Jon Rees

CEO. MitoRx Therapeutics

Jon is an entrepreneurial, innovation and investment-focused life sciences PhD & tenacious senior executive with deep strategic insight. He can draw on a vast personal network within the investment industry, the pharmaceutical industry as well as life sciences companies. Drawing upon his knowledge, experience and network he is now consulting to life sciences companies seeking on fundraising and business development, successfully scouting for external innovation for pharma and investors across Europe, advising on the emerging biotech ecosystem, and consulting to associations on the investment environment and policy. Ever keen to explore opportunities as they arise.

He led and built OBN for a decade, growing it rapidly from a University project into a diversified, financially sustainable association, building best-in-class activities including the largest life sciences investment conference in Europe, BioTrinity, the most cost-effective purchasing consortium for life sciences companies in the UK, and a wide range of networking events bringing together investors and senior executives. He established OBN as a powerful voice for emerging R&D companies and kicked off then grew its advisory and consulting activities.

Jon did his post-doc at the University of Oxford, has a PhD from the Royal Holloway University of London, a Masters with Distinction from LJMU and a BSc from University of Manchester Institute for Science and Technology. Will consider non-executive director positions.

Speaker sessions

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14:45 - 15:45

Creating an ecosystem for start-ups to thrive

Pickavance Lecture Theatre | Main Stage

Oxfordshire has a vibrant community of young and early stage companies, with many new ones created each year. Many of these are spin-outs from Oxford’s two Universities and benefit greatly from the support of their parent institutions. However, many companies start without the backing of Oxfordshire’s universities or decide to locate within the Oxfordshire region to grow and develop their innovation. This panel will look at the ecosystem for start-ups, considering how companies gain support and grow, and will examine the strengths and weaknesses of Oxfordshire as a place for start-ups to scale and succeed.

Panellists: Mark Evans – Adaptix, Jon Rees – MitoRx Therapeutics, Nicki Campling – Barclays Eagle Labs, Oxford, Jens Tholstrup – OION, Megan Morys-Carter – TheHill and Gillian McLaren – British Business Bank.

Chaired by Nicola McConville – Taylor Vinters.

Sponsored by British Business Bank, James Cowper Kreston and Taylor Vinters.

VIEW THE FULL PROGRAMME