Athersys Announces Three Appointments to Board of Directors

Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHX), a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company, is pleased to announce that it has appointed Ms. Katherine Kalin, Ms. Jane Wasman and Mr. Baiju R. Shah to its board of directors. Each of these senior executives possess significant healthcare experience and are strategic leaders in the industry. This prestigious group of professionals will help lead the Company as it prepares for potential commercialization of its investigational cell therapy, MultiStem. In addition, Dr. Lee Babiss, a committed director since 2010, has announced his retirement and has stepped down from the board. We thank Dr. Babiss for all his contributions and support over the past 10 years.

“We are very excited about the addition of these outstanding individuals to our board of directors,” said Dr. Gil Van Bokkelen, Chairman and CEO. “They bring substantial experience in key areas that are relevant to our continued growth and evolution as we move ahead with our ongoing preparations for becoming a successful commercial company.”

Dr. Van Bokkelen continued, “On behalf of the full board and the entire organization, I would like to thank Dr. Lee Babiss for his many years of dedicated service to Athersys. His significant contributions have helped Athersys to achieve key milestones in the Company's history. We wish him the best in his retirement."

Ms. Kalin brings more than 25 years of experience as a senior executive in healthcare and professional services to Athersys. She earned a BA from Durham University, U.K., and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Most recently, she was a senior executive at Celgene Corporation, where she led corporate strategy from 2012 to 2017. Prior to Celgene, she held leadership roles in marketing, sales and new business development from 2002 to 2011 at Johnson & Johnson. Before that, Ms. Kalin was a partner in the global healthcare practice of McKinsey & Company, from 1990-2002. Her healthcare experience spans diagnostics, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and digital health. She began her career as an investment banker at Nomura International Limited, from 1984-88, in Tokyo and London. Ms. Kalin serves on several boards where she contributes her healthcare industry expertise. She currently serves as a non-executive director on the board of Genfit, S.A., a publicly traded French biopharmaceutical company, where she serves on the alliances committee, and as a member of the boards of directors for several private companies, including Brown Advisory LLC, an independent investment and strategic advisory firm, where she serves on the audit and finance committees and Clinical Genomics Technologies Holdings Limited, a biotech dedicated to improving patient outcomes through early detection of colorectal cancer, where she serves on the audit & financial risk committee. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of Stardog, an enterprise data platform company, and PRIMARI Analytics Corporation, an artificial intelligence start-up. Ms. Kalin also serves on the board of two community-based, non-profit organizations.