Leadership Team

Chad Costley, MD, MBA

President and Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Chad Costley became the President and Chief Executive Officer of BlueWillow Biologics in 2020 after serving on the Board of Directors for several years.  Dr. Costley has 20 years of clinical practice experience and has advised and served on the Boards of Directors of several technology companies.  As the managing director of Waubascon Capital and Line Moon Ventures, he’s led investment in and supported BlueWillow’s advancement for many years.  He earned his MD at the University of Michigan where he also completed medical residency training. He holds a MBA with distinction from Emory University as a Woodruff Scholar.

George Arida, MBA

Chief Financial and Operating Officer

George Arida joined BlueWillow in an operating role in May 2020, after serving on the Board of Directors since 2009. He previously founded 30 Ventures, a Madison-based early-stage venture capital firm focused on early-stage opportunities in digital health, biotechnology research tools, and diagnostics. George was previously a partner at Venture Investors LLC where he led investments in seed and early-stage biotech and medtech opportunities. He was a founding director of the Mid-America Healthcare Investors Network, an association of over forty regional venture capital firms active in early-stage healthcare investing, and has served as an advisor to various incubators, accelerators, venture conferences, and to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. George previously served as CFO for Capital Resource Advisors, a financial firm in Chicago, and prior to that he spent 12 years in the specialty chemicals and industrial water industries at U.S. Filter, Betz Laboratories and Alar Engineering Corp. George has a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois and an MBA with high honors from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Kishna Kalicharran, Ph.D., MBA

Corporate Strategy Advisor

Dr. Kalicharran brings a strong track record with over twenty years of experience in vaccines and biopharma, combining a unique blend of corporate strategy, business development, finance, R&D, commercial, investment management, IP, management consulting and entrepreneurship based on roles at small, medium and large companies, including global vaccine strategy at Merck and incubating two companies.

Kishna completed a BSc., in Biology at Acadia University, MSc., in Virology at University of Ottawa, PhD in Virology at Western University, MBA at Johns Hopkins University and Postdoctoral Fellowship in Virology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is Registered US Patent Agent.