Board
| Sir Tom McKillop | Chairman |
| Claus Braestrup | Vice Chairman |
| Martin Gertsch | Member |
| Neil Goldsmith | CEO and Managing Director |
| Prof. Dr. Jutta Heim | Senior Scientific Advisor |
| Dr. Ganesh Kishore | Member |
| Dr. Stuart Strathdee | Member |
| Thomas Videbaek | Member |
Sir Tom McKillop, British national, born in Scotland in 1943.
Sir Tom has been a member of the Board of Directors since 10 June 2010 and its Chairman since May 2012. Sir Tom was educated at Irvine Royal Academy, Glasgow University (where he took a BSc Hons and PhD in Chemistry), and Centre de mecanique ondulatoire appliquee (Paris). He had a long and successful career at ICI, where he held a number of increasingly senior R&D positions until his appointment in 1989 as Technical Director and Deputy Chairman of ICI Pharmaceuticals, a role in which he had global responsibility for research, development, medical and production. In 1994, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Zeneca Pharmaceuticals – Zeneca having demerged from ICI in 1993 – and, on completion of the merger of Astra and Zeneca in April 1999, he became Chief Executive of AstraZeneca plc, a position he held until retiring on 31 December 2005. He was President of the Science Council in the UK 2007-2011 and is currently a non-executive director of Almirall SA, UCB SA and Theravectys SAS. During his career he has received many scholarly awards and fellowships and was knighted in 2002 for services to the pharmaceutical industry.
Claus Braestrup, Danish national, born in 1945.
Claus Braestrup has been a member of the Board of Directors since 10 June 2010 and its Vice-Chairman since May 2012. Mr Braestrup holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and an MSc in Biochemistry. He is Doctor of Medical Science and former Adjunct Professor in Neuroscience at the University of Copenhagen. He started his career in research and consultancy positions. He then moved to Novo Nordisk A/S, where he served as Vice-President of Pharmaceutical Research, President of the CNS Division and President of the Diabetes Care Division. He subsequently took the post of Head of Preclinical Drug Research at Schering AG, before joining H. Lundbeck A/S as Executive Vice-President, Research and Development. From 2003 to 2008 he was President and CEO of H. Lundbeck A/S. Claus Braestrup is member of the Board of Bavarian Nordic A/S, Santaris Pharma A/S, Probiodrug AG (chair) Gyros AB and Aniona (chair).
Martin Gertsch, Born 1965, Swiss nationality.
Martin Gertsch has been a member of the Board of Directors since May 2012. He is an experienced Board member and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in the life science industry and currently serves as CFO of Acino Holding AG. He is former Vice-President Head of Finance EMEA at DePuySynthes and former Chief Financial and Chief Operating Officer of Delenex Therapeutics and ESBATech, two privately held biotech companies. From 2002 to the beginning of 2006, he was Chief Financial Officer of Straumann, which he had joined in 1997 as head of group controlling and reporting. Between 1986 and 1997, Mr Gertsch was an audit engagement manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Basel, Switzerland. Mr Gertsch is a Swiss certified fiduciary and Swiss certified public accountant. He has also completed several executive-level development programmes at IMD (International Institute for Management Development) in Lausanne, Switzerland. Mr Gertsch is Chairman of the Board of Santhera Pharmaceuticals.
Neil Goldsmith, British national, domiciled in Switzerland, born in 1963.
Neil Goldsmith is a co-founder of Evolva SA and has been a member of the Board of Directors and CEO since the combination between Arpida Ltd. and Evolva SA in 2009, and, prior to the combination, a member of the Board of Directors and CEO of Evolva SA since its founding in April 2004. Mr Goldsmith has a 25-year track record in building successful biotech companies from the ground up. He was a co-founder of TopoTarget A/S and Personal Chemistry AB (now called Biotage AB), which are now listed on the Copenhagen and Stockholm exchanges, respectively. Prior to that, Mr Goldsmith was Chief Executive Officer of Auda Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Phytera, Inc.), GX Biosystems and PNA Diagnostics (acquired by Boehringer Mannheim). Previously, he was VP Business Development for Pharmacia Biosensor (later BIAcore AB), and a Board member of Quadrant Healthcare. Mr Goldsmith started his career in biotech at Scientific Generics in Cambridge, UK after a short spell in consumer marketing. He received a First Class Honours BA degree in Zoology from Balliol College, University of Oxford, and is a graduate of the New Enterprise Programme at the Scottish Enterprise Foundation, University of Stirling. Mr Goldsmith does not hold any significant external Board memberships.
