Board of Directors of Galapagos NV
Current composition of Galapagos NV’s Board of Directors
Onno van de Stolpe founded Galapagos NV in 1999 and has served as our Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors from 1999 to the present. From 1998 to 1999, he was the Managing Director of Genomics at IntroGene B.V. (later Crucell N.V., which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. in 2011). Prior to joining IntroGene in 1998, he was Managing Director of Molecular Probes Europe B.V. He established the European headquarters after joining Molecular Probes, Inc. in the United States. Previously, he worked for The Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency in California, where he was responsible for recruiting biotechnology and medical device companies to locate in The Netherlands. Onno started his career as Manager of Business Development at MOGEN International N.V. in Leiden. He received an MSc degree from Wageningen University. Onno also serves as a member of the supervisory board of the Stichting Institute for Human Organ and Disease Model Technologies and has in the past served as a member of the board of directors of DCPrime B.V.
Rajesh Parekh, MA, DPhil has served as the Chairman of Galapagos NV’s Board of Directors since 2004. Raj is a General Partner at Advent Life Sciences LLP, which he joined in 2005. During an academic career at Oxford University, he co-founded Oxford GlycoSciences PLC, where he served as Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Executive Officer from 1988 until its sale to Celltech Group PLC (now UCB SA) in 2003. He has founded or served on the boards of several life sciences companies in the United States and Europe including Celldex Therapeutics, Inc.; Avila Therapeutics, Inc.; EUSA Pharma (Europe) Limited; Thiakis Limited; and Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (AMT) Holding N.V. (now uniQure). Raj currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Cellnovo Limited, PE Limited, F2G Limited, LuxFold S.A., Biocartis NV and Levicept Limited. In addition, he serves as a member of the board of directors of Advent Management IV Limited, Advent Management Life Sciences Limited, Advent Life Sciences Services Limited and is a general partner of Advent Venture Partners LLP. He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of the Novartis Venture Fund. During the past five years he served as a member of the board of directors of 4-Antibody AG, NeRRe Therapeutics Limited and CoCo Therapeutics Limited. He received his MA in Biochemistry and DPhil in Molecular Medicine from the University of Oxford, where he has also been a Senior Research Fellow and Professor.
Harrold van Barlingen, Ph.D. has served as a member of Galapagos NV’s Board of Directors since 2005. Harrold is the managing director and founder of Thuja Capital B.V., Thuja Capital Holding B.V. and Thuja Capital Management B.V. Prior to founding Thuja Capital, he headed the life sciences effort of AlpInvest Partners B.V. from 2001 to 2006, managing a portfolio of over 30 companies. Previously, he was at the Boston Consulting Group (“BCG”) where he worked as a consultant in management and strategy from 1999 to 2002. Prior to BCG, he headed the continental activities of The Lewin Group (a Quintiles subsidiary), an internationally active firm specialized in the field of health economics. He holds an MSc in Medical Biology and a PhD in Medicine, both from Utrecht University. From 1991 to 1992 he was a visiting scientist at the University of Chicago. He is the author of a wide variety of peer-reviewed scientific and pharmaco-economics papers. He currently serves on the supervisory boards of Encare Biotech B.V., TheraSolve NV (chairman), Hemics B.V. (chairman) and arGEN-X N.V. (ARGX, Euronext). In addition, during the last five years he also served on the boards of Okapi Sciences NV and Curacyte GmbH.
Werner Cautreels, Ph.D. has served as a member of Galapagos NV’s Board of Directors since 2009. Werner is the President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of Selecta Biosciences, Inc. Previously, he joined Solvay Pharmaceuticals SA in 1998 where he was Global Head of R&D and later Global Chief Executive Officer from 2005 onwards, until it was acquired by Abbott Laboratories Inc. in February 2010. Prior to joining Solvay he was employed by Sanofi S.A., Sterling Winthrop, Inc. and Nycomed Amersham PLC in a variety of R&D management positions in Europe and in the United States from 1979 to 1998. He graduated from the University of Antwerp, with a Doctorate in Chemistry, specializing in mass spectrometry. He received his management and financial education from the Harvard Business School. Werner currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Seres Health, Inc.
