About Us

Garry Watts, FCA, MBE, joined the Board of BTG as non-executive Chairman in January 2012. He is Chairman of the Nomination Committee.

Garry is Chairman of the Spire Healthcare group of private hospitals. He is the Senior Independent Director at Stagecoach Group plc and a non-executive director of Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. Garry was the Chief Executive Officer of SSL International plc for seven years until its sale in November 2010 to Reckitt Benckiser. He was a member of the supervisory board of the UK’s Medicines Healthcare Research Agency for 17 years until 2008. He is a former executive director of Medeva plc and Celltech plc, and he was a non-executive director of Protherics plc until its acquisition by BTG plc in December 2008.

Louise Makin joined BTG as Chief Executive Officer in October 2004 and she is a non-executive director of Premier Foods plc. From 2001, she was President, Biopharmaceuticals Europe of Baxter Healthcare, where she was responsible for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Louise joined Baxter Healthcare in 2000 as Vice President, Strategy & Business Development Europe. Before joining Baxter, she was Director of Global Ceramics at English China Clay and prior to that she held a variety of roles at ICI between 1985 and 1998. Louise has an MBA, and holds an MA in Natural Sciences and a PhD in Metallurgy from the University of Cambridge.

Rolf Soderstrom, BA, ACA, joined BTG as Chief Financial Officer in December 2008 from Protherics PLC, where he was Finance Director from August 2007.

From 2004, he was a Divisional Finance Director of Cobham plc, managing a portfolio of businesses across Europe and the USA. From 2000 he was a Director of Corporate Finance at Cable & Wireless plc. Prior to this, he worked in the Corporate Recovery and Corporate Finance Department of PricewaterhouseCoopers after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant.

Peter Chambré joined BTG as a non-executive director in September 2006 and he is a member of the Nomination, Audit and Remuneration Committees. Peter is Chairman of Axellia Pharmaceuticals AS, OneMed Group AB and 7TM Pharma A/S. He is also a non-executive director of Spectris plc, the precision instrumentation and controls company.

Peter was Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc from 2002 until its acquisition by AstraZeneca plc in 2006. Previously he was Chief Operating Officer of Celera Genomics Group and Chief Executive of Bespak plc.

Giles Kerr joined BTG as a non-executive director in October 2007 and is the company's Senior Independent Director. He is Chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committees.

Giles is currently the Director of Finance with the University of Oxford, UK. He is also a Director of Victrex plc, Elan Corporation plc and Isis Innovation Ltd. Previously Giles was the Group Finance Director and Chief Financial Officer of Amersham plc, acquired by GE Healthcare in 2004. Prior to his role at Amersham, he was a partner with Arthur Andersen in the UK. He is a graduate of the University of York and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Melanie G Lee, PhD, CBE, FMedSci, DSc (Hons), joined BTG as a non-executive director in November 2010 and she is a member of the Remuneration Committee. Melanie is the Chief Executive Officer of Syntaxin Limited, a biotechnology company developing novel biopharmaceuticals to control cell secretion, and Founder and Director of the pharmaceutical consultancy Think10. She also chairs the board of Cancer Research Technology Limited, the cancer-focused technology development and commercialisation arm of Cancer Research UK.

Melanie was formerly President of New Medicines and Executive VP R&D with UCB, having been R&D Director and a member of the board of the FTSE100 company Celltech plc before its merger with UCB.

Ian Much joined BTG as a non-executive director in August 2010. He is Chairman of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit Committee. Ian is currently a non-executive director and the senior independent director of Chemring Group PLC, Senior plc and Simplyhealth Group. Ian was Chief Executive of De La Rue plc between 1998 and 2004 and Chief Executive of T&N plc between 1996 and 1998. Previous non-executive director appointments include Manchester United plc, Camelot plc and Admiral plc.

Jim O’Shea joined BTG as a non-executive director in April 2009 and he is a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committees. He is a director of Zalicus Inc and MAP Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and a former Chairman of the US National Pharmaceuticals Council.

From 2007 to 2008, he was Vice Chairman of Sepracor, Inc, where he was also President and Chief Operating Officer from 1999 to 2007. Previously Jim was Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing and Medical Affairs for Zeneca Pharmaceuticals (US), a business unit of Zeneca Inc. While at Zeneca, he held several management positions of increasing responsibility in international sales and marketing in the US and the UK.