BenevolentAI, a leader in the development of advanced AI that accelerates biopharma discovery, announces the appointment of Catherine Isted, ACMA, who will be joining the Company as Chief Financial Officer with immediate effect.
Catherine is an experienced strategic finance professional and chartered accountant with over 25 years within the life sciences industry. She was most recently CEO of ReNeuron, a UK-based leader in stem cell-derived exosome technologies, having previously been CFO. Prior to this, she was at Oxford Biomedica plc, a quality and innovation-led viral vector Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), at a time of significant growth for the company, where as part of the finance leadership team, she headed up Corporate Development and Investor Relations as well as worked with the Board on various strategic projects.
Previously Catherine had a successful career in leading healthcare banking teams, 12 years of which at Partner level, holding research analyst and equity sales positions at Morgan Stanley, ABN AMRO, Nomura and Peel Hunt. She started her career as a bench scientist at Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), before moving into their finance department as an accountant. Catherine holds a first-class Chemistry degree and is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant.
Joanna Shields, Chief Executive Officer of BenevolentAI, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Catherine to the BenevolentAI Executive Leadership Team. We have entered an exciting time for the Company and Catherine’s experience will be instrumental as we execute our strategic plans and drive growth. Along with the Board and the rest of the leadership, we look forward to working with her to realise the full potential of our pipeline, our platform, and our AI tools.”
Catherine Isted, Chief Financial Officer of BenevolentAI, commented: “The need to improve the speed and success of the biopharma industry R&D process is indisputable and, as a leader in AI-augmented drug discovery technologies, BenevolentAI is at the forefront of this opportunity. I am delighted to join the team and contribute to unlocking value and growth for BenevolentAI in this exciting area of science.”
SOURCE: BenevolentAI