Howard Rowe, JD has served as a member of Galapagos NV’s Board of Directors since 2010. Howard is Managing Director at Hayfin Capital Management LLP. Prior to joining Hayfin Capital Management, he was a Managing Director with The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. where he had multiple healthcare responsibilities over his 12 years at the firm. His most recent roles at Goldman Sachs were as part of the European Special Situations and Principal Strategies teams where he established and led the private healthcare investing effort. During that time he served on the boards of EUSA Pharma (Europe) Limited, Healthcare Brands International Limited, SmallBone Innovations, Inc. and Ikonisys, Inc. Prior to his investing activities, Howard was a senior member of the European Healthcare Investment Banking team, where he advised numerous corporate clients on M&A and corporate finance activities. Before joining Goldman Sachs, he was a corporate lawyer with the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Howard received his Bachelor of Science in Psychobiology from the University of Southern California and his JD from Harvard Law School. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors of MedAvante, Inc.
Katrine Bosley has served as a member of Galapagos NV’s Board of Directors since 2013. Katrine is the President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors of Editas Medicine, Inc. From 2009 to 2012, she was President and Chief Executive Officer of Avila Therapeutics, Inc., which was acquired by Celgene Corporation in 2012. Prior to her time at Avila Therapeutics, Katrine was Vice President, Strategic Operations at Adnexus, a Bristol-Myers Squibb R&D Company, and was Vice President, Business Development at Adnexus Therapeutics, Inc., before that. Katrine joined Adnexus Therapeutics from Biogen Idec, Inc. where she had roles in business development, commercial operations and portfolio strategy in the United States and Europe. Earlier, she was part of the healthcare team at the venture firm Highland Capital Partners, Inc. Katrine graduated from Cornell University with a B.A. in Biology. Katrine has also served as a member of the board of directors of Coco Therapeutics Limited and currently serves as Chairman of the board of Genocea Biosciences, Inc. and as a board member of Scholar Rock, LLC.
About Galapagos NV’s Board of Directors
Galapagos NV’s Board of Directors consists of minimum five and maximum nine members, including the Chairman and the CEO. The Chairman is a non-executive Director and does not hold the office of CEO. At least three Directors are independent.
The Directors are appointed by the Shareholders’ Meeting upon the proposal of the Board, for a renewable term of up to four years. When a position on the Board becomes vacant, the other Directors may temporarily fill the mandate until the Shareholders’ Meeting appoints a new Director. The Nomination and Remuneration Committee nominates, for the approval of the Board, candidates to fill vacancies and advises on proposals for appointment originating from shareholders, in each case taking into account Galapagos’ needs and the selection criteria determined by the Board.
Except for Mr. Onno van de Stolpe, all Board members are non-executive Directors. In 2014, the following persons were members of the Board: Dr. Raj Parekh (Chairman), Ir. Onno van de Stolpe (CEO), Dr. Harrold van Barlingen, Dr. Werner Cautreels, Mr. Howard Rowe, Dr. Vicki Sato (until 31 December 2014) and Ms. Katrine Bosley; the latter four Directors were appointed as independent Directors within the meaning of article 526ter of the Belgian Companies Code.
The Board’s role is to pursue the long-term success of Galapagos. The Board does so by assuming the authority and responsibilities assigned to it by Belgian corporate law and by combining entrepreneurial leadership with appropriate risk assessment and management. Each of the Directors’ expertise and experience is exemplified by the varied professional activities they carry out and offices they hold.
In 2014, the Board of Directors held 4 regular meetings, 10 meetings by telephone conference to discuss specific matters and 2 meetings in the presence of a notary (relating to the issuance of Warrant Plan 2014 and the issuance of Warrant Plan 2014 (B)).
The attendance rate (in person or by written proxy to a fellow Director) for the Board members in function at 31 December 2014 was as follows: Dr. Parekh 100%, Mr. Van de Stolpe 100%, Dr. Van Barlingen 94%, Mr. Rowe 94%, Dr. Cautreels 94%, Dr. Sato 94% and Ms. Bosley 100%. The overall attendance rate was 97%. In addition, certain Board members (including Dr. Cautreels and Dr. Sato) also attended a number of review meetings with scientific staff of the Group.
The Board of Directors acts as a collegial body. Galapagos does not have a formalized process in place to evaluate the Board, its Committees and its individual Directors; the Board is of the opinion that such evaluation can occur on an ongoing and informal basis within the framework of the meetings of the Board and its Committees.
During 2014, Galapagos complied with the Law of 28 July 2011 with respect to gender diversification in the Board of Directors, and the Board will continue to monitor future compliance. The Board will take gender diversity into account as one of the key factors in its search for candidates to fill the vacancy on the Board that was created by Dr. Sato’s resignation as a Director effective as of 31 December 2014.