The Management Team 

Jim Reid Chairman/CEO

Winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Science and Technology for both Scotland and at the UK National finals in 2005, Jim has had a successful international career in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. A Biochemist and Pharmacologist by training, Jim developed his early career in blue-chip organisations including Organon, Roche and Alcan in many parts of the world progressing from the research bench to business management before returning to Scotland in 1999. Since then he has utilised this experience to contribute widely to the exciting life sciences industry there. Jim was instrumental in the formation and development of more than 10 companies in the sector and has successfully exited from 3 of these companies, including the highly acclaimed sale of Haptogen to Wyeth, one of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies. Jim is now expanding his work with early stage Life Science companies hopefully picking the “winners” of the future in this key sector of the Scottish economy. He is a Global Scot, an Ambassador of the Saltire Fellowship and was the recipient of the 2010 Outstanding Contribution to Scottish Life Science award.

Dr Vincent O’Brien, CSO/COO:

Vincent is a co-founder of Sistemic and was formerly a Senior Fellow at Imperial College London where he continued research into acquired drug resistance, epigenetic therapies and biomarker discovery began at the Centre for Oncology and Applied Pharmacology at the University of Glasgow. His research management career began at the Beatson Institute, Glasgow where, following post-doctoral work in the US, he spent 3 years as an Independent Investigator. Vincent has BSc and PhD degrees in Biochemistry and an MSc in IT Systems with over 3 years commercial IT experience. He has published and presented extensively and won both SMART Feasibility and R&D grant awards from the Scottish Government.

Dr Verna McErlane, Director of Commercial Operations, International

Verna gained her PhD in the area of pre-clinical cancer drug development and spent time working at the Gray Cancer Institute, London where she was involved with the formation of SPEAR Therapeutics Ltd prior to moving to the University of Dundee, Scotland to pursue evaluation of prodrug anticancer strategies. Subsequently, she was chosen to take part in the distinguished Saltire Foundation Fellowship program, 2009 where she moved to Boston and attended Babson College, before working with Genzyme (HQ) in International; New business initiatives, followed by an international market development position with Axis-Shield in Dundee, Scotland. She was also the recipient of the Galen Pharmaceutical Prize in 1999.

Non-Executive Management

Dr Peter Estibeiro, Non-Executive Technology Advisor:

Peter is a technology entrepreneur with experience of company spin-out and start-up, business development, SME governance, IP management, product development, and market analysis. In 1999, he founded ExpressOn Ltd as inventor of their core technology. Over seven years as CEO/CSO with them he took their product from concept to market, closed a number of key corporate deals and raised over £2.5M in capital. At ExpressOn he won a SMART award and a Young Company Finance award. In 2005, he founded Nyrion Ltd as MD responsible for market analysis and positioning of their genomic services and closed a deal with GE Healthcare to establish Nyrion as GE’s approved CodeLink service provider in the UK. Since 2006, he has been Commercial Director for BioCule (Iceland) developing and implementing commercial strategy and a senior strategist for The YOU Company, a new life sciences company focused on technological solutions for personalized medicine.

Karen Reid, Non-Executive Director:

Karen spent her early career in retail management with companies such as Midlands Electricity Board (MEB) and developed a strong reputation for a passion for high standards of customer care. After taking time-out to have 2 children, she established the Reid Consultancy in 1990 which she ran until she returned to Scotland in 1999. During those years the Reid Consultancy undertook projects for a wide range of clients but always focusing on improved customer service and retention. Clients included The Derbyshire Building Society, Whatman plc and Hoffman la Roche. Karen now focuses on the activities of ChimaeraBio with special responsibility for Project Management, QA and Portfolio Management. She also has the responsibility for the Partnership’s small portfolio of property interests. Karen has also recently become an Ambassador for the Saltire Fellowship and is looking forward to mentoring Scotland’s next generation of business leaders.

Karen is recognised as one of Scotland’s top business women, is a supporter of Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT) and has been involved in the formation of many companies in the life-sciences space.

Dr John Gordon, Non-Executive Technology Advisor:

John is co-founder of Sistemic and a technology entrepreneur. In 1999 he developed novel CD technology that was purchased by Burstein Technologies (Irvine, CA, USA) and worked there as Senior Scientific Advisor until 2004 when he founded CalbaTech Inc, a technology holding company also based in Irvine. CalbaTech currently owns four companies involved in stem cell science, reagents production and biotechnology. In 2007, he took the position of Business Development Manager with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine where he initiated contracts and developed collaborative business. In 2008, he moved to Dundee to take a position as Technology Analyst for the ITI Life Sciences where his role is to help identify and develop their scientific strategy. His role in Sistemic will be to help negotiate contracts, monitor IP and developing technology threats and opportunities relevant to Sistemic’s business model.