Board of Directors
Mr Peter Francis LLB, Grad Dip (Intellectual Property) (Non-executive Chairman)
Dr John Chiplin PH.D (Non-executive Director)
Mr Iain Ross BSC, CH.D. (Non-executive Director)
Mr Kevin Buchi BA (Chem), MIM (Non-Executive Director) (Appointed on 11 April 2013)
Dr Peter French MBA, PHD (Managing Director) (Stepped down as per announced on 9 December 2015)
Dr Mel Bridges BAppSc FAICD (Non-executive Director) (Resigned on 19 June 2014)
Management Team
Mr Greg West (Interim CEO) (Appointed on 9 December 2015), (CFO) and (Company Secretary)
Mr Carl Stubbings (Chief Business Officer) (Effective from 1 July 2012)
Dr Michael Graham (Founding Scientist & Head of Discovery) (Appointed June 2015)
Dr David Suhy (Chief Scientific Officer) (Appointed June 2015)
Ms Georgina Kilfoil (Chief Clinical Officer) (Appointed February 2015)
Dr Craig Lewis (Chief Medical Adviser) (Appointed on 17 March 2014)
Dr Claudia Kloth (Vice President of Manufacturing) (Appointed on 16 December 2014)
Ms Annabel Murphy (Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications)
Dr Peter French (Managing Director) and CEO (Stepped down as per announced on 9 December 2015)
Chief Investigator Group
Dr Ken Reed BSc MSc PhD FATSE
Dr John J Rossi PhD
Dr York Zhu PhD
Professor Maria Kavallaris BAppSci UTS, PhD UNSW
Professor George Dickson BSc, PhD
Dr Geoff Symonds, PhD
Board of Directors
Mr Peter Francis LLB, Grad Dip (Intellectual Property), Non-Executive Chairman, Appointed 23 February 2006
Mr Peter Francis is a partner at Francis Abourizk Lightowlers (FAL), a firm of commercial and technology lawyers with offices in Melbourne, Australia. He is a legal specialist in the areas of intellectual property and licensing and provides legal advice to a large number of corporations and research bodies. Other Current Directorships of Listed Companies Former Directorships of Listed Companies in last three years | ||
Dr John Chiplin PH.D., Non-Executive Director, Appointed 1 February 2010
Dr John Chiplin has significant international experience in the life science and technology industries, from both an operational and investment perspective. Recent transactions that Dr. Chiplin has been involved in include Medistem (acquired by Intrexon), Arana (acquired by Cephalon), and Domantis (acquired by GSK). Immediately prior to running Arana, Dr. Chiplin was head of the ITI Life Sciences investment fund in the UK. His own investment vehicle, Newstar Ventures Ltd, has funded more than twenty early stage companies in the past ten years. John's Pharmacy and Doctoral degrees are from the University of Nottingham, UK. He currently serves on several international boards as a director or advisor. These span the public, private, venture capital and banking sectors. Other Current Directorships of Listed Companies: Former Directorships of Listed Companies in last three years: | ||
Mr Iain Ross BSC, CH.D., Non-Executive Director, Appointed 1 June 2010
Mr. Ross has served as a director of the Company since June, 2010. Following a career with multi-national companies including Sandoz, Fisons plc and Hoffman La Roche, Mr. Ross joined the Board of Celltech Group plc in 1991 and was responsible for building Celltech Biologics, the contract manufacturing division which was later sold to Alusuisse Lonza. For the last 20 years he has undertaken a number of start-ups and development stage companies as a board member on behalf of private equity groups and banks, including Quadrant Healthcare plc, Allergy Therapeutics Ltd, Eden Biodesign Ltd, Phadia AB and Silence Therapeutics plc. Currently Mr. Ross is Chairman of the Board of Premier Veterinary Group plc, which is traded on the Main List of the London Stock Exchange and Biomer Technology Ltd. In addition he is an Independent Non-Executive Director of Amarantus Bioscience Inc which is traded on the OTC:QB and Anatara Lifesciences Limited and Tissue Therapies Ltd each of which is traded on the Australian Securities Exchange. He is a Qualified Chartered Director of the UK Institute of Directors and Vice Chairman of the Council of Royal Holloway, University of London. Mr. Ross is qualified to serve as director because of his extensive experience working with a mix of small and large pharmaceutical companies. Other Current Directorships of Listed Companies: Former Directorships of Listed Companies in last three years: | ||
Mr J. Kevin Buchi BA (Chem), MIM, Non-Executive Director, Appointed April 2013
