Our Leadership Team

Mr. Debruyne is a Belgian national, born in 1963. 

He is former President Global Vaccines at GSK where he was a member of GSK’s Corporate Executive Team, a business leader with more than 30 years’ experience in the life sciences industry.

Current positions:

• University of Leuven, Faculty of Medicine, Biomedical Sciences Group (Professor of Practice)
• University Hospitals UZ Leuven (board member)
• Fund Plus (chair of the board)
• VIB (member of the Institutional Advisory Board)
• Greenlight Biosciences Inc. (member of the Life Sciences Board)
• CEPI (chair of the Portfolio Strategy and Management Board and Strategy Advisor to the CEO).

Special competences:

• Corporate Leadership
• Life Sciences
• Product Development and Supply
• Commercial Strategy
• M&A and Business Development
• Finance, Capital and Risk Management
• People and Culture
• ESG

Dr. Pedersen is a Danish national, born in 1951.

He is former Executive Vice President of Research & Development of H. Lundbeck A/S.

Current positions: 

• Genmab A/S (board member)
• Hansa Biopharma AB (board member)
• Bond Avillion 2, an entity of Avillion LLP (board member)
• Aelis Farma (chair of the board)
• Gerselconsult ApS (CEO, private holding company)

Special competences:

• Corporate Leadership
• Life Sciences
• Product Development and Supply
• Commercial Strategy
• M&A and Business Development
• Finance, Capital and Risk Management
• People and Culture
• ESG

Dr. Verwiel is a Dutch national, now resident of the USA, born in 1962.

He is former president and chief executive officer of Aptalis Pharma, Inc.

Current positions:

• Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (Chair of the board) 

Special competences: 

• Corporate Leadership
• Life Sciences
• Commercial Strategy
• M&A and Business Development
• People and Culture

Ms. Eberhard is a Danish national, born in 1963.

She is former Senior Executive Vice President and Global Head of Corporate & Institutional Banking at Danske Bank A/S, and Chief Commercial Officer at Intrum AB.

Current positions: 

• Finansiel Stabilitet SOV (chair of the board)
• Moneyflow Group A/S and its subsidiary Moneyflow 1 A/S (chair of the board)
• FLSmidth & Co. A/S and its subsidiary FLSmidth A/S (board member)
• Simcorp A/S (board member)
• Den Danske Unicef Fond (board member)
• Knud Højgaards Fond (board member)
• VL 52 ApS (board member)
• EA Advice ApS (CEO, personally owned company)
• Center for Strategisk CSRD, a Danish ESG initiative by EY and Axcelfuture (advisory board member)
• Copenhagen Business School, Board Educations (faculty member) 

Special competences:

• Corporate Leadership
• Commercial Strategy
• M&A and Business Development
• Finance, Capital and Risk Management
• People and Culture
• ESG
• Technology and Digitalization

Ms. Hunter is an American national, born in 1958.

She is former President, Cardinal Health Specialty Solutions and has also held positions as Senior Vice President in UCB and Boehringer Ingelheim and as Vice President in IQVIA and Centocor (a Johnson & Johnson Company). 

Current Positions:

• Vicore Pharma Holding AB (board member)
• IO Biotech, Inc. (board member)
• Sutro BioPharma Inc. (board member)

Special competences:

• Corporate Leadership
• Life Sciences
• Commercial Strategy
• M&A and Business Development
• Finance, Capital and Risk Management
• People and Culture
• ESG
• Technology and Digitalization

Mr. van Hoof is a Belgian national, born in 1957. 

He is former Global Therapeutic Area Head, Infectious Diseases & Vaccines, R&D at Janssen, the pharmaceutical division of Johnson & Johnson. Formerly Chief Operating Officer, R&D of Johnson & Johnson pharmaceuticals. Before joining Johnson & Johnson, Mr.  Van Hoof acquired more than 20 years of experience in the vaccine industry, having worked with Pasteur Mérieux Connaught (today Sanofi Aventis), Chiron Vaccines and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Biologicals. During this period, he held leadership roles with increasing responsibilities covering discovery, clinical development, QA-QC, and regulatory affairs.

