Mitra Cruz

Mitra Cruz serves as Vice President of Operations and Site Head of Kite’s commercial T-Cell manufacturing facility located in El Segundo, California. An accomplished leader with a broad background and more than 20 years of experience in the areas of engineering, biopharmaceutical manufacturing, quality systems and product quality, Mitra joined Kite in 2016. She was appointed to her current position following two years managing Kite’s clinical operations in Santa Monica, which was preceded by her two years as senior director of manufacturing at the El Segundo facility. Prior to Kite, Mitra was the Head of Drug Product Operations at Genentech in South San Francisco both overseeing clinical and commercial manufacturing operations in a role that capped an eight-year tenure directing product quality and complaint systems management within that organization. She previously held product quality positions at Amgen – both in Thousand Oaks, California, and in Juncos, Puerto Rico where she also was Site Head responsible for manufacturing as well as product quality and supplier quality management. Mitra first entered the biotech industry as quality engineer at Baxter Biosciences in Los Angeles and then advanced to quality operations manager in Westlake Village, California. Earlier in her career, Mitra provided engineering expertise at stints with Powerline Oil Company, Brown & Root, and Parsons Corporation – all in the Los Angeles area. Mitra earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from California Polytechnic University, Pomona.? She currently serves as an Industry Advisory Board Member for Biomedical Engineering Department for California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo.