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Leadership Team

Cell Signaling Technology (CST) has built a diverse team of global executives to advance our global strategic mission.

Michael J. Comb, President, Chief Executive Officer

Michael J. Comb

President, Chief Executive Officer

“My passion is developing innovative technology to provide insight into disease mechanisms, and, while I act as CEO, I remain the company’s research director in function and in heart.”

Michael leads efforts at CST to build the best antibody technology in the world for researchers working to understand the molecular and cellular processes of disease. He founded the company to provide the research community with tools that he himself had sought as an investigator.

Before starting CST in 1999, he directed the Molecular Neurobiology Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital and served as an Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School.

Michael holds a BS in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts, USA and a PhD in chemistry from the University of Oregon, USA. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed scientific articles and is the inventor on numerous patents and patent applications.

Roberto Polakiewicz, Chief Scientific Officer

Roberto Polakiewicz

Chief Scientific Officer

“My job is to make sure CST continues to be an organization focused on a very high level of science and innovation.”

Roby drives research, product, and technology innovation, facilitating the creation of the most valuable CST® products, technologies, and intellectual property. Roby has driven the creation and implementation of novel antibody technology platforms that have been critical to the company's success. He previously served as Director of Research and Vice President of Research at CST.

Before joining CST in 1999, he was a staff scientist at the biotechnology company New England Biolabs.

Roby received a BS in chemistry and PhD in molecular biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and he has completed postdoctoral studies at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. He has published approximately 65 peer-reviewed scientific articles and is a named inventor on numerous patents and patent applications.

Matthew Curran, Chief Financial Officer

Matthew Curran

Chief Financial Officer

“A strong financial foundation is essential to fulfilling our commitment to provide the highest quality products and services to the global scientific community. My role is to ensure that we invest responsibly, and maintain our financial strength and independence without sacrificing our core values.”

As the leader of our global finance organization, Matt oversees accounting, budgeting, forecasting, income tax, treasury, and risk management functions at CST. He has also served as Corporate Controller and Vice President of Finance for CST.

Prior to joining CST in 2006, Matt served as Corporate Controller for Groove Networks, Inc., a software company that Microsoft Corporation acquired in 2005. He played a key role in the company's early-stage equity financing rounds and, ultimately, the sale of the company to Microsoft Corporation. Earlier in his career, Matt was a Senior Manager with BDO USA LLP, an international accounting firm.

Matt holds a BA in business administration from St. Anselm College, USA and is a licensed certified public accountant (CPA) in Massachusetts. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Massachusetts Society of CPAs.

Andrene McDowall, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary

Andrene McDowall

General Counsel & Corporate Secretary

“My role is to ensure that CST continues to operate with unquestionable integrity in fulfilling our mission to provide the world's highest quality, innovative research products to accelerate biological understanding and enable personalized medicine.”

Andrene McDowall joined our Legal department as General Counsel & Corporate Secretary in February 2022 and reports to Michael Comb. As General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Andrene is responsible for overseeing the Global Legal function.

Andrene comes to CST with more than 16 years of experience providing strategic legal counsel to public and privately held corporations, having served most recently as the General Counsel at Piaggio Fast Forward. She has a broad background navigating legal needs across all business functions, with an expertise in commercial contracts. Andrene received her BA in business management from Florida International University, USA as well as her JD from Howard University School of Law, USA.

Vice President, Global Human Resources

Margaret Murray

Vice President, Global Human Resources

“Putting people at the heart of our strategy—from our customers, to our employees, to our community—ensures that CST’s enduring culture of caring and collaboration supports our workforce today and into the future.”

Margaret joined CST in June 2020, leading various HR efforts across the company, specifically within our R&D and Operations organizations, while leading our Talent Management function and championing our DEI efforts. As Vice President of Global Human Resources, Margaret heads our Global HR Department, driving alignment and engagement across all regions; and provides strategic counsel to executives across the company promoting dynamic talent acquisition, development, and retention; achieving business-driven results through people-driven processes.