Current positions: 

• Independent advisor for the biotech/vaccine industry and for not-for-profit organizations/academia. 
• Chief Scientific advisor to Ziphius Vaccines (Chief Scientific advisor, independent) 

Special competences: 

• Corporate Leadership
• Life Science
• Product Development and Supply
• Commercial Strategy
• M&A and Business Development

Ms. Montaner is a Spanish national, born in 1968.

She is former Chief Quality Officer and the first Chief Sustainability Officer of Novartis where she has held various leading positions. She has more than 30 years of industry and executive experience and has received several recognitions for her leadership in driving sustainable organizations.

Current positions:

• Children’s Tumor Foundation (board member)
• Ellab A/S (board member)
• 09 Solutions Inc. (advisory board member and member of the Executive Council)
• Nordic Capital (scientific advisor)
• Montaner & Associates GmbH (CEO and founder)

Special competences:

• Corporate Leadership
• Life Sciences
• Product Development and Supply
• Finance, Capital and Risk Management
• People and Culture
• ESG

Ms. Munksgaard is a Danish national, born in 1974.

Manager, Customer Service, Shipping & Distribution

Mr. Bennekov is a Danish national, born in 1968.

Sr. App. & Integration Analyst.

Ms. Gjøl is a Danish national, born in 1980.

Scientist.

Ms. Jensen is a Danish national, born in 1959.

Senior QA Specialist & Coordinator

Mr. Chaplin joined Bavarian Nordic in 1999. He was appointed executive vice president in 2004 and President & CEO in 2014. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Chaplin worked for several years both in the UK and Australia developing vaccines against infectious diseases. Mr. Chaplin holds a Ph.D. in Immunology from Bristol University, and he is the general manager of Bavarian Nordic GmbH. He is a British national, born in 1967.

Mr. Juuel joined Bavarian Nordic in 2018 from Orexo AB, a specialty pharmaceutical company listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange, where he served as Chief Financial Officer since 2013. Prior to Orexo, Mr. Juuel held senior positions at several large and diverse organizations including Group CFO of Virgin Mobile (Central and Eastern Europe), CFO of GN ReSound, and CFO of NNE Pharmaplan. Mr. Juuel began his career at Novo Nordisk in 1992, and during his 15-year tenure with the company held several senior finance positions in Denmark and abroad. Mr. Juuel holds an M.Sc. in Economics and Finance. He is a Danish national, born in 1965.

Current positions:

• Bioporto A/S (board member)

Mr. May joined Bavarian Nordic in January 2020 from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), where he served as vice president and global vaccines commercialization leader and was responsible for global strategic leadership and performance of several lifesaving vaccines, including Rabipur/RabAvert and Encepur, which Bavarian Nordic acquired from GSK in 2019. Mr. May holds a PharmD and MBA. He is a French national, born in 1967.

Ms. Kerns joined Bavarian Nordic in 2020. She previously worked for more than 11 years in Novo Nordisk, holding various leadership roles in global functions as well as 5 years working abroad with a regional responsibility for P&O and Communication. Prior to this she has worked in the financial sector focusing on employer branding, reputation management and change communication. Ms. Kerns holds a Master of Science in International Business Administration and Modern Languages from Copenhagen Business School. She is a Danish national, born in 1972.

Mr. Thirsk joined Bavarian Nordic in April 2022, He previously served as Head of Operations at GSK Vaccines in Belgium, a role he assumed after GSK’s acquisition of Novartis’ vaccine business, where he served for more than two decades, holding leadership roles of increasing responsibility in vaccine manufacturing operations across various geographies. Mr. Thirsk holds an MSc in Chemical Engineering. He is a British national, born in 1968.