Leuven, Belgium - September 20, 2012, Leuven, Belgium - TiGenix, a cell therapy company, announced that it has appointed Jean Stephenne as independent director and new chairman of the board, and Russell G. Greig as an independent director.
Article continues below
Mr. Stephenne was until recently Member of the Corporate Executive Team of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and Chairman and President of GSK Biologicals in Wavre, Belgium, which he built into a world leader in vaccines. He currently serves as Chairman of BESIX, IBA and BioWin, and as Director of BNP Paribas Fortis, VBO/FEB, Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL), and Vesalius Biocapital.
Mr. Greig worked at GlaxoSmithKline for nearly 30 years, most recently as President of SR One, GSK's Corporate Venture Group. Prior to joining SR One, he served as President of GSK's Pharmaceuticals International from 2003 to 2008 and also on the GSK Corporate Executive Team. Mr. Greig currently serves as Chairman of AM Pharma in the Netherlands, Isconova AB in Sweden and Syntaxin in the UK, and is a member of the Scottish Science Advisory Council.
The company also anounced that Koenraad Debackere and Mounia Chaoui-Roulleau resigned from the board.
Mr. Debackere is Professor of technology and innovation management at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and visiting Professor at various European business schools. He is Managing Director of K.U.Leuven Research & Development and Chairman of the Gemma Frisius-Fonds K.U.Leuven, the Venture Fund of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. In February 2005, Dr. Debackere became General Manager of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
Mr. Debackere also serves or has served on the board of 4AZA Bioscience, 4AZA Holding, AlgoNomics, Better3Fruit, Eyetronics, ISW Limits, IPCOS, IriDM, Living Stone Co-operatie CVBA, MetaLogic, MEAC, PharmaDM, Bico, QMedit, RNA-TEC, Synes, Leuven Innovatie, Gemma Frisius-Fonds II, Leuven.Inc, DCRF (Desire Collen Research Foundation), eMedit, IWT, Netherlands Genomics Initiative, Hoover Stichting, Stichting Amici Almae Matris, WeefWerf en Vlasnatie NV, Aquacare Belgium, Aquacare International, KBC Verzekeringen, Groep Joos, Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School.
Ms. Chaoui-Roulleau's extensive career in the pharmaceuticals industry began at the Gustave Roussy Institute and later continued as an analyst for Atlas Venture. She has been a consultant to Telesis and Altran Technologies. From 2001 to the present time, Ms. Chaoui-Roulleau has been a partner in Ventech.
Ms. Chaoui-Roulleau is also a member of the supervisory board of Inserm Transfert Initiative and Xytis, and is a general partner at Ventech. She has also been a board member of Cellerix, Biovex, Eyegate and Aptanomics. She is also in charge for Ventech portfolio companies Scynexis Inc and BMD SA. Ms. Chaoui-Roulleau studied Bioengineering at the Ecole Centrale Paris and Molecular Biophysics at the University of Paris VI, where she earned her doctorate.
The company also announced that former chairman Willy Duron will remain an independent board member.
Mr. Duron has been an independent board member of TiGenix since February 2007. He started his career at ABB Verzekeringen in 1970, becoming a member of the executive committee in 1984. He is a member of the board of directors of Ravago, Vanbreda Risk & Benefits, Agfa-Gevaert, Van Lanschot Bankiers and Amonis. Mr. Duron has been CEO of KBC Groep, KBC Bankverzekeringsholding and KBC Asset Management, Synes, Argosz, CSOB, Warta, FBD, Secura and ADD. ■