Stephen is a Fellow Chartered Accountant with 30 years of financial and corporate experience gained in public practice, the resource sector and investment banking.
Stephen has a proven track record in working with growth companies with extensive experience in IPOs, secondary listings, corporate finance, fundraising, investor relations and financial and management reporting. Stephen is currently non-executive director of EnergyPathways plc (AIM:EPP).
Ajan is an experienced biotechnology CEO with a track record in drug development, biotech transactions and commercialisation. Over 20 years, he has served as the Global Head of Emerging Technologies for Roche Group (SWX: ROG), Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer of Novacyt S.A (LON: NCYT) and CEO of Celixir Ltd.
With Prof. Sir Martin Evans, Ajan founded Celixir, and developed a novel cardiac cellular medicine which completed pre-clinical development and won FDA, MHRA and EU regulatory trial approvals. Celixir completed a licensing for the Japan market only with Daiichi Sankyo, a Japanese Big Pharma company which included a £12.5 million upfront payment and an £5 million equity investment which valued Celixir at ~£220M.
Ajan is an alumni of Harvard Business School (AMP) and is recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship. He is also a graduate of the University of Oxford (MSc Experimental Therapeutics), Kellogg Business School (MBA) Northwestern University and University of London (BDS). He has represented England at the Hockey Masters World Cup and European Championships.
Darrin is a renowned scientist, entrepreneur, angel investor and enterprise champion who has started, grown, or invested in over 40 start-up life science, technology and social enterprises, raising US$600 million in business financing and closing US$700 million in commercial deals. He was CEO of Horizon Discovery Group plc for 11 years, during which he led the company from start-up through a US$113 million IPO, and rapid scale-up powered by multiple acquisitions of US peer companies to become a global market leader in gene editing and gene modulation technologies. He was awarded a lifetime Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion in 2016 for his work in promoting enterprise across the UK and appointed OBE in 2018 for his services to business and enterprise in the healthcare sector.
Jean is highly accomplished in the biotech and pharma sector, with over 25 years experience in executive roles in the industry. During this time, Jean acted for Ferring Pharmaceuticals, as one of the Executive Board Members who built the company from a US$700 million to US$2 billion in revenue. Jean has a significant track record in corporate development having led multiple successful M&A, divestment and licensing deals throughout her career. She previously had the role of General Counsel at Elan Corporation and was legal lead, negotiating the divestment of over $2bn in assets. Additionally, she has co-founded and led biopharma start-ups including Trizell and Amzell, resulting in multiple products having successful phase 2 and 3 clinical studies. Jean is currently CEO and co-founder of ReproNovo SA and a non-executive director of Ondine Biomedical Inc. (AIM:OBI).
Sir Martin was the first scientist to identify embryonic stem cells, which can be adapted for a wide variety of medical purposes. His discoveries are now being applied in virtually all areas of biomedicine – from basic research to the development of new therapies. In 2007, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine, the most prestigious honour in world science, for these “ground-breaking discoveries concerning embryonic stem cells and DNA recombination in mammals.”
Sir Martin has published more than 120 scientific papers. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1993 and is a founder Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He was awarded the Walter Cottman Fellowship and the William Bate Hardy Prizes in 2003 and in 2001 was awarded the Albert Lasker Medal for Basic Medical Research in the US. In 2002 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, regarded as one of the world’s foremost centres for medical and scientific training. He has also received honorary doctorate awards from the University of Bath, University of Buckinghamshire, University College London, University of Wales and the University of Athens. Sir Martin gained his BA in Biochemistry from Christ College, University of Cambridge in 1963. He received an MA in 1966 and a DSc in 1966. In 1969 he was awarded a PhD from University College, London. He joined the Cardiff University School of Biosciences in 1999. He was knighted in 2004 for his services to medical science and in 2009 was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine in recognition of his valuable contribution to medicine. In 2009 he also received the Baly Medal from the Royal College of Physicians and the Copley Medal, the Royal Society’s oldest award, joining an eminent list of previous recipients including Albert Einstein.
Simon is a senior executive physician scientist with over 20 years’ pharma, medtech and consumer healthcare industry experience. He was previously Chief Safety Officer at Reckitt Benckiser, and at Johnson and Johnson Medical Devices, first as International Clinical Director, then leading Medical Affairs for its EMEA region. Prior to this, Simon led translational medicine efforts and the early clinical development at Merck and Co (MSD) in the USA. Originally trained as an ophthalmologist, Simon holds a medical degree and a PhD in neural transplantation from the University of Cambridge. Simon is currently a non-executive director of Ondine Biomedical Inc. (AIM:OBI) and a non-executive director at Renovos Biologics Limited.