Imperial Innovations announces senior appointments

Press release from Imperial Innovations

Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO), a leading technology transfer and commercialisation company, today announces a series of senior appointments across the company and its portfolio of technology businesses.

Susan SearIe, CEO of Imperial Innovations, said,

“A crucial determinant of success within emerging businesses is the calibre of the people driving them. Over the very recent past we, and certain of our portfolio companies, have made great progress in attracting the very best people to advance our situations and deliver the value to shareholders that we seek in the future.”

NEW VENTURES TEAM APPOINTMENTS

The New Ventures team helps to identify promising companies, create the business case, find the right team to run the business and ensure the business is ready for investment.  One of the key roles of the team is to identify the progress milestones or risks that need to be addressed at the seed stage before the business can develop.  Imperial Innovations has made two appointments, both with extensive bioscience backgrounds, to increase the resource dedicated to this important area of activity at Imperial College (Health related activity now exceeds 60% of Imperial College activity).

Simon Kerr, Director, Biosciences Ventures - Having worked initially in marketing and business development roles in Beecham Pharmaceuticals and Wellcome plc, Simon moved into the biotechnology sector during the mid-90s.  He has extensive experience of emerging bioscience businesses, has held board-level positions in four unlisted companies and has led over 25 licensing, financing and M&A transactions.  He was most recently Commercial Director of CeNeS plc until its acquisition by Paion AG in June 2008.  Simon has a BA Economics from the University of Exeter and an MSc from London Business School.

Mark Wyatt, Manager, Biosciences Ventures – Mark’s in depth knowledge of life sciences coupled with his extensive commercial ability will allow him to effectively engage with life scientists.   Over the last four years he has worked at the Rising Stars Growth Fund, latterly as an Investment Director, investing in seed and early stage technology companies, and prior to that he worked for 6 years at Merlin Biosciences shaping new life science propositions and undertaking due diligence on existing ones.  Mark has a BSc in Pharmacology from Bath University, a PhD from the Glaxo Institute of Applied Pharmacology at the University of Cambridge and an MBA from Warwick University.

ENTREPRENEUR-IN-RESIDENCE (EIR) APPOINTMENTS

The Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) programme is an initiative that Imperial Innovations has undertaken to ensure a technology company has access to the right person to manage and take it forward. EIRs are experienced industrial business professionals and entrepreneurs who will spend a period of time with Imperial Innovations, attached to the New Ventures team and will help to build early stage businesses.  The Company is pleased to have appointed two new EIRs:

Nick Brooks – Nick has a strong track record of international strategic business development, broad experience of commercialising business ideas in emerging markets and a proven track record in the renewables and manufacturing sectors.   Nick has led, at board level, biofuels and bioenergy businesses in Europe and Africa, most recently as CEO Europe at Bioverda Ltd.  During his career with Shell Nick set up and/or ran businesses in Asia, Western and Central Europe and Latin America, in addition to leading business turnaround programmes in a range of European countries.

John Hamlin – John has more than 25 years experience of international business mostly in areas where managing large capital and technology are important keys to success. He is founder and Director of New Strategy, a company which provides resource and support to organisations on strategy, business development and start-up and change management.  Before this, John worked with BP in a range of senior global business and technology positions.

RECENT PORTFOLIO COMPANY APPOINTMENTS

Geoffrey Vernon, formerly director of Rothschild Asset Management and a partner at VC Advent, has been appointed Chairman of Veryan Medical, which is developing innovative solutions to address vascular diseases.   Geoffrey has over 30 years experience in healthcare sector, from medical devices through to pharmaceutical drug discovery and development.  During the past 15 years he has also established a successful track record in the role of Chairman or NED in a diverse portfolio of public and private companies, both in terms of technologies and geography.

Nigel Burns, formerly Senior Vice President of Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT), has been appointed as Chairman of CellMedica, a cellular therapeutics company targeting infectious diseases. Nigel has over 20 years experience in the biotech industry, including 9 years as part of the Senior Management Team at CAT, where he was involved in developing the relationship with AstraZeneca which acquired CAT in 2006.  Dr Burns also acts as an advisor to companies, venture capitalists and governments in connection with biotech ventures and projects.