COO blog: nominations open for BIA Board election

Dear BIA Member,

We are delighted to invite nominations from individuals interested in joining the BIA Board. Nominations must be received by close of business on Friday 11 September 2026.

The election will take place during September and into October, and pending approval at the AGM on 20^th October, those elected will join the BIA's Board commencing 1 January 2027 and will serve a three-year term.

This year, there are five places up for election - four for 'Corporate' members and one for 'Other' members. We are also building our Board, both to meet the needs of today’s members and for the future of the membership. So, this year we are asking that our nominees fulfil certain criteria before they proceed to the election.

For the four Corporate membership roles, we wish to reflect the size and specialisation of the company and also the industrial knowledge which the nominee can bring to the Board.

1. Size: You should select your company’s UK headcount from one of the following categories:

• UK headcount 1-10
• UK headcount 11-50
• UK headcount 51-150
• UK headcount 151-250
• UK headcount >250

2. Sector speciality: you should list which of the following best categorise you and your company’s expertise, which you can then bring to the BIA Board (pick no more than two):

Corporate nominees

• Biotechnology **
• Pharmaceutical
• Manufacturing/CDMO
• TechBio ** (tech-led approaches and AI in drug discovery/diagnostics)
• BioSolutions ** (biological solutions for agri/food, materials and energy)
• Engineering Biology **
• Genomics **
• CRO (clinical/preclinical)
• VC/Financing

Other nominees

• Technology (software, hardware with broad application)
• Legal
• Professional Support Services (incl. banking, recruitment, consultancy)
• Publishing/events/data
• University/tech transfer/science park/accelerator
• Other (please specify)
• **(please specify pre-seed/seed, series A, series B+, IPO)

3. Personal expertise: you should complete the following table indicating if your experience is High, Medium or Low in the capability matrix:

Your nomination must include answers to the above, alongside a 200-word supporting text and a current picture. This text shouldn’t simply be an outline of your career to date, but include your specific skills, suitability, experiences and motivations, which you believe are relevant to becoming a Non-Executive Director of the BIA.

Please reference the work of the Association and where you feel you can add value. Be mindful that when members vote for Board candidates, they should do so based on that candidate’s potential to represent their viewpoints, issues and regional geographies as well as those of the whole innovative life sciences and biotech industry. We represent a four nations ecosystem and encourage nominees from across those nations.  

Please do notify any of your colleagues who you think may be interested and qualify with the following criteria:

Eligibility for Corporate Members is that nominees shall, at the time of their election, be Chief Executive Officers, or divisional chiefs (or their equivalent) or chairperson of a Corporate member company (except in the case of a Corporate Member which is a UK branch or subsidiary of a foreign corporation, in which case a senior representative of the UK branch or subsidiary may be appointed).

Within the 'Other' member category nominees shall, at the time of their election, be employees of either an Associate Member company or a Network Member company.

Only one representative from any member company may be appointed to the Board.

Please submit your nomination by the end of the day, Friday 11 September 2026, together with a photograph and your biography. These should be sent to Nick Gardiner, Company Secretary at [email protected]