Our People
Professor Sir Christopher Evans OBE
Group Chairman
Sir Christopher is regarded as one of Europe’s leading biotechnology entrepreneurs. He has a proven track record of establishing successful, high-quality science companies, twenty of which have been taken public. These companies have made substantial returns for their venture capital and institutional backers and employ more than 3,500 people. Of note is Chiroscience plc, started by Sir Christopher with £1 million in 1992 and grown to £600 million by 1997 before merging with Celltech plc, which in turn has merged with UCB to create one of Europe’s flagship bioscience enterprises. Sir Christopher’s considerable contributions to the biotechnology industry have been honoured with a Knighthood in the 2001 New Year’s Honours List and an OBE in the 1995 New Year’s Honours List. In 1996, Sir Christopher founded Excalibur Fund Managers (formerly Merlin Biosciences), which currently manages…… Download Professor Sir Christopher Evans OBE's full biography
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James Wakefield
Non-executive Director
James was formerly a senior executive of Bridgepoint Capital one of the largest private equity funds in the UK. James has been in private equity for over 20 years and has completed over 250 deals. James brings considerable experience in funding and then managing portfolios of small, medium sized companies which is the target size company for the Fund.
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Jeremy Curnock Cook
Jeremy has over 20 years experience in the medical sciences field. Since August 2000, he founded and has served as executive chairman of BioScience Managers Limited, a corporate and investment advisory firm. From 1987 to 2000 he was a Director of Rothschild Asset Management Ltd, responsible for the Rothschild Bioscience Unit. He was invited to join Rothschilds by the Chairman of Biotechnology Investments Limited, Lord (Victor) Rothschild. The creation of the Rothschild Bioscience Unit fuelled the development of additional funds, including the Australian Bioscience Trust (Australia’s first fund dedicated to investments in biotechnology), and the International Biotechnology Trust (IBT), a London Stock Exchange listed investment trust focused on mid-staged companies active in the field of human healthcare. Jeremy retired from Rothschilds at the end of July 2000, and subsequently the management of IBT was transferred to Schroder Ventures Limited (now SV Life Science Managers Ltd).
Jeremy founded BioScience Managers in 2000 which has now been acquired by Excalibur. He holds a M.A. in Natural Sciences from Trinity College, Dublin. Jeremy is a Director of the Excalibur Board with particular emphasis on international venture capital fund management.
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Mark Docherty
Director
Mark was a founding director of Excalibur, is an Investment Director and member of the Commitment Committee. He has 13 years of healthcare venture capital experience. He is actively involved in the structuring, financing and exit of portfolio companies. Previously, he was a manager in the Corporate Finance Group of Arthur Andersen, which he joined after four years in the Audit and Business Advisory Group. Whilst there, he gained considerable experience of running and restructuring businesses as well as preparing and negotiating their sale. Mark is a Chartered Accountant and holds a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from Sheffield University. He holds a number of public and private company directorships.
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Brenig Preest
Investment Director
Brenig is an Investment Director at Excalibur in London and Cardiff. He is an experienced investor having completed over 30 investments. Brenig began his career at GE Healthcare, before joining PwC and then Ernst & Young as a corporate finance advisor. Most recently he was part of the venture capital team at Merchant Ventures where he was responsible for originating, structuring and managing investments. As an investor and advisor, Brenig has been involved in £0.5bn of transactions. Brenig studied pharmacology at Cardiff University and financial strategy at Oxford University, where he achieved a distinction. He is also a qualified chartered accountant.
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Philip Duggan
Head of Offset
Phil has spearheaded the development of Excalibur’s Offset activities, working closely with the Senior Management team. Phil has 9 years experience in private equity and as an investment professional, investing and managing both technology and consumer businesses. Prior to joining Excalibur Phil worked as an Investment Manager at Consensus Business Group.
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