SYNCONA - Key Persons
Alex is an Investment Partner of Syncona Investment Management Ltd.
He is a Director on the Boards of SwanBio Therapeutics and Anaveon. Previously, he was a member of the Healthcare Investment Banking team at Jefferies, where he worked on a range of financings and mergers and acquisitions across the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. Alex has a PhD in Immunology from the University of Cambridge.
Alice is an Investment Partner of Syncona Investment Management Ltd.
She is also currently Head of Operations at Purespring Therapeutics and works closely with Anaveon. Alice serves as an Observer on the Board of Purespring and Anaveon.
Prior to joining Syncona, Alice was an Investment Banking Analyst within Barclays' Healthcare Corporate Finance and M&A team, where she worked on transactions involving pharmaceutical and other healthcare companies. Prior to Barclays, Alice worked briefly at AbbVie and Janssen. Alice holds a Doctorate degree in Pharmacy from the University of Lille 2 (School of Pharmacy, Lille, France). She holds a Masters in International Health Policy & Health Economics from the London School of Economics.
Amisha is a Management Accountant at Syncona Investment Management limited
Amisha has over a decade of Accounting experience with focuses in Marketing and Advertising industries. Her educational background includes a Masters degree in Commerce from Gujarat University, India and she is on route to completing her ACCA Chartership.
Andrew is the General Counsel of Syncona Investment Management Ltd.
Previously, he was Chief Investment Counsel at the Wellcome Trust, responsible for legal issues arising from its £23bn global multi-asset investment portfolio, and where he was involved in the initial formation of Syncona Partners LLP. Prior to that he worked as a corporate lawyer in London and Edinburgh.
Andrew has an LLB from the University of Glasgow.
Job Titles:
- Head of Investor Relations
Annabel is Head of Investor Relations at Syncona Investment Management Ltd
Previously, she was a Consultant at Greenbrook Communications, advising clients on a wide range of projects and transactions. Prior to that, Annabel spent several years at a leading financial communications firm, where she worked with companies across a number of sectors. She has an Honours Degree in History from the University of Bristol.
Job Titles:
- Business Strategy and Operations Partner
Ben is the Business Strategy and Operations Partner of Syncona Investment Management Ltd.
Ben joined Syncona from GlaxoSmithKline where he has over a decade of strategy development, business operations and project management experience. Latterly Ben worked with GlaxoSmithKline's Chief Medical Officer, where he led reconfiguration of global and regional medical functions in anticipation of their evolving pharma portfolio. Prior to this, Ben held various strategy and operations roles building scientific teams, developing justifications for new scientific investments, leading project management offices and providing R&D consultancy support, including a secondment to L.E.K Consulting. Prior to joining GlaxoSmithKline Ben played a key role in the success of Domantis, an antibody fragment start-up, sold to GlaxoSmithKline for £230 million. Ben holds a PhD in Immunology.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Member of the Remuneration Committee
- Non - Executive Director
Dr Cristina Csimma has 30 years' experience in drug development, new company formation, value creation and strategic guidance across a broad range of therapeutic areas. She also brings significant expertise in venture capital and the US biotech capital market environment.
She is the Chair of the Board of Directors of Caraway Therapeutics, and Board Director of Palisade Bio and Idera Pharmaceuticals. Previously, Cristina was the Executive Chair of the Board of Directors of Forendo Pharma and Exonics Therapeutics, and a Board Director of Juniper Pharma, Seneca BioPharma, Vtesse, and Cydan, where she was also the founding President and CEO. She has served as Board Director of T1D Exchange and on a number of National Institutes of Health and other non-profit advisory committees.
Cristina holds a Doctor of Pharmacy and a Bachelor of Science from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, as well as a Master of Health Professions from Northeastern University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Board
- Non - Executive Director
- Life Science Executive
Dr Julie Cherrington is an experienced life science executive with a strong track record in bringing drugs into the clinic and through to commercialisation, and particular expertise in the oncology setting. She has previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer at several biotechnology companies in the US West Coast, Canada and Australia, most recently at ARCH Oncology and QUE Oncology. Currently, she is the Chair of Actym Therapeutics, a Venture Partner at Brandon Capital and serves on the Boards of Sardona Therapeutics, Kisoji Biotechnology, Vaxart, MycRx and Mirati Therapeutics.
Julie holds a B.S. in biology and an M.S. in microbiology from the University of California, Davis. She earned a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the University of Minnesota and Stanford University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco.
