NextGen, the Cambridge, UK, based gene-to-protein company, has appointed Geoff Alms as sales director for North America and Gareth Thomson as head of marketing
Geoff Alms joins NextGen Science from Upstate, a division of Serologicals, where he was employed as director of sales for drug discovery, North America.
While there, he drove the sales growth in the first six months post-acquisition and integration by over 55% and retained 100% of employees during the post-sale integration of the company.
During his employment at Upstate, Alms formed and led the drug discovery sales team, resulting in rapid revenue growth.
He has negotiated the successful completion of more than 30 major contracts.
Prior to his sales leadership at Upstate, Alms completed his PhD and postdoctoral studies in pharmacology at the University of Virginia.
Alms first applied that scientific background to lead the business development efforts at Upstate.
He commented: "I discovered NextGen Sciences while in the role of business development for Upstate six years ago.
"Having watched its development over that time with interest, I am pleased to have joined NextGen and to be leading its sales activities in introducing the group's integrated technologies into the US market".
Alms's appointment along with three experienced salesmen completes the initial phase in the formation of a technically qualified sales team in the USA focussed on the commercialisation of NextGen's main gene to protein product range which includes the Expression Workstation, a2DEoptimizer, OrchestratorIMS and the newly introduced ContractExpress fee for service business.
Gareth Thomson joins NextGen as head of marketing from Affymetrix UK, where he was employed as the senior marketing manager.
He has over ten years experience in marketing and was responsible for the development and implementation of a regional marketing plan that included direct marketing campaigns, product launches and media placement.
He successfully launched over 30 new products and has negotiated global supply contracts with several major pharmaceutical companies.
Prior to this he worked for Amersham-Pharmacia Biotech, now GE Healthcare, where he was responsible for major account management including Glaxo SmithKline and a number of academic institutes.
He holds a BSc in biological sciences from Salford University in Manchester.
Commenting on these appointments, James Heffernan, CEO of NextGen, said: "Geoff and I previously worked together at Upstate and I have always been impressed by his commercial acumen and technical knowledge as well as his ability to develop and motivate people.
"I was delighted when I first heard about Geoff's application to join Nextgen as he has the ideal background to drive our commercialisation process in the important US market.
"The appointment of Gareth enhances our ability to expand our global marketing activities.
"His career to-date shows that he is results orientated and has the necessary experience to drive forward the marketing of our existing range of products and services and prepare the market for the new products we intend to introduce."
