Board of Directors

Christian Moretti
Chairman, Non-Executive Director

As graduate of HEC Paris and Columbia Business School, Mr. Moretti worked for 10 years in the banking sector, before founding the industrial holding Dynaction listed on the Paris stock exchange.

He then focused on the development of one of the holding’s subsidiaries, PCAS Biosolution, which he managed as CEO for 13 years and enabled it to become the European leader in the chemistry of complex molecules, employing more than 1,000 people worldwide.

In addition to his extensive experience in the financial and industrial fields, Mr. Moretti has a deep knowledge of Mithra’s strategic and operational priorities, since he has been on its Board of Directors for more than 3 years.

Erik Van Den Eynden
Vice-Chairman, Independent Director

Mr. Erik Van Den Eynden graduated in Economics at the University of Antwerp and has more than 30 years of experience in the banking sector. He joined ING in 1990, where he held various commercial and management positions, including District Manager, Head of MidCorporates & Institutionals, CEO of ING Insurance Belgium & Luxembourg.

From 2017 to 2020, he held the position of CEO of ING Belgium. In March 2021, Mr. Van Den Eynden became CEO of the Straco Investment Group active in real estate project development, investments and private equity.

Patricia van Dijck
Independent Director

Ms. Patricia van Dijck holds a degree in medicine and a specialization in clinical biology and pharmaceutical medicine from the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL). She began her career in the pharmaceutical industry in 1996 as an International Medical Advisor at UCB.

She then became Medical Director at Lundbeck, before being appointed Managing Director in 2007. In 2011, Mrs. van Dijck joined Novartis Belux as Head of Market Access & Public Affairs, before joining the mother company in Basel in 2014 as Head Patient Access Excellence.

Since 2018, she has been working for GSK Belux as Market Access & Public Affairs Director.

Liesbeth Weynants
Independent Director

Ms. Liesbeth Weynants holds a master’s degree in law from the University of Leuven and is specialized in pharmaceutical and regulatory law with a focus on the life sciences sector.

She has extensive expertise in intellectual property and patent law for innovative medicines (AbbVie, Allergan, Biogen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, J&J, Lundbeck, Merck, Novartis, Sanofi…) and is currently Managing Partner at the law firm Hoyng Rokh Monegier as well as Professor of Intellectual Property Law at the VUB.

An Cloet
Independent Director

Ms. An Cloet holds a Master’s degree in Pharmacy from the University of Leuven and a Degree in Business and Administration from the University of Louvain. She has over 25 years of pharmaceutical experience in multiple therapeutic domains, in particular women’s health (contraception, osteoporosis, fertility).

She built her career within MSD, where she has held various positions in Business Development, Marketing and Corporate Strategy. Since 2019, Ms Cloet is External Affairs Director at MSD Belux.

Valérie Gordenne
Non-Executive Director

Ms. Valérie Gordenne holds a Master’s degree in Pharmacy from the University of Liège. She has over 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical Research & Development with extensive leadership experience in full drug development across a range of therapeutic areas, in particular in women’s health (CSO Mithra, CEO Novalon, General Manager Odyssea).

Through the management of various functions and activities, she has developed a deep operational and strategic knowledge and expertise in drug development. She is currently Chief Scientific Officer at Auxin Surgery, CEO of the start-up Odix and advisor in regulatory affairs.

Gaëtan Servais
Non-Executive Director

Gaetan-Servais

Mr Servais holds a Master Degree in Economics at the University of Liège.

He started his career as Research Assistant at the University of Liège.

In 1995, Gaëtan joined the Federal Planning Bureau as Expert and later the Economic and Social Council of the Walloon Region. Since 2001, he was chief of staff for several ministers of the Walloon Government.

Since 2007 he has been CEO of Meusinvest, a financial company that has structured its activity in different subsidiaries to better respond to business financing needs of small and medium enterprises (SME) located in the province of Liège.

Amel Tounsi
Non-Executive Director

Ms. Amel Tounsi holds a PhD in Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Louvain. She has a broad experience in cell-therapy development. During her career in the biotech sector (Celyad, Texere, Analis, Masthercell), she acquired a strong expertise in Business Development and Company Development strategy.

Since January 2021, she works as an Investment Manager at the Liège-based investment fund Noshaq.

Jean-Michel Foidart
Executive Director

Prof Jean-Michel Foidart co-founded Mithra Pharmaceuticals SA and Uteron Pharma SA.

Through his membership of international research centers, his academic and industry career, he has extensive knowledge of reproductive medicine.

He trained in Gynecology at the University of Liège where he also obtained a PhD in cell biology and biochemistry. He was the former head of the Gynecology and Obstetrics department at the University of Liège, the general secretary of the European Society of Gynaecology (ESG) and member of multiple editorial boards of international peer-reviewed journals.

Prof Foidart was awarded the Bologne-Lemaire Prize from Institut Destrée (Walloon of the year) in 2011.

