Governance

Dr Werner Lanthaler (born in 1968, Austrian citizen) was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Evotec on 06 March 2009. From March 2000 to March 2009 he was Chief Financial Officer at Intercell AG. During his tenure, Intercell developed from a venture-backed biotechnology company into a global vaccine player. Dr Lanthaler played a pivotal role in many of the company's major corporate milestones including the product approval of Intercell's Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine, the company's acquisitions and strategic pharma partnerships, as well as the company's Initial Public Offering in 2005. Previously, from 1998 to 2000 Dr Lanthaler served as Director of the Federation of Austrian Industry, and from 1995 to 1998 as Senior Management Consultant at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company. He holds a doctorate in economics from Vienna University, earned his Master’s degree from Harvard University and holds a degree in Psychology. Dr Werner Lanthaler serves in the Boards of Directors of AC Immune SA (since July 2018) and argenx SE (since April 2014), where he also serves as Chairman of the Audit Committee. 

Dr Cord Dohrmann (born in 1964, German citizen) joined Evotec as Chief Scientific Officer and Member of the Management Board in 2010. Dr Dohrmann has spent over 25 years in biomedical research at leading academic institutions and in the biotech industry. He started his academic career in 1983 studying Biology at Tübingen University in Germany and conducting research as a DAAD scholar at Duke University, Durham, USA. Dr Dohrmann completed his MA thesis at the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen and subsequently enrolled at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA, where he received his Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology in 1996. Dr Dohrmann continued his career as a Shiseido research fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston before joining a Max Planck Institute spin-off company, DeveloGen, in 1999. During his ten-year tenure, he served the company in various management positions including CEO, leading DeveloGen from a start-up to an internationally recognised metabolic disease company. Dr Cord Dohrmann is a member of the Supervisory Boards of Eternygen and Breakpoint Therapeutics, a Non-Executive Member of the Board of Directors of Facio Therapies and a Board Observer of Immunitas Inc. He has been advising the European Commission, the Max Planck Institute as well as various venture capital firms. In February 2021, Dr Dohrmann was appointed to the German Council of Science and Humanities.

Matthias (born in 1973, German citizen) was appointed as Chief Business Officer of Evotec on 01 May 2022. Matthias is responsible for business development, digital technology, and strategy across the entire company. Prior to joining Evotec, Matthias accumulated 20 years of experience as Senior Partner with the consulting firm McKinsey & Company where he co-led R&D in Life Sciences globally and served on the Firm’s most senior Knowledge and People Committees, respectively. He also spearheaded venture-type, company building efforts for biotech and health tech companies in Europe. Matthias gained significant exposure to the U.S., China, India, and Europe, where he helped R&D organisations to excel at innovation through large-scale performance transformations, innovation programmes, and novel approaches for maximising value from new assets, capabilities, and technologies. His areas of expertise include convergence of biology and technology, which he published widely around “The Bio Revolution”, as well as creating patient benefits from ecosystem-wide, cross-industry collaboration (e.g., in the context of public-private partnerships or industry fora he helped create like in Medical Affairs or Regulatory Affairs). Further, Matthias has served as advisor and speaker at high-profile science events, including the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings and Global Biotech Revolution’s GapSummit for young researchers.

Matthias was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg (ZMNH) and holds a Ph.D. based on his work in molecular biology and bioinformatics from the University of Bochum (Germany) where he also earned his MSc in Biochemistry. He is founding member of the Competence Center Biointelligence e.V. and has led the jury of the Science4Life e.V. startup competition for many years. 

Dr Craig Johnstone (born in 1970, British citizen) was appointed Chief Operating Officer and Member of the Management Board of Evotec on 01 January 2019. Dr Johnstone joined Evotec in May 2012 as SVP Drug Discovery and Innovation Efficiency. From April 2015, Dr Johnstone was Directeur General and Site Head, Evotec (France) SAS, and from January 2017, he was appointed Global Head, Integrated Drug Discovery. Dr Johnstone is a successful drug discovery leader with over 20 years’ experience particularly in the areas of diabetes, inflammation and oncology. Between 1994 and 2012, Dr Johnstone served in a number of project, function, matrix and leadership roles at AstraZeneca, Prosidion and Rapier Research where he led teams and groups, which discovered numerous candidate drugs for clinical development including AZD1656, which reached PhIIb for Type II Diabetes. During this time, Dr Johnstone also developed expertise in LEAN-inspired process excellence in drug discovery and developed a keen interest in the interface between creativity, innovation and process improvement to deliver the highest performance drug discovery, advising teams and implementing multi-site, international change initiatives to drive performance. Dr Johnstone is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Chartered Chemist (FRSC CChem) and holds BSc in Chemistry and a PhD in organic and organometallic synthesis and is an accredited LEAN Sigma Black Belt. He has published more than 70 patents and papers in drug discovery, medicinal and synthetic chemistry, innovation and LEAN methods applied to the inventive processes of drug discovery. Dr Johnstone does not hold any memberships in supervisory bodies.

