Dr Kilian Kelly has over 20 years’ experience in biopharmaceutical research and development. His previous appointments include Senior Director, Drug Development at Biota Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: BOTA), Vice President, Regulatory and Clinical at Mesoblast Limited (ASX:MSB), and positions with Kendle International (now Syneos Health; NASDAQ: SYNH), Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) and AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN). Dr Kelly holds a Masters in Pharmacy from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Strathclyde University, Glasgow. He is a registered pharmacist and a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy. He also currently serves on the Industry Interface Committee of the Center for Commercialisation of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) Australia.
Dr Brooke joined the Cynata Board in May 2019. He founded GBS Venture Partners in 1996 and has more than 20 years’ venture capital experience. Geoff was formally President of Medvest Inc., a US-based early-stage venture capital group he founded with Johnson & Johnson. Geoff's experience includes company formation and acquisitions, as well as public listings on the NYSE, NASDAQ and ASX exchanges. He is a non-executive director of Acrux Limited (ASX:ACR), Chairman of Actinogen Medical Limited (ASX: ACW) and has been a founder, executive and director of private and public companies. From 2009 until 2015, he was an independent director of the Victoria Workcover Authority. Dr. Geoff Brooke is licensed in clinical medicine by the Medical Board of Victoria, Australia and his post-graduate work was in anaesthetics and intensive care. He earned his Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery from the University of Melbourne, Australia and a Masters of Business Administration from IMEDE (now IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Dr. Wotton joined Cynata’s Board of Directors in June, 2016. He was previously President and CEO of Ocata Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCAT) joining the company in July 2014 and managing it through a take-over by Astellas Pharma, Inc., in a US$379 million all cash transaction. Prior to Ocata, Dr. Wotton had served as President and CEO of Antares Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: ATRS), since October, 2008. Prior to joining Antares, Dr. Wotton was the CEO of Topigen Pharmaceuticals and prior to Topigen, he was the Global Head of Business Development of SkyePharma PLC. Earlier in his career he held senior level positions at Eurand International BV, Penwest Pharmaceuticals, Abbott Laboratories and Merck, Sharp and Dohme. Dr. Wotton is a member of the board of Vericel Corporation, a US company developing autologous cellular therapies and also past Chairman of the Emerging Companies Advisory Board of BIOTEC Canada. Dr. Wotton received his Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Nottingham and an MBA from Kingston Business School. In 2014 he was named New Jersey EY Entrepreneur of the Year in Life Sciences.
Ms Rolfe joined the Cynata Board in September 2022 and brings over two decades’ of legal, governance and management experience across multiple sectors, including highly regulated industries and complex global businesses. Before recently transitioning as a professional non-executive director, Janine’s last executive position was General Counsel & Company Secretary of Link Administration Holdings Limited (Link Group). Prior to that, Janine founded Company Matters Pty Limited and worked both in-house (Qantas Airways Limited) and in private practice (Mallesons Stephen Jaques, now King & Wood Mallesons), across a diverse and distinguished career. Janine is an Independent Non-Executive Director of Cloudwerx Holdings Pty Limited and a Board Member of the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority, NSW Government. Janine has held a number of Board positions in the past including with Property Exchange Australia Limited (PEXA), the Qantas Foundation Trustee, and Bothar Boring Pty Limited. Janine is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and received a Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Sydney.
Dr Maher joined the Cynata Board in June 2020 following over 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry as a senior R&D Executive at CSL Limited. His most recent position was Vice President of R&D and Medical Affairs at CSL Behring Australia where he was responsible for the development of multiple successful drug products from initiation through clinical development and ultimately to commercialisation. Dr Maher undertook medical training, qualified as a specialist haematologist and completed a PhD before commencing his career in the pharmaceutical industry. He was a former President of the Australian Pharmaceutical Physicians Association and a director of Vaccine Solutions. He earned his Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery from the University of Melbourne, Australia and undertook his PhD at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. He is a retired Fellow of both the Royal Australian College of Physicians and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australia.
Dr David Atkins is an accomplished global healthcare leader with experience across a broad range of life science and healthcare sectors. Over the last 30 years, he has held national, regional and global roles across the pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics sectors. David’s responsibilities have covered all functions from discovery research through to sales and marketing in most key geographies. He has valuable experience in start-up ventures, scale-ups, turnarounds and high-growth enterprises. He has held senior leadership roles in smaller businesses including Congenica (UK), Veridex (US) and Gene Shears (Australia), and larger global businesses including Johnson & Johnson and Danaher. Dr Atkins has an MBA, Finance from Columbia Business School, USA, a Postgraduate Certificate in Pharmacology from UNSW, Australia, a PhD in Molecular Virology from John Innes Institute and a BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of East Anglia, UK.
Mr Webse has over 28 years’ company secretarial experience and is a director of Governance Corporate Pty Ltd, a company specialising in providing company secretarial, corporate governance and corporate advisory services.