New appointment for technology development growth

July 29, 2005

New appointment for technology development growth

AUCKLAND, July 29, 2005: Joining a team taking growth in commercialising the intellectual property of The University of Auckland to a new level was a key attraction in taking up the appointment of General Manager Technology Development at Auckland UniServices Limited, says Will Charles who starts
in his new role at the University's commercialisation company on August 1.

Most recently with Novartis Korea as Business Unit Head, Primary Care and previously with Novartis New Zealand, Mr Charles has worked at senior commercial level with a wide variety of life science businesses in Europe, Asia and New Zealand over the past 18 years.

"I see joining UniServices at this time as a terrific opportunity, "he said. "The University of Auckland has shown it has several areas where it can rank among the world's very best and I'm looking forward to helping drive further growth in commercialising the opportunities this capability creates, "he said.

Welcoming Mr Charles's appointment, Dr Peter Lee, UniServices' CEO, said technology development, where UniServices commercialises new intellectual property in addition to managing ongoing contract research, is a key focus for the company. "Will brings important commercial skills and experience at a time when we are targeting strong growth in this area, "he said.

"Increasingly, global investors will go wherever they see the best research and we are committed to take advantage of this in developing new opportunities." In recent years UniServices has become Australasia's largest organisation commercialising university research and been involved in forming several significant company start ups in the health sector and in multi-million licensing deals in cancer research, engineering, medical software, educational products and new power transmission technologies.

Mr Charles has a Bachelor of Science with Honours from St Andrews University, Scotland, a Diploma in Business (Finance) from The University of Auckland and has attended executive courses at Harvard Business School and Insead. Raised in Kenya, he has held executive positions with GlaxoSmithKline, Roche and Celltech. He made New Zealand his adoptive home in 1993 and returns to Auckland with his family.

ENDS

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