Board

Jack Cashman joined the Board of Vectura as Non-Executive Chairman in 2001 and is a member of both the Nomination and Remuneration Committees. Mr Cashman brings significant experience to the Board of Vectura, having held a variety of senior executive-level roles in business and having been a Board member for several companies in both North America and Europe. Jack is currently a Director of Telesat Holdings Inc. (Canada).

He is the former Chairman and joint-Chief Executive Officer of RP Scherer Corporation and participated in its leveraged buyout and privatisation and its subsequent successful flotation on the New York Stock Exchange. (RP Scherer was later acquired by Cardinal Health Inc.) His early career was spent in the field of filtration and industrial mineral products. During that time, he took on successively more senior roles in marketing, operations and general management in the UK, Europe, Canada and USA. With this experience, he decided to pursue an entrepreneurial career in the industrial and healthcare sectors.

John Brown joined the Board of Vectura as Non-Executive Director and Senior Independent Director in 2004 and chairs the Nomination Committee as well as being a member of the Remuneration Committee. John is Chairman of Axis-Shield plc and the Roslin Foundation and is a Non-Executive Director of the UK Technology Strategy Board.  He also chairs the Life Science Advisory Board for the Scottish Government.

Until late 2003, John was Chief Executive of Acambis plc, a leading producer of vaccines to treat and prevent infectious disease. John is an Honorary Professor of Edinburgh University and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.  In June 2011 John received a CBE (Commander of the British Empire).

Susan Foden joined the Board of Vectura as a Non-Executive Director in January 2007. She chairs the Remuneration Committee and is a member of the Audit and Nomination Committees. She holds a number of Non-Executive Directorships with both public and private companies and public funding bodies in the biotech and healthcare field, including Source Bioscience plc, Cizzle Biotechnology Ltd, The Rainbow Fund, and Oxford Ancestors Ltd. She also holds several Advisory Board roles, including Elara GmbH and Manchester Premier Fund. Prior to this Susan held positions in venture capital and UK biotech companies.

From 2000 to 2003 she was an Investor Director with the London-based venture capital firm Merlin Biosciences Limited, and was Chief Executive Officer of the technology transfer company Cancer Research Campaign Technology Ltd from 1987 to 2000. She studied biochemistry at the University of Oxford from where she obtained an MA and a DPhil.

Neil Warner joined the Board of Vectura as Non-Executive Director in February 2011 and is Chair of the Audit Committee. Mr Warner has significant financial and managerial experience in multi-nationals businesses and  is a Non-Executive Director of Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC where he is the Senior Independent Director.  He was Finance Director at Chloride Group PLC, a position he held for 14 years until its acquisition by Emerson Electric. Prior to this, he spent six years at Exel PLC (formerly Ocean Group PLC and acquired by Deutsche Post in December 2005) where he held a number of senior posts in financial planning, treasury and control. He has also held senior positions in Balfour Beatty PLC (formerly BICC Group plc), Alcoa and PricewaterhouseCoopers. 

Neil has an Economics degree from the University of Leeds and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Chris Blackwell was appointed Chief Executive of Vectura in February 2004. He joined the Group in 2002 as Chief Operations Officer and Executive Director.

Chris trained as a scientist. Having achieved a first class honours degree in Applied Biology, Chris pursued a PhD at the University of Bath, where in 1988 he completed his doctorate investigating free radicals and reperfusion-induced arrhythmias in heart disease. Throughout both degrees, Chris was sponsored by ICI Pharmaceuticals (now Astra Zeneca), and worked in the fields of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Prior to Vectura he was Director of Drug Development and an Executive Director at Scotia Pharmaceuticals Ltd, which he joined in 1998. Chris was previously at Hoffmann-La Roche, where he was UK Director, Global Project Management, and before that, at Glaxo in the department of Clinical Pharmacology.

In July 2006, Chris was appointed Non-Executive Director of AGI Therapeutics plc, a speciality pharmaceutical company.

Anne Hyland was appointed Chief Financial Officer, Company Secretary and Executive Director of Vectura in March 2002. Prior to this she was a Director of Corporate Finance at Celltech Group plc. Other positions held at Celltech included Group Financial Controller and Finance Director for the Celltech/Medeva UK Division. She joined Celltech following the merger with Medeva plc, where she was Finance Director for the UK Division.

Previously she was the Medeva Group Financial Controller where, through a period of rapid growth, she was responsible for managing treasury, tax, internal and external reporting, and acquisition and disposal activity. Anne joined Medeva from KPMG, London, where she was an audit manager and gained exposure to corporate finance, advisory and due diligence work.

She has a Business Studies degree from Trinity College, Dublin, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ireland and a Fellow of the Institute of Taxation, Ireland and is a member of the Primary Markets Group of the London Stock Exchange.  She is also a Trustee of Sustrans, the charity that has created the National Cycle Network.