MANAGEMENT TEAM

RioTech has a compact business structure, and out-sources where possible to ensure efficient allocation of resources to back up the highly skilled and experienced science and management groups. The company is led by a globally experienced management team with extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

Chairman: Robert Bahns
Robert Bahns has worked with technology businesses for nearly twenty years, of which seven years were spent in Japan. He has worked in investment management since 1998, previously as a Director in the Technology Private Equity Group at Nomura International. He currently manages a portfolio of investments in spin out companies at Imperial Innovations.

Finance Director and Company Secretary: Theodora Harold
Theo Harold was appointed Finance Director and Company Secretary of Riotech in January 2006. A qualified Chartered Accountant, Theo's early career was at PricewaterhouseCoopers where she worked in the Audit and Corporate Finance groups. She is a consultant Finance Director and Company Secretary to a small number of biotech and technology companies and previously worked as a group financial controller to Cytomyx Holdings plc, an AIM listed biotech.

Chief Scientific Officer: Dr Mark R Thursz, MBBS, MD, FRCP
Mark Thursz is an experienced and successful clinician scientist. As a practicing Hepatologist he has first hand experience of managing patients with viral hepatitis. Mark has built a world class team of research scientists which publishes in a number of leading journals. Mark has raised research funding from a number of peer reviewed and commercial sources including the Medical Research Council, the Royal Society, Roche and GSK. These successful relationships with pharma companies has provided key experience and commercial research contracts that achieved the target objectives deriving three milestone payments worth over $275,000.

Mark has been involved over the last 5 years in the key science and IP generation that now forms the basis of RioTech’s unique operation. He has played a pivotal role in the development of the Company’s strategy.

Executive VP Corporate Development: Gavin D Clark BSc
Gavin Clark is co-founder and principal of Procela Consultants Limited – a Dublin based Life Sciences Consultancy. Gavin is a chemist with 25 years industry experience who has held several senior commercial roles at J&J, Bayer, former CIBA-GEIGY, former GlaxoWellcome, Phares Drug Delivery AG and Tibotec-Virco.   Since the acquisition of the latter to J&J in 2002 he established Procela.  He has been responsible for an extensive range of licensing agreements, research collaborations and alliances from his corporate licensing experience in big pharma, biotech and pharma technology companies.  At RioTech he is functioning as Executive Vice-President, Corporate Development and has primary responsibility for licensing and partnering.