She has more than 20 years of human resources leadership experience in the life sciences and non-profit sectors, both locally and globally. The diversity of her experience is a tremendous asset as we continue to evolve our organizational capabilities and expand our diverse and inclusive workforce. Margaret holds a Master of Science in Conflict Resolution from Nova Southeastern University, USA, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics from McGill University, Canada.

Craig M. Thompson, Chief Operating Officer

Craig M. Thompson

Chief Operating Officer

“My primary motivator at CST has been to provide CST customers with the most reliable and best-performing products along with outstanding customer support.”

Craig advances manufacturing and distribution for all of CST's products. He leads the company's global operations and commercial organizations, including product manufacturing, supply chain management, lab operations, facilities management, as well as global sales, customer service, and marketing. He also oversees environmental protection, occupational health, safety procedures, and quality systems.

Before joining CST in 2005, Craig spent nine years in venture-backed life science organizations, leading teams of scientists focused on technology development and drug discovery. He served as Senior Investigator, Group Leader, of chemical genomics at ArQule, Group Leader of cell biology at Akceli, and Group Leader of microbiology at Scriptgen/ Anadys Pharmaceuticals.

Craig has a BS in molecular biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, and a PhD in molecular biology from MIT. He also completed post-doctoral studies in immunobiology at Yale University, USA. Craig has authored numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles and patents.

Vice President, Global Digital/IT

Dana Seehale

Vice President, Global Digital/IT

"Effective, secure, and innovative technology solutions are foundational to our scientific capabilities, to delivering best-in-class products, and to engaging with our employees. I am passionate about empowering employees and customers to use technology to enable their own goals and aspirations."

Dana Seehale joined CST in February 2017 as Director, Lab Informatics, responsible for multiple technologies supporting Product Development and Production, including PDP/PLM, Core LIMS, and Jira. Her responsibilities were later expanded to include the PIM/STEP system and the Oracle EBS/EPortal platforms. Dana is now responsible for Global Information Technology.

Prior to CST, Dana held various IT management positions at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals and Biogen, supporting a wide variety of verticals, including Quality, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Regulatory, Clinical, Drug Safety, HR, Legal and Finance. She has extensive experience implementing and maintaining LIMS, SDMS, QMS, and ERP systems.

Dana holds a BS in biochemistry from The Evergreen State College, USA.

Benjamin Donald Comb, Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy

Benjamin D. Comb

Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy

“I believe in building symbiotic relationships and welcome inquiries from prospective technology, chemistry, platform and content providers.”

Ben oversees the Corporate Development team. The team is responsible for devising and executing an inorganic growth strategy at CST.

Ben began his career in research, studying the mechanisms underlying lung and gastric cancers. After a number of years at the bench, Ben transitioned his thinking from the drivers of cell growth to the drivers of business growth. Ben joined the Corporate Development team at CST as an Analyst and has since served in escalating management roles. Ben received his BS in biomedical sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA and MS in biotechnology from the University of Queensland, Australia.

Vice President, General Manager Japan

Kazuyuki Kiyota

Vice President, General Manager Japan

“My vision for CST is to be a first-class supplier that provides high-quality products and customer service, and to continue to be a trusted partner of researchers as they conduct their scientific work.”

Kaz directs sales, marketing, logistics, human resources, general administration, finance, and information technology for the Japanese market. His goals are to increase efficiency, competency, and leadership, and to create a comfortable work environment for CST employees.

Before joining CST in 2015, Kaz spent 10 years in senior positions in a variety of biotechnology companies. He served as General Manager and President of Applied Biosystems Japan Ltd., General Manager and President of Life Technologies Japan Ltd., and as Business Director of BD Biosciences.

Vice President/General Manager, EMEA

Freddie Sharkey

Vice President/General Manager, EMEA

“I believe in building organisations that are based on solid foundations that can deliver long-term growth objectives with our market-leading CST products and innovation.”

