Leadership team

Appointment

Michael Austwick was appointed Chief Executive Officer in June 2022.

Experience and Expertise

Michael provides overall leadership for the Vectura business and is accountable for Vectura Fertin Pharma’s inhaled therapeutics category and proprietary pipeline, from formulation through to launch and beyond. Michael joined us in June 2022 from Novartis and has more than 25 years of global experience across the pharmaceutical industry.

Current external appointments

Michael does not currently hold any other directorships.

Appointment

Elizabeth Knowles was appointed Chief Financial Officer in March 2022.

Experience and Expertise

Elizabeth graduated from Manchester University in 2007, and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with the ICAEW in 2010. Elizabeth has been with Vectura since 2012 and has held a number of senior positions with Finance, including VP Corporate Finance and Investor Relations, supporting the business through major acquisitions and equity placings. Prior to Vectura, Elizabeth worked for PwC as a Senior Associate within Audit.

Appointment

John Murphy joined Skyepharma as general counsel in March 2006 and was appointed as General Counsel and Company Secretary of Vectura in June 2016 following the merger.

Experience and expertise

John is a lawyer with extensive experience in legal and company secretarial roles in listed pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies including Medeva PLC, Celltech Group PLC and Pharmagene PLC. He is chairman of the BIA Intellectual Property Advisory Committee and a member of the EuropaBio Intellectual Property Working Group. He holds a BSc in aeronautical engineering from Bristol University and is a qualified solicitor.

Appointment

Dr Geraldine Venthoye joined Vectura in June 2016 upon completion of the merger with Skyepharma PLC, where she had been executive vice president – pharmaceutical development since 2013. She joined Skyepharma as head of the inhalation business unit in September 2003.

Experience and expertise

Geraldine is a UK registered pharmacist and holds a doctorate degree in pharmaceutics from the University of London and has spent 30 years in inhaled drug delivery R&D.

Geraldine previously held senior CMC leadership and scientific roles at Inhale/Nektar Therapeutics, San Carlos, California, US, and Vandsons Research and Norton Healthcare in the UK. She completed her pre-registration clinical training at the Brompton Heart and Lung Hospital in London.

Appointment

Antony Fitzpatrick joined Vectura in July 2017.

Experience and expertise

Antony has a first-class BSc in aeronautical engineering from Manchester University and an MSc in numerical computation from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.

Antony joined Vectura from Baxter where he had worked since 1999, having been responsible for global supply chain and also manufacturing across EMEA. His Baxter experience includes operating in both a pharma product environment and in product device and pure medical device operations. He sat on the board of GHX, the Global Healthcare Exchange, for four years prior to its sale to private equity. Before working at Baxter he worked in various manufacturing and logistics roles of increasing responsibility for Ingram Micro (IT technology), Exel Logistics, Coopers and Lybrand and Mobil Oil.