Oxford, UK – 28 February 2017: Oxford BioMedica plc (“Oxford BioMedica” or “the Group”) (LSE: Oxford Biomedica), a leading gene and cell therapy group, announces that Stuart Paynter will join Oxford BioMedica as Chief Financial Officer to succeed Tim Watts, who has decided to retire from full time executive roles. Stuart will start in his role on Tuesday, 29 August 2017 at which point he will also join the Board. Tim Watts joined Oxford BioMedica in early 2012 and will remain with the Group until Friday, 29 September 2017 in order to facilitate an orderly transition.
Stuart is currently Finance Director, Head of Business Partnering at De La Rue Plc where he has led the finance business partnering function for the global company, with responsibility for managing finance interaction with all stakeholders in the company and all Group forecasting and strategic planning. Prior to this Stuart was at Shire Pharmaceuticals from 2007 to 2016 where during this time he held the roles of Vice President, Head of Global Audit; Senior Director, Head of Internal Value Management and Senior Director, Head of International Specialty Pharma Finance. In addition, between 2000 and 2007 Stuart worked in a number of finance roles at STERIS including EMEA Finance Director. Stuart has a BSc (Hons) in Physics from Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine and is a Chartered Accountant.
John Dawson, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford BioMedica, commented: “I am pleased to welcome Stuart Paynter to Oxford BioMedica. Stuart’s experience is ideally suited to the Group as he has extensive experience of the biotech and pharma sectors from his time at Shire and Steris. Oxford BioMedica is very well positioned in the rapidly-growing gene and cell therapy sector and I look forward to working with Stuart to realise the full potential of our pipeline and LentiVector platform.
“Tim joined Oxford BioMedica as CFO and Board member in early 2012 and during this time has played a key role in helping to transform Oxford BioMedica into the leading business that it is today. On behalf of Oxford BioMedica, I would like to thank Tim for his hard work and significant contributions over the past five years and wish him well in his future endeavours.”
Stuart Paynter said: “I am delighted to be joining Oxford BioMedica, a pioneer in gene and cell therapy, and a world leader with lentiviral vectors. The Group works in one of the “hottest” areas of healthcare that could revolutionise the way that unmet patient needs are treated. I look forward to working with the team and bringing my experience of finance and pharma to help Oxford BioMedica generate increased shareholder value.”
Tim Watts, current Chief Financial Officer, added: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my five years at Oxford BioMedica and I am proud of the transformation we have achieved. The Group is now strongly positioned as a leading player in the gene and cell therapy sector and I believe Oxford BioMedica has very exciting times ahead. I wish the Group, Stuart and my other colleagues every success in the future.”
There are no further disclosures required pursuant to LR 9.6.13R of the Listing Rules of the UK Listing Authority in relation to Stuart Paynter’s appointment.
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