New Zealand
Phone: 64 7 857 0521
info@biovittoria.com

China
Phone: 86 773 355 0105 garth@biovittoria.com

USA
Phone: 1 847 226 3467
paul_paslaski@biovittoria.com
 


PureLo

 


Board of Directors

Mr. Robert Stringer (Chairman)

Ms Bridget Liddell

Mr. Stuart McKenzie

Dr. Garth Smith

Mr. David Thorrold

Mr. Robert Stringer MBA (Chairman) is a founding General Partner of Sherbrooke Capital LLC (SherCap), a venture capital firm based in Newton Lower Falls, MA, US, specialising in providing growth capital to companies in the health and wellness industry. SherCap has successfully managed a US$101 million portfolio of investments and has supervised significant liquidity events in such companies as Izze Beverages, Oregon Chai and Cook Pharma.

Bob is the president and founder of RAS Consulting, LLC. He is also a former partner of Oliver Wyman, Inc., and the former president and founder of Sherbrooke Associates, Inc., a consulting firm that provided strategic planning and executive development services to companies in the US and abroad. Bob’s consulting assignments have included multiple engagements in New Zealand and Australia where he worked with such companies as Arnott’s, Western Mining, Carter Holt Harvey, ENZA, Lion Nathan, Telecom NZ, SKYCITY Entertainment, Fonterra and Auckland Healthcare. Bob’s most recent US engagements have been with the Bank of America, Pepsi International, CitiGroup, Scholastic, Inc., ConAgra Foods, Fidelity Investments and General Mills.

Bob currently serves on the boards of several of Sherbrooke Capital’s portfolio companies, and has served on the boards of three additional private companies: The Brookeside Group, Inc., (chairman of the board), Georgetown Associates, Inc., (chairman of the board) and LaunchPad, Inc. Bob has extensive experience in advising clients how to build high performing organisations in the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. He has served on the faculty of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration and is currently teaching at Babson College. Starting in June 2009, he has a three year appointment to the faculty of Auckland University’s Business School.

 

Ms Bridget Liddell MA Hons, BCom, CFA has significant governance experience across a range of sectors through Board positions in a number of public and non-profit companies. Bridget is currently the Managing Principal of New York-based company, Fahrenheit Ventures, which commercialises products and processes of new companies within the US market.

Bridget is a Director of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. Bridget is also the Chair of the US Beachhead Program (run by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise) and a Board member of KEA, a global organisation which helps New Zealanders around the world promote and contribute to New Zealand’s interests abroad. She chairs the US Friends of the University of Auckland, is a member of the University of Auckland Business School Advisory Board and is a Director of the US/NZ Council.

Bridget has previously held positions as a Director of Sky City Ltd and Fisher & Paykel Appliances Holdings Ltd. Her other past governance roles include membership of The University of Auckland Council and directorships of New Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board, Industry New Zealand (the predecessor to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise), Competitive Auckland Limited (regional economic development) and Auckland Uniservices Limited (technology transfer).

Bridget has graduate and post-graduate qualifications in Finance and Marketing and holds the CFA qualification. She has had extensive experience in financial markets and in operations through her role as Director of CS First Boston NZ and as CEO Carter Holt Harvey Plastic Products. Bridget currently serves on the Investment Committee and Capital Markets Committee of Grameen USA.

 

Mr. Stuart McKenzie BE (Civil) Dip.Bus MBA is a General Partner of Endeavour Capital, one of the six major venture capital funds in New Zealand, and initial investors in BioVittoria. Stuart has been a venture capital investor for the past seven years. In addition to his work as a venture capitalist, Stuart is a member of the Government/ Industry Capitalising on Research and Development Action Group (CRAG), sits on the Board of the NZ Trade and Enterprise Beachheads Programme, and is a Council Member of the NZ Venture Capital Association. Qualifications include a Bachelor of Engineering and MBA .

 

Dr. Garth Smith MSc (Hons), PhD, DSc was previously General Manager Bioactives and Biomedical for HortResearch New Zealand, where he led a team of 150 scientists. Garth has gained international recognition for research and development of high value horticultural and botanical products and functional foods. He has published over 200 articles in peer reviewed scientific journals and contributed chapters to six books on plant science.

Garth is regarded as one of the pioneers in the New Zealand kiwifruit industry and was a key figure in developing the industry during the intense scale-up of the 1980s and 1990s. To this day the New Zealand kiwifruit industry retains a deserved reputation as a world leader in innovation and quality and much of this reputation can be traced back to work done by Garth and research teams which he directed or was a member of.

Garth was a founding board member of Innovation Park in Hamilton, New Zealand and B2H (Business to Hamilton). In 1996 Garth was asked by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to lead a project based in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to restructure 120 state owned research institutes. The recommendations from this project have been implemented by the Government of Mongolia. A similar project was also carried out in Indonesia. Over the past 18 years he has developed an extensive network in China, especially within the Chinese medicinal plant industry which he continues to develop during his continuing presence in that country.

 

Mr. David Thorrold BMus (Hons), DipAcc, CA. David has been a director and the CEO of the Company during the last 3 years. He resigned as a director of the Company as from, and conditional on, listing of the Shares on NZSX, but will continue as CEO of the Company.

He has 17 years’ experience in accounting, finance and management. He began his accountancy career in Hamilton Chartered Accountancy firm Beattie Rickman where he worked for four years. In his last year there, David was recognised by the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants for achieving one of the top five results nationally in the Final Qualifying Professional Examinations for that year.

David then worked for a period on project assignments in London for Deutsche Bank, Bankers Trust and the BBC. He then spent five years as Managing Director of a UK based software company. On returning to New Zealand David spent two years as a consultant, again with Beattie Rickman (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers), working particularly with early stage technology and Agri-tech companies. David joined BioVittoria in January 2006, and has subsequently developed an extensive network of contacts in the US and European food and beverage industries while leading the commercialisation effort for Fruit-Sweetness™.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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