| Dr Barrie Ward | Chairman of the Board |
| Dr Chris Martin | Chief Executive Officer (CEO) |
| Prof David Thurston | Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) |
| Dr Chris Keightley | Non Executive Director |
| Dr Alistair Stokes | Non Executive Director |
Dr Ward brings a tremendous wealth of leadership skills and experiences to Spirogen Ltd. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Onyvax Ltd. He has served as Chief Executive Officer of KuDOS Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Virus Research Institute, Inc. Earlier in his career, Dr Ward worked in research for Glaxo Ltd., where he became Director of the Microbiology Division of Glaxo Research and Development Ltd.
Chris has over 20 years experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech sector. He is non-executive Chairman of Sciona, Inc. and was a founder of Paras Ltd. and Xenva Ltd. Chris is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and a Sainsbury Management Fellow (MBA, IMD 1989).
David Thurston is Professor of Anticancer Drug Discovery at the School of Pharmacy, University of London, where he is also Director of the CR-UK Protein-Protein Interactions Drug Discovery Research Group. He is a pharmacist by training, and has spent most of his career in academic research involved with the discovery, medicinal chemistry and development of anticancer agents. He began the programme of research in 1987 that led to the founding of Spirogen in 2001.
Professor Thurston has more than 110 publications in key chemistry, biochemical and medicinal chemistry journals, and has been a member of several national scientific committees including the Cancer Research UK New Agents Committee which oversees the acceptance of novel antitumor agents for development and clinical trial. In the regulatory area he has recently completed a period of membership of the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM), and also chaired its Chemistry, Pharmacy & Standards (CPS) Sub-Committee. To-date he has supervised over 50 postdoctoral research fellows and PhD students.
Fran Crawford is a Clinical Pharmacologist with 20 years experience in the Pharmaceutical Industry in both Management and R & D roles. Previously she has been COO of a technology management company managing IP portfolios and mentoring start-up companies, and R & D Director of Sirus Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a clinical stage biotechnology company which developed polymer products targeted to the CNS.
Fran has also been R & D Director of Ethical Holdings where she was responsible for the development programmes (formulation to grant of product licence) of 5 products formulated in various drug delivery technologies. She has also worked for Elan Corporation further to the acquisition of Ethical Transdermal by Elan where she was Chief Scientific Officer and General Manager of the UK Transdermal operation.
Dr Keightley is the founder and managing director of Cambridge Research BioVentures Ltd, an investment fund that provides early stage capital for biomedical and life science companies. The fund is backed by Research Corporation Technologies of Tucson Arizona, the world's largest and most successful independent technology transfer organization. He has an MA in physiology and a Ph.D in biochemistry from Cambridge University. Chris has 20 years of experience at a senior management level in the life sciences sector, having founded his own diagnostics company (IQ Bio Ltd.) which was sold to the Danish pharmaceuticals giant Novo. More recently, he was Director of Life Sciences at Cambridge Research & Innovation Ltd. (CRIL), where he was responsible for their life science investments. He is also a Director of a number of early stage biotechnology companies.
Alistair Stokes was Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and a member of the Executive Committee of Ipsen, a mid-sized European specialist pharmaceutical company. Dr Stokes also serves as a non-executive director of Octagen Corporation, a US biotechnology company, and was formerly Chairman of Quadrant Healthcare PLC and of East Berks Community Health NHS Trust. Dr Stokes previous management experience includes senior marketing and business development positions with Glaxo and Monsanto Company in the United States, and from 1985 to 1987 he worked in the National Health Service as General Manager of the Yorkshire Region.
