Board of Directors

Jack Davis - Non-Executive Director
Mr. Davis was appointed as Chairman of Asterand in May 2008. He was previously on the Board of Asterand prior its merger with Pharmagene plc. He also serves on the boards of Cytologix, Inc., Repromedix (Chairman), Claros, Inc., Collages.net, Inc., Laboratory Partners, Inc. and RedPath Integrated Pathology, Inc.  Mr. Davis co-founded Dianon Systems, a company that specializes in providing pathology services, holding the position of CEO, Chairman and Director. He has also served as CEO and Director of Calpyte Biomedical Corporation, Genica Pharmaceuticals and Infant Advantage, Inc. For over 15 years, Mr. Davis served in various executive positions with Abbott Laboratories, the last being Vice President and General Manager of Worldwide Diagnostic Products.


Executive Directors

Martyn Coombs – Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director
Martyn Coombs was appointed as CEO and Director of Asterand plc in March 2007. Prior to joining Asterand, Mr. Coombs worked for Amersham plc for nine years. He led global logistics during Amersham's period of rapid growth and merger activity in which the company's revenue tripled in size to £1.4 billion. Subsequently he served in Japan for five years as Executive Vice President of Nihon Medi-Physics Co. Ltd, a $300m revenue Joint Venture between Amersham and Sumitomo Chemical. Mr. Coombs served on the Board of Nihon Medi-Physics Co. Ltd as Amersham's only Executive Director, and concurrently as President Amersham KK. Mr. Coombs has also served as President of PerkinElmer Japan, a subsidiary of PerkinElmer, Inc. He holds a degree in Mathematics, and an MBA from Warwick Business School.

John Stchur – Chief Financial Officer
John Stchur was appointed as a Director in January 2009. He joined Asterand Inc. in 2002 and led the Company through two rounds of venture funding and listing on the London Stock Exchange by means of a reverse merger (with Pharmagene plc) to form Asterand plc in January 2006. He was appointed Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary of the new Group in 2007. Prior to joining Asterand, Mr. Stchur served as Vice President of Finance for Big Net Holdings, a telecommunications company and as an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. Mr. Stchur is a certified public accountant with a degree in Business Management from the University of Maryland and a Master’s of Science Degree in Accounting from Walsh College.


Non-Executive Directors

Dr. Peter Coggins - Non-Executive Director (Senior Independent Director)
Peter Coggins was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Asterand plc in April 2008. Dr. Coggins has thirty-five years experience in the biotechnology and life science industry. Previously he was President of PerkinElmer Inc. Life and Analytical Sciences, and as such had full p&l responsibility for a business with sales of $1.2 billion and staff of 4,200. In this capacity he also served as a Corporate Officer and a member of the Executive Committee. Prior to PerkinElmer, Dr. Coggins served as Executive VP Global Sales, at Amersham Biosciences. Dr. Coggins is a past Chairman of ALSSA (Analytical & Life Science Sciences Association), a former advisory committee member to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, and a former Director on the Board of deltaDOT Ltd (London). Dr. Coggins holds a first degree and a Ph.D. in Zoology from Chelsea College, University of London.

Jonathan Fleming - Non-Executive Director
Jonathan Fleming was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Asterand plc in September 2008. Since 1996, he has been a General Partner of Oxford Bioscience Partners and currently serves as the Managing General Partner. Oxford Bioscience Partners is an international venture capital firm with more than $ 900 million under management that specializes in life science technology based investments. Prior to joining Oxford Bioscience Partners, Mr. Fleming was a founding General Partner of MVP Ventures (Boston, MA) and a co-founder of Medica Venture Partners (Israel). He currently serves as a Director on the Boards of Leerink Swann Investment Trust (Boston, MA), RailRunner NA Corp (Lexington, MA), Enanta Pharmaceuticals (Watertown, MA), Radius Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA) and Molecular Biometrics (Norwood, MA). Mr. Fleming holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and a MPA from Princeton University.

Jill L. Force - Non-Executive Director
Jill Force was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Asterand plc in June 2008. Ms. Force is currently a Partner with The Allegro Group, Inc. (Louisville, KY) which provides interim management and business advisory services to public and private healthcare companies as well as equity and venture capital firms. Prior to this position, she served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer for Life-Care, a privately held company that operates 20 long term acute care hospitals. Ms. Force spent 10 years as SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Vencor, Inc. (now Kindred Healthcare, Inc.) where she was part of a team that grew the company from one hospital to a Fortune 500 operator of hospitals, nursing facilities and contract medical services. Ms. Force is a certified public accountant and an attorney with a degree in Political Science from Miami University, a Master of Science in Accounting from Georgetown University and a Juris Doctorate from University of the Louisville School of Law.

Robert Salisbury - Non-Executive Director
Robert Salisbury was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Asterand plc in June 2008. Mr. Salisbury has more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, he was Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc (Windsor UK) and as such had full responsibility for the finance, corporate strategy, human resources, investor relations & corporate communication functions within the company. In this capacity, he was integral to implementation of the post-merger global integration of the two companies across its units and subsidiaries within 48 countries. Mr. Salisbury has extensive investor contacts through his involvement in Pharmacia's $4 billion secondary stock offering and other investor relations activities. Mr. Salisbury has a degree in Finance and an M.B.A. from Florida State University. Mr. Salisbury is currently a Director and Chair of the Audit Committee at Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc (Bridgewater, NJ).