Board of directors
Dr Paul Atherton, Executive Chairman
Dr Paul Atherton is a successful, serial, technology entrepreneur. He co-founded Queensgate Instruments and was Managing Director until its sale in March 2000. Paul is a shareholder in and chairman of two Imperial Innovations Group technology companies, Nexeon Limited and Midaz Lasers Limited. Paul is also Executive Chairman of Infinitesima Ltd and NanoVentures. Paul was Chairman of C2V (Micro Gas Chromatographs) until November 2009 when it was acquired by Thermo-Fisher.
Paul has a PhD in Physics from Imperial College and an MBA from the London Business School (of which he was a Governor for 6 years). Paul is a former President of euspen – The European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology.
Russ Cummings
Russ Cummings represents Imperial Innovations on the Nexeon board. Russ joined Imperial Innovations from Scottish Equity Partners Limited, where as director in the Information Technology Group, he was responsible for investment in high growth technology companies.
Russ worked at 3i Group plc where he was a director in their UK Technology Group (and previously worked at Rolls-Royce Motors as a development engineer). Russ manages the investment portfolio and decision-making process at Imperial Innovations. Russ serves on the boards of the following Group technology companies: Circassia Holdings Limited and Nexeon Limited. Russ has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College
Christina McComb
Christina joined PUK Ventures as Executive Director in May 2006. She is head of PUK’s venture investment and commercialisation activities; she also sits on the Investment Committee of Building Schools for the Future Investments LLP.
Prior to joining PUK, Christina was a senior director in the Shareholder Executive, an organisation created in 2003 to improve the government’s performance as a shareholder in public owned enterprises. In particular, she was responsible for the shareholdings in Royal Mail, PUK and Actis. Christina is a former director of 3i plc and has extensive experience in venture capital investment and portfolio management. She is a non-executive director of several early stage businesses and sits on the investors’ advisory boards of Imperial Innovations Group and the London Technology Fund.
Dr Alfred Oberholz
Alfred joined Nexeon in October 2009 as a non-executive director. Prior to this he worked for Degussa AG. During this time he was responsible for a strategic alliance with LG Chem in Korea to research functional materials for electronics and IT applications, founding Science to Business Centres for Biotechnology and Nanotechnology with €50m of investment each for research on biotechnology and nanomaterials applications, and deploying €4bn of R&D across China, India and Western Europe. Before joining Degussa AG, Alfred spent many years working for Hüls where he was Head of Silanes/Silicones Business Unit – Executive Management of Hüls Silicone before becoming a Member of the Board of Management of Hüls AG.
Kevin Ellison, Accountant & Company Secretary
Kevin Ellison has been Nexeon’s Accountant and Company Secretary since it was incorporated in 2006. He is an economist and chartered management accountant with a broad range of experience, specialising in new technology-based businesses.
Kevin is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management accountants (FCMA) and has worked at Deloitte&Touche, Hawker Siddely and Praxis plc. As Finance Director, Kevin worked on the successful flotations of both Logica and Division Group. He has also completed a number of rights issues, company disposals, acquisitions and a merger.