CEO Steve Bates leaving BIA to become Executive Chair, Office of Life Science, UK Government
After 13 years at the helm of our Association, Steve Bates has tendered his resignation as CEO of the BIA to take up a newly created position announced today as Executive Chair for the Office of Life Science within the UK government. His last day at the BIA will be Friday, 26 September 2025. We all wish him well in his new role and know he will continue to champion our sector at home and abroad.
He leaves our Association in a position of great strength. We have over 620 members, more than double the size, of the pre-COVID association. We have a great team of 30 staff, well led by an experienced senior leadership in Jane Wall as Managing Director and Nick Gardiner as Chief Operating Officer. Financially, we are a strong and stable organisation with good reserves built during our growth years. Our events and communities are growing, and we can bring many industry experts to bear on an advocacy and influence agenda where our opinions are sought and our voice is heard.
Dr Daniel Mahony
Chair, BIA Board
As our latest quarterly Influencing and shaping our sector report and latest financing data show, we are active on key agendas for members. The Association is strong and committed to developing the next generation of leaders. As he departs, I want to pay testament to Steve for transforming the Association during his tenure.
The BIA in 2025 is an award-winning, well-respected professional and forward-looking Trade Association of which our sector can be rightly proud. Less visible to our members may be the modernisation of every aspect of the Association’s operations. The CRM system that underpins member engagement has been retooled, the website refreshed, our underlying IT put into the cloud, and key personnel developed. We are also enjoying the early years of a long-term lease at Victoria House in Bloomsbury as it grows into a life science hub in the centre of London.
A subcommittee of the Board will use the summer to develop a CEO succession plan and I will provide further updates on that to members in the autumn. In the meantime, we will continue to deliver the agreed plan of activities for 2025 as normal, led by Jane and Nick, including our autumn Regulation conference with the MHRA, TechBio UK, London Life Sciences Week and bioProcess UK in November and use our vision for the sector developed with members by Steve in the last 18 months as the lodestone for our activity going forward.
Elections for the Board will be held in the normal fashion in September and our AGM is set for October.
The strength of the BIA is as the campaigning community that Steve has forged us into, and that will both be his legacy and how we will continue to deliver in the future.
At the heart of this strength is the vital role our members play - any trade association is only as strong as its members. Your continued commitment and expertise are greatly valued, and I look forward to all we can achieve together.
I know you will want to join me in wishing Steve all the best as he departs our Association and we will communicate further on how we will do that in the coming months.
Thank you all for your continued support and membership.
