Directors
Martin Robinson – Non-Executive Chairman
Martin Robinson joined Pi plc in June 2005 when he was appointed non-executive Chairman. He is the Executive Chairman of Braemar Group plc, a residential property investment fund manager and whose shares are quoted on AIM, a non-executive director at Regenesis Group plc, a short-term asset finance company and a non-executive director of several private companies. He was formally Chief Executive of both Lloyd Street Private Equity, an FSA regulated company that specializes in raising finance for growing companies and stockbroker and fund manager Henry Cooke Group plc and a director of private bank Brown, Shipley & Co. Ltd. In addition he is a Chartered Accountant.
Peter Blezard – Chief Executive Officer
Peter is a founder shareholder of the Company. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturers & Commerce. Peter has extensive experience in pioneering new products into new markets and in working with major companies on a global basis at board level. Previous roles include General Manager of Pak 2000, a division of Asia Pulp and Paper, between 1988 and 2000, where his core duties were European sales and marketing. His responsibilities also include working with national security agencies and meeting governments in Europe, Asia and the Far East. He also has experience in the strategic planning of new factories in Indonesia and China, with projects to ISO9000 standards. Peter co-founded Pi plc in 2003, and has recently accepted the Bioentrepreneur award as sponsored by UK Trade & Investment and London First in recognition of our work to date.
David Marks – Chief Technical Officer
David is the inventor of the Group’s key technologies. David is a plant and soil scientist and a graduate in Applied Biology. He started his career with the Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association before joining a multinational fertilizer manufacturer as a Technical Officer, where he organized field trials of specialty fertilizers throughout Europe and the Middle East, rising to become a director in 2002, with responsibility for technical work and sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. David co-founded Pi plc in 2003, and has since won ‘Young Biotechnologist of the Year’ (Bionow awards) in recognition of his scientific work with the Group. He has lectured at the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Society of Chemical Industry and International Plant Protection Congress seminars, is widely published in the industry for his work on botanical pest control and plant stress chemistry and is an expert reviewer for the journal Pest Management Science.
Michael Panteli – Finance Director
Mike was appointed full-time Finance Director on 8 May 2007. He is a Chartered Management Accountant, has an economics and finance degree and has recently been awarded the ACCA diploma in International Financial Reporting. Mike moved from Intercytex Group plc, where he served as Financial Controller. During his six years at Intercytex, he was a key member of the finance and management teams overseeing the development of Intercytex from a venture capital backed biotechnology company through to admission to trading on AIM. Prior to Intercytex, he served as Financial Director of Telescope Technologies Limited, a manufacturer of large telescopes. He replaced Gordon Harman, who indicated, at the time of the admission of the Company to trading on AIM, that he wished to step down from the role of part-time Finance Director by mid-2007.
William Thompson – Non-Executive Director
Bill joined BioFutures Pi as a Non-executive Director in May 2004 and was appointed as a Non-executive Director on the formation of the Company in June 2005. He is Managing Director of Microcheck Technical Services, a food testing laboratory acquired by him in 2004. He was a founder and Chief Executive of InPlanta, an agricultural biotechnology start up company. He spent 17 years at Dow Chemicals, latterly as Global Business Leader for Insecticides and Fungicides, where he increased sales from $65 million to $130 million over four years.
Gordon Harman – Non-Executive Director
Gordon is a Chartered Accountant and joined the Company in June 2005 as Finance Director. He is the former Finance Director of Holidaybreak plc, having been part of the MBO team that acquired the business and Finance Director at the time of its flotation. He is a former Chairman of La Tasca Restaurants Limited, Finance Director of International Life Leisure Group Limited and non-executive director of a number of other private companies. Gordon had a part-time executive service contract with the Company committing 12 days per month. As of 8 May 2007 Gordon stepped down as Finance Director of the Company, however he will remain with the Company as non-executive Director.
Mark Wyatt – Non-Executive Director
Mark was appointed as a Non-executive Director on 28 September 2006, having been an observer on behalf of the RisingStars Growth Fund, a Pi shareholder. Mark is employed by Enterprise Ventures Limited, investment manager of the RisingStars Growth Fund. Prior to joining RisingStars Growth Fund, Mark was an associate at Merlin Biosciences. He has a degree and PhD in Pharmacology, the PhD being from the Glaxo Institute of Applied Pharmacology at Cambridge University. He has an MBA from the University of Warwick, where he was awarded a Sainsbury Fellowship in Life Sciences.
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