Richieri

Chief Operations Officer

Dave Stewart

Chief Technology & Transformation Officer

Pramthesh Patel, Ph.D

VP Process Development & MSAT

Ray Marzouk

VP Quality

Demetrice Tillman

VP People

WHY AVID?

Your life’s work. Our top priority.

Our experts are fully committed to your success, advocating for you and helping to minimize risk.

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Kenneth Bilenberg

President & Chief Executive Officer

Kenneth Bilenberg currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer and has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the life sciences sector. Prior to Avid, Mr. Bilenberg served as Chief Operating Officer of FUJIFILM Biotechnologies overseeing six global biomanufacturing facilities and more than 3,500 employees. He led over $8 billion in strategic capital investments to expand global capacity. Previous to this, Mr. Bilenberg held senior roles at Novo Nordisk across Denmark, the U.S., and China, contributing to global operations, investment governance, and site expansion. He began his career in technology with SAS Institute and SAP, where he built a strong foundation in data-driven solutions and enterprise systems.

Mr. Bilenberg holds an MBA and M.Sc. from Copenhagen Business School and an Executive Certificate from Harvard Business School.

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Rich McAvoy

Chief Business Officer

Rich McAvoy recently joined as Chief Business Officer and has spent the last decade in pharmaceuticals manufacturing in a variety of legal, financial, and operational leadership positions for global companies. Prior to Avid, Mr. McAvoy was most recently the Chief Financial Officer for FUJIFILM Biotechnologies, leading its strategic investments management, operational finance, accounting, legal, compliance, and risk management functions. Prior to that, Mr. McAvoy held a variety of leadership positions in FUJIFILM Biotechnologies, Novo Nordisk, and Alston & Bird LLP.

Mr. McAvoy has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Marist College and a Juris Doctor from the University of Notre Dame.

In his free time, Mr. McAvoy enjoys traveling, exercising, and spending time with his wife and three children.

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Daniel Hart

Chief Financial Officer

Daniel Hart currently serves as Chief Financial Officer and has more than 25 years of finance and accounting experience. Prior to joining Avid, Mr. Hart served as Chief Financial Officer of ENO Holdings, Inc., a family of real estate companies including Realty One Group. Prior to this role, Mr. Hart served as Chief Financial Officer at SM&A, a private aerospace and defense management consulting firm that was previously a Nasdaq-listed company.

Mr. Hart also previously held positions with Biolase Technology, Inc., a Nasdaq-listed medical device manufacturer, FutureLink Corp., a Nasdaq-listed hosted application service provider, and Deloitte.

Mr. Hart holds a bachelor of science degree in accounting from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of California (inactive).

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M. Greg Terry

Chief Commercial Officer (Interim)

M. Greg Terry currently serves as Interim Chief Commercial Officer and brings over 20 years of experience driving revenue growth, strategic partnerships, and key account expansion across the biotech and pharmaceutical services industry. During his tenure at Avid, Mr. Terry has led initiatives focused on strategic partnerships and major account development. Prior to joining Avid, Mr. Terry held senior commercial leadership roles with Emergent BioSolutions, Catalent Pharma Solutions, Alcami Corporation, and MilliporeSigma, where he successfully advanced business development strategies and client engagement.


Mr. Terry earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management from Rockhurst University and a master’s degree in Project Management from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

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Richard Richieri

Chief Operations Officer

Richard Richieri currently serves as Chief Operations Officer and has more than 30 years of experience in designing, developing, and optimizing manufacturing processes for all classes of biologics. In 1996, Mr. Richieri joined Peregrine Pharmaceuticals and worked on process engineering for each one of the company’s clinical antibody programs. In 2002, Peregrine launched Avid Bioservices, a contract manufacturing subsidiary. During his tenure, Mr. Richieri also helped Avid diversify its production capabilities to include several large stainless steel bioreactor units, as well as the more agile single-use disposable units. He led comparative studies to evaluate the system performance of both types of bioreactors and presented these results at major conferences as case studies, making Mr. Richieri a recognized authority on disposable manufacturing and cost-effective biologics production. Since 2011, Mr. Richieri has been acting as a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry, including being named as a Samsung Global Advisor for their biosimilar program and as acting head of biologics production at Syngene International.

Mr. Richieri received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and his master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). As part of his master’s program, he studied how modifications to the cell cycle can improve monoclonal antibody production; an expertise that served him well when he began his industry career working at Xoma manufacturing antibodies for clinical trials using microbial and mammalian cell-based processes.

