BIA elects new members to Board
e are excited to welcome the newly elected members of the BIA Board of Directors, who will bring fresh insights and expertise to help drive our mission forward. Nick Gardiner, Chief Operating Officer and the Company Secretary, shares his perspective on the importance of these appointments and the unique value each new Director brings to the BIA.
As the Company Secretary of the BioIndustry Association (BIA), I am pleased to announce the members who have been elected to our Board of Directors and will begin their terms in January 2026. BIA members elect or re-elect five Board Directors from the membership, four from the Corporate membership category and one from our Associate/Network companies.
The new Board Directors were voted for by the BIA’s membership in the weeks leading up to the AGM, which was held on Tuesday, 21 October 2025 and attended by over 40 member companies. All present approved the appointment of the Directors and all of the other proposed resolutions.
The following members will join the BIA Board from 1 January 2026, for a three-year term, adding to the considerable industry expertise that the Association can draw upon.
The following have been newly elected to the BIA Board:
- Chris Sheldon, Senior Vice President & Global Head of Business Development, GSK.
- Anne Horgan, Partner, Cambridge Innovation Capital.
The following have been re-elected to the Board:
- Sunil Shah, Chief Executive Officer, o2h Ventures.
- Claire Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, Agility Life Sciences.
- Anna Williamson, Executive Director, Roche Corporate Business Development.
Dan Mahony, the Chair of the BIA, also announced that Olivia Cavlan of LifeArc and Robert Tansley of Cambridge Innovation Capital have decided to step down at the end of December. Nerida Scott resigned as a Board member in the summer.
This was also Dan’s final AGM as our Chair, and Shaun Grady, Chair of AstraZeneca UK, will take over from January 2026. He paid tribute to Dan and provided this comment earlier in the year:
Dan has provided exceptional leadership at BIA, and I am honoured to follow in his footsteps as Chair. I will champion the value of innovation and capabilities in our sector and the transformative technologies we are bringing forward, which can significantly improve outcomes for patients.
On being elected, Chris Sheldon said:
I’m proud to join the Board at such an important time for the life sciences sector. The UK is home to world-leading science, academia, and industry, and it's vital the UK continues to be an attractive and welcoming ecosystem where innovation can thrive.
From my experiences working in scientific and business development roles, coupled with the support I can bring from GSK, a global biopharmaceutical company, I look forward to supporting the BIA and its members to help translate the UK’s significant potential into tangible progress that will ultimately benefit patients for years to come.
Anne Horgan from Cambridge Innovation Capital also commented on her election to the Board of Directors:
I’m honoured to join the BIA Board and support this excellent organisation in delivering its vision. With over two decades in the life sciences innovation ecosystem, spanning drug discovery, technology transfer, venture capital and company creation, I feel well placed to represent a broad proportion of the membership.
At Cambridge Innovation Capital, I lead early-stage investments and work closely with founders and management teams to build globally competitive businesses. Having co-authored the BIA Women in biotech leadership: Representation at C-suite report and founded a female leaders’ network, I’m passionate about inclusive leadership and mentoring. Through the BIA, I look forward to help drive the UK’s ambition to scale world-class biotech companies.
Meet the newly elected Directors
Chris Sheldon, Senior Vice President & Global Head of Business Development, GSK
Chris Sheldon currently serves as Senior Vice President & Global Head of Business Development for GSK, based in the UK, reporting to the Chief Scientific Officer & President of Research and Development (R&D) and is a core member of GSK’s Global R&D leadership team.
GSK is a strong supporter of the wider UK life sciences sector, including through its development of the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst and long-standing partnerships with a number of universities to develop skills and talent.
Chris is a seasoned biopharmaceutical executive and scientist, experienced in building and leading Business Development (BD) and Investor Relations (IR) functions within world-leading global biopharmaceutical companies, with a track record of multi-billion-dollar enterprise value creation through exceptional deal-making.
His team is responsible for all of GSK's BD activities globally, covering the scouting & evaluating, transacting, and alliance management of all new investment opportunities across Oncology, Respiratory, Immunology & Inflammation, and Infectious Disease.
Chris has developed an exceptional network, having worked in the UK at major pharmaceutical companies for over 20 years, and currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for Medicxi, a major European venture investment firm focused on the life sciences sector.
Before his BD career, Chris worked in discovery research at AstraZeneca as a Senior Research Chemist. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Bristol, UK, and a first-class honors degree in Chemistry from the University of Sheffield, UK.
He is passionate about helping the UK maintain its position as a world-leading life sciences sector. His career background across R&D, BD & IR, coupled with the support he can bring from GSK, a major global biopharmaceutical company, makes him an ideal director to serve on the BIA Board.
Anne Horgan, Partner, Cambridge Innovation Capital
Anne Horgan is a Partner at Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), leading early-stage investments within the Life Sciences team. With over 20 years of experience across drug discovery, technology transfer, venture capital, and company creation, she brings a broad, international perspective to the biotech and investment ecosystem. She believes this would be valuable to BIA’s policy and advocacy work—particularly its efforts to represent UK biotech internationally—and to its ecosystem-building activities in which she has consistently participated.
Her career began as a medicinal chemist at Cambridge Biotechnology Ltd, contributing to small-molecule drug discovery. She then moved into technology transfer at Cancer Research Technology (now Cancer Research Horizons), gaining deep insight into academic innovation and translation into products. She built her investment career in France, at Sofinnova Partners and AdBio Partners, before joining CIC.
Anne serves on several private biotech boards and the BIA Women in Biotech advisory board. She values consensus-building, strong governance, and asking the right questions while providing support. Passionate about inclusive leadership, she has championed diversity across biotech, investment, and board governance, has been a WiB mentor over the last two years, and worked closely with the BIA team on its March 2025 Women in Biotech Leadership report.
Educated in France and the UK, with postdoctoral research in the US at Yale University, she holds a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Bristol and a diplôme d’ingénieur (equivalent to MSc) from INSA Rouen.
Anne is committed to fostering a thriving, inclusive, and globally connected UK life sciences sector. Her diverse background enables her to represent the full spectrum of BIA members—from academic founders to scale-ups and investors, and she would relish the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the Association’s outstanding impact and continued success.
