Executive

JAMES CAMPBELL PhD, MBA - Chief Executive Officer

James Campbell has more than 20 years experience in scientific research, research management, management consulting and venture capital in Australia and internationally. Dr Campbell held research positions in France at the CNRS and also with the CSIRO in Australia.

After completing an MBA at Melbourne Business School Dr Campbell worked for the international management consultancy Booz & Company specialising in financial services and energy, and then worked for a year in biotech venture capital prior to joining ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals. As COO and eventually CFO of ChemGenex,  Dr Campbell's responsibilities ranged from finance and statutory reporting through to intellectual property management and corporate development.

Dr Campbell was directly involved in the planning and execution of;

• M&A due diligence and implementation (an acquisition and a demerger);

• Post merger integration of operations;

• Multiple capital raisings (from domestic and international investors);

• Listing on the NASDAQ exchange;

• IP acquisitions worth >$35M;

• Research alliance deals with biotech and pharma companies (Merck KGaA, Sequenom, Vernalis) worth >$30M;

• Major licensing deals (the licensing of ChemGenex's asset omacetaxine in Europe to Hospira Inc. for >A$130M),

• The eventual sale of ChemGenex to Cephalon for A$230M.

Dr Campbell currently sits on the Deakin University Molecular & Medical Research Advisory Board and the IP and Commercialisation Committee of the Cooperative Research Centre for Mental Health. He has previously served on the investment committees of UniSeed, a $60million pre-seed venture fund focused on the commercialisation of technologies out of the University of Queensland and The University of Melbourne, and the Symbiosis Group Limited, an early stage life sciences investment company and has served on state and local government advisory committees concerning biotechnology.

MICHAEL LAYCOCK - Chief Financial Officer

Michael Laycock is Chief Financial Officer of Photonz and has extensive financial and general management experience gained in banking and technology companies in New Zealand and the USA. Mr Laycock previously worked at PureDepth Inc., a research and development company that has developed patented multi-layered display technology and remains as CFO on a part time basis.  Mr Laycock joined PureDepth (a holding company in the USA with subsidiaries in New Zealand and Japan) in February 2009, transitioning the accounting function from California to Auckland. He was responsible for SEC reporting in the USA until the company deregistered in 2010. 

Mr Laycock previously worked as a senior systems development consultant for finance at the PMI Group, Inc., California. Prior to that he served 19 years at United Commercial Bank in San Francisco in management positions that included: the day to day management of the accounting and reporting areas (during a period when the company doubled in size from $3 to $6 billion), SVP & Director of Operations & Systems and SVP & Chief Auditor. Mr Laycock has a Bachelor of Commerce degree (University of Auckland) and a solid foundation in public accounting, working in both Auckland and London.

HYWEL GRIFFITHS MA(CANTAB), PHD(CANTAB) - Chief Scientific Officer.

Dr Griffiths is Chief Scientific Officer for Photonz. He studied Natural Sciences at Gonville and Cauis College, Cambridge, England where he graduated top of his class in microbial genetics.

He then went on to complete a Ph.D., also with the University of Cambridge. After undertaking post-doctural research at the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology in Uppsala, Sweden, Hywel contributed to the development of a molecular diagnostic technology at the University of Wales in Aberystwyth. He has been leading the process development team at Photonz since 2006 and was recently named the 2013 Young Biotechnologist of the year by NZ Bio.