Improving outcomes. Changing lives.
PolyNovo is the developer of unique, patented, biodegradable polymers for use in medical devices. Our vision is to provide unique and innovative regenerative products for burns, surgical wounds, hernia repair, trauma, orthopaedics and reconstructive surgery.
Board of Directors
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Mr David Williams
B.Ec (Hons), M.Ec, FAICD
Non-executive Chairman
Mr Williams was appointed as a Non-executive Director on 28 February 2014 and Chairman on 13 March 2014. Mr Williams is an experienced Director and investment banker with a proven track record in business development and strategy, as well as in corporate initiatives specializing in mergers and acquisitions and capital raising. He possesses 30 years’ experience working with and advising ASX-listed companies in the food, medical device and pharmaceutical sectors. Mr Williams was previously the Managing Director of Challenger Corporate Finance, Head of Mergers & Acquisitions – Melbourne, Société Générale Hambros, Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at ANZ McCaughan, and Australian Head of Mergers & Acquisitions Arthur Andersen & Co. He has been Chairman of Tassal Group Ltd and Austin Group Ltd and held numerous other Directorships including with Amcal Ltd and Select Harvests Ltd. Mr Williams is currently Chairman of ASX-listed Medical Developments International Ltd (ASX: MVP), and is Managing Director of corporate advisory firm Kidder Williams Ltd. Mr Williams resigned as Non-executive Director of IDT (ASX: IDT) on 19 May 2015.
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Mr Max Johnston
Non-executive Director
Mr Johnston was appointed a Director of PolyNovo on 13 May 2014. Mr Johnston held the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of Johnson & Johnson Pacific, a division of the world’s largest medical, pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare company for 11 years. Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Mr Johnston’s career also included senior roles with Diageo and Unilever in Europe. Mr Johnston has also held several prominent industry roles as a past President of ACCORD Australasia Limited, a former Vice Chairman of the Australian Food and Grocery Council and a former member of the board of ASMI. Mr Johnston has had extensive overseas experience during his career in leading businesses in both Western and Central-Eastern Europe and Africa as well as the Asia-Pacific region. Mr Johnston is currently a Non-executive Director of Medical Developments International Ltd (ASX: MVP) and Enero Group Limited (ASX: EGG), and Non-executive Chairman of Probiotec Ltd (ASX: PBP).
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Mr Philip Powell
BComm (Hons), ACA, F.Fin, MAICD
Non-executive Director
Mr Powell was appointed a Director of PolyNovo on 13 May 2014 and was Acting Managing Director from 15 July 2014 to 13 February 2015. Mr Powell has many years’ experience in investment banking specializing in capital raisings, Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), mergers and acquisitions and other successful corporate finance assignments across a diverse range of sectors including utilities, IT, pharma, financial services, food and agriculture. He spent 10 years in senior financial roles at OAMPS Ltd, a former ASX-listed financial services group, and 10 years in audit with Arthur Andersen & Co in Melbourne, Sydney and Los Angeles. Mr Powell is currently a Non-executive Director of Medical Developments International Ltd (ASX: MVP).
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Dr David McQuillan
PhD
Non-executive Director
Dr McQuillan was appointed a Director of PolyNovo on 6 August 2012. He has extensive technical, medical, scientific and regulatory knowledge, as well as merger and acquisition expertise. Dr McQuillan was with LifeCell Inc/Kinetic Concepts Inc (KCI) for 12 years, holding a number of senior roles, including Vice President for Research and Development at LifeCell and Senior Vice President of Advanced Research and Technology at KCI. He was Chief Science Officer for TELA Bio, a VC-funded development-stage biotechnology company from 2013 to 2015.
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Mr Leon Hoare
Non-executive Director
Mr Hoare was appointed a Director of PolyNovo on 27 January 2016. Mr Hoare is also Managing Director of Lohmann & Rauscher (Australia and New Zealand), a privately owned, multinational medical device company. Previously Mr Hoare was Managing Director of Smith & Nephew (Aus/NZ) until the end of 2015, one of Smith & Nephew’s largest global subsidiaries outside the US. He served as President of Smith & Nephew’s Asia-Pacific Advanced Wound Management (AWM) business for five years and was a member of the Global Executive Management for the AWM Division. In his 24 years with Smith & Nephew, he also held roles in marketing, divisional and general management. Mr Hoare’s career also includes a senior role at Bristol-Myers Squibb in surgical products, and Vice Chair of Australia’s peak medical device body, Medical Technology Association of Australia. Mr Hoare is currently a Non-executive Director of Medical Developments International Ltd (ASX: MVP).
