YOURGENE HEALTH - Key Persons
Andy was appointed to the Board in January 2023, he is one of the UK's most experienced mid-market corporate transformation specialists. Andy has a consistent track record of success in supporting management teams in the rapid recovery of businesses and the improvement of stakeholder value.
Andy Leeser is one of the UK's most experienced mid-market corporate transformation specialists. He has been involved with a range of transformation projects and transactions, including refinancings and equity/ asset sales across the Automotive, Oil and Gas, Brewing, Retail and Telecommunications sectors.
At Yourgene John is the Chairman on the Board and a member of the Nominations/Remuneration and the Audit and Risk Committees.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Management Accountant
- Chief Financial Officer
- Director
Barry is a Chartered Management Accountant with over 20 years' experience in senior financial roles, including with international AIM-listed organisations. He has managed many businesses through major changes and rapid growth, and has significant experience working in the global medical devices and in vitro diagnostic sectors. His previous employers include Immunodiagnostic Systems plc, JRI Orthopaedics Ltd, C J Garland & Co Ltd, Ernst & Young LLP and Zeneca plc (originally ICI).
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Sales - EMEA
Darren has more than 14 years of experience in the clinical genomics market space. Prior to joining Yourgene Health, Darren was the Export Sales Manager at Oxford Gene Technology, working to expand the indirect sales channels and introduce cutting-edge next generation sequencing assays into clinical labs throughout EMEAI, Asia-Pacific, and LATAM.
Bill is the Chief Entrepreneur at Yourgene Health and he was the Chief Executive Officer of Yourgene Bioscience, which he founded. After completing his PhD at University of Melbourne, Australia, Dr Chang joined Academia Sinica in 2007 as a research specialist and established the bioinformatics core facility at the Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology. In 2010, Bill established Yourgene Bioscience to provide Next Generation Sequencing and bioinformatics services. He co-founded Sofiva Genomics in 2012 to provide prenatal genetic testing services. He is now also an Honorary Fellow at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Melbourne.
Job Titles:
- Chief Scientific Officer
- Chief Scientific Officer at Yourgene Health, Lea
Dr Joanne Mason is the Chief Scientific Officer at Yourgene Health, leading the development of the next generation molecular diagnostics particularly in the area of reproductive health.
Joanne has been a champion of modernising diagnostics with the use of genomic technologies having previously held positions as VP Biodiscovery with Cambridge Epigenetix where she led the development of clinical epigenomic technologies particularly in the area of early cancer diagnostics, the Director of Sequencing and Sample Acquisition for Genomics England, where she managed the delivery of samples and whole genome sequencing for the 100,000 Genomes Project.
She has previously acted as an advisor on the DOH Rare Disease Policy board, MHRA Genomics for Diagnosis forum and UK NEQAS - Genomics England steering committee, Genomics England sequencing advisory board and BIA genomics advisory committee.
Joanne previously worked for Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust where she set up and managed a NGS Core facility leading translational research, offering disease-specific diagnostic panels and introducing whole genome sequencing into the diagnostic setting. Prior to joining Oxford, Joanne managed an NGS Core facility in Malaysia and led the Comparative Genomics group at Public Health England studying novel and dangerous pathogens.
Dr Mason holds a PhD from Cambridge in Molecular and Cellular Biology.
Joanne is classed as a Person Discharging Management Responsibility (PDMR) in light of their seniority in the business.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Chairman
- Senior Independent Director
Senior Independent Director: Dr John Brown fulfilled the duties of the Senior Independent Director until his appointment as Chairman on 27 July 2022. His successor is currently under review. The Senior Independent Director provides an alternative contact point for Directors and shareholders for matters where they do not wish to approach the Chairman directly.
John joined the Board at Yourgene in July 2019 and has over 20 years' capital markets experience in the healthcare and life sciences sector.
