About Excellos

Thomas VanCott has over 30 years experience in the biotechnology and life sciences industry. Before joining Excellos, he was CSO at Combined Therapeutics where he led the development of a tissue-specific targeting mRNA platform. Prior to this, he was the Chief Technology and Strategy Officer at Catalent Cell and Gene Therapy leading integrated product development services. Thomas also had a comprehensive stint as President and CEO at ABL Inc., a privately held CDMO serving biotech and biopharma. He earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from University of Virginia and started his career as a Captain in the U.S. Army at Walter Reed, researching novel vaccine targets, and leading preclinical vaccine research and biomanufacturing programs.

Rob Tressler has authored over 30 peer-reviewed articles and publications and is an inventor on numerous patents. Previously he was the CSO at the San Diego Blood Bank and has held executive scientific roles at Geron, Inc. and Cellerant Therapuetics. Robert’s scientific focus is stem cell biology, oncology, and anti-aging. Robert achieved his Ph.D. from University of Texas in Cancer Biology and has a Masters Degree in Microbiology. He is a member of the American Association of Blood Banks, The International Society of Cell Therapy, and the American Society of Hematology.

Heather Burnell is a Quality Professional with over 32 years of experience in the biotech industry, with over 7 years of experience in cell and gene therapy. She has experience leading Quality teams for large multi-product facilities and startup environments. Prior to Excellos, Heather held roles at CDMOs as Head of Manufacturing and MSAT for Abzena, and Head of Quality at SAFC (now Millipore Sigma). Heather held a variety of QC/QA roles at Amgen in her 22 years there, including leading regulatory inspections, both pre-approval and biennials for FDA, EMA, TGA, among others to successful outcomes and overseeing Corporate Quality Systems globally across all of Amgen’s sites.

Virginia Bunnell leads the people strategy for Excellos, including developing a high-performance culture that motivates and drives alignment of organization goals and initiatives. She is responsible for the development of a people focused culture and drives all aspects of the employee experience for Excellos. Prior to Excellos, Virginia previously held the Director of Administrative Services role at the San Diego Blood Bank where she lead, managed and motivated a multi-functional team to build a highly efficient culture and increased staff productivity. Virginia holds a Strategic Human Resources Leadership Certificate from Cornell University and Senior Certified Professional from the Society of Human Resource Management. Virginia gives back to the community by serving on several not-for-profit Boards.

Alan McWalters leads the finance & accounting and supply chain teams for Excellos.  He has over 20 years of corporate finance and strategy development experience, having held senior management positions at Maxar Technologies (satellite manufacturer), Abzena (biotech CDMO) and L3 (aerospace and defense).  His experience has focused on establishing finance partnerships across the business to support and execute the company strategy.  He earned his M.B.A. from Texas Christian University and M.S. in Accounting from Texas A&M University, Commerce.  He also holds a BA in Psychology and M.Ed. from the University of Notre Dame.

Erin Darnley is a Clinical Laboratory Scientist with two decades of experience working in the laboratory setting, including hospitals, blood banks, biotech and cell therapy. She has experience leading cross-functional teams and projects in both the startup and midsize corporate environment. Her focus at Excellos is coordinating the CDMO activities across the organization to ensure seamless integration of new technologies and processes. Prior to Excellos, Erin held roles as a CLS and LIS Lead at the San Diego Blood Bank working in both the laboratory and on the software implementation and management team as well as the laboratory supervisor at Decipher Biosciences (now a part of Veracyte) where she managed the daily lab operations including equipment lifecycle, supply chain, personnel, and process improvement. Erin holds a Specialist in Blood Banking certification from ASCP as well as the AABB Cellular Therapies Certificate from George Washington University.

Jessica Wanamaker brings over 20 years of leadership and commercial expertise, driving multimillion-dollar revenue growth in the biotechnology industry. Her scientific background spans molecular biology, cell signaling, proteomics, immuno-oncology, cell and gene therapy, and 3D organ-on-a-chip technologies. With a proven track record of building and scaling high-performing commercial teams, Jessica has successfully guided organizations from early-stage startups to large-scale national and global operations.

Throughout her career, she has held key leadership roles at renowned companies, including Cell Signaling Technology, Chemicon Upstate (now part of MilliporeSigma), Continental Lab Products, Emulate and most recently, MaxCyte.

Jessica earned her Bachelor of Science in Animal Physiology with a minor in Behavioral Psychology from Northwestern University, Chicago. She is currently pursuing her EMBA at the Radys UCSD program and also serves on the local LRIG chapter board of directors.