Non-Executive Chairman
Brian Jamieson FCA
Brian Jamieson was Chief Executive of Minter Ellison Melbourne and a partner of the Minter Ellison Revenue Group from 2002-2005. He retired as Chief Executive of Minter Ellison Melbourne on 31 December 2005. Prior to joining Minter Ellison, Mr. Jamieson was Executive Officer at KPMG Australia from 1998-2000, Managing Partner of KPMG Melbourne and Southern Regions from 1993-1998 and Chairman of KPMG Melbourne from 2001-2002. He was also a KPMG Board Member in Australia, and a member of the USA Management Committee. Mr Jamieson is Chairman of Sigma Pharmaceuticals Limited and a Non-Executive Director of the Tatts Group Limited and OZ Minerals Limited. He is also a director and Treasurer of the Bionic Ear Institute, and The Sir Robert Menzies Foundation. Mr Jamieson has over 30 years of experience in providing advice and audit services to a diverse range of public and large private companies. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.
Chief Executive Officer
Professor Silviu Itescu, MBBS (Hons), FRACP, FACP, FACR
A medically trained physician scientist, Professor Itescu has established an outstanding international reputation in the fields of stem cell biology, autoimmune diseases, organ transplantation, and heart failure. He has been a faculty member of Columbia University in New York and of the University of Melbourne. His pioneering work in the use of adult stem cells for heart disease has laid the groundwork for a potential paradigm shift in the treatment of cardiovascular disorders. Professor Itescu has consulted for various international pharmaceutical companies, has been an adviser to biotechnology and health care investor groups, and has served on the Board of Directors of several publicly-listed life sciences companies.
Non-Executive Deputy Chairman
Donal O’Dwyer, BE, MBA
Mr O’Dwyer has over 20 years’ experience as a senior executive in the global cardiovascular and medical devices industries. From 1996 to 2003, Mr O’Dwyer worked for Cordis Cardiology, the cardiology division of Johnson & Johnson’s Cordis Corporation, initially as its president (Europe) and from 2000 as its worldwide president. Cordis is the world’s largest manufacturer of innovative products for interventional medicine, minimally invasive computer-based imaging, and electrophysiology. In his role, Mr O’Dwyer led Cordis through the launch of the revolutionary Cypher drug eluting coronary stent technology, and saw the company take over number one market share of coronary stents worldwide. He directly supervised an increase in sales from $US500 million in 2000 to $US2 billion in 2003. Prior to joining Cordis, Mr O’Dwyer worked for 12 years with Baxter Healthcare, rising from plant manager in Ireland to president of the Cardiovascular Group, Europe, now Edwards Lifesciences. Mr O’Dwyer is a qualified civil engineer, has an MBA and is on the board of a number of companies including Cochlear Limited, Atcor Medical Holdings Ltd and Sunshine Heart Inc.
Non-Executive Director
J. Kevin Buchi
J. Kevin Buchi was promoted to Chief Executive Officer of global biopharmaceutical company, Cephalon, in 2010, after serving the company in other capacities for almost 20 years. Most recently, Mr Buchi served as Chief Operating Officer and managed the company’s global sales and marketing functions, as well as product manufacturing, business development and investor relations. From 1996 to 2009, he served as Chief Financial Officer and, from 2004, head of business development for the company. Mr Buchi has played an instrumental role in the global growth of Cephalon through acquisitions and sound financial management. At various times in his career since joining Cephalon in 1991 as controller, Mr Buchi has had oversight of corporate finance, accounting, information systems, facilities, human resources and administration. Mr Buchi graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry. He was a synthetic organic chemist for the Eastman Kodak Company before going on to obtain a master’s degree in management from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He worked for a large public accounting firm before beginning his career in the pharmaceutical industry with E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in 1983. Mr Buchi is a certified public accountant, and he serves on the board of directors of Celator Pharmaceuticals, Inc. located in Princeton, New Jersey.
Non-Executive Director
Michael Spooner, BCom, ACA, MAICD
Mr Spooner is a well-known and respected business leader. He has an extensive network of relationships with investment firms and business communities across the globe, having spent the majority of the past 25 years living and working internationally. Mr Spooner consults to a number of listed and unlisted companies based in Australia and the US. In 2009 Mr Spooner was appointed Chairman of BiVACOR a total artificial heart company. He is also a non-executive director of Hawaii Biotech Inc. a specialty developer of vaccines. Most recently, Mr Spooner was a non-executive director of Peplin Inc., a dermatology focused skin cancer company from 2004 until the company was sold in 2009 for over $300m. Mr Spooner was Executive Chairman of Hunter Immunology Limited a respiratory medicine company from 2007 to 2008. Previously, Mr Spooner was the Chairman of Mesoblast Limited from its initial listing in 2004 until 2007 and Managing Director & CEO of Ventracor Limited where he led the transformation of a small Australian listed life sciences company into the second highest performing stock on the S&P/ASX 200 index. He was a Principal Partner and Director of Consulting Services with PricewaterhouseCoopers (Coopers & Lybrand) in Hong Kong for several years.