Board of Directors
Stig Løkke Pedersen
Stig Løkke Pedersen
Elected to the Board of Directors in 2017 and Chair of the Board since 2020. Stig is regarded as an independent board member.
Special competencies
Stig has more than 35 years of strategic, commercial and leadership expertise from the life science industry, holding senior positions at H. Lundbeck and Ciba-Geigy.
Current positions
Chairman of the Board of Directors at StemMedical, SSI Diagnostica and Moksha8.
Member of the Board of Directors of TAP, Skybrands, BroenLab, Hasle Refractories, NLS Pharmaceutics and Quiapeg. In addition, Stig is Operating Partner in the private equity fund Catacap.
Education
Stig holds an M.Sc. in Economics from Aalborg University, Denmark.
Nationality
Danish
Arthur Higgins
Arthur Higgins
Elected to the Board of Directors in 2021 and Deputy Chair of the Board since 2021. Arthur is regarded as an independent board member.
Special competencies
Arthur is a global executive with extensive business development, marketing and leadership expertise from large healthcare companies in both the US and Europe, holding CEO positions at Bayer HealthCare and Assertio Therapeutics, and senior executive roles at Abbott Laboratories.
Current positions
Senior Operating Advisor to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Director of Ecolab and ZimmerBiomet.
Education
Arthur Higgins holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from Strathclyde University, Scotland.
Nationality
British and American
Gitte P. Aabo
Gitte P. Aabo
Elected to the Board of Directors in 2021 and is regarded as an independent board member.
Special competencies
Gitte brings extensive global leadership experience from the life science industry and a deep understanding of dermatology, marketing and capital markets. Gitte has previously been President & Chief Executive Officer of LEO Pharma for more than 10 years.
Current positions
Gitte is a member of the Committee of Directors of Danmarks Nationalbank (the Danish Central Bank), a board member of ALK-Abelló, and a member for the board and the Executive Committee at Danish Chamber of Commerce (Dansk Erhverv).
Education
Gitte P. Aabo holds an M.Sc. in Business Administration from Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.
Nationality
Danish
Andrew J. Oakley
Andrew J. Oakley
Andrew J. Oakley was elected to the Board of Directors in 2019 and is regarded as an independent board member.
Special competencies
Andrew is a global executive with more than 20 years of financial and capital markets experience, holding positions as Chief Financial Officer of Actelion, Vectura PLC, Sosei Group Corporation and Autolus Therapeutics PLC.
Current positions
Andrew currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Theolytics Ltd. and is also a board member of Novaremed AG.
Education
Andrew holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from Macquarie University and an MBA from London Business School, United Kingdom. Andrew has been a member of the Australian Institute of Chartered Accountants since 1987.
Nationality
Australian
Dr. Jutta Heim
Dr. Jutta Heim
Jutta Heim was elected to the Board of Directors in 2017 and is regarded as an independent board member.
Special competencies
More than 20 years of research expertise within infectious diseases, coagulation disorders and oncology. Jutta has worked for more than 30 years at Ciba-Geigy/Novartis in both Switzerland and the US, as well as in Basilea Pharmaceutica and Evolva.
Current positions
Chair of the Board of Directors of Synendos Therapeutics and advisor to discoveric bio and to Aukera Therapeutics, all companies located in Switzerland. Jutta is also member of the scientific advisory board of the HZI, the infectious diseases institute of the Helmholtz association.
Education
Jutta holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Tübingen and a professorship in Biotechnology at the Biocenter of the University of Basel, Switzerland.
Nationality
German and Swiss
Dr. Rasmus Toft-Kehler
Dr. Rasmus Toft-Kehler
Member of the Board, and not considered independent due to being COO as well as co-founder and major shareholder of UNION.
Special competencies
Extensive leadership and strategic development experience from founding and building companies in the life science industry. Before going into biotech, Rasmus worked in investment banks and in management consulting.
Current positions
Rasmus is the Chief Operating Officer of UNION and co-founder of several biotech companies. He is also board member at Clinical-Microbiomics and UTILITY Therapeutics.
Education
Rasmus holds a Ph.D. in Entrepreneurship from Copenhagen Business School and executive education from Harvard Business School.
Nationality
Danish
Dr. Morten Sommer
Dr. Morten Sommer
Member of the Board, and not considered independent due to being CSO as well as co-founder and shareholder of UNION.
Special competencies
Extensive research and development experience working within fields of drug development, industrial biotechnology and microbiome research. Morten has published more than 100 scientific publications and is an inventor of several issued patents.
Current positions
Morten is the Chief Scientific Officer of UNION and holds the position as Professor and Scientific Director at the Technical University of Denmark. He is also Chair of the Board at Clinical-Microbiomics, and member of the board in Novozymes, SNIPR Holdings and SNIPR biome, Biosyntia and UTILITY therapeutics.
Education
Morten holds a M.Sc. in Physics from University of Copenhagen and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University from the laboratory of Professor George Church.
Nationality
Danish
