Executives

Daniel Leutenegger, BA HSG: Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder

Daniel has worked in the start-up ecosystem in Switzerland, in the US as well as in Chile, where he has co-developed initiatives to support and finance start-up companies. Daniel personally coached various start-up projects in these contexts. His areas of expertise are particularly business development, financing and project management.

Prior to joining Stemergie in 2009, Daniel has been project manager at venture kick, an initiative that finances high-tech start-ups from Swiss universities together with private foundations. He furthermore worked in consulting for Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and for the Chilean business incubator Octantis. Daniel holds a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of St.Gallen (Switzerland).

Virginie Clément-Schatlo, PhD, Scientific Collaborator: Chief Scientific Officer, Co-Founder

Virginie is the Chief Scientific Officer of Stemergie and is a recognized scientist in the field of CIC. She has developed her skills and competences in brain tumor biology and developmental pathway as a post-doc at the University of Geneva.

In March 2007, Virginie launched together with Ivan Radovanovic, MD PhD, an independent research group at the University Hospital of Geneva. At the same time, she was promoted as a Maitre-Assistante. As a scientist working in translational research, she has always been confronted with the reality of patients and with the biological aspects of diseases, which in turn has helped her to develop her skills in cancer and in therapeutic strategies.

After two years, she succeeded in developing a novel strategy and method for identifying, enriching and characterizing cancer-initiating cells essentially, but not exclusively, in brain tumors (Clément et al, Nature Methods). Virginie holds a PhD in biology from the University of Geneva on DNA repair and apoptosis. Her PhD was awarded by the price of the best thesis in 2005.

Board of Directors

Kees Lucas, PhD, Chairman of the Board

Kees is a senior executive with proven track record in business development, operational management as well as strategic advising in biotech and pharma industry. He has a strong science and management background, experience in branding and marketing and in clinical studies.

After five years at Biogen Idec where he was senior director international corporate development. Kees is currently an independent consultant for the biotech industry. He has been involved in several high profile deals and a large number of alliances. He is an associate of the Lyon based Parteurop and Munich based Van Rooijen en Partners. Kees served a large number of biotech and pharma companies, mainly in deal making.

Kees currently serves on the board of two other biotech companies (HLAG and CMP Therapeutics) and is a Venture Partner with Inventages Venture Capital.

From 1998 till 2004 Kees held a part-time professorship in Neuro-immunology at the Amsterdam University. For the Dutch government he was member of the prestigious Health Council. Kees was also closely involved in worldwide activities around children vaccines (CVI, later GAVI). During this time Kees Lucas was also regarded as a key opinion leader on Multiple Sclerosis.

Kees Lucas holds a PhD in medicine and has completed management training at IMD, Lausanne.

Virginie Clément-Schatlo, PhD, CSO

Daniel Leutenegger, CEO