Directors
Dr. Peter John Rowley Non-executive Chairman
Peter joined the board of Nanoco in 2006. Previously he led the management buyout of Victrex from ICI in 1993, followed by the successful listing of Victrex plc on the London Stock Exchange in 1995. He joined ICI in 1968 and progressed through a number of positions in the organisation. In 1983 he became International Business Manager for the widely used polymer PTFE and in 1989 he was appointed General Manager for ICI Advanced Materials Asia Pacific. Peter has a BSc and PhD in organic chemistry from King’s College, London.
Dr. Michael Albert Edelman Chief Executive Officer
Nanoco is led by Michael Edelman. Michael joined Nanoco in 2004, led the initial fund-raising and spun Nanoco out of the University of Manchester. Prior to Nanoco Michael was responsible for licensing the technology developed by the GE/Bayer joint venture, Exatec LLC. As Vice President and managing director of yet2.com Michael set up, grew and ran yet2.com’s European operation and was instrumental in successfully selling the business. He was main board director for Colloids Ltd, a manufacture of colours and additives for plastics with responsibility for global sales, marketing and restructuring of the business. Michael started his career with ICI, has a Ph.D. in organo-metallic chemistry from the University of Sussex, UK, and undergraduate degree in classics and chemistry from Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA.
Dr. Nigel Leroy Pickett Chief Technology Officer
Nanoco’s technology team is led by Dr Nigel Pickett who is a co-founder of Nanoco and inventor of Nanoco’s key quantum dot scale-up technology. Nigel graduated from Newcastle University in 1991 and chose to remain at Newcastle to pursue a Ph.D. in the field of main group organometallics. After graduation in 1994 he undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at St. Andrews University, Scotland, in the field of precursor design for MOVPE growth and synthesis of nanoparticles using CVD techniques. In 1996 he won a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) fellowship and spent the following year working at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan. In 1998 he became a research fellow at Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, working on the design and evaluation of precursor used in MOVPE. Nigel co-founded Nanoco in 2001.
Colin White Chief Financial Officer
Colin White is a chartered accountant with international experience of publicly quoted companies in the manufacturing, technology and professional services sectors. Prior to joining Nanoco, he held the position of group finance director of Driver Group plc, where he was involved in implementing a range of strategic growth initiatives and setting up a number of overseas joint ventures. He has also held senior positions at Scapa Group plc and TI Group plc, where he worked for almost 10 years prior to its acquisition by Smiths Group plc. During this time he held positions including finance director of the Dowty Aerospace Division, finance controller of Dowty North America and group investor relations manager. Colin, who graduated from Cambridge University in 1983 and qualified as a chartered accountant with Grant Thornton in 1987, joined Nanoco and its Board in August 2010.
Michael Anthony Bretherton Non-executive Director
Michael Bretherton graduated in Economics from University of Leeds in 1978. He worked as an accountant and manager with PriceWaterhouse for seven years in both London and the Middle East before joining The Plessey Company Plc in 1985 as a corporate financial manager. Michael was appointed finance director of the fully listed Bridgend Group Plc in 1988 where he was involved in the strategic evaluation and commercial implementation of a broad range of business initiatives over a twelve year period, including acquisitions, disposals and company restructurings. He subsequently worked at the property and services company, Mapeley Limited, as financial operations director until he was recruited to the entertainment software games developer, Lionhead Studios Limited, in 2002 where he helped to complete a venture capital syndicate funding and also a trade sale of the business to Microsoft in 2006. Michael is currently also a director of ORA Capital and joined the board of Nanoco on 23 June 2006.
Gordon James Hall Non-executive Director
After an early career in teaching, Gordon built up substantial international sales, management and development expertise with Rank Xerox and Abbott Laboratories. He became Chief Executive Officer of Shield Diagnostic Ltd (now Axis Shield plc) in 1990 and was responsible for listing the company on the London Stock Exchange. More recently Gordon has been involved with a range of different companies and he is currently a Non-executive Director of International Brand Licensing plc which is listed on AIM.
Anthony Clinch Non-executive Director
Anthony Clinch is a Senior Advisor to CVC Capital Partners through his consultancy business, St. Gabrielle LLP. He was an employee of CVC Capital Partners between 1987 and 2007, including as Managing Director. He has been actively involved in a number of CVC Capital Partners’ chemical investments, most notably arranging the buyout of Victrex plc where he saw the company through a UK public listing and served on the board for a number of years. He previously worked for Citibank in a number of managerial roles in Corporate Banking. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, having spent his early career with Rolls Royce Ltd. He holds a B.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering and an M.Sc. in Management Science and Operational Research from Imperial College, London. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Imperial College’s Chemistry Faculty. During the past five years, he was also a director of Starnhurst plc, Drakkar Holdings SA, Drakkar GP Ltd., Rafferty2 Ltd., Jupitervale Ltd, Creative Light Productions Ltd., Second Spring Ltd. and Victrex Manufacturing Ltd.