Meet new members joining the BIA's Board of Directors in 2025
We are excited to welcome the newly elected members of the BioIndustry Association (BIA) Board of Directors, who will bring fresh insights and expertise to help drive our mission forward.
Nick Gardiner, Chief Operating Officer and the Company Secretary shares his perspective on the importance of these appointments and the unique value each new Director brings to the BIA.
As the Company Secretary of the BIA, I am pleased to announce the members who have been elected to our Board of Directors and will begin their terms in January 2025. BIA members usually elect five Board Directors, however this year the membership have selected five Corporate and one Associate/Network member.
The new Board Directors were voted for by the BIA’s membership in the weeks leading up to the AGM, which was then held on Tuesday, 22 October 2024 and attended by member companies. All present approved the appointment of the Directors and all the other proposed resolutions.
The following members will join the BIA Board from 1 January 2025, for a three-year term, adding to the considerable industry expertise that the Association can draw upon.
The following have been newly elected to the BIA Board:
- Mike Hannay, Chief Product and Supply Chain Officer of Bicycle Therapeutics
- Simon Kerry, Chief Executive Officer of Curve Therapeutics
- Sarah Korman, General Counsel and Head of Legal and Business Operations at Isomorphic Labs
- Chris Williams, Chief Business Officer of Autolus Therapeutics
The following have been re-elected to the Board:
- Lisa Anson, Chief Executive Officer of RedX Pharma
- Pete Finan, Partner of Epidarex Capital
Dan Mahony, The Chair of the BIA also announced that Charlotte Casebourne and Melanie Toyne-Sewell have decided to step down from the Board at the end of December.
At the recent October Board meeting under Article 33, the Directors approved the following members to join (or remain) on the Board for a three-year term from January 2025:
- Ian McCubbin, Chair of both the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and RoslinCT
- Nicole Jadeja, Partner at Bird and Bird
Meet the newly elected Directors:
Mike Hannay
Chief Product and Supply Chain Officer, Bicycle Therapeutics
Mike has had a long and storied career working in major pharmaceutical companies, biotech, the NHS, and academia. Qualified as a pharmacist, he progressed into increasingly senior roles in the global pharmaceutical industry, working with Sanofi, UCB, and Teva before joining AstraZeneca to lead their CMC organisation. He later transitioned to lead a UK-based division for ThermoFisher, before moving into national innovation roles within the NHS, where he fostered collaboration among academia, industry, and social care organisations to improve health outcomes. In 2021, he joined Bicycle Therapeutics to build the company’s product development capabilities and supply chain.
Mike has maintained close ties with academia for many years, serving in various advisory roles, including Visiting and Honorary Professorships at Durham, De Montfort, and Leicester universities. His commitment to shaping life science policy is evident through his roles with Medilink, the National Centre for Rural Health and Care, the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
Recognised as an influential change-maker, Mike is committed to transforming carefully crafted policy into action and excels at bringing together diverse stakeholders with differing perspectives. While being a strong advocate for causes he is passionate about, Mike is also an empathetic listener, skilled in helping varied groups find common solutions.
In his new role supporting the BIA, Mike will bring credibility drawn from his extensive experience, combined with a positive and engaging style that unites the right people to tackle complex challenges. He is enthusiastic about the opportunities to scale UK biotech and collaborate with the government to build the next generation of large-scale biopharmaceutical companies.
Simon Kerry
Chief Executive Officer, Curve Therapeutics
Simon Kerry brings over 40 years of experience in life sciences, encompassing roles across pharma, biotech, research institutes, and venture capital. Having held senior positions in the UK, Sweden, and Belgium, Simon's extensive experience includes leadership in both corporate and investment roles, which have equipped him to represent preclinical biotech interests.
His career has primarily been in the UK but includes positions in Sweden (Active Biotech) and Belgium (Ablynx). The breadth of his experience will allow Simon to make a valuable contribution to the BIA Board and represent the interests and challenges of preclinical biotechs, in particular.
