Advisory Board
The Advisory Board of the PiR Group was established to give PiR a unique cross-cultural insight into the life-science industry. Its members gain too, with a stimulating and intimate forum in which leading figures from established and emerging biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies can come together and talk confidentially about the challenges they face. The Board is made up of recognised experts in their respective fields, who together, provide a wealth of experience and perspective in the world of life sciences.
The Advisory Board helps to guide the activities of the PiR Group by identifying common issues the life-science industry faces and, crucially, is a partnership in which the value flows both ways so that the forum is of value to PiR as well as the members. Clients and candidates also gain because the Advisory Board gives the PiR Group a diverse, broad and balanced range of skill sets and experience spanning the clients we works with from the pharma, biotech, CRO, medical devices and diagnostics sectors.
If you are interested in understanding more about the Advisory Board, please contact Maurice Herring: mh@pir-group.com
Dr David Ebsworth
Member of the Corporate Executive Committee of Galencia and CEO of Vifor Pharma, Chairman of Wilex AG
David is currently Chairman of Wilex AG. He is a Non-Executive Director of Intercell AG as well as a consultant to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. In June 2002, David joined Oxford GlycoSciences as an Executive Director and assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer in July 2002. In June 2003, David moved on from his position as Chief Executive Officer following the takeover by Celltech.
David has over 30 years experience within the pharmaceuticals industry. Prior to joining OGS, he was head of the worldwide Pharmaceutical Business Group of Bayer AG. Before that, he was President of Bayer Pharmaceutical Division in North America with responsibility for all functions from research through clinical development, regulatory affairs, sales and marketing, finance and strategy. Previously, he held a number of senior management positions within Bayer in Canada, Europe and the US. In 2001, he received the Global Citizen Award from the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. David holds a PhD from Surrey University.
Dr Bill Mason
Non-Executive Chairman or Director of Sphere Medical, Camlab, Team Consulting, Yousoft, Zygem and Sage Healthcare
Bill works with companies focused in the healthcare, life-sciences and biotechnology markets. He was Lead Independent Director and Chaired the Audit Committee of Amarin plc, a mid-cap pharmaceutical company listed on the NASDAQ exchange in the USA for which he led a $70M PIPE financing in 2009. Additionally, as Chairman of Orthomimetics, he led its divestment in 2009 to Tigenix plc, a quoted Belgian orthopedics company. He holds the role of Chairman or Director of Sphere Medical, Camlab, Team Consulting, Yousoft, Zygem and Sage Healthcare, and he is an advisor to Technikos LLP, a UK-based med-tech fund. He has worked extensively with healthcare and life science business and their VCs and has led more than fifty transactions over the last decade.
During a distinguished academic career leading a medical research team in Cambridge, Bill founded two high-technology healthcare companies, which he grew from start-ups through private equity funding and acquisitions, to divestiture to major internationally quoted companies. He has experience of both private and public companies, quoted and unquoted, as well as several charitable trusts involved in the arts. Bill is also an Executive Director of Sage Healthcare, the European operating arm of US-based Sage Group. Sage provides strategic transactional (M&A, licensing, corporate partnering) and consultancy services to a wide range of healthcare companies operating in pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices and biotechnology. Bill gained a PhD from Trinity College, Cambridge, in Physiology and Medicine. He also has strong interests in the visual and performing arts, and is on the Boards of Cambridge Arts Theatre, English Touring Opera and Storm Fine Arts.
Dr Mark Treherne
Chairman of NeuroDiscovery, Bioceros and Cyclofluidic, Chief Executive of Senexis [and on the Boards of Population GeneticsTechnologies, Xention and Domain Therapeutics]
Mark obtained his PhD in neuropharmacology from Cambridge University and now has over 20 years experience in the discovery of novel treatments for diseases of the nervous system, latterly at Pfizer Central Research.
Mark was a founder and Chief Executive of Cambridge Drug Discovery from 1997 to its acquisition by BioFocus plc, where he remained on the Board until 2002. Mark was formerly Chairman of the Eastern Region Biotechnology Initiative and is currently Chairman of NeuroDiscovery, Cyclofluidic and Bioceros. Mark is also Chief Executive of Senexis and on the Boards of Population Genetics Technologies, Xention and Domain Therapeutics. So far, Mark has raised over £100 million for various early-stage biotechnology companies.