Home > About Ocimum > Board of Directors

Board of Directors

Board of Directors

 

Dr. David U’Prichard
President, Druid Consulting LLC

Dr. David U’Prichard

Dr. David U’Prichard is the President at Druid Consulting LLC and holds several board positions in life sciences companies globally that include Life Technologies, Inc., Oxagen, Cyclacel and Silence Therapeutics plc. Dr. David U’Prichard is also a venture partner at Red Abbey Venture Partners. Dr. David U’Prichard was the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Yardley PA (“3DP”) from 1999 to 2003. During his tenure at 3DP, he took 3DP public and secured large collaborations with Bristol-Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson. In March 2003, 3DP become a part of Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical R&D. From 1997 to 1999, Dr. U’Prichard served as Chairman of Research and Development at SmithKline Beecham, where he oversaw the entry of approximately ten compounds into global development. Prior to SmithKline Beecham, he worked for ICI/Zeneca from 1986 to 1997 as Executive Vice President and International Research Director from 1994 to 1997. Previously, Dr. U’Prichard was instrumental in the launch of Nova Pharmaceuticals in 1983, following an academic career as a tenured Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Neurobiology at Northwestern University Medical School (1978-83), and his postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University (1975-78). From 2003 to 2006, Dr. U’Prichard was a Venture Partner at Apax Partners Ltd. (London, UK) and Care Capital, LLC. Dr. U’Prichard received his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Kansas, and his B.Sc. in Pharmacology with first-class honors from the University of Glasgow, Scotland.


Ms. Anula Jayasuriya
Co-founder and Managing Director, Evolvence India Life Science Fund (EILSF)

Ms. Anula Jayasurya

Ms. Anula Jayasurya is serving as an independent director on board of Ocimum Biosolutions. She is the Co-founder and Managing Director of the Evolvence India Life Science Fund (EILSF). Was also a VP-Corporate development at Genomics Collaborative Inc. and a Vice President, for Global Drug Development at Hoffman-La Roche. Also served as a partner with Skyline Ventures in Palo Alto and with TVM, a German- US venture capital firm in San Francisco.

She is also serving on boards for Health Care Global (Bangalore), and Lipomics Technologies (Sacramento, CA). Also a non-profit board director for Astia, LPFI, Harvard Business School Health Industry Alum, Gruter Institute for Law and Behavioral Research.

Ms. Jayasurya has done her BA from Harvard Summa cum Laude, MD and PhD (in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics) from Harvard Medical School, Interned in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School and M.Phil in pharmacology from the University of Cambridge, England.


Mr. B.V.R. Mohan Reddy
Chairman and MD, InfoTech Enterprises Ltd.

Mr. B.V.R. Mohan Reddy

Mr. B.V.R. Mohan Reddy is serving as an independent director on board of Ocimum Biosolutions. He is acknowledged to have pioneered the CAD/CAM culture in India and has over thirty years of engineering and management experience, most of it in the IT industry. Apart from being at the helm of affairs of Infotech, as its Chairman and Managing Director, he also serves as Member on the Executive Council of NASSCOM and on Advisory Councils of many institutions. Mr. Reddy has led many initiatives with his forethought and vision for the benefit of the IT Industry, in particular, with his involvement with associations like CII, NASSCOM, HYSEA, ELIAP etc.

Mr. Reddy is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering and has two Masters’ degrees – one in Management Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA and another in Industrial Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur.


Mr. Mario Gobbo
Managing Director, Natexis Bleichroder

Mr. Mario Gobbo

Mr. Mario Gobbo is serving as an independent director on board of Ocimum Biosolutions. He has 23 years of banking experience spanning pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, oil and gas, telecommunications, power and financial institutions. Mr. Gobbo is the Managing Director at Natexis Bleichroder. He is also in charge of life sciences investments for IFC, a World Bank Group institution dealing with private sector investments. Also managed Central and Eastern European practice for Lazard Brothers in London.

He had a rewarding career with Continental Illinois National Bank, Swiss Bank Corporation International Ltd. and other reputed financial institutions. In the field of biotech and pharma, he worked on initial public offering of Ares Serono, Now Serono, the largest European biotech company, and of Pliva from Croatia, the most prominent pharma company in Central Europe.

Mr. Gobbo has done his BA from Harvard College, M Sc from University of Colorado, MBA, Master of Business Economics and a PhD(Management) from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.


Ms. Anu Acharya
Founder & CEO, Ocimum Biosolutions

Anu Acharya

Ms. Acharya is the founder & CEO of Ocimum Biosolutions, a global genomics outsourcing partner for discovery, development and diagnostics. The company was founded in the year 2000 and has completed 3 international acquisitions, Gene Logic’s Genomics Division from Maryland, USA, in the year 2007, Isogen Life Sciences from The Netherlands in 2006, and the GD business of MWG Biotech of Germany in 2005. Ocimum today has over 2000 customers worldwide and operates under the main business units of Lab, Sample and Data Management; BioResearch Design and Execution; Data Analytics and Insights; and Integrated Solutions. Ocimum has raised capital from Kubera Cross Border Fund (KUBC) for an equity investment of up to US$17 million (including the pro rata investment by affiliates of Kubera Partners, LLC, the Investment Manager of KUBC). Ocimum was previously financed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private Equity arm of the World Bank.

