Leadership Team

Frank weber_03

Frank Weber, MD

Chief Executive Officer / Chief Medical Officer

Frank Weber has been our Chief Executive Officer since August 2023 and has served as our Chief Medical Officer since 2010. He has 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and life science industry.

Frank Weber supported InterMune (now Genentech/Roche), in particular, its launch of Esbriet in Europe, as Global Clinical Advisor. Prior to this, he served as Chief Medical Officer at Merck KGaA in Germany and Switzerland, where he contributed to several marketing authorizations and market access agreements in the EU, U.S. and Japan and also spearheaded personalized medicine, biomarker and companion diagnostics. During his career, Frank Weber has also been involved in several M&A transactions as well as licensing deals. His past roles include management positions in medical affairs and clinical development at American Cyanamid (Lederle), USA and at Synthelabo (now Sanofi), France. Frank Weber is also a board member at Zambon Biotech SA.

Frank Weber started his industry career after 10 years in academic clinical research and patient care in the areas of cancer, immunology, infectiology and maxillo-facial surgery. He is a licensed physician and received his MD in Cancer Immunology from the Medical University Cologne, Germany.

Florian Schmid

Florian Schmid

Chief Financial Officer, Executive Director

Florian Schmid has served as Chief Financial Officer of Vivoryon since 2021 and brings nearly two decades of finance leadership experience in public biopharmaceutical, technology and consulting businesses.

Florian Schmid joined us from InflaRx N.V., where he served as Director Finance & Controlling supporting various financing transactions including a U.S. IPO.
Before making a transition into the biotechnology industry, he held various financial management positions in the tech industry at T-Systems/Deutsche Telekom. Florian Schmid started his career as a consultant at Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young and acquired his broad knowledge in the field of Corporate Finance and Governance through the organization of complex group audits for listed companies, as well as in multi-layered international consulting projects across all common finance topics from treasury/hedging over project controlling to the strategic implementation of new IFRS standards or the Sabarnes Oxley Act.

Florian Schmid holds a degree in business economics from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany. After graduating from the required exams, he has also served as a certified public accountant and tax consultant for many years.

Mic Schaeffer

Michael Schaeffer, PhD

Chief Business Officer, Executive Director

Michael Schaeffer has been our Chief Business Officer since October 2018. He has approximately 25 years of experience across pharma and biotech in strategic business development, merger and acquisitions, licensing, alliance management, and life science research & development.

Michael Schaeffer is a highly experienced entrepreneur with an over 20-year track record. He was founder, CEO and Managing Director of the biotech companies CRELUX GmbH and SiREEN AG as well as of the nano-tech company CRENANO GmbH prior to joining Vivoryon. Together with two partners he established CRELUX from scratch and expanded it to a world leader in biophysical and structure-based drug discovery services. Following the acquisition of CRELUX by WuXiAppTec in 2016 he was responsible for integrating the Munich based entity into WuXiAppTec, a leading Shanghai based CRO with over 40,000 employees globally.

Michael Schaeffer received his PhD in Molecular Biology from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany. He is also an active start-up coach and a mentor for young talent with immigrant background.

Anne_gross VVY0963

Anne Doering, CFA

Chief Strategy & Investor Relations Officer

Anne Doering has been our Chief Strategy & Investor Relations Officer since August 2023. She has over 25 years of capital markets, investment and corporate biopharmaceutical industry experience.

Prior to joining Vivoryon, Anne Doering was Director of Investor Relations at BioNTech and Director of Group Strategy at Merck KGaA, where she contributed to the strategic direction of the company. Her additional corporate experience includes R&D finance and strategy at Merck & Co. Anne Doering also has nearly 10 years of investment experience at Franklin Templeton as portfolio manager and analyst and has spent time in venture capital at Creathor Ventures in Germany. In addition, for several years she was a healthcare equity research analyst covering pharmaceutical companies at Bear Stearns, Credit Suisse, Bank of America and Commerzbank.

Anne Doering holds an MBA from The Wharton School and an MA in International Studies from The Lauder Institute. She is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder.

Non-Executive Board Members

Erich Platzer, MD, PhD; Chairman

Erich Platzer, MD, PhD, 

has served as a non-executive director on our board of directors since 2007. He is a business angel and board member of Swiss angel organization StartAngels-Network, focusing on Life Sciences and technology investments. In addition, he serves as a board member and healthcare partner at Swiss venture capital firm MTIP in Basel, which focuses on medtech and e-health investments. Prior to this, he was an investment advisor and industry partner at HBM Partners AG, a venture capital company, which he co-founded in 2001. Erich Platzer has been chairman or board member of various biotech companies, public or private, in the US and Europe and he currently serves on the boards of the privately held life sciences companies, AOT and Panavance as well as the public biotech company Aptose Biosciences (NASDAQ, TSE). Until 1999, Erich Platzer worked in various functions in product development and marketing at F. Hoffmann — La Roche, Basel, most recently as Business Director Oncology (worldwide). Prior to that, he worked in academic medicine and research and had a key role in the team at MSKCC that purified natural human G-CSF, which lead to the development of Neupogen and Neulasta. Erich Platzer holds an MD from the Medical Faculty of the University of Erlangen, Germany, where he also earned his MD PhD (Habilitation).