Job Titles:
- Investor Relations and Communications Manager
Job Titles:
- Chief Human Resources Officer
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Remuneration Committee
- Member of Nomination and Governance Committee
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Board
- Non - Executive Director
- Chairman of the Committee
- Remuneration Committee ( Chair )
- Senior Healthcare Executive
Gian Piero Reverberi is a senior healthcare executive and is Senior Vice President Europe at Ferring Pharmaceuticals, a leader in the areas of reproductive medicine and maternal health, gastroenterology and urology. Prior to this Gian Piero was Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Vanda Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on novel therapies to address high-unmet medical needs.
He also spent 10 years at Shire, where he served as Senior Vice President International Specialty Pharma, with responsibility for EMEA, Canada, Asia Pacific and Latin America. He started his pharmaceutical career at Eli Lilly in the US and Italy, where he had responsibilities including finance, business development, sales and business unit leadership.
Gian Piero has over 20 years of experience in commercialising novel therapies spanning commercial strategy, business development, business unit leadership and management, launching specialty and orphan drugs across international markets. He has a degree in Economics and Business Administration from Sapienza University of Rome and a Master in Business Administration from SDA Bocconi in Italy.
Job Titles:
- Member of Nomination and Governance Committee
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Board
- Non - Executive Director
Kemal Malik joined the Board in June 2020. He has 30 years of experience in global pharmaceutical research and development. He has been responsible for bringing many innovative medicines through R&D to successful commercialisation. From 2014 to 2019 he was a member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG responsible for innovation across the Bayer group.
He was also responsible for Bayer LEAPS, the organizational unit responsible for strategic venturing in areas of disruptive breakthrough innovation. Prior to his appointment to the Bayer Board he was Head of Global Development and Chief Medical Officer at Bayer Healthcare for ten years. Kemal began his career in the pharmaceutical industry at Bristol-Myers Squibb with responsibilities in medical affairs, clinical development and new product commercialisation. He is a Scientific Adviser at Atomwise and was previously a non-executive director at Acceleron Pharma, a Boston based biopharmaceutical company. Kemal qualified in medicine at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School (Imperial College) and is a Member of the Royal College of Physicians.
Job Titles:
- Chief Medical Officer and Head of R & D
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chairman of the Board
- Chairman of the Remuneration Committee
- Chairman of Nomination and Governance Committee
- Chairman of the Committee
- Chairman of the Grosvenor Britain & Ireland Board
- Nomination and Governance Committee ( Chair )
Melanie Gee is Chair and originally joined the Board as a Non-Executive Director in June 2019. Melanie has over 30 years of financial advisory experience in executive positions in investment banking, advising clients across a broad range of sectors and geographies. She is a Senior Adviser at Lazard & Co Ltd, having joined as a managing director in 2008. Before that, Melanie spent 25 years with SG Warburg & Co Ltd and then UBS.
Melanie also has extensive Non-Executive experience, with ten years as a Non-Executive Director at FTSE 100 and 250 companies. Until October 2021 she was a Non-Executive Director at Standard Life Aberdeen plc, where she sat on the Nomination & Governance and Audit Committees and was the Non-executive Director with responsibility for bringing the employee voice into the Boardroom. She was previously a Non-Executive Director at The Weir Group PLC and Drax Group PLC. She was an alternate member of The Takeover Panel - LIBA (CFC) between 2006 and 2013.
Melanie is the Chair of the Grosvenor Britain & Ireland Board and also sits on advisory groups for two private family offices.
Job Titles:
- Audit Committee ( Chair )
- Chairman of the Audit Committee
- Member of Nomination and Governance Committee
- Member of the Board
- Member of the Remuneration Committee
- Non - Executive Director
- Chairman of the Committee
Rob Hutchinson has 30 years' experience in the financial sector as a Chartered Accountant.
He qualified in 1990 and spent 28 years with KPMG across various roles. Rob retired from practice in 2014 and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He served as President of the Guernsey Society of Chartered and Certified Accountants between 2007 and 2009.
Job Titles:
- Member of Nomination and Governance Committee
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Board
- Member of the Remuneration Committee
- Senior Independent Director
Virginia Holmes has an extensive knowledge of the financial services industry, including both investment management and banking. She was previously Chief Executive of AXA Investment Managers UK and held a number of senior leadership roles over more than a decade at Barclays Bank Group.
Virginia also brings a wide range of non-executive experience, both with UK listed companies and organisations across various jurisdictions. She is currently a Non-Executive Director of Intermediate Capital Group plc, a FTSE 100 specialist asset manager, European Opportunities Trust plc, a closed ended European equity fund, and Murray International Trust plc, a globally diversified investment trust. She was previously Chair for nine years of USS Investment Management Ltd, the fiduciary manager of the Universities Superannuation Scheme.