about us

Filament Health was founded by experts in botanical extraction and commercialization.

Meet The Team
A person cultivating psilocybin mushrooms in a lab
founding story

We honed our expertise at Mazza Innovation, a natural extraction startup, which our team scaled from pre-seed to an exit in 2018. At Mazza, we developed and commercialized patent-protected extraction technologies at a 35,000 ft2 commercial-scale GMP facility.

After selling Mazza, it became clear that our expertise was needed in a new area. Ben Lightburn, Filament Health’s CEO and Co-Founder, took note of the growing global mental health crisis. He believed that psychedelics could help, and that natural psychedelics would be the preferred choice.

Ben also recognized his unique position - he had the skills and experience to develop natural psychedelic drugs. By combining his background as entrepreneur with the botanical extraction expertise of the former Mazza Innovation team, Filament Health was created.

Psilocybin Mushrooms on a drying rack in the Filament Health laboratory
our team

Global Experts in Botanical Extraction and Commercialization

Scaled Mazza Innovation from pre-seed to $26M sale to Sensient Technologies in 2018.
Developed and commercialized patent-protected, botanical extraction technology at commercial-scale 35,000 sq. ft. GMP facility.

management

Benjamin Lightburn
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
BSc (Physics), MBA    *CEO, Mazza Innovation

Proven entrepreneur and leader specializing in the research, development and commercialization of novel extraction technologies

Lisa Ranken
Chief Operating Officer
PEng, MEng, CPHR     *VP, Operations, Mazza Innovation

Operational and leadership expertise in rapidly growing industries

Steven Nguyen
Interim Chief Financial Officer
CPA, BBA

Experienced in audit, accounting, tax, and financial reporting

Ryan Moss
Chief Science Officer
M. Analytical Chemistry *Director of Research at Mazza Innovation

Expert in the field of botanical extraction, purification, standardization

Andry Tjahyana
Vice President, Business Development
BBA      *VP, Business Development, Mazza Innovation

+25 years in B2B business development. Former senior executive of several pharmaceutical and natural product organizations

Anna Cordon
Vice President, Marketing & Communications
BA

13+ years of experience leading marketing and communications for global organizations

Taran Grey
Director of Intellectual Property
BA

Extensive patent and trademark portfolio experience in healthcare, technology and other diversified industries

Beatriz Ramos
Director of Quality
BSc      *Manager, Quality Assurance, Mazza Innovation

Quality management, regulatory compliance, and attaining third-party certification

Sara Burke
Head of Global Partnerships
MBA, BA

15 years in corporate partnership development and brand strategy

Jeff Fellows
Head of Regulatory
BSc

30 years of drug development experience leading regulatory development efforts from pre-IND to post-approval

board

Benjamin Lightburn
Director, Board Chair
BSc (Physics), MBA    *CEO, Mazza Innovation

Proven entrepreneur and leader specializing in the research, development and commercialization of novel extraction technologies

Michael Messinger
Director, Audit Committee Chair
CPA, BBA

Over 20 years of experience leading finance and other support functions for drug discovery and development organizations.

Jon Conlin
Director

Partner at Fasken Corporate and commercial lawyer specializing in companies in the technology and health sciences sectors including venture capitalists and start-ups

Konstantin Adamsky
Director
Ph.D

Chief Executive Officer of Negev Labs, demonstrated track record in pharmaceutical R&D. Served as a VP Operations and Technology at Levco Pharmaceuticals Ltd, CEO and VP Operations at Regenera Pharma LTD, and Director and co-CEO at Targia Pharmaceuticals.

Advisory council

Jeff Chilton
Advisor

Founder of Nammex, the first company to supply medicinal mushroom extracts to the nutritional supplement industry.

Research & industry partners

Filament Foundation

We are doing everything in our power to advance our mission of seeing safe, natural psychedelics in the hands of everyone who needs them, as soon as possible.

A person in a lab coat using medical apparatus

Meaningful change requires the development of an ecosystem of players who are dedicated to making accessible psychedelic therapy a reality.

With this in mind, the founders of Filament Health pledged 10% of their founder’s shares to a charitable foundation controlled by a majority of non-Filament insiders to support non-corporate, value-aligned projects.

filament foundation board
Karen Mahon

Former Managing Director: Greenpeace Canada and Public Outreach USA

Joel Solomon

Founder, Renewal Funds

Benjamin Lightburn
Chair
BSc (Physics), MBA    *CEO, Mazza Innovation

Proven entrepreneur and leader specializing in the research, development and commercialization of novel extraction technologies

Social responsibility

Filament Health is committed to ethical and sustainable practices throughout our drug development platform.

In Memory of Tom Kineshanko

Filament Health Co-Founder Tom Kineshanko was a visionary - we are forever grateful for his entrepreneurial spirit and his powerful drive to make a difference in the world. Filament would not exist without him. 

In Tom’s memory, we have made a donation to the Thomas Kineshanko Memorial Fund at the HollyHock Cortes Island Retreat Centre. If you would like to do the same, please visit:
https://hollyhock.ca/thomas-kineshanko/

Memories and pictures of Tom can be shared on his memorial board: https://www.kudoboard.com/boards/DEoxkOVL/thomas-kineshanko

Image of Tom Kineshanko
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