Cellexus Biosystems of Cambridgeshire, UK, has appointed two new non-executive directors: Robert Molloy and Robert Cumming
Robert Molloy is an experienced entrepreneur and professional investor, who brings a great deal of expertise in company leadership and an extensive network of contacts to the company.
Molloy co-founded Stray FM which went on to be a successful trade sale.
He is currently the director of two companies; an electrical contractors called Tetleys of Harrogate and an import company called RJT Leisure.
Molloy is also the CEO and director of Co-opr8 Investments, which owns an 8.6% stake in Cellexus Biosystems.
"We are pleased to welcome Rob as a non-executive director and begin our partnership with Co-opr8" stated Kevin Auton (CEO).
"The hands-on assistance provided by Rob and the Co-opr8 team have already been invaluable and they have rolled up their collective sleeves to help whenever I have sought their skills".
"I am very much looking forward to working with Rob and the Co-opr8 team as we build this company." Also joining the board as a non-executive director is Robert Cumming.
Cumming has a B.Sc in microbiology and has spent most of his career in leadership positions within the medical device manufacturing sector.
As the production manager with Avon Medicals, he was responsible for 350 employees manufacturing plastic disposable blood administration sets and renal dialysis equipment.
Later he was the general manager of Cimid , a subsidiary of BTR, which manufactured heart lung bypass equipment.
Cumming was then the managing director of three separate businesses between 1979 and 1996: he brought Intercobra (a manufacturer of plastic extrusions for medical applications) out of receivership and returned it to profitability; he was the founder of Ecosse Medical (manufacturing Thermodilution Catheters) which was acquired by 3M and Ashfield Medical Systems (manufacturing disposable surgical drapes), which was acquired by Medex Medical.
He subsequently joined New Medical Technology as operations director, which then became NMT Group when the company floated on the AIM market in 1997.
Cumming is now a business angel investing in a number of high tech companies including FSM Technologies (hollow fibre membrane technology), that was floated on AIM as Micap, Exakt Precision Tools, DRI (DNA extraction) that was sold to Invitrogen in 2005 for £35 million.
"We are delighted to have been able to attract someone of Bob's capabilities and expertise in medical device manufacturing to the board of Cellexus Biosystems" said Kevin Auton.
"This is a key step for the company as we establish our manufacturing operations for the disposable bioreactor product, the CellexusBag".
This is a use-once cell culture bioreactor that will be provided as the disposable element of the CellMaker Lite instrument series, and will be previewed for the first time at SCIpharm 2006 in Edinburgh (14-17 May 2006).
"Under Bob's leadership, we anticipate shipping product to customers this year".
