i Team 27 people

An operating bench, not a fund team.

Around 27 people across management, board, scientific advisory and strategic advisors — combining science, clinical, finance, governance and operating experience.

  • 27 People
  • 4 Disciplines
  • 5 PhDs / MDs
  • 6 Ex-operators
  • 1 Holding company
02 / 04 Board Governance.

Capital markets, biotech, translational science.

Independent governance with deep capital-markets, life-sciences and operating experience. The board sits across investment decisions, portfolio gates and the holding company itself.

8 people
Gavin MacLaren

Gavin MacLaren Chair

Chairman

20+ years as a lawyer, a decade based in Asia. Named an Innovative Leader in the 2020 FT Innovative Lawyers Awards Asia Pacific.

LegalAsia-PacificSovereign & PE
Anthony Liveris

Anthony Liveris

Chief Executive Officer

Anthony has built Proto Axiom into a distinctive company-creation platform — translating breakthrough Australian science into enduring businesses. He previously co-founded Applecart, the New York data and technology company that attracted a US$100M investment from Blackstone Growth.

Founder-operatorCapital marketsGovernment & policy

Also serves on Management.

Kathy Connell, GAICD

Kathy Connell, GAICD

Non-Executive Director

Two decades in life-sciences BD and investment at Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi — over US$1B deployed across ANZ in licensing and acquisition.

BD & licensingASX boards
Tom Harley

Tom Harley

Non-Executive Director

Managing Director of Dragoman. Former President, Corporate Development at BHP and former Non-Executive Chairman of Dow Chemical Australia.

Government policyStrategy
Peter Devine, PhD

Peter Devine, PhD

Non-Executive Director

20 years as CEO of Uniseed, the A$200M partnership between ten Australian research institutions and UniSuper. Architect of multiple landmark biotech exits.

University venturingTranslation
Annalisa Jenkins OBE, MBBS, FRCP

Annalisa Jenkins OBE, MBBS, FRCP

Non-Executive Director

Former CEO of Dimension Therapeutics; former Head of Global Drug Development at Merck Serono. Contributed to development of 30+ therapeutics.

Clinical developmentRegulatoryGlobal biopharma
Tristan Edwards

Tristan Edwards

Non-Executive Director

Co-founder and first CEO of Boston-based Life Biosciences. 18 years in global funds management across Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Brevan Howard.

Founder-operatorCapital markets
Sally Bennett, MD

Sally Bennett, MD

Non-Executive Director

Senior Advisor at Catalio Capital Management. 25+ years across medicine, equity capital markets and life-sciences investment management.

ClinicalPublic & private equity
03 / 04 Scientific Advisory Board Senior scientists, clinicians.

Diligence, development plans, translational judgement.

The scientists and clinicians who guide our diligence on incoming research and the development plans of portfolio companies — across drug development, regulatory and clinical strategy.

Showing 5 of 5
04 / 04 Strategic Advisors Operators, founders, executives.

Commercial, partnership, capital strategy.

Senior operators advising on commercial, partnership and capital strategy across the platform and its portfolio companies — from Pfizer External Science to GSK and HSBC finance.

Showing 5 of 5
The operating bench

Each portfolio company gets working access to a shared bench.

Clinical, regulatory, IP, finance and governance — not as a vendor list, but as a shared resource. The same lawyer who closes our IP licensing also sits in the founder's first board pack. The same regulatory lead who steers our IND filings rotates across companies as their programs hit gates. The same CFO who builds the Series A model is on the line when a clinical site flags a recruitment issue at 7am.

This is what "company creator" means in practice: a permanent operating bench, not a fund. The team is the product.

Operator with biotech experience? Researcher with a translational program?