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
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.
Non-Executive Director
Ben-Zion Weiner, BSc, MSc, PhD
Dr Weiner is Special Adviser to the CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. He has been Teva’s head of global research and development for over three decades, most recently as Chief R&D Officer and a member of the Teva Executive Committee. In this role, he has directly overseen all pharmaceutical R&D and innovative branded product pipeline development. Dr Weiner has been responsible for the development of hundreds of generic products for the United States, European and other markets. In parallel, he has been responsible for the development and regulatory approval of Teva’s innovative product portfolio. Dr Weiner has twice been the recipient of the Rothschild prize for innovation, including for the commercialization of Copaxone in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.
Company Secretary/CFO
Jenni Pilcher CA, BBS
Since qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse, Mrs Pilcher has worked in corporate and business financial roles for high profile international companies in pharmaceuticals, FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) and services. Before joining Mesoblast as Financial Controller in 2007, she spent six years with ASX 200 Company, Spotless Group, progressing through a variety of financial roles. Previously Mrs Pilcher worked in the finance teams at Cadbury Schweppes plc and international pharmaceutical group Medeva plc, both based in the United Kingdom . She was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Mesoblast in November 2007 and Company Secretary in January 2012.