Executive Management

Leon Van Rompay

Chief Executive Officer

Leon Van Rompay has more than 40 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical market. During his professional career he served in several positions including country & area manager (covering major territories) and board member of the Zambon Group. He was founder and CEO of Docpharma, a Belgian based generics company that was listed on Euronext and served on different boards including Ecodis and Uteron Pharmaceuticals.

He was a founding member of BIGE/IBES (Belgian Institute for Health and Economics), the B.G.A. (Belgian Generic Association), BAPIE (Belgian Association of Parallel Import and Export) and was an executive committee member and board member of the Belgian Pharmaceutical Industry Association. He also was a member of the pharmaceutical deontological commission and responsible for this commission in the industry association executive committee.

Mr Christophe Maréchal was Director, Group Treasury and Credit Risk Management, at Hamon Group (Euronext Brussels: HAMO), an engineering and contracting company. He has more than 20 years of international financial experience in the industrial, telecommunications, manufacturing and banking industries, including M&A, operational and financial strategy, and tactical initiatives to drive long-term business growth.

Before joining Hamon Group in 2006, Mr Maréchal held a number of positions at France Telecom Group in Paris, London and Brussels, including Deputy Group Treasurer. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Liège, Belgium, and studied econometrics at the Katholieke Universiteit Brabant, Tilburg, Netherlands.

Christophe Maréchal

Chief Financial Officer

Graham Dixon

Chief Scientific Officer

Dr Graham Dixon has a 27 year international career in the pharmaceutical industry, with a strong track record in R&D across many therapeutic areas. He also has solid leadership experience having worked across a number of R&D management positions at AstraZeneca plc and in C-level management positions in several biotech companies: Entomed SA; Galapagos NV (AMS:GLPG); Addex Therapeutics SA (SWX:ADXN); Sensorion SA (EPA:ALSEN) and Onxeo SA (EPA:ONXEO).

Dr Dixon has also held leadership roles in successful programmes spanning the whole continuum of R&D, including clinical proof-of-concepts and regulatory approvals. On the business side, he has held executive roles in two successful IPOs (Galapagos & Sensorion) and 10 clinical stage licensing deals.

He has also held several non-executive director positions in the biotech sector and acted as an advisor to several venture capital organisations and their portfolio companies.

Dr Dixon obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Bradford, UK and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Swansea, UK.

Prof Jean-Michel Foidart co-founded Mithra Pharmaceuticals SA and Uteron Pharma SA.

Through his membership of international research centers, his academic and industry career, he has extensive knowledge of reproductive medicine.

Prof Foidart was awarded the Bologne-Lemaire Prize from Institut Destrée (Walloon of the year) in 2011.

Jean-Michel Foidart

President of the Scientific advisory board

Jean-Manuel Fontaine

Chief External Affairs Officer

Mr Fontaine has over 18 years of experience in the pharma industry in manufacturing, supply chain and commercial positions.

He started his career at Pfizer in supply chain and manufacturing where he ensured ERP implementation and integration of Pfizer’s Belgium manufacturing site. In 2001 he joined Lundbeck where he held various positions in sales & marketing in Belgium and France, notably for Cipralex^® product. In 2010, Jean-Manuel joined UCB global marketing team as associate director developing global campaign for the brand and driving business alignment across EU regions.

In 2013, Jean-Manuel joined Mithra to lead successively business development and public relations.

Jean-Manuel holds a Master in Pharmaceutical Sciences and MBA from Cornell University.

M. Brands holds a bachelor’s degree from the university of Liège ( Belgium) in Public Health with a major in Epidemiology and Health Economics and has over 10 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry. His area of expertise covers Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance and Supply Chain.

M. Brands started his career at Astra Zeneca in a commercial role and joined Mithra in 2009 to take growing responsibilities in the Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs department. After developing the Quality Assurance activity at Mithra as QA Manager he progressively transitioned to Supply Chain Manager to develop the whole Supply activities and manage the growing logistic and supply streams.

His deep knowledge of the logistical organisation within the company together with his sound experience in establishing and developing the Supply Chain activity allows M. Brands to take the role as Chief Supply Chain Officer at Mithra. In this position M. Brands will address the Mithra CDMO logistic and supply development , which is key to the company’s growth.

Benjamin Brands

Chief Supply Chain Officer

Benoît Mathieu

Group Investor Relations Manager

With over 8 years of experience in investor relations for Belgian international groups active in the insurance and real estate sectors, Benoît Mathieu brings together expertise in mergers and acquisitions, operational strategy, financial communication and capital raising.

After a Master in Management with a specialization in finance from HEC Liège, he started his career at BNP Paribas Fortis. In 2010 he joined Deloitte Luxembourg as International Tax Consultant in the M&A sector. Since 2013, he has been working as investor relations at Ageas (Euronext Brussels: AGS) and Cofinimmo (Euronext Brussels: COFB) before joining Mithra.

Board of Directors