Laetitia Rouxel (born in 1973, French citizen) joined Evotec as Chief Financial Officer and Member of the Management Board on 01 April 2023. Rouxel has more than 25 years of finance experience in various sectors such as Life Sciences, Food, Cosmetics and Building industry. A graduate of the French Business school ISG, she started her career with finance and commercial roles in the Pharma industry at Pfizer and J&J. She went on to work for the French multinational food-products corporation Danone, where she covered various leading Finance positions in multiple regions for R&D, Medical and Baby Nutrition based in France and in the Netherlands. She then joined the beauty company Coty in Switzerland, where she became divisional CFO. Before joining Evotec, she was Global CFO of Wavin, a solutions leader for the building and infrastructure industry.

Last updated: April 2023

Prof. Dr Iris Löw-Friedrich (born in 1960, German citizen) was appointed Member of the Supervisory Board on 17 June 2014 and was re-elected as Member of the Supervisory Board by the Annual General Meeting 2019 on 19 June 2019 for a term of five years. Since 15 June 2021 she has been serving as chairwoman of the Supervisory Board. Her current term will expire at the end of the Annual General Meeting held in the year 2024.

Since March 2008, Prof. Dr Iris Löw-Friedrich is serving as Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President Development and Medical Practices of UCB S.A., Brussels (Belgium).

From 2001 to 2009, Prof. Dr Löw-Friedrich was a member of the Executive Board of Schwarz Pharma AG, Monheim am Rhein, with global responsibility for research and development. From 2000 to 2001, she served as Vice President Global Projects at BASF Pharma, Ludwigshafen.

From 1992 to 2000, Prof. Dr Löw-Friedrich held various positions in the area of drug development at Hoechst AG, Frankfurt am Main, lastly as Vice President Clinical Development at Hoechst Marion Roussel/Aventis, Bridgewater, NJ, USA.

Since April 2014, she has been Member of the Board of Directors at TransCelerate BioPharma Inc (Chairman of the Board of Directors from September 2015 until September 2017). TransCelerate BioPharma Inc is a non-profit organisation with membership of 20 major life science companies, including UCB. Since April 2019, she is also a member of the Board of Directors of PhRMA Foundation in Washington DC (US).

Since May 2016, Prof. Dr Löw-Friedrich has been serving as Member of the Supervisory Board of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA. Prof. Dr Löw-Friedrich began her career in 1985 as a physician in the field of internal medicine at the University of Frankfurt/Main, Medical School, where she has also been a clinical professor for internal medicine since 2000.

She studied medicine at the University of Frankfurt/Main, receiving her doctorate from this university in 1985.

Prof Dr Iris Löw-Friedrich is independent in the opinion of the Company. Her position on the Executive Board of UCB S.A., which has a business relationship with Evotec SE, does not constitute dependency. Business relationships constitute a material and prolonged conflict of interest only in exceptional cases. The Supervisory Board has no influence on the volume of orders or the continuation or expansion of business relationships. This is the responsibility of the Management Board of Evotec SE, which not only represents the Company (section 78 of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG)), but also makes decisions on these matters under its own responsibility (section 76, paragraph 1 of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG)). There is also no intersecting executive body position.

Latest update: June 2022

Mr Roland Sackers (born in 1968, German citizen) was appointed Member of the Supervisory Board on 19 June 2019 for a term of five years. Since 15 June 2021 he is Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board. His current term will expire at the end of the Annual General Meeting held in the year 2024.

Mr Sackers has been serving as Chief Financial Officer of QIAGEN N.V. since January 2004. In this position, he is responsible for developing and executing the long-term financial planning, which is the foundation for the company’s accelerated growth strategy.

