About Us / Management
SpePharm possesses a highly experienced management team with a broad well-established and in-depth knowledge of the European pharmaceutical business in general. The team has extensive knowledge of the specialty pharmaceutical business model and of providing innovative products to hospitals and specialists throughout Europe.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer: Jean-François Labbé (French)
Prior to founding SpePharm Jean-François was an investor in and CEO of OTL Pharma, a Paris-based specialty pharmaceutical and orphan drug company, which achieved €14M sales in 2004, the year he sold the business to Strakan (now ProStrakan). Jean-François has worked for over 35 years in the pharmaceutical industry and was previously CEO of Parke Davis France. Prior to joining Parke Davis, Jean-François worked for Hoechst-Roussel for 25 years where he held various general management positions in Europe (The Netherlands, France, UK) and abroad (USA, South Africa). He became President Europe-Middle East-Africa of Hoechst-Marion-Roussel in 1995, serving as a member of the Executive Committee. Jean-François has an MBA from the HEC business school, France.
Chief Financial Officer: Hans Vos (Dutch)
20 years experience in banking, corporate finance and as CFO in Europe for industrial, pharma and Biotech (Borstlap Masters, Banner Pharma caps, Cerus Europe)
Chief Business Officer: Neil L. Brown, MSc, PhD (British)
Following a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Montpellier (France) Neil joined the R&D division of Hoechst-Roussel in 1977, leaving in 1986 to become Director of Pharmacology at Fournier Group. He later became Director of Licensing and Scientific Advisor at Fournier. In 1996 Neil joined Debiopharm (Switzerland) as Vice President, leaving in 2000 to become CEO of Debioclinic, a clinical development service company. After a period as interim CEO of GeneSignal (France) and founding CEO of Pharminox (UK), Neil joined the founding management team of the Aventis spin-out ProSkelia in 2002. The company later merged with Strakan in 2004 (to become ProStrakan), and listed on the LSE in 2005 after an IPO. Neil has a BSc from the University of London, and an MSc and PhD from the University of Wales.
Chief Medical Officer: Caroline Dumas, MD, MSc (French)
Caroline joined SpePharm after spending five years in specialty pharmaceuticals companies, as European Medical Affairs Director at ProStrakan, and previously in the same position at OTL Pharma. Prior to OTL Pharma, Caroline was Director of Cardiovascular Medical Affairs, Europe-Canada-Middle East for Schering-Plough, and held positions of increasing responsibility in clinical development, European medical affairs, and international marketing and sales for Hoechst-Marion-Roussel since 1990. Caroline is a licensed physician with a medical degree from the Paris Medical School, an MSc in pharmacology, and certificate in biostatistics. She is a member of the French Association of Pharmaceutical Physicians (AMIPS) and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians (FPMRCP).
VP Commercial Operations: Antoine Aulanier, PhD (French)
Antoine joined Spepharm in 2008 bringing an extensive commercial and management expertise in the international pharma industry. Antoine held successively the positions of medical representative, product manager, group manager at Roussel Uclaf / Hoechst, then moved on to global positions and then local positions abroad (the Netherlands with HMR, North Africa with Roche, France-Belgium-Luxemburg with Serono) where he acquired a good knowledge of the international market (primary care - specialist - hospital) and of partnership implementation (co-marketing, co-development).
Prior to joining SpePharm, Antoine was managing Director for Almirall France -approximately 300 people- covering both the commercial operations and the manufacturing site. Antoine is Pharm D with a business diploma from IAE Paris.
VP Supply Chain: Ad Velders (Dutch)
Ad joined SpePharm by the end of 2008. Prior to that, he led the creation and implementation of an entirely new customer service and supply chain organization to cover the geographical areas of Europe, the Middle-East and Africa for Hospira, a divisional spin-off from Abbott Laboratories. After the acquisition of Mayne Pharmaceuticals by Hospira in 2007, he led the project to integrate the supply chain of Mayne into that of Hospira. He also acted for 6 years as the specialist within the logistics supplier TNT for the outsourced supply chain activities dedicated to the healthcare industry. Ad holds a degree in Marketing & Sales with a further specialization thereafter in Supply Chain and Purchasing.
Director SpePharm Holding BV (the Netherlands) and President SpePharm SAS (France): Wim van Bree (Dutch)
Wim joined SpePharm in 2006 from ProStrakan, where he was General Manager of the Dutch subsidiary. He was a co-founder of OTL Pharma BV, which was acquired by Strakan in 2004. Prior to that, Wim was President of Pharmacia in The Netherlands. He had previously spent eleven years with Searle (part of Monsanto Nederland BV) as Managing Director with operational responsibility for the entire division. Earlier, Wim worked at Lorex Pharmaceutical, where he was Marketing Manager and General Manager; Farmaropa BV; Roussel Laboratoria BV; The Boots Company Benelux; and the Barberot Group.
Country General Manager Italy: Ettore Marre (Italian)
Ettore joined SpePharm in 2007, with extensive experience in founding and developing subsidiaries of pharmaceutical companies. He was one of the founding members of Alcon Italy and he opened Galderma, Lundbeck, OTL Pharma, Strakan and Pharmexx local subsidiaries, working as Country Manager and Managing Director,. Ettore has also previously served as a consultant to different service companies in the pharmaceutical industry, such as P3, ASM and IMS. Ettore is a licensed pharmacist with a degree in chemistry and pharmaceutical technology from Milan University. He is a member of the Italian Association of Pharmacists and is on the Statistics Faculty Board, Milan-Bicocca University.
Country General Manager UK & Ireland: Michael Stowe (British)
Mike started his career in the pharmaceutical industry in 1982 with Sterling-Winthrop Group, as a medical representative, leaving as a National Account Manager on the industrial products side. Mike’s management career started with a small company that was to become Innovex and later Quintiles/Innovex. He stayed there for 14 years in operational roles as Project Director, Sales Director and ultimately as Director of UK Sales Operations. He then moved onto the European Management Team where he helped to ensure consistency of the ‘product’ on a European basis, as well as assisting with start-ups and acquisitions on a global basis. After leaving Quintiles, Mike served in a variety of roles and for the last 8 years was a Management Consultant assisting new UK companies in start-up operations and also working across Europe to deliver pan-European projects for Europe’s largest CSO Pharmexx. Mike has an MBA from Oxford Brookes University.
Country General Manager Benelux: Marcel Westen (Dutch)
Before joining Spepharm in March 2010, Marcel started his career in the pharmaceutical industry in Belgium in 1980 with Sopar (later Rhone Poulenc). He then joined ICI Pharmaceuticals in 1983 as a medical representative, then as a CRA, before becoming a District Manager within ICI (Zeneca). With the merger of Astra and Zeneca, Marcel became the national Specialist Manager for cardiovascular products and later Sales Manager. In 2002, he joined Aventis Behring as Commercial Manager for Benelux and in 2006 he joined TopoTarget first as Key Account Manager responsible for Benelux and, later as European Sales Director.