Board of Directors

NOELLE SUNSTROM

CEO, Founder and Director

Since NeuClone’s establishment in 2007, Dr. Sunstrom has held the title of CEO. With over twenty years’ experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, including more than ten years’ executive experience in biopharmaceutical companies, she has founded and led two biotechnology companies and led teams in product development from bench to the market.

Dr. Sunstrom has occupied previous positions as the Cofounder and CSO of ACYTE Biotech, the Deputy Director of the CRC for Biopharmaceutical Research, and the Deputy Director of the Bioengineering Centre at the University of New South Wales.

RUSSELL J. HOWARD

Executive Chairman

 

Dr. Russell Howard joined NeuClone as Executive Chairman in January 2013. As a senior executive, he brought fifteen years of CEO experience leading technology-based, life science companies in the U.S. – most notably Maxygen, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAXY).

To date, Dr. Howard has led corporate development strategies to generate over thirty internationally marketed products, and raised over $250 million on the U.S. public equity market. He is also the inventor of a rapid, inexpensive, human malaria diagnostic test marketed worldwide for seventeen years.

Dr. Howard has a breadth of technical experience in product discovery and development for pharmaceuticals, has published over 140 scientific publications in refereed journals, and is an inventor on five issued patents. He is also Chairman of Immutep (ASX:IMM, NASDAQ:IMMP).

JOHN MACPHILLAMY

Chief Financial Officer, General Counsel and Executive Director

 

John Macphillamy is a business consultant and director with over forty-five years’ experience nationally and internationally, in both publicly listed and private operations and management sectors. Recently, he retired as CFO, Legal Counsel and Company Secretary from Australian Corporate Advisory firm, Grant Samuel.

Throughout his career, Mr. Macphillamy has been involved in a number of fields, including: directing and executive management, business strategy, risk management, corporate governance, regulatory compliance, finance, law, private equity and M&A activities. He has also been active in the agricultural technology sector, and holds qualifications in Economics, Law and Management.

DAVID W. ANSTICE

Non-Executive Director

 

David Anstice is a retired global senior executive and company director based in Pennsylvania, USA. In addition to his position as a Non-Executive director with NeuClone, he also holds this title with two public companies: CSL Limited (ASX:CSL), in Melbourne, Australia and Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) in Dublin, Ireland.

After a thirty-five year career, Mr. Anstice retired as a senior executive of Merck & Co. During his time with the company, he reported to Merck’s CEO for various assignments, including as President for the Americas, the Asia Pacific and Japan. He also served as President of Merck’s European business prior to 1994, and operated on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Biotechnology Industry Organization in Washington, from 1996 to 2005.

ROBERT JOHANSON

Non-Executive Director

 

Robert Johanson has worked at corporate advisory firm Grant Samuel since 1993, and is responsible for its Melbourne office. With thirty years’ experience in corporate finance and investment banking, including the corporate division of Macquarie Bank, he has been involved in a wide variety of capital markets transactions for leading corporations. Previous positions include solicitation, law lecturing and consultation for mining and finance businesses.

Mr. Johanson is also the Chairman of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Deputy Chancellor at the University of Melbourne, Chairman of the Melbourne University Fund, Chairman of the Australia India Institute, a member of the Australian Takeovers Panel, and a Director of the Robert Salzer Foundation.

JEAN PAYETTE

Non-Executive Director

Jean Payette is an industrial designer and investor with over twenty years’ experience in the design and marketing of numerous medical-related products. Jean specialises in the design of laboratory equipment for biopharmaceutical applications, incorporating feature-based design methods and cost-effective production processes.

Management

NOELLE SUNSTROM

Chief Executive Officer

 

Since NeuClone’s establishment in 2007, Dr. Sunstrom has held the title of CEO. With over twenty years’ experience in the biopharmaceutical industry – including more than ten years’ executive experience in biopharmaceutical companies – she has founded and led two biotechnology companies, and led teams in product development from bench to the market.

Dr. Sunstrom has occupied previous positions as the Cofounder and CSO of ACYTE Biotech, the Deputy Director of the CRC for Biopharmaceutical Research, and the Deputy Director of the Bioengineering Centre at the University of New South Wales.

Parisa Asvadi

Chief Development Officer

 

Dr. Asvadi has over fifteen years’ experience in the development of biotherapeutics.

Recently working at Intas Biopharmaceuticals and Aurobindo Biologics, Dr. Asvadi has over five years of experience working with biosimilars, leading large size analytical development laboratories and managing global regulatory teams focusing on early-stage product development and late-stage clinical/commercialization of biosimilar products in the EU and US. Previously working at Immune System Therapeutics in Australia, Parisa gained experience in all aspects of mAb therapeutic development; non-clinical, cGMP manufacturing, clinical, IP and regulatory.

Parisa earned her PhD focusing on engineering of anti-RhD antibodies and antibody fragments.  Her postdoctoral work was dedicated to development of anti-platelet antibody fragments. Dr. Asvadi has been the author of a number of publications and the inventor in several patents.

ANGELO PERANI

Chief Scientific Officer

 

Dr. Angelo Perani gained over fifteen years’ experience with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Lonza Biologics – specialising in mammalian cell culture and antibody development.

He earned a PhD from the INPL, France on ‘Apoptosis in Mammalian Cell Culture’ and its applications to the production of monoclonal antibodies, in a joint project with the Inserm U284, France, the European Cell Bank (ECACC), UK, and the University of Barcelona, Spain. This was followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Animal Cell Technology Group (University of Birmingham UK), investigating the impact of over-expressing bcl-2 in industrial cell lines.

Dr. Perani was also responsible for the EU-funded project ‘Suppression of Apoptosis in Large Scale Biological Production Systems’ in collaboration with the Hamburg University of Technology, Germany.

CHARLES SUNSTROM

Head of Operations

 

Charles Sunstrom is a senior executive with eight years’ experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and more than five years’ experience leading operations. Charles has led teams on two biologic products from early development to clinical testing.

Prior to NeuClone, Charles served as Chief Operating Officer and non-executive director of Out for Australia and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Sydney.

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