We are supported by a highly experienced board of directors with broad industry knowledge.
(Chairman) Philip Astley-Sparke has served as a member of our supervisory board since June 2015. He was previously president of uniQure Inc. from January 2013 until February 2015 and was responsible for building uniQure's US infrastructure. Mr Astley-Sparke is currently Executive Chairman and co-founder of Replimune Limited, a Company developing second-generation oncolytic vaccines. Mr. Astley-Sparke served as vice president and general manager at Amgen, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, until December 2011, following Amgen's acquisition of BioVex Group, Inc., a biotechnology company, in March 2011. Mr. Astley-Sparke had been President and Chief Executive Officer of BioVex Group, which developed the first oncolytic vaccine to be approved in the western world following the approval of Imlygic in 2015. He oversaw the company's relocation to the U.S from the UK in 2005. Prior to BioVex, Mr. Astley-Sparke was a healthcare investment banker at Chase H&Q/Robert Fleming and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen in London. Mr Astley-Sparke has been a venture partner at Forbion Capital Partners, a venture capital fund, since May 2012 and serves as Chairman of the Board of Oxyrane, a biotechnology company.
Matt Kapusta joined uniQure as our chief financial officer in January 2015 and was elected to our Management Board at the 2015 annual general meeting. In December 2016 he was appointed our chief executive officer. Prior to joining uniQure, Mr. Kapusta was Senior Vice President at AngioDynamics from 2011 to 2014, responsible for corporate development, strategic planning and national accounts. Prior to AngioDynamics, he served as Vice President, Finance for Smith & Nephew Orthopaedics. Mr. Kapusta's career also includes more than a decade of investment banking experience focused on emerging life sciences companies. Mr. Kapusta was Managing Director, Healthcare Investment Banking at Collins Stewart, and held various positions at Wells Fargo Securities, Robertson Stephens and PaineWebber. Mr. Kapusta holds a Master of Business Administration from New York University's Stern School of Business, a Bachelor of Business Administration from University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and earned his Certified Public Accountant license in 1996 while at Ernst & Young.
Jack Kaye is currently chairman of our Audit Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee of Dyadic International, Inc. Mr. Kaye began his career at Deloitte LLP, an international accounting, tax and consulting firm, in 1970, and was a partner in the firm from 1978 until May 2006. At Deloitte, he was responsible for servicing a diverse client base of public and private, global and domestic companies in a variety of industries. Mr. Kaye has extensive experience consulting with clients on accounting and reporting matters, private and public debt financings, SEC rules and regulations and corporate governance/Sarbanes-Oxley matters. Prior to retiring, Mr. Kaye served as Partner-in-Charge of Deloitte’s Tri-State Core Client practice, a position he held for more than 20 years. Mr. Kaye has a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baruch College and is a Certified Public Accountant.
David Schaffer has served as a member of our supervisory board since January 2014. Dr. Schaffer is Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Bioengineering, and Neuroscience at University of California Berkeley, a position he has held since 2007, as well as Director of the Berkeley Stem Cell Center since 2011. Dr. Schaffer is also co-founder of 4D Molecular Therapeutics, a company specializing proprietary technology for gene therapy products. We entered into a collaboration and license agreement with 4D Molecular Therapeutics in January 2014. Previously, Dr. Schaffer was Assistant Professor from 1999 to 2005 and Associate Professor from 2005 to 2007 at the University of California, Berkeley Department of Chemical Engineering & Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. He has served on the boards of the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy and the Society for Biological Engineering. He has more than 20 years of experience in chemical and molecular engineering, and stem cell and gene therapy research, has over 165 scientific publications, and serves on 5 journal editorial boards and 5 industrial scientific advisory boards. Dr. Schaffer holds a bachelor of science degree in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We believe Dr. Schaffer is qualified to serve on our supervisory board due to his extensive relevant scientific expertise and experience in the biotechnology industry.
