The Board

Meet our Board of Directors

The group of individuals we’re proud to help oversee our business

Tom McCarthy

(Chairman)

Tom  is Co-Founder & CEO of Molecule 2 Medicine Limited, a UK based consulting firm assisting clients with the discovery, development and commercialisation of new human therapeutics.  

From 2006-2015 he was CEO of Spinifex Pharmaceuticals, an Australian and US biotech company developing first in class treatments for chronic pain without central nervous system side-effects. Spinifex Pharmaceuticals was purchased by Novartis in July 2015 for approximately US$700 million.   

Previous positions include Vice President, Drug development at Starpharma Holdings Limited. He holds B.Sc. (Hons) and Ph.D. degrees from Monash University, Australia and completed his postdoctoral training at The University of Oxford.  

Neil Butt

(Chief Executive Officer)

Prior to joining Orbit Discovery as CEO, Neil has over 25 year’s experience in the commercialisation of technology platforms with the biotechnology industry. Neil’s industrial experience started in R&D (UK Head of Research for Whatman Bioscience), before joining PA Consulting. Neil then joined Antitope as Head of Business Development and oversaw year on year growth which led to the company being acquired by Polytherics (with the merged entities becoming Abzena).

As Head of Business development, Neil was part of the executive management team that managed the listing on AIM and the acquisition of two US companies. On leaving Abzena, Neil joined IONTAS and established the company as the principal service provider for mammalian display, a novel platform or identifying therapeutic antibodies. Neil was on both the executive team and board of IONTAS which managed the acquisition of IONTAS by FairJourneyBiologics in May 2020.

Graham Ogg

(Chief Scientific Officer)

Graham Ogg is based at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, where he leads research on immune responses.  Graham is an active physician and translates discoveries through to early and late phase clinical trials.  The Orbit bead display technology was developed in his laboratory in Oxford and was spun-out to Orbit Discovery to further develop novel therapeutics for patient benefit”

Dave Madge

Dave has over 20 years’ experience working within academia, biotech and CROs. Currently VP, Discovery Services at WuXi AppTec, Dave was previously VP Research at Xention, founder of NCE Discovery (now Domainex) and a member of the integrated biomedical research group at University College London. Dave started his career at the Wellcome Foundation and received his Ph.D in Chemistry from Imperial College, London

Oliver Mahony 

Oliver is an Investment Manager at Oxford Science Enterprises. He has over 10 years of experience working in start-ups, investing and academic research. Before joining Oxford Science Enterprises, he was at Concept Dairy, a fintech start-up bringing transparency to the dairy markets and fair milk prices to farmers. He also worked at Scott Investment Partners, investing in global equity public markets. Prior to that he researched bone regeneration at Imperial College London. Oliver has a PhD in Regenerative Medicine and a MEng in Mechanical Engineering, both from Imperial College London

Phil Ferneau

Phil co-founded Borealis Ventures in 2002 and has led the firm’s healthcare investing from its inception.   He currently leads Borealis’ investments in Adimab, Amagma, Avitide, Compass Therapeutics (OTC: CMPX), Evox Therapeutics, Orbit Discovery, Ovation.io, Teckro, and T-Cypher Bio.  Phil’s prior investments include Avedro (IPO, then acquired by Glaukos), GlycoFi (acquired by Merck & Co.), M2S (acquired by AIG Altaris Health Partners), and Vets First Choice (Nasdaq: CVET).

Phil has also spent over 20 years advancing innovation ecosystems at Dartmouth College and other universities.  He is an adjunct professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, teaching venture capital topics.

Phil received an A.B. degree from Dartmouth College, a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, and a M.B.A. (with High Distinction) from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

James Mallinson

James is a Partner at Oxford Investment Consultants (OIC) and has over 25 years’ experience as a venture capital advisor and investor, both at the seed and later stage. Prior to joining OIC in January 2018 he spent 15 years managing the University of Oxford’s portfolio of technology spinout company shareholdings. He has an MA in Engineering Science from Oxford and an MBA from Cranfield University.

James has made and managed investments in many technology spinouts which have been successfully sold or taken public, including NaturalMotion, Oxitec, Oxford Immunotec and Adaptimmune. When he left the University at the end of 2017 the portfolio comprised shareholdings in over 100 technology companies spanning life sciences and other technology.

Mario Polywka

Mario brings exceptional operational, commercial and strategic development experience to Orbit Discovery. He retired as Chief Operating Officer of Evotec after 12 years in the role, and now sits on their Supervisory Board. He is also a member of the board of Forge Therapeutics Inc. and Exscientia Ltd. Previously, he held COO, CEO, chairman and non-executive director positions within Evotec and Oxford Asymmetry International as well as a number of Oxford and Southampton spin out companies.

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