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Dave Stewart

Chief Technology & Transformation Officer

Dave Stewart currently serves as Chief Technology and Transformation Officer and has more than two decades of biotech leadership experience. He is a successful transformational leader in the CDMO industry and has excelled in leading diverse, multi-disciplinary teams while driving customer deliverables. He most recently served as SVP Capital Projects for Eli Lilly. Prior to this role, Mr. Stewart held roles leading global engineering and project execution, supply and operational readiness at Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies in Denmark and Holly Springs, NC and as GM/Site Head of AGC Biologics in Boulder, CO. He was Site Quality Head of the Biogen Next Generation Manufacturing facility in Solothurn, Switzerland, and was with Genentech in Oceanside, CA as Head of Manufacturing Sciences & Technology, responsible for Process Engineering, Product Technical Transfer, Lab and Pilot Plant operations, Automation Engineering and Technical Validation. 

Mr. Stewart has a Bachelor of Science degree from Southern Illinois University, a Master of Science degree in Process Control from Indiana State University, and an eMBA from Quantic University. 

Mr. Stewart is a husband and father to three grown daughters. He enjoys running, skiing, hiking, and all-things outdoors.  

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Pramthesh Patel, Ph.D

VP Process Development & MSAT

Dr. Pramthesh (Prem) Patel currently serves as Vice President of Process Development and Manufacturing Sciences and Technology and has more than 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry spanning drug discovery and drug development. He started his career in the drug discovery division of Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), where he worked on several discovery programs spanning many different therapeutic areas. He rose through the ranks to a position of group leader and played a key role in the implementation of High Throughput Screening and Ultra High Throughput Screening (UHTS) technologies. In 1999, he joined Smith Kline Beecham’s (later GSK) CMC division for biologics. Over the past several years, Prem has served as the Senior Director of upstream process development activities for the entire biopharmaceutical portfolio at GSK. During his tenure at GSK, he led the development of the company’s proprietary mammalian cell line expression system, the development of chemically defined proprietary cell culture media and feeds, and the implementation of intensified fed-batch processes. He also co-chaired the Platform and Technology Review Council, which serves as the governing body coordinating and setting the strategic direction for platform evolution and technology innovation in the biologics arena at GSK. Prem has authored and reviewed six marketing applications which have been approved for commercialization in all the major markets in the world.

Mr. Patel obtained his bachelor of science degree in microbiology and chemistry from the University of Bombay, India, his master of science degree in microbial physiology from Southern Illinois University, and his Ph.D from the University of Florida in cellular physiology and molecular biology. He completed his postdoctoral training at Virginia Tech.

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Ray Marzouk

VP Quality

Ray Marzouk currently serves as Vice President of Quality and has more than 25 years of experience in various CGMP quality roles for the biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical industry with a background in quality systems, microbiology, sterilization, aseptic processing, environmental monitoring, and validation. Mr. Marzouk leads the quality operations for clinical and commercial products at Avid Bioservices. He is also responsible for the management of regulatory inspections and ensuring that multiple manufacturing facilities operate in full compliance with U.S. and global regulatory requirements. He is adept at inspiring trust and collaboration with his team to deliver high-quality products to patients who depend on it.

Mr. Marzouk earned his bachelor of science degree in microbiology and molecular genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles. He obtained certification as a specialist microbiologist with the National Registry of Certified Microbiologists (NRCM).

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Demetrice Tillman

VP People

Demetrice Tillman currently serves as Vice President of People and has more than 20 years of human resources experience in the technology, healthcare, education, manufacturing, and global markets. Prior to Avid, Ms. Tillman was the founder and principal consultant of EvolveBold LLC, where she partnered with hyper-growth organizations to build scalable people teams, establish legally compliant policies and practices, and create value-driven cultural impact. Prior to this role, Ms. Tillman served as the Interim Chief People Officer at Cityblock Health, a $6 billion tech-enabled healthcare provider, where she transformed the employee experience and redefined total rewards strategies. Her vision for the future of work focuses on helping organizations create bold, inclusive cultures that prioritize humanity, authenticity, and purpose. By blending strategy, empathy, and innovation, she continues to transform the way organizations think about their people — and how people think about their organizations.


Ms. Tillman obtained her bachelor of business administration degree from University of Southern Mississippi and her master’s degree of business administration from Mississippi College. She holds an array of certifications such as Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), Human Capital Strategist, Executive Coach, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Myers-Briggs, and StrengthsFinder.

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