LEADERSHIP

Paul O’Riordan - Chairman of Supervisory Board

Paul O’Riordan

Chairman of Supervisory Board

Paul is a co-founder of Synexa and served as CEO from 2003 to 2022. His long-held ambition is to help build a unique global organisation of professional scientists that can significantly improve the efficiency and success rate of new drug R&D, which he believes is a critical strategic issue facing the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare systems throughout the world.

Paul chairs the supervisory board, which oversees key decisions related to the strategic direction of the group, the performance and growth of the company, good corporate governance, sustainability and social responsibility. He works closely with the CEO to drive accelerated scaling of the company through its ‘buy & build’ strategy. Paul is closely involved in building and maintaining key commercial partnerships and representing Synexa at industry level.

Paul is a chartered accountant (Ireland) and holds an MBA from Harvard University. He is a former partner at McKinsey & Co., where he worked from 1991-2003 in London, Dublin and Johannesburg.

Prof. Patrick Bouic - Principal Scientific Consultant

Prof. Patrick Bouic

Principal Scientific Consultant

Patrick is a co-founder of Synexa Life Sciences and an Extraordinary Professor of Immunology at Stellenbosch University in Cape Town.

In his role as Senior Scientific Advisor, Patrick’s main focus is to advise and support Synexa on the latest developments in biomedical science to the challenges facing our clients and to ensure the highest quality biomarker and bioanalytical analysis across our global laboratory network. Patrick holds a PhD in immunology from the University of Claude Bernard, Lyon, France and has spent over 35 years working on the application of immunopathology to questions of human health.

His professional passion is the development of a new generation of scientists equipped to apply a more integrated understanding of human biology to the diseases and drugs with which we work.

Dr. Justin Devine - Chief Innovation Officer

Dr. Justin Devine

Chief Innovation Officer

Justin is a medical doctor, immunologist and pharmacologist (Stellenbosch University) and a co-founder of Synexa.

His primary focus is to understand our clients’ objectives in new drug development by designing biomarker strategies to bring real insight to the challenges of clinical development. Justin has a very deep understanding of the role that biomarkers and pharmacogenetics play in understanding the performance of a candidate drug.

He is particularly passionate about improving the drug development process by bringing innovative approaches to early phase research, including new ideas in translational medicine, bioinformatics and artificial intelligence

Emile Lens - Chief Executive Officer

Emile Lens

Chief Executive Officer

Over the last five years, Emile has been dedicated to driving and executing buy and build strategies in the life sciences industry. His primary focus at Synexa is to build a company that is considered a top class place for scientists to work, delivering the highest quality services to its clients, and to create a sustainable platform that is scalable, efficient, rapidly growing and that will have a meaningful impact on the world.

Emile holds a MSc degree in Economics at Erasmus University. He started his career in banking at MeesPierson. He subsequently moved to ABN AMRO NV, where he ultimately became Head of Mergers and Acquisitions and part of the global M&A and Capital Market management team. He served as CFO and board member at Maxeda DIY, a leading European retail company owned by KKR. As an entrepreneur, he founded Albacore Partners (an M&A boutique) and Nobilo Ventures (an investment boutique). Prior to joining Synexa, Emile served as CFO and board member of Avania, a global medical device CRO, where he was deeply involved in the successful buy and build strategy of that company.

Emile is passionate about working with people, building businesses, and being part of the innovation and the opportunities that are created by the life sciences industry.

Matti Kimberg - In Memoriam

Matti Kimberg

In Memoriam

Matti was a molecular geneticist (University of Stellenbosch) and immunologist (University of Cape Town), with more than 10 years’ experience in regulated bioanalysis and clinical biomarkers.

As CSO, his primary focus was to ensure that the execution of all work performed at Synexa was scientifically driven by the objective of generating data that is informative towards answering the specific questions being asked in the context of each study. He had a deep understanding of the principals of the regulatory framework supporting bioanalysis and applying the guidelines provided by regulators to novel analytical technologies and therapeutic modalities.

Matti was passionate about using world class science and innovation to transform the way novel therapeutics are developed, to bring them to market faster, cheaper and safer.