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Mr Macdonald is CEO of OTEK Pty Ltd, an environmental consulting company with offices throughout Australia and China. His previous role was as the President of YM BioSciences Australia Ltd after being the CEO of publicly listed drug development company Cytopia Ltd. Including four years as Chief Financial Officer at Biota Holdings, he has over twenty years commercial experience working across the biotechnology, technology and finance sectors. Mr Macdonald has an extensive background in managing national and international operations and corporate activities including partnership deals, mergers and acquisitions and capital raising activity.

He has held a variety of executive management positions with companies including Willis Ltd, Richard Oliver and Sharinga Networks and has been based in the USA and the UK at different times of his career. In addition to board responsibilities within the YM BioSciences group and Cytopia Ltd, Mr Macdonald has previously held a board role at Verva Pharmaceuticals Ltd, represented the sector on a Victorian Government sponsored biotech Working Group and is currently on the board of a number of private investment companies. He is a CPA, with Science and Business degrees, and a member of the AICD.

Michelle Gallaher joined the BioMelbourne Network as Chief Executive Officer in late June 2008. With 18 years experience in the Victorian healthcare, research and biotech sectors, principally in investor relations, government affairs and communications,  Michelle has an indepth understanding of the needs and pressures of the local biotech industry.

For the past four years Michelle was the Director of Public Affairs at the Australian Stem Cell Centre fully engaged in the very public presentation and perceptions of this new and rapidly developing field of research.  Michelle began her career as a health care provider, working within major teaching hospitals and private practice, moving into pharmaceutical marketing and eventually into a listed Biotech company. Michelle has an undergraduate degree in allied health (Orthoptics) and postgraduate qualifications in business and public relations.

Michelle’s role is to continue the success of the BioMelbourne Network in designing and delivering activities that contribute to the growth in knowledge, experience and connectivity of the 185 members and the environment in which we all operate.

Ashley graduated with a PhD from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland and has been working in the Pharmaceutical Industry for around 20 years.  During this time he has held positions in the UK, USA and Australia.  Ashley most recent role has been with GlaxoSmithKline where he was responsible for the ongoing management and future development of GlaxoSmithKline’s collaborative research efforts in Australia and New Zealand which include over 30 projects with research institutions and biotechnology companies across the country.

Dr Stella Clark is currently Principal of Stella Connect, her own business founded in October 2011 to facilitate partnerships, collaborations, executive development and mentoring in the biosciences.  Before that she was CEO of The Bio21 Cluster for nine years and has held other senior management roles in higher education and biomedical research. Stella graduated with a PhD from the University of Melbourne and has had a distinguished career in medical research. She has been President of the Australian Society for Medical Research, and the Australasian Research Management Society, a Member of NHMRC Council, a Member of the Leadership Victoria Board and an Honorary Fellow of Museum Victoria.

Joe Baini has more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry focused primarily on commercialisation, marketing and sales of a variety of top selling drugs. His vast responsibilities have also included partnership, government relations and licensing negotiations. Since 2008 he has headed up Exec Factor, focusing on Executive Coaching and Mentoring of senior Executives across the industry and providing meaningful and positive strategic input to a cross section of industry companies. During this time he has also been intimately involved with several Biotechnology companies and has been a director of Avexa and bluechiip (two member companies). Most recently Mr. Baini worked as Interim CEO for Immuron Limited, where he turned around the organisation and completed licensing deals for the company's lead product across several global territories.  During this period he also raised in excess of $10M in funding for Immuron.  Prior to founding Exec Factor in 2008, Mr. Baini was the General Manager of Gilead Sciences Australia, New Zealand and Asia. At Gilead, Mr. Baini led the growth of the business by almost 900% during his five years as head of the subsidiary.

Julian Chick is an experienced corporate executive with over 12 years experience in senior management roles including Chief Operating Office, Chief Executive Officer, Head of Business Development across the biotechnology and healthcare industries.

Dr Chick has extensive experience running early and late stage Research & Development projects across a range of therapeutic areas as well as medical devices. In the past six years Dr Chick has raised over $180 million for R&D projects. Prior to the executive roles Julian had five years’ experience as an investment adviser and financial consultant with Prudential-Bache Securities, BNP Paribas and Salomon Smith Barney. He was also the principal analyst with Foursight Associates reviewing healthcare and biotechnology investment opportunities for private equity investors and venture capitalists.

