Andrew Sneddon – Chairman
Andrew was appointed to the Board of Elastagen Pty Ltd as Chairman in September 2008. Andrew is a former partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers having retired in January 2008 after 33 years. Andrew specialised in fast growth and emerging technology companies working with many companies from start ups to successful global corporations. Andrew has had considerable experience in a wide range of technical areas including; mergers and acquisitions, business and strategic planning, audit, valuation, capital raising and stock exchange listings on the Australian, NASDAQ and London Stock Exchanges. Andrew has worked across a broad range of industries and has a love for viral and disruptive technologies often resulting from the development of new products, materials or science breakthroughs.
Dr Steve Gourlay - Director
Dr Steve Gourlay is a partner at GBS Ventures Partners, Australia’s largest life sciences venture firm. He has more than 20 years experience in drug and medical device development (Monash University, University of California, San Francisco, Genentech, Life Science Angels). At Genentech he contributed to the preclinical and clinical sections of successful new drug applications for Xolair™, Avastin™, and Raptiva™ and supervised six IND applications. Steve is on the board of directors of four medical device companies in Sydney and is a consultant physician in Internal & Vascular Medicine. He received his PhD in Medicine from Monash University (clinical epidemiology, clinical trial methodology), his postdoc from UCSF (Phase I studies) and his MBA from Macquarie University.
Stephen Thompson - Director
Stephen is a founding partner of Brandon Capital Partners. Prior to moving to Australia in 2004 Stephen was a Director of Apax Partners a leading international private equity group. During this time he was also a Director of Imperial Innovations, the commercialisation company of Imperial College London. Before joining Apax Partners, he fulfilled roles in product development with UK biotechnology company Cantab Pharmaceuticals (now Xenova). Earlier, Stephen spent ten years as a research immunologist in both London and California. Stephen is a Director, and on the investment committee, of Terra Rossa Capital, a dedicated life science fund manager in Adelaide, and a Director of the Cancer Therapeutics CRC. Stephen has an honours degree in immunology and biochemistry, a PhD in immunology from Kings College London and an MBA, specialising in entrepreneurship, from Imperial College London. Stephen is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and of AusBiotech.
Hamish Hawthorn – Director
Hamish is the Chief Executive Officer of ATP Innovations – Australia’s premier technology business incubator. ATP Innovations delivers commercialisation and business expertise to emerging technology businesses, helping entrepreneurs build successful high-growth companies. Hamish has been involved in the commercialisation of technology for over 15 years with experience in the advanced manufacturing and life sciences sectors. Prior to joining ATP Innovations, Hamish directed strategic business development programs for a number of emerging Australian technology companies. He also has worked in economic and industry development for the Federal and New South Wales Governments, focusing on emerging technology businesses, particularly life-sciences, and early-stage entrepreneurship. Hamish is a Visiting Fellow in the Entrepreneurs in Science Program at the University of New South Wales, as well as teaching entrepreneurship at the University of Sydney, the University of Technology, Sydney and the Australian National University. He is a qualified mechanical engineer with postgraduate training in business and technology.
Robert Daniels – Director & CEO
Robert joins Elastagen with significant experience gained over the previous 10 years in establishing and managing life sciences companies. Robert has worked across a broad range of the life science industry including contract research, medical devices and therapeutics. He has been successful in raising capital; managing in- and out- licensing programs; joint venture creation; and, managing product development programs through to the clinic. Robert’s experience includes University spin-outs through to listed companies; and, he has worked in the UK, Australia and Hong Kong. Most recently he was VP Asia Pacific for PharmaVentures Ltd, a boutique transaction advisory firm specialising in the life sciences. Prior to that Robert was Chief Commercial Officer at Novathera Ltd (recently merged with MedCell Ltd) where he gained significant domain experience in the regenerative medicine field. Robert has a PhD from University College London and a Masters in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from the Swinburne Graduate School of Entrepreneurship.