Freddie joined CST in early 2024 and is Vice President and General Manager for the EMEA region, where he oversees the general operations of the region via direct and indirect market channels. His objective is to ensure long-term success in the region, via collaboration and sustainable growth initiatives, while maintaining CST’s best-in-class reputation.

Prior to joining CST, Freddie was Senior Director & Head of Commercial EMEA and APAC for Labcorp. Prior to Labcorp, Freddie held multiple senior leadership roles covering the EMEA region with Life Technologies, Thermo Fisher, Illumina and Congenica, where he successfully built, developed and led several large organisations. Freddie has also held successful roles as a consultant for SMEs/investment banks, where he advised on commercial growth and market entry within the biotech sector for cancer genomics and AI.

Freddie has a PhD from the University of Ulster in Molecular Biology and is based close to Edinburgh. In his spare time, he is an active Football and Rugby fan.

Koos Kranenborg, General Manager EMEA

Koos Kranenborg

General Manager BIOKÉ

"My vision for CST is to continue sharing knowledge with our global team - and with our trusted research partners - to accelerate their scientific research."

For the last few years, Koos has held senior leaderships positions within CST-EU. Koos co-founded BIOKÉ in 2004 and helped grow the CST business over the last 15 years. Koos holds a Master in Science and an associate MBA. Koos is an active water polo player, married with a 10-year-old daughter named Caitlin.

Vice President, Research

Sean Beausoleil

Vice President, Research

"As a science-first company, I'm focused on keeping CST on the cutting edge, not only for internal innovation, advancement, and meeting customer needs, but also as a participant and peer with our customers, which is why we collaborate and publish as much as we do."

Sean joined CST in January of 2010 as a member of the proteomics research team after collaborating with CST as a graduate student and a postdoctoral fellow. Sean's areas of expertise include computational biology, experimental biology, and technology development. Today, Sean leads the CST research group, which plays a significant role in maintaining the company's position as a science-first company. These activities include the identification and early development of new product opportunities, continuous innovation and improvement of in-house technologies such as antibody discovery and protein chemistry, bioinformatics, and data science, as well as the application of unique tools and capabilities to contribute to advancing the field's understanding of oncology and neurodegeneration, both internally as well as through collaborations with world leaders in this space.

Sean joined Bluefin Biomedicine, a therapeutic spinoff company, in 2016 to lead the therapeutics target discovery team, and re-joined CST in 2019.

Sean holds a BA in biochemistry from Saint Anselm College, USA, and a PhD in cellular and molecular biology from Harvard University, USA. He has published more than 35 peer-reviewed scientific articles and is the inventor on numerous patents and patent applications.

Senior Vice President, Production Operations

Andrea Russello

Senior Vice President, Production Operations

"Fight for the things you care about. But do it in a way that will lead others to join you." -Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Andrea leads Production and Global Technical Support for CST. She oversees the manufacturing of all CST products at the production headquarters in Beverly, MA. Andrea also leads Global Technical Support, with regional teams located in Shangai, Tokyo, and Leiden (The Netherlands). She is focused on enabling scientists and accelerating research by providing the highest quality products and best-in-class technical support.

Andrea is also passionate about advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the life science industry, and is a certified DEI Champion through Bentley University, USA. Before joining CST, Andrea worked at The Ohio State University, USA, and the University of Michigan, USA, in the fields of entomology and cardiology, respectively, focusing on protein signaling.

Andrea holds a BS in biology and an MS in entomology from The Ohio State University.

Vice President, Global Supply Chain

Seneca Stone

Vice President, Global Supply Chain

"I am passionate about building organizations that can sustainably uphold our commitments to our employees, our customers, and our communities."

Seneca leads the global supply chain organization for CST. He is focused on supporting scientific research by ensuring customers around the globe have consistent, rapid access to CST products.

Before joining CST in 2008, he was a manager at McMaster-Carr, an industrial supply company.

Seneca holds a BA in English from Cornell University, USA and an MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.