ERS Genomics Limited, the CRISPR licensing company, has appointed John E Milad as CEO, with immediate effect. John brings more than 25 years of experience as an executive leader, venture capitalist and investment banker focused on the life sciences and medical technology sectors.
As CEO of Quanta Dialysis Technologies for almost a decade, John led the development and commercial launch of an award-winning portable haemodialysis system designed to transform the delivery of kidney care to patients.
He drove market entry into the UK and US, while raising a record-breaking USD $245m private funding round and building an extensive intellectual property estate of over 40 patent families.
Prior to this, he served as CFO of Nitec Pharma, where he headed up finance and business development activities, raising a pivotal funding round and securing a licensing partner to enable the company’s transition from clinical development to commercialisation.
John also has significant experience as a venture investor, with previous roles as Partner and co-Head of Healthcare Ventures at Downing LLP and Investment Director at NBGI Ventures, as well as positions at Atlas Venture and Kirkland Investors. Successful exited investments include Symetis, ACT/Epix, BoneSupport and WebMD.
A graduate of the University of Chicago, John served on the i4i selection panel for translational research at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). John currently serves on the Boards of Kidney Research UK and Otivio AS and is a business mentor at the Royal Academy of Engineering’s accelerator programme.
He was named in the Sunday Times Maserati List as one of the UK’s “Top 100 Game Changing Innovators and Entrepreneurs”.
Shaun Foy, Co-Founder and Chair of the Board of Directors, ERS Genomics, commented: “On behalf of the Board and executive team, I would like to welcome John as CEO. His experience uniquely positions him to lead ERS Genomics through the next stage of its development. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Eric Rhodes for his leadership over the past eight years. During this time, ERS Genomics has been instrumental in providing access to the foundational CRISPR/Cas9 patent portfolio, enabling research and commercialisation across a broad range of applications within the life sciences, industrial biology, agriculture and veterinary sciences sectors.”
