Memoirs

25+ years and 200+ plus deals – meet the prolific pharma investor. Banks Bourne has one of those presences that quietly pulls you in. There is the Southern North Carolina charm. Warm. Friendly. Almost disarming. And then, very quickly, you realise you are talking to someone with extraordinary sharpness, intent, and depth shaped by decades …

The 30 year overnight success. From the outside, Julian Casciano’s journey could be reduced to a few milestones. IPO. Exit. Technology transformation. Private equity partnership. But as with most meaningful careers, the reality is far more layered. Julian’s path into healthcare was shaped by personal experience. His early corporate chapter at KPMG gave him structure …

The AI CEO changing pharma from the inside. Pep Gubau is one of those rare founders who carries deep technical brilliance lightly. He has built and sold two serious businesses, is now doing it again with Aizon, and yet speaks with a calm humility that makes you lean in rather than feel lectured. No chest …

The AI entrepreneur fighting against cancer Selin Kurnaz is clearly very smart. But what really stood out to me is how street wise and scrappy she is as an entrepreneur. There is nothing theoretical about how she talks about building a business. It is practical, direct, and rooted in reality. What I Learnt Entrepreneurship is …

25 plus years as a pharma focused PE fund Jim Gale has been investing in pharma services longer than most of us have even known what a CDMO is. As the Founding Partner of Signet, he has built a fund with true staying power. Five funds. Seventy deals. A consistent philosophy. And a calm, articulate …

The doctor who built a 1.4 billion euro business Thomas Dobmeyer began his career as a medic, not an entrepreneur. But his journey shows what happens when curiosity, courage and timing align in just the right way. From freelancing as a young doctor to co-founding a small regulatory consultancy, Thomas went on to build PharmaLex, …

The master builder CEO leading Codis Nick Fortin’s story is one of curiosity, courage and continuous improvement. From his beginnings in Montreal’s manufacturing scene to becoming CEO of Codis, Nick’s journey shows what can happen when you keep learning, keep building and never stop pushing yourself. When I sat down with Nick, I walked away …

From R&D to CRO CEO Dr. Fozia Saleem’s journey from R&D scientist to CEO is as fascinating as it is inspiring. After years in global roles at GSK, BAT, and Broughton, she now leads Magnitude Biosciences — a scrappy, fast-moving CRO helping clients generate better data, earlier, through its WormGazer® technology platform. When I sat …

The CEO driving bold change at PathoQuest Jean-François Brepson spent 20 years climbing the ladder at Ipsen before making the leap from the security of corporate pharma into the messy, uncertain world of entrepreneurship. Since 2015, he has led PathoQuest and transformed it into a global CRO specialising in quality control of biologics using Next …

The CEO leading Ensera’s evolution Jason Anderson has taken a fascinating route to the CEO chair at Ensera. From chemical engineering at BASF, to McKinsey, to a venture backed polymer start up sold to Saudi Aramco, he has lived and worked across North America, Asia, and Europe. Today he is leading Ensera (formerly SteriPack) through …