Board of Directors
Stéphane Verdood, Non-executive Director; Chairman of the Board
Stéphane Verdood, Vesalius Biocapital Partners s.à. r.l., has 25 years' experience as a business consultant in the healthcare, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Mr. Verdood worked for more than 15 years at Arthur Andersen in the areas of business consulting and pharmaceutical industry. He successfully merged and reorganized hospitals in Europe and re-engineered European pharmaceutical companies in the areas of R&D, distribution and sales.
Stéphane founded Andersen Business Consulting in Belgium in 1995. He co-founded Value for Growth in 2001 as venture coach of mainly young biotechnology companies. He assisted in more than 10 start-up companies in fundraising. Mr. Verdood holds a M.Sc. in commercial engineering as well as an MBA from the University of Leuven.
Dr. Keith F Martin, PhD, MRPharmS, Chief Executive Officer
Keith Martin has over 25 years' experience in pharmaceutical R&D, business development and new venture experience. He was previously founder and president of KetoCytonyx Inc where he was responsible for securing seed and Series A funding of €4.6 million and completed a Phase I lead programme. Previously Keith was Global Director of Life Sciences at BTG where he was responsible for an extensive portfolio of product candidates and licensee marketed products. Prior to this, he was Deputy Head of Biology at BASF Pharma where he developed six CNS compounds from the bench through to Phase I and was a key member of the team that developed two products to full market approval.
Keith has been the recipient of the Wellcome Trust Fellowship in Mental Health at the University of Nottingham Medical School and a NATO Exchange Fellowship to Princeton University Psychology Department. Keith has published over 150 papers, reviews & abstracts and is an inventor on 10 patents.
Professor David Wraith, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer & Founder
Professor David Wraith is the CSO and founder of Apitope. He is a world leading research immunologist with over 25 years’ experience and has authored over 120 articles in peer reviewed scientific journals.
David was the Head of the Department of Pathology & Microbiology at the University of Bristol from 1996-2004. He has been awarded research fellowships by the MRC (UK), National MS Society (USA), Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and the Wellcome Trust.
He has extensive experience in the biotech/pharmaceutical industry including: membership of SABs for TEVA, GSK and Peptide Therapeutics; expert advisor to Hoffman La Roche on autoimmune therapeutics; expert advisor to the DTI on Stem Cell Therapies and to the Food Standards Agency on Peanut Allergy; current member of the MRC Infections and Immunity Board; past member of research grant panels for Arthritis Research UK, MS Society, NIH, NKRF and the Wellcome Trust.
Nico Vandervelpen, Non-executive Director
Nico Vandervelpen started his career with Ernst & Young Brussels in 1998 where he worked as a senior executive. Throughout his career, he gained extensive experience in finance, business consulting, project management and merger and acquisitions serving a wide variety of multinational clients with, amongst others, a focus on the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. He joined LRM in 2007 where he founded the life sciences venture fund and forms part of the executive management team. As a permanent representative of Immocom, Nico serves as a board member (or observer) on several boards within the LRM portfolio companies such as Apitope International, Complix, Amakem, SEPS Pharma, Vesalius Biocapital, Life Sciences Development Campus, TiGenix, 3DDD Pharma and CommArt.
Since 2007, the LRM life sciences fund invested in Apitope International, SEPS Pharma, MUbio, TiGenix, Promethera, Amakem, Complix, Life Sciences Development Campus and Arcarios. Nico works together with his team of seasoned life sciences and biotech experts to further extend the life sciences footprint in the area.
Nico holds a Master degree in commercial and business engineering from Hasselt University as well as a Master in Accountancy. In addition he followed several national and international management courses throughout his career.
Richard Daniels, Non-executive Director
Richard Daniels is Head of the Richard Daniels companies and has over 45 years of experience in the building industry. Richard is currently on the Board of Directors of several companies.
The Richard Daniels companies has a successful track record in property development, building houses, factories, shops, supermarkets and doctors’ surgeries. Richard’s skills have developed by hands on management of the business based on setting and delivering absolute precise objectives of all the undertakings he has been involved with over the years.
Dr. Gaston Mattyssens, Non-executive Director
Following a professorship at the Free University of Brussels, Dr. Matthyssens joined the management of biotech company Plant Genetic Systems in 1986. Upon its successful trade sale to Hoechst Agrevo for $750 million, he moved to the San Diego-based drug discovery company Corvas International as Vice President responsible for drug discovery and international operations.
In 1997 Dr. Matthyssens became VP Business Development for the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Ghent, Belgium, where he identified mature intellectual property and conceptualized new businesses around it. He was responsible for spinning-out three companies raising a total of € 20 million in seed financing: deVGen (successfully floated on Euronext in 2005), CropDesign (which was acquired by BASF) and Ablynx (which raised € 85 million through its 2007 IPO on Euronext).
In 2001 he co-founded V4G, a venture coaching and consulting firm, followed in 2007 with the creation of Vesalius Biocapital, a venture capital fund focusing on the creation and growth of European life science companies. In January 2011, Vesalius Biocapital II raised € 50 million for a first closing.
Dr. Matthyssens holds an MSc and a PhD in biochemistry from the Free University of Brussels and received training in the labs of three Nobel prize winners: Dr. Susumu Tonegawa in Basel and Dr. Cesar Milstein and Fred Sanger in Cambridge.
Dr Debora Dumont, Non-executive Director
Debora Dumont started her career in 2006 as a business developer at the Biomedical Research Institute of Hasselt University. As a liaison officer to the biotech industry, she managed collaborative research projects and was responsible for the institute’s valorization strategy. In addition, she headed LifeTechLimburg, a cluster organization for the life sciences development in Belgian Limburg. Debora joined LRM in 2010 as Investment Manager life sciences and serves as a board member (or observer) on several boards within the LRM life sciences portfolio.
Since 2007, the LRM life sciences fund invested in Apitope International, SEPS Pharma, MUbio, TiGenix, Promethera, Amakem, Complix, Life Sciences Development Campus and Arcarios. Debora is part of a team of seasoned life sciences, financing and biotech business experts headed by Mr. Nico Vandervelpen that was created to further extend the life sciences footprint in the area.
Debora holds a PhD degree in biomedical sciences from Hasselt University and a Master degree in biological engineering from K.U. Leuven. In addition, she followed several biotech business and management courses throughout her career.
