Board of directors

Our Board of Directors

Guided by a dynamic and highly experienced team with world-class credentials in the field of life sciences.

Martin Nicklasson

Martin Nicklasson

Chair of the Board of Directors, Chair of Remuneration Committee, Member of Audit Committee

From 2007 to end 2010, Martin served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Biovitrum AB and Sobi AB. From 1999 to 2007 he held various Executive Vice President positions at AstraZeneca Plc. and was a member of the Senior Executive Committee. He has held and holds various chairman and board member positions in biotech and biopharma companies. Currently he serves as Chairman of Zealand Pharma AS and is a board member of Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. Martin is a certified pharmacist and holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Technology from Uppsala University.

Harald Arnets

Harald Arnet

Board Member, Member of Remuneration Committee

Harald serves as Chief Executive Officer, president and partner of the Datum Group, an investment company based in Oslo, Norway, a position he has held for over 25 years. Datum Group is controlled by Jan Haudemann-Andersen, the largest shareholder of Nykode. Harald holds several board positions in listed and non-listed companies. In addition, he has held management positions in former Samuel Montague & Co., HSBC and Handelsbanken, where he held the role as general manager banking and led the corporate finance department in Norway. Mr. Arnet holds a BSBA from University of Denver, USA and executive management courses at London Business School.

Bernd R. Seizinger

Bernd R. Seizinger

Board Member, Member of R&D Committee

Bernd Bernd R. Seizinger, M.D., Ph.D. serves as chair or board member of a number of public and private biotech companies in the U.S., Europe, including Aprea, Aptose, BioInvent, CryptoMedix, Oncolytics and Oxford BioTherapeutics. In addition, he serves on the advisory board of Pureos BioVentures (Zurich) and is senior advisor to Hadean Ventures (Stockholm and Oslo). Prior CEO/Senior Executive positions include GPC Biotech, Genome Therapeutics Corporation and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Prior to his biotech and pharma industry positions, he was a Senior Faculty Member of Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital and Princeton University. He is a medical doctor and holds a Ph.D. in neurobiology.

Elaine Sullivan

Elaine Sullivan

Board Member, Chair of R&D Committee

has over 25 years of international experience working in the pharmaceutical industry and was a member of the senior R&D management teams in Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca. She has developed new molecules in therapy areas including virology, cancer, ophthalmology, respiratory and inflammation. Other former positions include co-founder and CEO of Carrick Therapeutics which developed a novel oncology pipeline rapidly transitioning from a preclinical start-up to a clinical stage oncology company. She sits on several international boards for companies in the biotech, services and adjacent areas including Evotec AG. She holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Virology from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Anders Tuv, Chairman

Anders Tuv

Board Member, Chair of Audit Committee, Member of Remuneration Committee

Anders is Chief Investment Officer of the life science investment company Radforsk, which is focused on immunotherapies and precision medicines. He is an experienced investment and business development professional in the life science industry. His roles and responsibilities cover management positions, strategy and business development, research collaborations, licensing deals, M&A and IPOs. Anders also holds several chairman and non-executive director positions with Norwegian biotech companies. He has a MBE degree.

Birgitte Volck

Board Member, Member of R&D Committee

Birgitte currently serves as Senior Vice President, Head of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs of Ascendis Pharma A/S (Nasdaq-listed) and as a non-executive director of Soleno Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq-listed). Previous senior positions in big pharma and biotech include: President, Head of R&D, Avrobio Inc; Head of R&D in Rare Diseases for GlaxoSmithKline; and CMO and SVP of Development at Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi). Her career also includes previous non-executive director positions at Ascendis Pharma, Wilson Therapeutics, TFS International as well as various positions at Amgen Inc., including Executive Development Director of Bone, Neuroscience & Inflammation. Birgitte Volck received her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Anne Whitaker

Anne Whitaker

Board Member, Member of Remuneration Committee

Anne is an experienced executive with 30 years of experience in the life sciences industry across large pharmaceutical, biotech, and specialty pharmaceutical companies. She has extensive leadership experience, having been a CEO for three clinical-stage biotech businesses (Aerami Therapeutics, Synta Pharmaceuticals and Novoclem Therapeutics) complemented by substantial bigger pharma - most notably Bausch Health, Sanofi, and GSK. She held senior commercial roles with GSK at local US and global levels and was responsible for running Sanofi’s North America commercial and medical operations. She serves as a non-executive director of several international companies. She holds a bachelor of science in Chemistry from the University of North Alabama, USA.

Christian Åbyholm

Christian Åbyholm

Board Member, Member of Audit Committee

Christian is a partner at Andenæsgruppen. His prior professional experience and past roles include M&A, business development, and equity research with Norsk Hydro, Aker RGI, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. He is a CFA charterholder, has an MBA from IMD and holds a business degree (siviløkonom) from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. In addition, Christian completed the first two years of law school at the University of Oslo.

Einar J. Greve

Einar J. Greve

Deputy Board Member

Einar works as a strategic advisor with Cipriano AS. He was previously a partner of Wikborg Rein & Co and a partner of Arctic Securities ASA. He has held and holds various positions as chairman and board member of both Norwegian and international listed and unlisted companies. He has a Master of Law degree (cand.jur.) from the University of Oslo.

Trygve Lauvdal

Trygve Lauvdal

Observer to the Board

Trygve Lauvdal is an Investment Director with RASMUSSENGRUPPEN AS, a major shareholder of the Company. Prior to joining RASMUSSENGRUPPEN AS, he worked as an equity analyst with DNB Markets and as product manager with ABB. He has held several board positions with Norwegian companies. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Cybernetics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).