Cathal Friel is a seasoned serial entrepreneur with a long and successful history and to date has listed five companies on the London Stock Exchange. Cathal serves as Chair and co-founder of hVIVO plc (formerly named Open Orphan plc), where he brings extensive experience in successfully growing public companies, particularly in navigating through M&A transactions. Cathal is also co-founder and Chairman of Poolbeg Pharma plc, a publicly listed biopharmaceutical company which was demerged from hVIVO plc in 2021. Cathal also co-founded and sits on the Board of European Green Transition plc, which listed on London Stock Exchange in April 2024. Cathal co-founded Amryt Pharma plc which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2016 and dual listed on Nasdaq in 2020 and was later sold to Chiesi Farmaceutici for $1.48bn in 2023. Prior to that, he was co-founder and Chairman of Fastnet Oil & Gas plc, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2011. In 2001, Cathal was part of the team that successfully established Merrion Stockbrokers in Dublin. Following Merrion’s trade sale in 2006, he founded Raglan Capital which is renowned for building in-house companies that are listed on the public stock markets. Cathal was a finalist in the international category of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2020. Cathal began his working career a little earlier than most by having to step in to help run the family business in 1981 at the relatively young age of 16 due to a family illness. He went on to complete his education by taking night classes and received an MBA from the University of Ulster in 1990. Cathal then spent the following five years lecturing on a part‐time basis on International Marketing and Business Planning at the University of Ulster whilst in tandem running his own technology services business. In 2001, Cathal was part of the team that successfully established Merrion Stockbrokers in Dublin. Following Merrion’s successful trade sale in 2006, he founded Raglan Capital which is renowned for building in‐house companies that are quickly listed on the public stock markets and are scaled rapidly post‐IPO generally via M&A transactions. Cathal was a finalist in the international category of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2020.
Mo is CEO of hVIVO with over 25 years of experience in clinical research and the CRO industry. Mo has worked as a consultant assisting CROs to develop growth strategies and helping prepare companies for future expansion, both organic and through M&A activity. In addition, Mo worked with Private Equity firms providing insight in identifying potential targets and conducting due diligence in preparation for M&A activity. Prior to this Mo had a variety of senior roles at Pharm-Olam where he played a pivotal role in growing a small niche clinical monitoring business to a global full-service CRO with offices across all continents. In his time at Pharm-Olam Mo had leading roles in Clinical Operations, Project Management, Business Development and Executive Management functions. As a key member of the Executive Team Mo participated in the successful sale of the company in 2017, delivering substantial returns to its shareholders. Prior to this he worked at Innovex and Quintiles (IQVIA).
Stephen is a chartered accountant with over 25 years of experience in a range of leadership positions in industries covering publishing, technology, exhibitions, and clinical research. The roles have covered both small to large international listed businesses, providing strong technical and commercial experience. Prior to joining hVIVO, he worked in Thomson Reuters for eleven years in various senior roles. He did his articles with Deloitte following the completion of an Honours Degree in Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Cape Town.
Prof. Brendan Buckley is a medical graduate of University College Cork and a doctoral graduate of Oxford University . For most of his career he worked in academic clinical practice as a consultant physician. He holds professorial titles in the faculties of Medicine at Universities in Cork and Dublin. He has over 30 years’ experience in clinical research in roles as chief investigator, chair of data and safety monitoring committees and on institutional review boards. He became Chief Medical Officer of ICON plc, following their acquisition of Firecrest Clinical Ltd, which he had co-founded. He was a member of ICON plc’s Executive Leadership Team and was actively involved in M&A targeting, assessment and diligence. Firecrest was one of a number of companies focused on clinical trial innovation which he co-founded and sold. Brendan was a non-executive director of the Irish national medicines regulatory authority (now the Health Products Regulatory Authority) between 2004 and 2011. He was a member of the inaugural European Medicines Agency (EMA) Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP) and of the EMA Scientific Advisory Group for Diabetes and Endocrinology as well as teaching on FDA advanced courses on clinical trials. He serves on the boards of various pharma development and services companies, some of which he has co-founded. Brendan has over 150 scientific publications, including the key opinion-leading book ‘Re-Engineering Clinical Trials’.
Dr Elaine Sullivan is a Senior pharmaceutical and biotech industry executive with a successful track record in science, investment, business development, and start-ups with over 25 years’ experience. She has extensive global leadership experience including membership of the top senior global R&D management teams at Eli Lilly (US) where she held the position of Vice President Global External Research & Development, and she was a member of Lilly Ventures and Lilly Asian Venture steering Committee. At AstraZeneca (UK) she held a number of positions including Vice President R&D, Head of New Opportunities Therapy Area and Vice President, Science & Technology. Former positions also include positions co-founder and CEO of Carrick Therapeutics. Her board appointments include Member of the Supervisory Board of Evotec AG, Non-Executive Director of the IP Group plc, hVIVO plc, Zealand Pharmaceuticals and Nykode Therapeutics ASI where she is also the Chair of the R&D committee. In addition, Elaine is a member of the Scientific Advisory board of Poolbeg Pharma. She was named Ernst Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year (Ireland) Executed external risk share partnerships, to access to global innovation while balancing scientific and financial risk. member of the steering and investment boards of Capital Funds, Lilly Ventures, and Lilly Asian Ventures. Former positions include Co-founder and CEO of Carrick Therapeutics raised $95 million Series A. Vice-President R&D, Head of New Opportunities Therapy Area (AstraZeneca, UK), creating additional value from the AstraZeneca portfolio by repositioning molecules to other diseases and entering new therapy areas/diseases via spinouts, joint ventures, strategic partnerships, and acquisitions. Delivered over 250 collaborations and transactions including spinouts, joint ventures, strategic partnerships and multi-million US$ acquisitions. Extensive experience in executing deals world-wide including US, Europe, and China. Worked globally in US and Europe. Winner of the Ernst Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year (Ireland). Appointments: Member of the Supervisory Board of Evotec AG, Non-Executive Director of hVIVO plc, IP Group plc, Active Biotech AB and Nykode Therapeutics ASI and Chair of the R & D committee. In addition member of the Scientific Advisory board of Poolbeg Pharma. Committee memberships: Nomination, Audit & Risk, Remuneration and Chair of the R &D committee.
Martin has more than 30 years of corporate finance and development experience in the CRO, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors. Martin is currently Chief Executive Officer at Oncimmune plc. Previously he held pivotal roles, including Global Senior Vice President of Syneos One, Head of Capital Solutions for Syneos Healthcare, Partner at Results Healthcare, Head of Lifesciences (UK) and Director of Corporate Advisory at BDO. Prior to this Martin was Senior Director of Corporate Finance and project lead for the M&A process in Europe for Quintiles. He was also Chief Business Officer at BenevolentAI and Sensyne Health. Martin has extensive experience buying and selling multi-billion dollar deals across Europe and the US, architecting end to end portfolio out-sourcing deals, and negotiating multi-year research partnerships. He holds a BSc in Genetics and has completed a range of post graduate management courses.
