Cellares Appoints Justin McAnear as CFO and Jonathan Butler as General Counsel

September 03, 2024 at 14:11 PM EDT

McAnear held senior finance roles at Johnson & Johnson, Apple and Tesla and was most recently the CFO of 10x Genomics where he played a pivotal role in taking the company public

Butler was previously Deputy General Counsel at Tesla during a time of hyper growth and comes from Lucid Motors where he served as General Counsel

Cellares, a leader in cell therapy manufacturing and the world’s first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO), is pleased to announce the leadership appointments of Justin McAnear as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Jonathan Butler as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary (GC). The addition of these seasoned tech industry leaders will strengthen the Cellares Executive Leadership Team and enable the company’s continued expansion.

With more than 25 years of financial and operational leadership experience in high-growth environments, Justin McAnear brings a wealth of experience to Cellares. Most recently, he served as the CFO of 10x Genomics, where he played a pivotal role in taking the company public and scaling it to over $600M in annual revenue. Prior to 10x Genomics, McAnear was Vice President of Worldwide Finance and Operations at Tesla, helping scale the company through the launches of Model X, Model 3, and the SolarCity acquisition. McAnear also held the position of Finance Director at Apple in Corporate FP&A and Worldwide Operations. He began his finance career at Johnson & Johnson and is a graduate of the J&J Finance MBA Leadership Development Program. He also served for nearly a decade as a U.S. Navy aviator, earning a B.S. in Systems Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of San Diego.

“Joining Cellares is an exciting new chapter where I can once again help drive meaningful impact,” said McAnear. “Having been part of a similar technological journey before, I’m eager to contribute to Cellares’ mission of accelerating access to life-saving cell therapies and making a real difference in patients’ lives."

Jonathan Butler joins Cellares with more than 21 years of global legal experience, including 12 years in fast-paced, innovative technology and manufacturing companies. Most recently, Butler served as General Counsel and Secretary at Lucid Motors, where he established, scaled, and led the legal, government affairs, compliance, privacy, intellectual property, and ESG functions & guided the company through its successful public listing and expansion to multiple geographies. Prior to Lucid, Butler was a legal leader at Tesla for over eight years, where he led multiple legal functions to enable the company’s hypergrowth and diversification. He began his legal career at the international law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, with a focus on litigation and commercial transactions. Butler holds a law degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and dual undergraduate degrees from the University of California at Berkeley.

“My career has focused on supporting innovative companies through critical phases of growth, and Cellares offers an opportunity to do that in a field that is truly impactful,” said Butler. “The work being done here has the potential to make a tangible difference in patients’ lives, and I’m eager to contribute to the company’s continued success in accelerating access to these vital therapies.”

“Justin and Jonathan bring the experience and leadership that align with Cellares’ vision for the future,” said Fabian Gerlinghaus, Co-founder and CEO of Cellares. “Justin’s track record in scaling innovative companies with a clear mission is a strong match for where we’re headed. Jonathan’s legal expertise will be essential as we navigate our growth. Their combined strengths will play a key role in our continued progress and global expansion."

About Cellares

Cellares is the first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO) and takes an Industry 4.0 approach to mass manufacturing the living drugs of the 21st century. The company is developing and operating integrated technologies for cell therapy manufacturing to accelerate access to life-saving cell therapies. The company’s Cell Shuttle™ integrates all the technologies required for the entire manufacturing process in a flexible and high-throughput platform that delivers true walk-away, end-to-end automation. While the Cell Shuttle automates cell therapy manufacturing, the Cell Q™ automates quality control at high throughput, both for in-process and release QC. Cell Shuttles™ and Cell Qs™ will be deployed in Cellares’ Smart Factories around the world enabling each Smart Factory to produce 10 times as many cell therapy batches as a conventional CDMO with the same facility size and headcount. Partnering with Cellares enables academic medical centers, biotechnology companies, and pharmaceutical companies to accelerate cell therapy development and scale out manufacturing, lower process failure rates, lower manufacturing costs, and meet global patient demand.

The company is headquartered in South San Francisco, California with its first commercial-scale IDMO Smart Factory in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Cellares is building a global network of IDMO Smart Factories with additional facilities under construction in Europe and Japan. The company is backed by world-class investors and has raised over $355 million in financing.

For more information about Cellares, please visit cellares.com.