Mr. Buchi served as Chief Executive Officer of Cephalon, Inc. through its $6.8 billion acquisition by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in October 2011. After the acquisition Mr. Buchi served as Corporate Vice President, Global Branded Products of Teva Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Buchi joined Cephalon in 1991 and held various positions, including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Head of Business Development prior to being appointed CEO. Mr. Buchi currently serves as President and CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals. Mr Buchi is also on the Board of Directors of Stemline Therapeutics, Inc., Forward Pharma A/S, Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Epirus Biopharmaceuticals. Mr Buchi originally trained as a synthetic organic chemist for the Eastman Kodak Company graduating from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry. He holds master’s degree in management from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and is a Certified Public Accountant. Other Current Directorships of Listed Companies Former Directorships of Listed Companies in last three years | ||
Management Team
Mr Greg West, (Interim CEO) Appointed on 9 December 2015, (CFO) and (Company Secretary) Mr West is a Chartered Accountant with experience in the Biotech sector. He is a Director and audit committee Chairman of ITC Limited (a business arm of Wollongong University), IDP Education Pty Ltd and Education Australia Limited. He completed his studies with Price Waterhouse and has worked in senior finance executive roles in investment banking with Bankers Trust, Deutsche Bank, NZI, and other financial institutions. | ||
Mr Carl Stubbings BSc, Chief Business Officer, Appointed July 2012 Mr Stubbings is a highly qualified senior executive with over thirty years experience in biotechnology and medical diagnostics. His background includes manufacturing, administration, and extensive international sales and marketing expertise in North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Europe. Prior to joining Benitec Carl was Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Focus Diagnostics a subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics (NASDAQ DGX), one of world’s largest pathology provider. Prior to moving back to Australia, Carl and his family had lived and worked in the USA for more than 12 years. In December 2011 Carl was appointed as a non-executive director of Sienna Diagnostics (a public unlisted company). Carl Stubbings holds a B.Sc. degree from the Queensland University of Technology; he holds dual Australian and US citizenship. | ||
Dr Michael Graham BSc (Hons), PHD, Founding Scientist & Head of Discovery, Appointed June 2015
Dr Graham’s research interests are in the field of molecular genetics, with a particular focus on the applications of RNAi in biotechnology. He commenced the development of Benitec’s ddRNAi technology while working in plant biotechnology at CSIRO and continued this work at QDPI and Benitec, focusing on medical applications; the core Benitec patent portfolio was developed at this time. Following Benitec’s restructure Dr Graham moved to the University of Queensland where he worked on developing applications of RNAi in plant biotechnology in an industry collaborative program. In January 2012 Dr Graham re-joined Benitec Biopharma as Chief Scientist and oversees the development of Benitec Biopharma’s scientific programs. In June 2015, Dr Graham was appointed Founding Scientists & Head of Discovery. He has re-located to the USA, working at Benitec's Bremner Laboratory, where he will focus on new technologies. | ||
Dr David Suhy, Chief Scientific Officer, Appointed June 2015 David Suhy leads all of Benitec's therapeutic development programs. He was one of the inventors of TT-033 and has directed development of the TT-03x series of compounds which target the Hepatitis C virus (HCV), from the drawing board through to Investigational New Drug (IND) submission to the US FDA for TT-034. Dr Suhy continues to lead the program as TT-034 is expected to enter the clinic in 2014. Dr Suhy has had significant experience in development of DNA-based constructs. His involvement in the TT-03x program started when he was a senior scientist at Avocel, an RNAi therapeutics company, which he joined in 2003 shortly after its inception. He continued TT-03x development after the company was acquired by Benitec Ltd. in 2004. In 2008 he returned to Tacere Therapeutics as Director of Research & Development after