Board & Executive Team

Ashley is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the North West Lung Centre and the University of Manchester as well as Consultant Respiratory Physician and Clinical Director for the Directorate of Respiratory Medicine and Allergy at the University Hospital of South Manchester. He has been Chairman of the Clinical Assembly of the European Respiratory Society, and past-President of the British Thoracic Society. He was awarded the OBE in 2006 for his Chairmanship of the Medical Technical Committee to the Montreal Protocol for the previous decade. He contributed to the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with IPCC/Al Gore and was awarded a Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2008.

Paul is a serial entrepreneur in the healthcare sector. Prior to moving into the commercial world, he practiced as an emergency physician in both South Africa and the UK prior to reading for an MBA at the University of Oxfords Säid Business School where he completed his thesis with, and subsequently consulted to, Powderject Pharmaceuticals. Over the past two decades he has been involved in several start-ups in the broad healthcare space including medical diagnostics & devices, medical consumables manufacturing, clinical research and pharma logistics. These have been in diverse executive roles including founder, investor, COO and CEO. He has coordinated and raised investments for several opportunities and successfully exited a number thereof. During his career Paul has also worked as an International Consultant at Investec Bank and as a VP at Discovery Health, a leading global health insurer.

Martin Wickham is a research driven Executive accomplished in senior-level management opportunities with a background in multi-disciplinary commercialisation and research opportunities within the Food and Pharmaceutical space. Martin was previously Head of Nutrition at Leatherhead Food Research, UK, and Model Gut Platform Leader at the Institute of Food Research, UK. Martin is a Biophysicist with over 20 years’ experience in modelling human digestion. His research interests were centred on understanding human gut physiology, through the development of in vitro models of digestion, with particular emphasis on the human response to complex food and pharmaceutical systems. He is a BBSRC/ Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellow, has a PhD from the University of East Anglia and has an MBA from the Durham University Business School.

After completing his degree in Chemical Engineering, Rob Barker started his professional career in engineering before progressing to broader management positions including operations, new product development and commercial management at a senior level. Rob previously headed the European manufacturing, sales and marketing for Probiotec Limited with a portfolio including branded and private label products within the functional foods, vitamins and minerals sectors. Rob has over 20 years’ experience in multi-national corporations as well as early stage and start-up companies. This sees him well placed to help drive Reacta forward as the business expands by installing a world class team in this exciting new area of pharmaceutical food manufacture.

Adrian joined Perscitus in 2015. Prior to this he led the technology deal teams for several high-profile Family Office investors since 2012 having worked at Truffle Capital (leading VC investor in the European markets) since 2006 where he was jointly responsible for the Energy and Cleantech portfolio. Before this he worked at 3i in the Growth Capital team since 2005. Before turning to finance, he began his career as an engineer in various high-tech industries including submarine control systems and was on the core team for the EU hydrogen fuel cell bus program at Excellsis (acquired by Ballard Power Systems) where the company grew from 30 people to over 200 in 2 years. He holds a degree in Engineering (from McGill University), a Masters of Applied Science (UBC) and an MBA (EM Lyon Grand Ecole).

“I work with technology-focused businesses in North and Mid Wales. I can help start-ups and early stage companies looking to develop and commercialise their ideas.”

Mark Bakewell has an MBA from the Open Business School. Joined the Development Bank of Wales’ technology venture investments team in August 2019. He works work with technology-focused Welsh businesses and those looking to move to Wales to secure strong intellectual property positions as they grow. As a member of the Development Bank of Wales Mike is in the Wrexham HQ, where his focus is on business opportunities in north and mid-Wales.  He worked in the technology venture capital sector, across Wales and the north of England, since the early 2000s and successfully invested in companies working in a variety of technology markets ranging from software to energy efficiency, through to medical devices and novel materials.