Meet the leadership team
Baron Jean Stéphenne, MSc, MBA
Chairman
Jean Stéphenne, MSc, MBA, is former Chairman and President of GSK Biologicals. He began his career with SmithKline-Rit where he became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. He served as the President of Union Wallonne des Entreprises (UWE) from 1997 to 2000.
Furthermore, Jean Stéphenne has been Chairman of BESIX Group S.A./N.V. and TiGenix N.V. Currently he serves on the Board of various life sciences companies including Bone Therapeutics, Vaxxilon, and Bepharbel. He also heads the board of Nanocyl, a company specialized in carbon nanotubes for batteries and polymers.
Dr Debra Barker
Debra Barker is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive with more than 25 years of experience in drug development and commercialization from Novartis, Roche, SmithKline Beecham and Knall in Europe, the Americas and Asia. She currently serves as a Non-Executive Director for two additional public companies including BergenBio ASA, a Norwegian Oncology company, and Destiny Pharma PLC, a late-stage British Anti-infective company.
Previously, Debra led as Chief Medical and Development Officer at Polyphor LTD for two years. From 2006 to 2017 she held various leadership positions at Novartis, where she most recently served as Vice President, Medical Affairs Franchise Head for Ophthalmology as well as interim Franchise Head for Neuroscience. In addition, she held the role of Regional Medical Director, Asia Pacific for Novartis where she led teams to develop and execute medical communication, clinical trial and opinion leader development activities across the franchises.
Debra holds a degree in pharmaceutical medicine and received a master’s degree in immunology from King’s College in London and a medical degree from Queens’ College, Cambridge, UK.
Birgit Hofmann
Birgit Hofmann is an accomplished leader in environmental innovations, electromobility, and battery technology, currently heading the respective department at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. She brings a wealth of experience in promoting innovation and the adoption of new technologies, particularly those aimed at decarbonizing and digitizing key industrial sectors in Germany and Europe.
In her current role, Birgit spearheaded several task forces focused on the creation and scaling up of new firms. She has also developed and implemented policies for structural change in industrial sectors and turnaround strategies for individual firms. Hereby, she always focused on the importance of dialogue and collaboration between the public sector, administration, and enterprises to build sustainable and technologically advanced industries.
Before her current position, Birgit served deputy head of the Department for European Aspects of Industrial Policy, head of the department for automotive policy and was member of Germany’s permanent representative to the OECD in Paris. She holds a Master of Economics from the University of Constance and was a visiting fellow at Harvard University in Cambridge, USA.
Matthias Hothum, PhD
Dr. Hothum is managing director of dievini GmbH & Co. KG, advisors in health sciences. Dievini manages the biotech investments of SAP co-founder Dietmar Hopp. He received his degree in Economics from the University of Mannheim and his doctorate from the University of Magdeburg.
For the past 20 years, he has worked as an economist in the sectors of healthcare, health services and life sciences. Mathias specializes in pricing, reimbursement and the evaluation of mid-sized companies, as well as of publicly-owned/market-listed companies. He is the owner and founder of HMM Consulting. Furthermore, he serves as a member of the boards of Apogenix GmbH, Cytonet GmbH, Joimax GmbH, and Novaliq GmbH.
Klaus Schollmeier, PhD
Dr. Klaus Schollmeier is an advisor to the Pharma/Biotech industry. He was Chief Executive Officer of SuppreMol in Munich from 2013 until 2015, when the company was sold to Baxalta. From 2004 to 2011, he served as CEO of Santhera in Basel, and as Chairman of the Board of Santhera until 2013. Schollmeier joined Graffinity Pharmaceuticals AG in Heidelberg, Germany as CEO in 2003 and merged the company with MyoContract AG, Basel in 2004 to form Santhera. Prior to joining the biotechnology industry in 2003, he was managing director of the healthcare/biotechnology group at ING-BHF Bank for ING Group Europe. Before that, he spent 16 years in the pharmaceutical industry at BASF, Knoll and Abbott. Mr. Schollmeier is member of the board and chairman of several biotech companies including Tacalyx (Germany), Modra Pharmaceuticals (Netherlands), Affiris Pharma (Austria) and Eternygen (Germany).
He holds a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Düsseldorf, Germany, and is currently an adjunct research associate professor at the Boston University Medical School, Massachusetts.
Michael Brosnan
Michael Brosnan has spent over 25 years of his career in positions of financial leadership, with broad experience in German and international stock markets. He was formerly Chief Financial Officer of Fresenius Medical Care Management AG, a publicly listed company and worldwide leader in dialysis products and services, where Michael held full global financial responsibility and oversaw several major acquisitions.
Prior to Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA, where Michael served for over two decades in positions of increasing responsibility, he held senior financial positions at Polaroid Corporation and was an audit partner at KPMG. He currently serves as chairman of the audit committee and member of the supervisory board at Daimler Truck Holdings AG and MorphoSys AG.
Craig A. Tooman, MBA
Craig Tooman is President, CEO and Board member at Silence Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ: SLN). Mr. Tooman brings more than 30 years of operational, financial and merger and acquisition (“M&A”) experience. Most recently, he was Chief Operating Officer and CFO at Vyome Therapeutics, and prior to this was CEO of Aratana Therapeutics where he successfully negotiated a merger with Elanco. Before Aratana, Mr. Tooman was the CEO of Avanzar Medical Inc., a private oncology company, and CFO of Enzon Pharmaceuticals until its acquisition by Sigma Tau. Prior to that he led the $1.1 billion M&A initiative and integration of ILEX Oncology and Genzyme Corporation. He also held key positions at Pharmacia and Upjohn. Mr. Tooman holds a BA in Economics from Kalamazoo College and an MBA from the University of Chicago.