Prior to founding Ocimum Biosolutions, Ms. Acharya has had rich experience in the Telecom, IT and entrepreneurship arenas. She worked for a startup in the telecommunications space called Mantiss Information and a consulting firm called SEI Information where she helped create a social networking site for entrepreneurs. Her experience is backed by education at premier institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, India (IIT) and University of Illinois where she has two Post Graduate degrees in Physics and MIS.

She is a regular in technology forums and round tables and one of the well known first generation entrepreneurs in the Indian life sciences space. She was named by Red Herring Magazine to the list of "25 Tech Titans under 35" in 2006. Ocimum has received several awards including "Fastest Growing Life Sciences Company in India", Red Herring Asia 100, "IT Innovation Award" by NASSCOM and has been named to the Deloitte list of Fastest Growing companies in Asia, four years in a row. She has been named Biospectrum “Entrepreneur of the Year” for 2008 and also has been awarded the Astia Life Science Innovators Award in the same year.

|


Mr. Subash Lingareddy
Founder, President & CFO, Ocimum Biosolutions

Mr. Subash Lingareddy

Mr. Subash Lingareddy is a Financial Professional and a CFA charter holder with over six years of experience working in several roles from an equity analyst to a financial risk manager, before joining Ocimum. He has an MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign with a concentration in Corporate Finance. He has a MS in Financial Mathematics from the University of Chicago specializing in risk management. He has a Bachelors degree in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur.

|


Dr. P. Sujata
Founder & CSO, Ocimum Biosolutions

Dr. P. Sujata

Dr. Sujata has done post-doctoral work in Université de Perpignan, France, and has over 15 years of experience in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. She has also worked on DNA sequencing and Genome mapping at Texas A&M University, USA, and has Biotechnology and Functional Bioinformatics experience at one of the largest life sciences companies in the US.


Dr. L V Subba Reddy
Founder & Chairman, Ficus Group

Dr. L V Subba Reddy

Dr. Reddy has a degree in Medicine and has around 15 years experience as a medical doctor in the Middle East and over 23 years experience in running the group of companies. Though, basically he is a doctor by profession, with his in built qualities of entrepreneurship he has developed the group of companies within a span of 10 Years with revenues of over $200 million by FY09. Dr. Reddy is the Chairman of the Group, which is a group of seven independent companies in four different industries. He is one of the founder members of Virchow Labs, the flagship company of the group that was started in 1982.


Mr. Ramanan Raghavendran
Managing Partner, Kubera Partners

Mr. Ramanan Raghavendran

Ramanan Raghavendran founded Kubera in December 2006 together with Kumar Mahadeva.

Prior to founding Kubera, he was responsible for leading the successful cross-border investing efforts at TH Lee Putnam Ventures (THLPV) as a Senior Partner and continues to oversee the THLPV portfolio today.

Ramanan was formerly a Senior Partner at Insight Venture Partners where he invested in business process outsourcing and enterprise software companies, including cross-border investing via Connect Capital, an Insight affiliate. Prior to joining Insight, he was a senior member of the investment team at General Atlantic where he initiated the Internet-related investment effort and also led sector efforts in technology services and enterprise software. Ramanan began his career at McKinsey & Company.

Ramanan is the chairman of the advisory board of Magic Bus, a Mumbai-based charitable organization that uses innovative techniques to assist some of the most at-risk children in Mumbai. He is a member of the advisory board of the Center for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania, the only research institution in the United States dedicated to the study of contemporary India. Ramanan also co-founded Impact Partners, the first venture philanthropy entity in India.

Ramanan holds a BSc in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and a BSE in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Engineering.


Mr. Abhishek Maheshwari
Principal, Kubera Partners

Mr. Abhishek Maheshwari

Abhishek Maheshwari is a Principal with Kubera Partners located in their Mumbai office. Abhishek leads Kubera’s deal and portfolio activities in India.

Prior to joining Kubera, Abhishek was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Co. at their Mumbai and Stamford offices. While at McKinsey, he led several strategy and operations engagements across technology, telecommunications and industrial sectors for clients in India, US and Europe. Prior to McKinsey, he was a team leader at Cambridge Technology Partners in their Frankfurt office and led several system implementation projects across Europe.

Abhishek received an MBA with distinction from Columbia Business School and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.


Mr. L V Sunil
Managing Director, Coramandel Infrastructure

Mr. L V Sunil

Mr. Sunil has a PGP from ISB, MS in Chemical Engineering from Oklahoma State University and a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from R.E.C Warangal. Sunil was responsible for US FDA certification, GLP, and GLP certifications at Saraca Labs. Mr. Sunil also heads the complete operations of Coramandel Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.