Julian has a PhD in Muscle Physiology and is currently the COO at Allied Healthcare Group.

Alun is an Executive Director in Ernst & Young’s Research & Development practice in Melbourne and has extensive experience in assisting clients access government support for innovation and R&D activities.  Alun

 has been with Ernst & Young since 1996, having joined the firm from the (now) Commonwealth Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, where he was involved in delivering government innovation incentives to industry.

Whilst at Ernst & Young, Alun has worked closely with many biotech and pharmaceutical companies and is a longstanding member of Ernst & Young’s national Health & Life Sciences practice.  He has a Masters Degree in Physics from the University of Melbourne and is a member of the Australasian Industrial Research Group.

Alun is also at the forefront of the Ernst & Young response to government policy developments in the innovation area.  The release of the Cutler Green Paper in late 2008 following the review of the National Innovation System is a case in point, with Alun heavily involved in the preparation of submissions of behalf of clients and in discussions with government and the Review Panel.

Lorna is currently Vice President, Commercial Operations of bioCSL Ltd

Lorna has enjoyed a successful 25-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, encompassing clinical research, business development, marketing and sales, all across a wide variety of therapeutic areas, including Respiratory, CNS, Cardiopulmonary, Metabolic, Psychiatry, Neurology, HIV and Vaccines. She has worked in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific. She immigrated to Australia in 2002 and worked for GSK Australia as the Commercial Vice President for five years. In 2009, she established Ikaria Australia Ltd Pty., a biotherapeutics company that commercialises drugs and devices for intensive care medicine.

Lorna graduated with a PhD in Neurobiology (University College London); BSc in Pharmacology (University of Glasgow) and went on to hold academic positions at the Cardiothoracic Institute at the Royal Brompton Hospital (London) and at the Royal Post Graduate Medical School (London).

Maureen O'Keefe commenced as Chief Executive Officer of the Australian College of Optometry (ACO) in March 2013, an organisation committed to improving vision health through delivery of clinical services; research via the National Vision Research Institute, a division of ACO; undergraduate and postgraduate clinical education; and continuing education for the optometry profession.

For the previous 7 years Maureen O’Keefe has been Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) where, at the same time, she also managed a $185 million WEHI expansion building project.

Ms O’Keefe has spent her career in higher education, research and health organisations and has more than 15 years experience in senior executive roles.   

Her achievements have taken in high-level strategic projects and relationship management roles, as well as significant management positions at the University of Melbourne including Director of the Office of the Vice-Chancellor and General Manager, Faculty of Science. She played key roles in the establishment of the Melbourne Scholarships Program, the online university U21Global, and Universitas 21, an international network of universities.

Ms O’Keefe has a Bachelor of Science Degree with Honours, a Diploma in Education, a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Melbourne and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Williamson Community Leadership Program. Most recently, Maureen completed an Executive Education Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Maureen was a member of the Council of the Victorian Cancer Agency for 6 years, a Ministerial appointment which commenced in 2007 and included two years as a member of the VCA Clinical Trials Working Group.  Maureen is currently in her third year as a member of the BioMelbourne Network, which she joined in 2011.

Dr Phil Kearney joined Merck Sharp & Dohme Australia in 2007 as the key scout for innovative research and development in Australia, New Zealand and some parts of South East Asia.  The Sydney-born scientist has the challenge of uncovering and commercialising discoveries by local researchers that have strong potential to benefit the health of people around the globe.

 

Prior to joining Merck, Phil spent seven years in small to medium biotech companies in Scandinavia.  Phil held project and executive management positions in Active Biotech Research (Sweden) and Santaris Pharma (Denmark) during this time.

Before leaving Australia he had been the head of the Research Laboratory in one of Australia's leading heamatology departments at St Vincent's Hospital Sydney for over 10 years.  The theme of the laboratory was antisense and ribozyme mediated ablation of bcr-abl expression in Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia.  As an adjunct position Phil also ran the Molecular Medicine Diagnostic Laboratory for the hospital pathology service, SydPath.

Phil holds a Ph.D. from Monash University, which was followed by post-doctoral training at the Murdoch Institute in Melbourne and University College, London.  He also holds a MBA from the University of Sydney.