Chairman of the Board

Raj Parekh, MA DPhil
Dr Parekh became Chairman of the Board of Galapagos in 2004. He is a General Partner at Advent Ventures, which he joined in 2005. During an academic career at Oxford University, he co-founded Oxford GlycoSciences, where he served as Chief Scientific Officer from 1988 until its sale to Celltech (now UCB) in 2003. He has founded or served on the Board of several Life Sciences Companies in the US and Europe including Celldex Therapeutics, EUSA Pharma, Cellnovo, Thiakis and AMT. He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of the Novartis Venture Fund. He received his BA in Biochemistry and DPhil in Molecular Medicine from the University of Oxford, where he has also been a Visiting Professor.

Executive Directors

Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos
Mr. Van de Stolpe founded Galapagos in 1999 while he was Managing Director Genomics at Introgene (now Crucell). Prior to joining Introgene in 1998, he was Managing Director of Molecular Probes Europe. He established this European headquarters after joining Molecular Probes in the US. Previously, he worked for the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency in California, where he was responsible for recruiting biotech and medical device companies to locate in the Netherlands. Mr. Van de Stolpe started his career as Manager Business Development at MOGEN in Leiden. He received a MSc degree from the Agricultural University in Wageningen.

Non-Executive Directors

Ferdinand Verdonck - Director of Corporations
Mr. Verdonck is currently on the board of several companies. His professional experience is based on his work, mainly in financial services. Most recently as the managing director of Almanij and earlier with Lazard Frères and also in manufacturing (Bekaert NV). His responsibilities entailed board participation in publicly traded and privately-held companies in many countries. He holds a law degree from the KU Leuven and degrees in economics from KU Leuven and the University of Chicago.

Harrold van Barlingen, PhD - Managing Director Thuja Capital
Dr. Van Barlingen is the Managing Director and Founder of Thuja Capital. Prior to founding Thuja Capital, he headed the life science effort of AlpInvest Partners. Previously, he was at the Boston Consulting Group, where he worked as a consultant in management and strategy. Prior to BCG, Van Barlingen headed the Benelux office of the Lewin Group (a Quintiles subsidiary); an international firm specialized in the field of health economy. He holds a MSc in Medical Biology and a PhD in the area of cardiovascular diseases, both from the University of Utrecht.

Ronald Brus, MD – CEO, Crucell
Dr. Ronald Brus is President and Chief Executive Officer of Crucell, headquartered in Leiden, The Netherlands. He joined Crucell in 1997, holding various management positions before becoming Crucell’s CEO in 2004. From 1994 to 1996, Dr. Brus was product planning physician at Forest Laboratories and from 1990 to 1994 he was Medical Director for Zambon BV. He holds a medical degree from the University of Groningen. Dr. Brus served on Galapagos’ Board of Directors from 2000 until Galapagos’ IPO in May 2005 and was reappointed to Galapagos’ Board in April 2010.

Werner Cautreels, PhD - CEO, Selecta Biosciences
Werner Cautreels is President and CEO of Selecta Biosciences. Previously, Dr. Cautreels was Global CEO of Solvay Pharmaceuticals until it was acquired by Abbott Laboratories in February 2010. Prior to joining Solvay he was employed by Sanofi, Sterling Winthrop and Nycomed-Amersham in a variety of R&D management positions in Europe and in the United States. Dr. Cautreels holds a doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Antwerp, Belgium.

Howard Rowe, JD – Independent Director
Howard Rowe was previously a Managing Director with Goldman Sachs where he had multiple Healthcare responsibilities over his 12 years at the firm. His most recent roles at Goldman Sachs were as part of the European Special Situations and Principal Strategies teams where he established and led the private healthcare investing effort. During that time he served on the boards of EUSA Pharma, Healthcare Brands International, MedAvante, SmallBone Innovations and Ikonisys. Prior to his investing activities, Mr. Rowe was a senior member of the European Healthcare Investment Banking team, where he advised numerous corporate clients on M&A and corporate finance activities. Before joining Goldman Sachs, he was a corporate lawyer with the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell. Mr. Rowe received his Bachelor of Science in Psychobiology from the University of Southern California and his JD from Harvard Law School.