Fund Manager
Management of the fund is undertaken by Trans-Tasman Fund Management Pty. Ltd. (TTFM). TTFM is managed by an independent team of Investment Managers and successful entrepreneurs and/or commercialisation experts who have been instrumental in assisting in the development of new companies and licensing opportunities.
TTFM has a focus on domiciling key assets/investees in appropriate markets in order to access skilled management, syndicated follow-on funding and augmented exit opportunities.
Investment Managers
Andrew O’Brien PhD MBA - CEO & Senior Investment Manager (Melbourne)
Andrew's previous roles include Morgan Stanley’s Corporate Finance Healthcare team in New York and London covering clients in the pharmaceutical and emerging European biotechnology market. During this period, Andrew was instrumental in completing a number of landmark transactions including the public offerings for deCODE genetics Inc, LION biosciences Inc, MediGene AG; and Actelion Inc. Andrew also advised Tibotec Virco on its sale to J&J and SmithKline Beecham on the merger of equals with GlaxoWellcome. Upon returning to Australia, Andrew joined Deutsche Bank AG, advising on healthcare transactions such as the DCA Group’s acquisition/financing of Medical Imaging Australia. Andrew then established Grannus Securities - a boutique Australian healthcare and biotechnology advisory firm, where he continues to advise public and private corporates on capital markets transactions, mergers & acquisitions and operational strategy as well as investment advisory roles for the venture industry and family office networks. Andrew was a Director of TTFM Investee Halo IPT Ltd. prior to its trade sale to Qualcomm, and remains a director of Investee Snap Network Surveillance Pty. Ltd. and an Observer to the Board of Ruga Corporation. Andrew has a PhD in biotechnology focusing on gene regulation in the context of seasonal asthma and hayfever and an MBA from the University of Melbourne.
email: andrew.obrien@ttcf.com.au telephone: +61 3 9905 6245
Michael Bettess PhD MBA - Investment Manager (Melbourne)
Michael has over 15 years experience in both life science research and technology commercialisation. His commercial roles have been predominantly in the identification, development and commercialisation of academically derived opportunities. Michael has invested seed capital successfully into early stage university research and project managed opportunities through to commercial outcomes. He has additional experience in academic/industry research collaborations. At TTFM Michael has led due diligence on numerous opportunities, including its lead investment in Ruga Corporation, and is an Observer to the Board of investee Pathway Therapeutics. Prior to joining TTFM, Michael was a ‘Roche Research Foundation’ Post-Doctoral fellow at the Swiss Experimental Cancer Research Institute (ISREC) in Lausanne, Switzerland. Upon his return to Australia he was appointed Manager of Commercial Development at Flinders Partners Pty. Ltd. (the commercialisation company of Flinders University). Michael holds a first class honours degree and PhD in developmental and stem cell biology from the University of Adelaide and an MBA from the Chifley Business School (La Trobe University). Michael leads TTFM's Life Science investments/portfolio.
email: michael.bettess@ttcf.com.au telephone: +61 3 9905 6243
Craig Reilly BA(Economics) MBA - Investment Manager (Auckland)
Craig has extensive domestic and international experience in general management, corporate finance advisory and strategic consulting across a breadth of industries and both private and public sectors, the most recent experience being in energy and biotechnology. He has worked for such organisations as The Treasury, TXU Australia, Ernst & Young Corporate Finance (Aus and NZ) and the Housing Corp of NZ. He has undertaken assignments for such entities as NZTE, ICube Limited, GraceLinc, Ludowici (Aus), Pacific Edge Biotechnology, IBEX Limited, Meridian Energy and Evivar Medical Pty Limited. Craig has a proven track record in company strategy, objectives and planning, business development, strategic alliances, change management, project management, mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, privatisation and asset sales. Craig has a Bachelor of Arts with Economics Major, University of Canterbury and an MBA from Monash University (1997). He has also undertaken the 'Leadership Development Program' conducted by the Australian Management College at Mt. Eliza Business School, Melbourne and the Advanced Management Program, Monash Mt Eliza Business School. Craig was a Director of TTCF investee Halo IPT Ltd. and leads TTFM's Engineering and Cleantech investments/portfolio.
email: craig.reilly@ttcf.com.au telephone: +64 9 923 3804
John Haskey M.Sc&TComm, B.Sc (Hons) - Investment Manager (Adelaide)
John has over 18 years ICT industry experience in the development of software products and services within the telecommunications, networking and information security domains. John has successfully brought a number of multi-million dollar products to market from initial proof-of-concept to market entry and beyond. In addition to product development, John’s commercial roles within the ICT industry have been in Product Management, High-Technology Marketing, Pre-sales Support and Technical Consulting. Prior to joining TTFM, John worked for Motorola Inc. (US & Australia), Hewlett-Packard (UK) and a number of ICT start-up companies both in the UK and Australia. More recently John has been working as a Commercial Manager at ITEK, the commercialisation company of the University of South Australia. At ITEK John was predominately focused on identifying, developing and commercialising opportunities derived from academic research across the mechanical, industrial and ICT space and was a Director of ICT based spin-out company Iterative Connections. John holds a Masters of Technology Commercialisation, a B.Sc. degree with Honours in Computer Science, a Dip HE, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).
email: john.haskey@ttcf.com.au telephone: +61 8 7071 7072
Elaine Theodore - Administration Manager (Melbourne)
Lanie has significant experience as an Executive/Personal Assistant and Administration Manager in a range of organisations. Lanie spent 17 years with AVJennings Homes and has extensive experience in a wide range of industries. Most recently, Lanie was Office Manager at Stem Cell Sciences Ltd., an ASX listed Biotechnology Company that was recently acquired by Stem Cells Inc.
email: lanie.theodore@ttcf.com.au telephone: +61 3 9905 6244
Board
Mr John Grace - Chairman
Mr. Grace has worked for 38 years in the biotechnology industry, 20 years of which he was a CEO. Mr Grace is an experienced director of listed and private companies. He operates a consulting business in biotechnology, iBIO Pty Ltd, primarily with clients involved in the commercialising of research particularly in the university sector. He is a member of the Council of the Australian Institute of Marine Science and a Vice President of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. He is a Director and a Vice President of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and Chairman of ITEK Pty Ltd, the research commercialisation company of the University of South Australia. He Chaired the Victorian government’s VSA Investment fund. Mr Grace is a past member of the Australian Research Council. He was formerly a member of the Victorian Premier’s Knowledge Innovation Science and Engineering Task Force, a member of the Industry Research and Development Board and President/Director of the Australian Biotechnology Association. His main focus is in the commercial development of leading edge science predominantly in Biotechnology. John was previously a CEO and Director for AMRAD Corporation Limited for eleven years and gained extensive business and management experience in a high tech enterprises operating in international markets. He has been a Director of a number of companies and has extensive experience in corporate governance and related issues.
Dr Mark Toner - Non Executive Director
Dr Mark Toner is a former Managing Director of Kvaerner E&C Australia, a subsidiary of the international engineering and construction group Aker Solutions. His background is in technical marketing and management with a career focus on engineering, science and IT. He is Chair of Australian Science Innovations and two small technology companies, a National Board Member of Engineers Australia's Centre for Engineering Leadership and Management, and an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Engineering at Monash University. Mark is a former Chair of the CRC for Sensor Signal and Information Processing, a former Deputy Chair of Melbourne IT Ltd, a past President of the Business/Higher Education Round Table and a fellow of the following organisations: the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Engineers Australia, the Institution of Chemical Engineers in Australia (and former Chair) and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Mark is a Management Consultant with Toner & Associates.