He is currently a Chairman of Calcivis Ltd and a NED of Skylark Therapeutics Ltd. He was until recently Senior Independent Director of Acacia Pharma and Chairman of the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult. Additionally, he has previous significant board experience with roles including Chairman of Axis-Shield, Chairman of BTG, Senior Non-executive Director of Vectura and Chief Executive Officer of Acambis.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Sales - Asia Pacific
Robert has over 18 years' experience as a senior sales leader focused on advanced technology solutions for the clinical, applied, and life science research sectors. Prior to joining Yourgene Health, Robert has held senior sales leadership roles with Illumina, BlueGnome, and Affymetrix where he was responsible for leading sales strategy and execution in key clinical markets focused on NIPT, PGS, PGD, oncology and cytogenetic testing. He has extensive experience in developing new markets for clinical products across Asia Pacific, Middle East, Russia, Eastern Europe and Africa.
Hayden also held several international senior executive positions within the ERBA diagnostics group; CEO and Head of Corporate Business Development and Strategy. Hayden received a MSc in Management Studies from the University of Oxford.
Hayden was appointed to the Board in October 2018 and has over 20 years' experience in the clinical diagnostics industry. Hayden has a strong strategic commercial background including business development, mergers and acquisitions and driving commercial teams for transformational international delivery and growth.
Joanne has over 18 years' experience in the molecular diagnostics sector as a marketing professional with experience of working in the oncology and reproductive health fields. Prior to joining Yourgene in 2013, Joanne was a freelance Marketing consultant working for a...
Jonathan has 25 years of experience working for leading global life sciences and diagnostic companies and has worked on more than 50 merger and acquisition transactions in his career, including seven years at Roche Diagnostics (2008-2015), where he held the position...
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Director
Lyn is a seasoned executive in global healthcare and IVD markets. Since Lyn joined Yourgene Health plc in 2018 he has been instrumental in the transformation of the business. He led the group through four acquisitions including Elucigene Diagnostics and Coastal Genomics and the fundraising to underpin those deals.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
- Senior Independent Non - Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee for Abingdon Health Plc
Mary is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (ACMA) and a Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers (FCT). She has a degree in Chemistry from the University of Oxford.
Mary is also the Senior Independent Non-executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee for Abingdon Health plc and a Non-executive Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee for Allergy Therapeutics plc.
Mary joined the Yourgene Health Board in January 2022 as a Non-executive Director and is Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee. Mary has extensive experience in the healthcare sector, having previously been Chief Financial Officer and Board member of AIM listed...
Job Titles:
- Director
- Product Specialist
Matthew Nesbitt completed his Master's degree in Molecular Biology at Simon Fraser University, where his work focused on the discovery of new genes in the C. elegans model organism. This experience impressed upon him both the value of next generation sequencing and its vulnerabilities to the extensively manual sample preparation steps. Matt started his professional career in 2009 in liquid handling automation as a product manager responsible for the development of NGS library construction solutions, after which he went on to found Coastal Genomics for the commercialization of automated, scalable solutions for gel electrophoresis of DNA. He brings 16 years' of experience in sample preparation to Yourgene Health Canada.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Global Operations
Peter is an accomplished Medical Devices and IVD industry executive who has over 30 years' experience leading manufacturing and operations teams concentrating on delivering high quality products through efficient and innovative processes.Prior to joining Yourgene...
Peter is an accomplished Medical Devices and IVD industry executive that has over 30 years' experience leading manufacturing and operations teams concentrating on delivering high quality products through efficient and innovative processes.
Prior to joining Yourgene Health, Peter held several increasingly progressive roles in executive and general management for companies such as Abbott Laboratories, Owen Mumford, EKF Diagnostics and DiaSorin. Peter has considerable experience working with Small Scale all the way through to large scale manufacturing and logistics set-ups.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Sales - Americas
Scott has over 25 years' experience as a senior leader within the global in vitro diagnostic healthcare industry. Prior to joining Yourgene Health, Scott was the Director of Sales, Clinical Genomics at Qiagen where he led a team of sales representatives focussed on PCR and clinical Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) oncology and reproductive health products. Scott has also held senior sales and marketing leadership roles with Illumina, Helmer Scientific, Luminex Corporation and Roche Diagnostics. Scott has a wealth of experience in building commercial sales and marketing teams specialised in medical diagnostics and establishing commercial selling strategies.
Job Titles:
- HR Director
- Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel
Wendy is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development and has thirty years' experience in HR, holding senior international roles across multiple sectors.
Within diagnostics she has previously worked for BBi Group and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics.