Medicenna Announces the Appointment of Jeff Caravella as Chief Financial Officer

Jeff Caravella brings over two decades of healthcare expertise steering strategic, financial and operational functions at leading public life-science corporations

Mr. Caravella’s appointment demonstrates Medicenna’s continuing commitment to establish its presence in Boston, the leading biotechnology ecosystem

TORONTO and HOUSTON, Aug. 28, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Medicenna Therapeutics Corp. (“Medicenna” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: MDNA TSX: MDNA), a clinical-stage immunotherapy company, today announced the appointment of Jeff Caravella as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). In this position, Mr. Caravella will lead Medicenna’s financial strategy to support the Company’s growth. This appointment underscores the Company's commitment to expanding its operations in Boston and follows the recent appointment of Mr. Brent Meadows as Chief Business Officer.

“We are delighted to welcome Mr. Caravella as our new CFO. He brings a wealth of financial leadership experience to Medicenna, having successfully navigated the complex biotech financial landscape and driven growth strategies for prominent life science corporations,” said Fahar Merchant, Ph.D., President and CEO of Medicenna. “His remarkable skills, combined with more than 20 years of profound financing and strategic expertise in the life sciences industry, will be invaluable to our objective of enhancing shareholder value. His nomination comes as the Company initiates a Phase 2 study with MDNA11, seeks partnership for bizaxofusp and Superkines, and expands its executive team with talented new hires in Boston.”

Mr. Caravella added: “I am excited to join Medicenna as it continues to advance a differentiated pipeline of next-generation immunotherapies through clinical development while also leveraging its unique Superkine platform for its drug discovery efforts. I look forward to working with the entire Medicenna team towards building out the company and contributing to our continued success.”

Mr. Caravella brings to Medicenna over 20 years of global healthcare, financial and operational experience. Most recently, he served as CFO at Biotheryx, where he led the finance, investor relations and operational functions and supported activities associated with an up to approximately $350 million collaboration with Incyte. Prior to Biotheryx, he served as Vice President of Finance at Tango Therapeutics (Nasdaq: TNGX), where he built and led the finance and accounting functions, successfully supported approximately $110 million in private financings and an approximately $350 million SPAC and PIPE transaction. Previously, Jeff held senior finance roles at Editas Medicine (Nasdaq: EDIT), Charles River Laboratories and Johnson & Johnson. During his 10-year tenure at Johnson & Johnson, he provided financial leadership on multiple licensing and option agreements with a potential cumulative value of over $1.4 billion and supported financial analysis, due diligence and integration of several acquisitions ranging in value from $100 million to $20 billion. Mr. Caravella earned his B.S. and M.B.A. from Syracuse University.