Prof. Dr. Jutta Heim, German national, born in 1951.
Jutta Heim has been the Chief Scientific Officer of Evolva from August 2009 until April 2013. Before, Jutta Heim was Chief Scientific Officer of Basilea Pharmaceutica AG, a Swiss biopharmaceutical company, where she was in charge of all anti-infective, dermatology and oncology discovery activities. Prior to joining Basilea Pharmaceutica, Jutta worked for 22 years in Switzerland and the United States for Ciba-Geigy/Novartis, where she was involved in the successful development and launch of biopharmaceutical anti-thrombotic and fibrinolytic products, initiated a molecular genetics department in oncology and became Novartis' Senior Scientific Expert in Molecular Biology and a member of the Research Management Board. Most recently, she headed the Novartis Lead Discovery Center with worldwide responsibility. She has published numerous papers in the areas of natural products, recombinant proteins and applied molecular biology, in particular in the area of oncology. She received a PhD from the University of Tübingen in 1981 and holds a professorship in Biotechnology at the Biocenter of the University of Basel. Prof. Dr. Heim is a member of the advisory board of ‘‘Stiftung für Wissenschaftliche Forschung Universität Zürich’’. She is on the board of Nuevolution A/S.
Dr. Ganesh Kishore, US national, born in 1953.
Mr Kishore has been a member of the Board of Directors since May 2011. Dr. Kishore received his PhD in biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science after which he pursued postdoctoral research in chemistry and biology at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1980, he joined Monsanto where he held senior positions in the areas of biotechnology and in the Nutrition and Consumer Products division. During his tenure at Monsanto he was involved in the development of major products such as Aspartame (the active ingredient of several major sweetener products) as well as a key agricultural crop protection technology. Dr. Kishore joined DuPont in 2002 as the Chief Technology Officer for its Agriculture and Nutrition Platform and took over the role of Chief Biotechnology Officer for the company in 2005. He left DuPont in 2007 to join Burrill & Company as a Managing Director for Burrill Life Sciences Venture Fund. Dr. Kishore is currently CEO of MLSCF (Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund), which is an indirect shareholder in Evolva through Abunda SR LLC. His other Board mandates include Advanta Ltd., Kaiima, Gevo, Inc., Glori Energy, Sentinext, MOgene LC and Akermin. Moreover he is on the Board of several academic institutions.
Dr. Stuart Strathdee, British national, born in 1951.
Mr Strathdee has been a member of the Board of Directors since May 2011. Having completed his PhD in Applied Physics, Mr Strathdee joined Tate & Lyle plc in 1977 as a management trainee. He retired from the company in July 2009, having served on the main Board as an Executive Director in various roles for 14 years. During his time at Tate & Lyle, Mr Strathdee held a variety of senior management positions including Group Treasurer, Managing Director of both United Molasses and Tate & Lyle’s International Division and was Corporate Development Director reporting to the Chief Executive Officer from July 2003. Leadership highlights include: the development of Tate & Lyle’s sucralose ingredient business; creation of Vietnam’s leading sugar business; the public takeover of Australia’s largest sugar farming company; creation of a joint venture to construct the Middle East’s largest sugar refinery; the acquisition of publicly listed Zambia Sugar Company, now Africa’s leading sugar milling company. Dr. Strathdee has a PhD in Atomic and Molecular Physics from Queens University Belfast. He is currently member of the Board of James Finlay Ltd.
Thomas Videbaek, Born 1960, Danish nationality.
Mr Videbaek has been a member of the Board of Directors since May 2012. Thomas Videbaek has been Novozymes’ Executive Vice-President of BioBusiness since September 2007, responsible for all new business ventures outside of Novozymes’ established areas. He is also a member of the Novozymes Executive Management group. Mr Videbaek joined Novo Nordisk as a chemist in 1988 and worked in various positions in the Textiles and Starch divisions, both in Denmark and in the US. In 1996, he also assumed responsibility for Food and Feed enzymes and was appointed Director for Strategic Marketing, Food and Feed enzymes. At the end of 1998, Thomas was appointed General Manager for Novozymes Switzerland and also Vice-President for Cereal Food and Beverage Marketing. He returned to Denmark in 2003 and became Vice-President for Supply Chain Operations where he was responsible for establishing a global organisation in charge of the supply chain at Novozymes. Thomas Videbaek holds a Master of Chemical Engineering from DTU, Dept. of Nutrition and Biochemistry, Copenhagen 1986, and a PhD from DTU in 1990. He also holds a BCom (International Business) from the Copenhagen Business School (1992). Thomas Videbaek has no other Board memberships.
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