On the development course with new board members

The following startups have announced the appointment of the new board and advisory members.

Cellestia Biotech – the EPFL spinoff is developing CB-103, a novel, first-in-class, oral pan-NOTCH inhibitor with a unique mode of action for the treatment of NOTCH dependent leukaemias, lymphomas and solid tumours. To support its ongoing developments, Cellestia has appointed two board members;

Guido Guidi with a strong background in medicine will also spearhead the board of directors as the chairman. Guidi brings vast experience from his engagement with several companies including Sandoz and Novartis where he held multiple positions. Additionally, Guidi is professor & Coordinator of the Master in Pharmaceutical Medicine, Milan University and Mario Negri Institute.

Robert Karsunky joins Cellestia as a board member after leading Novartis Pharma as the CFO. Karsunky joined Novartis Pharma from Alcon, where he had been CFO since November 2010. After the merger with Novartis in April 2011, Robert played a key role in leading Alcon from a publicly-traded company to become the second-largest division in Novartis, executing an effective integration plan and establishing strong divisional finance, IT and procurement leadership team.

CreditGate24 – to bring its platform for alternative SME financing and personal loans to another level, the fintech startup has strengthened its board with two new members:

Luigi Vignola who brings more than 18 years of professional and leadership experience in the financial sector. He has held various management positions at Bank Julius Baer as well as at Deutsche Bank and Zürcher Kantonalbank.

The second board member is George H. Schmidt who brings 30 years of experience in financial services, technology, digitalisation and professional services. He also plays the role of an entrepreneur, CEO, Board Member and Chairman. He has worked for companies such as Accenture,

SOPHiA Genetics – specializing in medical bioinformatics, the startup developed an integrated application for the analysis and banking of patient DNA sequences generated by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS).

With the goal to expand its decentralized approach to Data-Driven Medicine to foster a sustainable and inclusive healthcare system, the startup has appointed Troy Cox to its board. Cox was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Foundation Medicine (FMI) before it was acquired by Roche in 2018 for CHF2.4billion. Cox has also held executive and senior positions in other companies in the healthcare sector, including UCB BioPharmaceuticals, Sanofi-Aventis, and Schering-Plough.

ecoRobotics – Renowned entrepreneur, Hans-Peter Metzler has joined ecoRobotics board of directors to support the startup in bringing its weeding robot to international markets. Metzler began his career at Siemens AG after which he founded NewLogic AG in 1997 and later sold to the global IT group Wipro Ltd. in 2005. He invested in other companies such as Navsemi Inc. in the United States, ID-Solutions s.r.l. in Italy, Dacuda AG and CCS Group AG in Switzerland. These companies also had successful exits.

Advisory board at Nootrie AG
Nootrie, a specialist in beverage technology designed and developed a stylish home appliance that supports daily nutritional requirements with a convenient pod system to produce tasty drinks. The startup has recently appointed two members to join its advisory board. Andreas Halbleib, CEO QUO AG brings broad expertise in the field of development and Urban Kiefer, VRP of Rotel AG is a highly experienced entrepreneur.