serving as the Associate Director of R&D at Clontech. Dr Suhy has held other distinguished roles with US-based biotechnology companies. He served as Principal Scientist at Antara Biosciences, where he was developing two molecular diagnostics platforms, based on electrochemistry and RFID tags as chip-based nucleic acid detection modalities. He also led the Target Validation Group at PPD Discovery, a company with proprietary technology surrounding the use of genetic suppressor elements to identify ‘druggable’ genomic targets for large pharmaceutical companies. Dr Suhy holds a BS in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the University of Pittsburgh, earned his PhD in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology at Northwestern University, and conducted his post-doctoral work at Stanford University. Dr Suhy was appointed to the role of Senior Vice President Resarch & Development in October 2012 and was appointed to Head of Benitec's Bremner Laboratory in the Bay Area of San Francisco, when it opened in 2014. In June 2015, Dr Suhy was appointed Chief Scientific Officer, based at the Bremner Laboratory. | ||
Ms Georgina Kilfoil BSc, MBA, PMP, Chief Clinical Officer, Appointed February 2015
Georgina Kilfoil has over twenty-five years of drug development, project management and clinical research experience. Prior to joining Benitec Biopharma, Ms. Kilfoil has been a Senior Drug Development Consultant providing strategic development advice in multiple therapeutic areas and across all phases of drug development and was SVP, Development at Anthera Pharmaceuticals. Ms. Kilfoil served as Vice-President, Alliances and Project Management at Peninsula Pharmaceuticals where she played a key role in the development and successful NDA filing for Doribax®. Prior to Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, Ms Kilfoil was a project management consultant for Vicuron Pharmaceuticals and played an instrumental role in the development and successful NDA filing of Eraxis®. Ms Kilfoil is a certified Project Management Professional, has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Pharmacology from the University of Bristol, United Kingdom, and a Masters of Business Administration from the Australian Graduate School of Management, Sydney, Australia. | ||
Dr Craig Lewis, Chief Medical Adviser, Appointed on 17 March 2014
Dr Lewis is a medical oncologist at Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital. His major areas of interest are in clinical trial research in lung and breast cancer, and sarcoma. Another area of interest is cancer pain management. Dr Lewis is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, a member of the Medical Oncology Group of Australia, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia. He holds a conjoint appointment in the School of Medicine at the University of New South Wales at the Associate Professor level. | ||
Dr Claudia Kloth, Vice President of Manufacturing, Appointed on 16 December 2014
Dr Kloth has more than 14 years of experience in process development and cGMP manufacturing, most recently with gene therapy vectors, including adeno-associated viruses (AAV), which are being used by Benitec in the company's hepatitis C (HCV), hepatitis B (HBV) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) programs. Dr Kloth previously led Lonza's process development group in the successful development, optimization, and transfer of robust, viral-based (adenovirus, AAV, lentivirus) and cell therapy products to cGMP manufacturing, through newly established scalable processes. Dr Kloth is based in the United States and will commence her role with Benitec on 5 January 2015. | ||
Chief Investigator Group
Our Chief Investigators Group (CIG) keeps Benitec Biopharma at the cutting edge of RNAi science and its application to human disease.
These scientists, internationally renowned in the field of RNAi, head Benitec Biopharma's various R&D programs. Their experience and skill ensure that our programs remain at the cutting edge of technology, and their rigour ensures that our progress is sustained. The CIG meets twice a year to review progress of the programs and to provide scientific advice and input into each of the programs, ensuring that Benitec Biopharma's portfolio advances with adherence to best scientific practice.
Our Chief Scientist, Dr Michael Graham, is Chairman of the CIG, whose other members follow.
updated 9th December, 2015
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