Prior to joining QIAGEN in 1999, Mr Sackers served as Auditor at the auditing company Arthur Andersen.

Mr Sackers received his master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Münster.

He represents QIAGEN as board member of BIO Deutschland e.V. Mr Roland Sackers (CFO of Qiagen N.V.) is independent. Qiagen N.V. has no significant business relationship with Evotec SE, and no other circumstances leading to dependency are apparent.

Latest update: June 2021

Mrs Camilla Macapili Languille (born 1983, Canadian citizen) was appointed Member of the Supervisory Board on 22 June 2022. 

Camilla Macapili Languille is an investment expert with some 20 years of experience in business development, asset management and M&A in Europe, North America and Middle East and North Africa (MENA). She has worked in various areas of corporate finance and principal investment, with a focus on healthcare, technology and industrial companies.

Camilla Macapili Languille leads the Life Sciences investments team at Mubadala Investment Company ("MIC"), a sovereign wealth fund based in Abu Dhabi with total assets of some USD 280 billion. This team invests in the international healthcare industry in the fields of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, life science tools and diagnostics, healthcare IT, and services across various assets with a focus on private equity. She is currently a member of the Direct Investments Committee of Mubadala and serves on the boards of PCI Pharma, Envirotainer, Norstella and Evotec. She has previously served on the boards of Envision Pharma Group, Rodenstock, and Outset Medical.

Before founding the Life Sciences investment team, Camilla Macapili Languille managed MIC’s investments in Advanced Micro Devices (“AMD”) and Globalfoundries and was responsible for business development in the technology sector. She also led MIC’s investments in two power plants in Oman and Algeria, a goldmine in Colombia and a district cooling plant, Tabreed, and was responsible for business development for MIC in the field of conventional energy.

Before joining Mubadala, Camilla Macapili Languille worked in M&A for Daiwa Capital and Société Générale in Paris, France, where she specialised in cross-border transactions in various sectors. She also worked as an investment manager at the London headquarters of the Virgin Group, where she managed the special situations portfolio, was involved in the establishment of Virgin Healthcare, and was a director of several companies

Camilla Macapili Languille began her career in healthcare M&A at JPMorgan in New York and London, where she focused on pharma, medtech and biotech.

Camilla Macapili Languille holds a Bachelor of Economics & Political Science degree from Columbia University, which she completed summa cum laude in 2004. She grew up in an international environment and has lived in 14 countries on four continents. She speaks fluent English and French.

Her long-standing, wide-ranging experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors mean she has extensive knowledge of the industry. Her particular investment expertise makes Ms Macapili Languille an ideal addition to the range of competences represented on the potential Supervisory Board of Evotec SE.

Latest update: April 2023

Dr Mario Polywka (born in 1963, British citizen) was appointed Member of the Supervisory Board on 19 June 2019 for a term of five years. His current term will expire at the end of the Annual General Meeting held in the year 2024.

Dr Polywka retired from the Management Board of Evotec AG effective 31 December 2018. Until then, he served as member of the Management Board and Chief Operating Officer of Evotec AG since 28 November 2007.

In 1991, he was a founding chemist of Oxford Asymmetry International plc (OAI), became Director of Chemistry in 1993 and a Board Director in 1996. In 1999, Dr Polywka was appointed Chief Operating Officer and in 2000 Chief Executive Officer of OAI. Following the merger of EVOTEC BioSystems AG with OAI in 2000 he was Chief Operating Officer until 2002. Between 2002 and 2004, Dr Polywka ran a number of spin-out companies from Oxford and Southampton Universities.

Dr Polywka received his Bachelor’s degree from Hertford College, Oxford University and his Doctorate from the University of Oxford in mechanistic organometallic chemistry with Professor Steve Davies and continued at Oxford with post-doctoral studies on the biosynthesis of Penicillin with Professor Sir Jack Baldwin. He held a number of college teaching posts at Oxford University between 1988 and 1994.

Dr Polywka is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and has a number of publications and patents mainly in the field of asymmetric synthesis.