 

 

 

 

 

Kugan Sathiyanandarajah; Vice-Chairman

Kugan Sathiyanandarajah,

has served as a non-executive director on our board of directors since 2023. He joined Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (KKR), a leading global investment firm, in 2010. As Managing Director, Private Equity, he is Head of KKR’s Health Care Strategic Growth business in Europe. Mr. Sathiyanandarajah is a member of the Health Care industry team and was based in KKR’s Menlo Park (California, U.S.) office from 2019 to 2020. He has played a significant role in a number of KKR’s investments across growth equity and private equity in both Europe and the U.S., including Gamma Biosciences, Argenta, Nordic Bioscience, Biosynth Carbosynth, Alliance Pharma, LGC Group, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Alvogen and Galenica. He currently serves on the board of directors of Gamma Biosciences, Argenta, Nordic Bioscience, Biosynth Carbosynth, Clinisupplies and Dawn Biopharma. Prior to joining KKR, he was with Goldman Sachs, where he was a member of the UK mergers and acquisitions team. Mr. Sathiyanandarajah earned an M.A. (First Class Hons) in Physical Natural Sciences (Chemistry) from the University of Cambridge, UK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professor Morten Asser Karsdal MSc, PhD, mMBA

Professor Morten Asser Karsdal MSc, PhD, mMBA,

has served as a non-executive director on our board of directors since 2023. He serves as CEO of Nordic Bioscience since 2010 and as Adjunct Professor, Molecular Medicine at the Southern University of Denmark. Professor Karsdal has extensive research, pharmacological and biomarker experience in the field of rheumatology, diabetes and fibrosis with more than 625 peer-reviewed publications in top journals. Professor Karsdal has spearheaded the development of FDA approved molecular diagnostics and commercialized more than 125 ELISA assays. Utilizing his broad experience in clinical trial design, clinical use of biochemical markers, and the use of biomarkers in translational science, Professor Karsdal has participated in more than 100 clinical studies, and two pivotal phase 3 clinical studies in osteoarthritis. Professor Karsdal has worked with multiple oral formulations of smaller proteins and has identified and participated in the development of treatments for fibrosis, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and diabetes, from target identification, preclinical development through phase 1 to phase 3 studies. Professor Karsdal earned an M.Sc. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the Technical University of Denmark and a Ph.D. in Bone and Cartilage Pharmacology from the University of Southern Denmark.

 

 

Charlotte Lohmann

Charlotte Lohmann

has served as a non-executive director on our board of directors since 2015. She is a member of the Executive Committee at MorphoSys AG in Planegg, Germany, since July 2020 and serves as General Counsel at MorphoSys since 2012, and, since 2018, in her role as Senior Vice President. Prior to this, she spent eleven years at Wilex AG in Munich, most recently as Senior Vice President Legal Affairs & Human Resources. Prior to her position at Wilex, she practiced law at the law firm KPMG Treuhand & Goerdeler GmbH in Munich. She started her career in the tax and law department of the auditing company KPMG Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft AG. Ms. Lohmann received her degree in law from the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich and is a licensed attorney.

Claudia Riedl, PhD

Claudia Riedl, PhD,

has served as a non-executive director on our board of directors since 2022. As Senior Advisor at MC Services AG, she supports various clients in the biotechnology industry in all aspects of investor relations and corporate communications. During her more than 15-year tenure as Head of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations at the German biotech MorphoSys until 2016, she supported the company’s transformation and growth from a technology-focused antibody discovery and development enterprise into a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company. Subsequently, in a senior advisor capacity, she was instrumental in the company’s successful secondary listing on Nasdaq in 2018. Following an apprenticeship at Deutsche Bank AG, Dr. Riedl studied biology and earned a PhD at Technical University, Munich, Germany.

Samir Shah, MD

Samir Shah, MD,

has served as a non-executive director on our board of directors since 2022. In addition to his current role as Head of Investor Relations for Novartis, a company he has been with since 2004, he is a member of several executive groups and committees within the organization, including Finance Leadership Team, Innovation Management Board and Trust & Reputation Committee. Prior to Novartis, Samir Shah spent more than 12 years at Merck Serono, where he led several global franchises, including neurology. He graduated as a physician from University of Sheffield, England and joined the pharmaceutical industry after completing his postgraduate medical training (MRCP). Dr. Shah also holds an MBA from the University of Warwick, England.