Professor Dr Axel Kleemann is a co-founder of Act.On GmbH Pharma Consultants, Germany, chairman of the Board of Directors of Protagen AG, Germany, and a member of the Board of Directors of several other non-listed Biotech and fine chemicals companies. From 1987 until 2000, he was a member of the Management Board of ASTA Medica AG where he was responsible for Research & Development, Production, Engineering and Drug Safety.
He obtained his PhD in chemistry from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, where in 1987 he became an honorary Professor of chemistry. Professor Kleemann is a co-author of the standard reference book, Pharmaceutical Substances.
Mr Jürgen Kosch has a broad experience and understanding of technology, markets and products in the IT arena. He is an Executive Director of the MIG Verwaltungs AG and since 2003 a member of the investment committee for two Venture Capital companies: GC Global Chance Fund GmbH & Co. KG and the GA Global Asset Fund GmbH & Co. KG, where he is responsible for selecting portfolio companies and then providing them with business strategy and support. Jürgen’s extensive business experience has enabled him to serve as a coach and provide guidance to many additional companies. He has also been active as a Business Angel.
Previously, since 1985, Jürgen has been responsible for founding several companies in the IT industry, where he has held key positions either as a Managing Director or as a member of the Executive Committee. In these roles he has been responsible for the overall business structure and organization as well as devising strategies for the development of the various product ranges.
Dr. Ulrich Pessara has broad experience in business and financial transactions in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries and is a member of the Investment Committee of the Corporate Finance Holding (CFH) / Sächsische Landesbank, Dresden, Germany. Since 2004, he is a General Partner with JSB Partners, an international transaction advisory firm based in Boston/US and Munich/Germany, and is Managing Director of the Company’s German office. From 2000 to 2004, he was a co-founder and COO of Xantos Biomedicine, a Munich based Biotech Company, where he was responsible for business and strategic development.
From 1997 to 1999, as Director of Program Management at Hofmann-La Roche, he was responsible for international biotech alliances. Previously, in 1991, he joined Boehringer Mannheim where he was responsible for biopharmaceutical drug development with several international biotech partners. He has also served as Managing Director and a board member in several international joint venture biotech companies in San Diego, USA, Milan, Italy and Hanover, Germany. Formerly, Dr Pessara had an established scientific career in molecular immunology that spanned more than ten years.
Dr. Rainer Strohmenger is a General Partner at Wellington Partners, a pan-European venture capital firm based in Munich. He has more than ten years of investment experience and was responsible for investments in 20 start-up companies, many of which have been successfully exited. In the late 1990s he co-managed Wellington’s investment in Swiss biotech player Actelion, today a listed company with a market cap of more than four billion euros (SWX: ATLN). He was also responsible for the investments in Grandis (acquired by Novartis), Noema Life (Borsa Italiana:NOE), Wavelight (Deutsche Boerse:WLT), as well as mtm laboratories, immatics, Oxford Immunotec and Implanet.
Prior to joining Wellington Partners, Dr. Strohmenger was involved in medical research with a primary focus on cardiovascular physiology and in research on health economics at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich.
He studied medicine and economics and holds a doctorate in medicine as well as a master’s degree in economics.
Matthias Guth has an extensive network and broad transaction experience in the Life Science Venture Capital arena. In 2007 he founded his own consulting firm where he advises both Investors as well as capital-seeking companies. His special focus area is the Life Science Industry. Previously, for four years, he was a Principal in the Life Science team at Wellington Partners, a leading European Venture Capital Fund.
In 1999, he entered the Venture Capital Industry as an Investment Director at TransConnect, Munich (today goetzpartners), where he was responsible for the Life Science portfolio. Prior to this he worked for three years with a management consultancy.
Matthias holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on medical technology from the RWTH Aachen, Germany.