In May 2017, Dr Mario Polywka became a member of the Board of Directors of Forge Therapeutics, Inc. and in September 2017, Dr Mario Polywka also joined the Board of Directors of Exscientia Ltd. In September 2019, Dr Polywka was appointed Non-Executive Director at the UK biotech company Orbit Discovery, and has accepted a position as Senior Advisor with MCF Corporate Finance. He has served as Non-Executive Director at UK based company C4X Discovery Holdings PLC since December 2021.

Dr Mario Polywka, who served as COO of Evotec until 31 December 2018 and who was elected to the Supervisory Board on the recommendations of a group of shareholders who together hold more than 25% of the total number of voting rights in the Company, is regarded as not independent.

Latest update: June 2022

Dr Elaine Sullivan (born in 1961, British citizen) was appointed Member of the Supervisory Board on 09 June 2015 and was re-elected as Member of the Supervisory Board by the Annual General Meeting 2019 on 19 June 2019 for a term of five years. Her current term will expire at the end of the Annual General Meeting held in the year 2024.

Elaine is a Non-Executive Director at the IP Group plc, hVIVO plc, Active Biotech AB, and Nykode Therapeutics ASA and chair of the R&D committee. She has over 25 years of international experience working in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. She co-founded and was CEO of Carrick Therapeutics, a European oncology company, which raised € 95 m in Series A funding. Elaine was the CEO of Keltic Pharma Therapeutics, a company with a focus on severe asthma, neuropsychiatric disorders, and malaria. 

Elaine has worked as part of the most senior R&D management teams at Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca. She served as Vice President Global External Research and Development at Eli Lilly & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, USA, where she led a global workforce delivering access to business-critical external innovation. She was a member of the investment committees of Lilly Ventures and Lilly Asian Ventures and the steering committees of Lilly’s Capital Fund partners. 

Prior to joining Eli Lilly, Elaine was Vice President R&D, New Opportunities at AstraZeneca. In this role, she led the virtual therapy disease function which pinpointed new disease areas and created new therapeutic applications for multiple molecular entities and advanced them into the clinic. As Vice-President, Science & Technology at AstraZeneca, Elaine was focused on acquiring new technologies. She has successfully delivered over 250 collaborations and transactions including spinouts, joint ventures, strategic partnerships and acquisitions. 

Elaine holds a doctorate in Molecular Biology and Virology from the University of Edinburgh, UK, and a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Glasgow, UK.

Dr Elaine Sullivan (the former CEO of Carrick Therapeutics Ltd) is independent. Evotec SE holds approximately 4.5% of the shares in Carrick Therapeutics Ltd., and it is not a significant partner of Carrick Therapeutics Ltd. at present.

Therefore, for two reasons there is no conflict of interest that could hinder the position of independence:

1. Evotec SE's participation rights in Carrick Therapeutics Ltd. are exercised by the Management Board of Evotec SE on its own responsibility pursuant to section 76 paragraph 1 of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG). In particular, a member of the Supervisory Board has no influence on the voting on the resolutions of the shareholders of Carrick Therapeutics Ltd. (e.g. on any formal approval).
2. There is also no intersecting executive body position, nor are there any other significant connections to members of the company's Management Board through their involvement in other companies or organisations.

Latest update: January 2023

Dr Ulmer-Eilfort (born in 1962, German citizen) has more than twenty years’ experience in advising high-tech, pharmaceutical and media companies on the protection and marketing of their intellectual property rights. As a Partner with PSP München, she advises on a wide range of agreements, including cooperation and licensing agreements, R&D agreements and agreements with academic institutions. 

Previously, Dr Ulmer-Eilfort was a Partner with the international law firm Baker McKenzie where she was also a member of the Global Executive, chairing the Global Financial Committee and overseeing the budgeting process and budget controls worldwide.

Dr Ulmer-Eilfort’s leadership roles in both management and supervisory functions as well as her specialisation in the protection and marketing of intellectual property and corporate governance are an ideal qualification for her membership of the Supervisory Board of Evotec SE.

Dr Ulmer-Eilfort is to be considered as independent as she has no business relationship with Evotec SE and no other circumstances leading to dependency are apparent. She is chairwoman of the advisory committee of S4DX GmbH. Otherwise she is not a member of any statutory supervisory boards or similar domestic or foreign supervisory boards of commercial entities in accordance with Sec. 125 para. 1 sentence 5 AktG and recommendation C.14 of the German Corporate Governance Code as amended on 16 December 2019.

Latest update: January 2022