For the last eighteen years, Simon has held CEO and Executive Chairman positions in UK biotechs (Karus, Aleta, Itara, Encipher, and his current position at Curve Therapeutics) that, alongside his time as an Operating Partner at Advent, have given Simon a strong insight and experience of the challenges of funding and growing UK biotechs.
In addition to these executive roles, Simon has also held non-executive (Celleron) and chair (Argonaut) roles within UK biotech companies and, of relevance to the BIA Board, on both the advisory board and management board of MedCity (London), where his role was to represent the interests of early-stage biotech within a very academic-focused initiative.
Simon has engaged with the BIA since 1997 and was part of the emerging company committee in 2011/2012, from which Will West and Simon established an angel investment forum for early-stage biotechs. Under the current management team, the BIA has established a strong platform to represent the interests of the UK bioscience sector. A long-time BIA supporter, Simon is eager to bring his expertise to advance BIA’s mission.
Sarah Korman
General Counsel and Head of Legal and Business Operations, Isomorphic Labs
Sarah Korman serves as General Counsel and Head of Business Operations at Isomorphic Labs, an Alphabet company launched by Google DeepMind in 2021 to advance human health through AI-driven drug design.
With strong business acumen and broad legal expertise in biotechnology, Sarah has held key roles including Chief Legal Officer at Absci, General Counsel at Neuvogen, and Head of Intellectual Property for Final Drug Products at Amgen. Her background also includes intellectual property roles at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and in private practice.
Sarah holds dual Bachelor of Science degrees in chemistry and metallurgical/materials engineering, a PhD in materials science and engineering (nanotechnology), and a Juris Doctorate with a Certificate in Intellectual Property Law. She is a U.S. National Science Foundation Fellow and an inventor on multiple patents focused on nano-enabled therapeutics and drug delivery technologies.
Sarah is deeply passionate about the transformative potential of AI in drug discovery and advancing a new era of medical breakthroughs. She values collaboration, draws inspiration from diverse perspectives, and advocates strongly for responsible AI policy. As a NED, Sarah would bring a wealth of experience, energy, and strategic insight to the BIA Board.
Chris Williams
Chief Business Officer, Autolus Therapeutics
Chris Williams brings over 20 years of experience in UK life sciences, with a focus on advancing cell and gene therapy. With first-hand knowledge of the life-transforming potential these innovations hold for patients, Chris is passionate about promoting leading-edge research, manufacturing, and development capabilities.
Currently the Chief Business Officer at Autolus Therapeutics, Chris has been with the company since its founding in 2014. He initially served as a Non-Executive Director before transitioning to establish Autolus’s business development function.
With deep roots in the UK life sciences ecosystem, Autolus has thrived under Chris’s guidance, especially through its long-standing strategic partnership with UCL, where multiple phase 1 studies have been conducted. Chris was also instrumental in establishing a partnership with the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult for clinical manufacturing.
Chris has led several strategic partnerships in biotech and pharma. Most recently, he announced a collaboration with BioNTech, which will advance both companies' CAR T programs and includes the potential for Autolus to manufacture for BioNTech at its state-of-the-art Nucleus facility in Stevenage. Additionally, Chris established partnerships with Moderna, BMS, and Cabaletta. On the corporate financing side, he has supported private rounds, the Nasdaq IPO, follow-on offerings, and an asset financing deal with Blackstone Life Sciences, raising over $1.4 billion.
In addition to his role at Autolus, Chris serves on the advisory boards of Deep Science Ventures and NG Bio. Prior to Autolus, he spent seven years at UCL Business, contributing to licensing, new company formation, translational grant funding, and intellectual property, including co-founding Orchard Therapeutics. Chris has also held BD and research roles at Canbex, Eli Lilly, King’s, GSK, Inpharmatica, and Imperial, and holds a PhD in Biochemistry.