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Mr Bruce Rathie
Non-executive Director
Mr Rathie is an experienced Company Director and lawyer. He practised as a partner in a large legal firm and acted as Senior In-house Counsel to Bell Resources Limited from 1980 to 1985. He studied for his MBA in Geneva and embarked on his investment banking career in 1986. He was Head of the Industrial Franchise Group at Salomon Smith Barney in the late 1990s and led Salomon’s roles in the Federal Government’s privatization of Qantas, Commonwealth Bank (CBA3) and Telstra (T1). He has over 15 years’ experience as a professional Non-executive Company Director. He is currently Chairman of DataDot Technology Limited (ASX: DDT), Vice Chairman of Capricorn Society Limited and Chairman of Capricorn Mutual Limited. In the medical device space, he was previously Chairman of Anteo Diagnostics Limited and a Director of Compumedics Limited and USCOM Limited. He has been a Non-executive Director of PolyNovo since February 2010.
Management and staff
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Mr Paul Brennan
MBA, BSc (Nursing) RN, RM
Chief Executive Officer
Mr Brennan was appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PolyNovo Ltd on 13 February 2015. Mr Brennan has extensive knowledge, exposure and understanding of the health system through his clinical background and commercial exposure with various multinational companies. He has co-ordinated the marketing, global strategy development, new product development and regulatory processes for the Asia-Pacific region for industry-leading organizations in relation to medical products and devices. Mr Brennan has an intimate knowledge of the manufacturing and production processes. Previously he was Marketing Director Australia and New Zealand and Sales Director New Zealand for Smith & Nephew Healthcare from 2008 to his commencement with PolyNovo in February 2015. Mr Brennan holds a MBA from Swinburne University, a Bachelor of Science (Nursing) from the University of New England in NSW, Certificate in Midwifery Central Coast Area Health Service NSW, and General Nursing certificate from St Vincent’s Hospital Darlinghurst NSW.
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Mr Jan Gielen
CA
CFO and Company Secretary
Jan was appointed CFO and Company Secretary of Polynovo Ltd on the 12th December 2018. Jan holds a Bachelor of Business (Acc) degree from Monash University, is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and commenced his career with Pitcher Partners. Since then Jan has held senior finance roles for various businesses across a range of industries such as retail, ICT, logistics (3PL) & medical, both locally & internationally. Jan has extensive experience in CFO and Finance Director roles for fast growing PE and VC backed businesses and played an important part in expanding these businesses globally, both from a financial and operational perspective. Jan’s most recent role was CFO of CardioScan for 6 years, Australia’s largest cardiac reporting provider, which during his tenure the business expanded to HK, Singapore & North America.
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Dr Bruce Verity
PhD Physical Chemistry; B.Sc.(Honours) Chemistry
R&D Manager
Bruce joins PolyNovo after 16 years with Universal Biosensors where he was one of the founding development scientists and most recently Biosensors Development Manager, leading teams dedicated to translating new medical devices from research ideas into commercial production. Bruce has developed in vitro diagnostic reagents to interface with analyzers and software which have been licenced to Lifescan (Johnson&Johnson) and Siemens Healthcare for global use. Previous to this, Bruce worked with Comalco and lectured in chemistry at the University of South Australia and University of Melbourne. Bruce brings a wealth of experience in leading development teams working within Quality and Regulatory frameworks to bring innovative medical devices to market.
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Dr Tim Moore
PhD
Principal Scientist
Dr. Moore completed a Bachelor of Applied Science (Chemistry) degree at Swinburne University of Technology, followed by an honours degree and PhD degree. Dr. Moore’s PhD dissertation was in the field of biodegradable polyurethanes; the title was ‘Design and Synthesis of Biodegradable Thermoplastic Polyurethanes for Tissue Engineering’. Dr. Moore has been involved with PolyNovo since its inception and is a co-inventor of some of the variants of NovoSorb™. He has been working on the development of biodegradable polymers for medical devices for over ten years. His main area of expertise is in polyurethanes and the development of biomaterials for use in medical devices. He developed a novel range of biodegradable chain extenders which is included in several of PolyNovo’s patent applications. Dr. Moore is involved in project management and product development in PolyNovo’s leading applications. Dr. Moore is also responsible for the maintenance of PolyNovo’s extensive Intellectual Property Portfolio. He is co-author on a number of peer-reviewed papers and patent applications. He was a co-recipient of the CSIRO Molecular Science Divisional Strategic Action Plan Award for Innovation (2004) and of the CSIRO medal in Research Achievement category (2005).
Corporate Governance