Paula Soteropoulos has served as a member of our supervisory board since July 2013. Ms. Soteropoulos is president and chief executive officer of Akcea Therapeutics, a position she has held since January 2015. From July 2013 to December 2014, she served as Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cardiometabolic Business and Strategic Alliances at Moderna Therapeutics Inc. Prior to this Ms. Soteropoulos worked at Genzyme Corporation, a biotechnology company, from 1992 to 2013, most recently as Vice President and General Manager, Cardiovascular, Rare Diseases. Ms. Soteropoulos holds a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering and a master of science degree in chemical and biochemical engineering, both from Tufts University, and holds an executive management certificate from the University of Virginia, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration. Ms. Soteropoulos serves on the Advisory Board for the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department of Tufts University. We believe Ms. Soteropoulos is qualified to serve on our supervisory board due to her extensive experience in the biotechnology industry.
Madhavan Balachandran has served as a member of our board since September 2017. Mr. Balachandran is a pharmaceutical industry executive and has more than 40 years of experience in manufacturing and operations. He was previously with Amgen Inc., where he served as Executive Vice President of Operations, overseeing global operations and reporting directly to the CEO. Mr. Balachandran held similar positions at Copley Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Burroughs Wellcome Co. Mr. Balachandran holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from East Carolina University, a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering from State University of New York and a Bachelor's degree in Technology from Indian Institute of Technology.
Jeremy Springhorn has served as a member of our Board since September 2017. From November 2017, Dr. Springhorn has been Chief Business Officer of Syros Pharmaceuticals Inc. Prior to taking his position at Syros, Dr. Springhorn most recently served as Partner, Corporate Development at Flagship Pioneering from March 2015 until June 2017, where he worked with VentureLabs (in helping companies in various strategic and corporate development capacities and in creating next generation startups) and Flagship’s Corporate Limited Partners. Prior to joining Flagship, Dr. Springhorn was one of the original scientists at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, where he played an integral role in its antibody engineering capabilities and was one of the original inventors of the drug Soliris. At Alexion, Dr. Springhorn was Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development from 2009 until March 2015 and Head of Global Business Development and Corporate Strategy from December 2006 until 2009. In 2006, Dr. Springhorn moved from research to business development, leveraging much of his drug development experience into the review of opportunities for ultra-orphan diseases. Dr. Springhorn also served as Head of Corporate Strategy as Alexion transitioned from a development firm to a global commercial stage company. Prior to 1992, Dr. Springhorn received his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans and did his postdoctoral training at the Brigham and Woman’s Hospital in Boston. Dr. Springhorn currently serves on the Board of Overseers for Colby College and Board of Advisors for Mythic Therapeutics.
David Meek has served as a member of our board since June 2018. Mr. Meek has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, where he has held various global executive positions in major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Mr. Meek was appointed CEO of Ipsen in July 2016 and also serves on its Board of Directors. Prior to this, he was Executive Vice President and President of the oncology division of Baxalta. Mr. Meek also served as Chief Commercial Officer for Endocyte, a biotech focused on oncology, and spent eight years at Novartis as a global franchise head, CEO of Novartis Canada, and region head of oncology for northern, central and Eastern Europe. Earlier in his career, Mr. Meek spent 14 years at Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Pharmaceutica, where he held a variety of senior U.S. sales and marketing positions. Mr. Meek holds a B.A. in Management from the University of Cincinnati.
Robert Gut first became a member of our board in June 2018, and became our Chief Medical Officer in August 2018. Dr. Gut has 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry leading clinical development and medical affairs activities in hematology and other therapeutic areas. For the majority of his career, Dr. Gut served as Vice President, Clinical Development & Medical Affairs at Novo Nordisk Inc., where he headed the company's U.S. Biopharm Medical organization with leading products in hemophilia, including NovoSeven® (Factor VIIa), NovoEight® (Factor VIII), Tretten® (Factor XIII) and Factor IX. Dr. Gut's contributions helped achieve nine different FDA approvals and the successful launches of those products. He has also served as a member of the Advisory Committees for Reproductive Health Drugs and Drug Safety and Risk Management for the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Dr. Gut received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the Medical University of Lublin, and his Doctorate degree from Lublin Institute of Medicine, Poland. He attended numerous postgraduate programs at Wharton, Stanford and Harvard Business School.