Venture Partners

|   BSc(Hons), MBA, GAICD   |   Location: Brisbane, AU

Anne-Marie Birkill is a Co-Founder, Venture Partner, and Director of the Manager at OneVentures. She is well regarded for her passion for and experience of working with early-stage technology companies and entrepreneurs including as an expert advisor within the innovation community. She is based in Brisbane, a strong source of technology innovation opportunities.

Anne-Marie serves on the investment committees of OneVentures’ Funds I, II and III and the REM and Risk Management Committees. She is a director for OneVentures portfolio company Madorra and was Chair of the Board of Charm Health until 2017 when she lead the company to an acquisition by the Citadel Group (ASX:CGL). She originated Vaxxas in 2010 and was an observer to the Vaxxas Board until 2020.

Driven by a passion to grow Australia’s knowledge-based economy; Anne-Marie brings 35+ years’ experience in executive leadership, product development and commercialisation, advisory roles, mentorship, capital raising and exits to the team at OneVentures. Her interest in the innovation sector was forged during 15 years in leadership roles in agri-business companies developing and commercialising new cultivars of ornamental, aquatic, food, and forestry plants. Prior to co-founding OneVentures in 2010, she was CEO of i.lab Incubator, having previously spent five years in the senior management team at UniQuest. During this period Anne-Marie developed successful programs and networks to assist technology commercialisation, start-up formation and growth, capital raising and exit. She has experience of senior management and governance in listed and unlisted companies.

A committed advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion, Anne-Marie regularly contributes to thought leadership on this topic including via speaking engagements. For media and speaking enquiries, please contact us.

Her experience and reputation in the technology sector is demonstrated through her active participation in the innovation community. Her current external roles include appointment as an Industry Fellow with The University of Queensland (UQ) Business School, Chair of the Investment Committee for the UQ-lead “Trailblazer” Food and Beverage Accelerator,  and director for InterFinancial Corporate Finance and the PPK Group (ASX:PPK).

|   BSc (Biology), MD (Rheumatology)

Dan Baker received his B.A. in Biology from Gettysburg College and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his medical residency at Hershey Medical Center and fellowship in Rheumatology at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by a research fellowship in Rheumatology at Mass General Hospital. He continued on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania for 18 years before joining Janssen/Centocor in 2000.

As Vice President Immunology R&D at Janssen, his responsibilities included the clinical development of Remicade, SIMPONI and STELARA as well as other programs in rheumatology, and dermatology. As Disease Area Stronghold Leader he was responsible for Phase II & III clinical development plans for rheumatology products was responsible for the overall strategy on portfolio in rheumatology/immunology.

He has authored multiple publications in the field of immunology and has served a co-Lead of RTCure which is an academic/industry collaboration that is sponsored by IMI2 and is searching for tolerogenic therapies for rheumatoid arthritis.

After his retirement from Janssen in 2019 he has been active in continuing to be involved in bringing therapies to patients by providing scientific advice to drug development organisations. He has taken on the role of CEO of Kira Biotech which is an emerging Australian biotech company targeting treatment of immune system disorders with novel immunomodulatory drugs.

|   BSc(Hons), PhD   |   Location: Sydney, AU

John brings almost 20 years’ global life science experience across operational, venture capital and investment banking roles.

Most recently John held the role of CFO at Elastagen, an innovative Australian medical device company, until it was sold to Allergan, a global medical aesthetics company. The deal was recognised by the AIC as the Best Venture Capital Investment of 2018. Post-closing, John continued to oversee the integration of Elastagen’s clinical programs at Allergan as Director R&D, and latterly as a consultant.

During his tenure at Elastagen and Allergan, John had a broad remit that spanned finance, corporate development and clinical functions, and was intimately involved in internationalizing the business through to its successful exit. As CFO, John led the Company’s fund-raising efforts including the Series B round. He was also heavily involved in the design and execution of the Company’s two clinical studies conducted in the UK.

Prior to Elastagen, Dr Westwater spent eight years at Nomura Phase4 Ventures in London, investing in early to mid-stage life sciences companies primarily in the US and Europe. John started his career in investment banking with Morgan Stanley where he spent over four years in their Corporate Finance and Mergers, Acquisitions and Restructuring Department (MARD) teams, advising pre-IPO to blue-chip healthcare multinationals on various capital raisings, divestitures and acquisitions.

At different times in his career, John has also been an independent healthcare consultant, providing strategic advice to various companies through the years.

Dr Westwater holds a PhD and a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry from Heriot Watt University in the UK with the first year of his PhD studies spent at Dundee University. He is also a recipient of the Watt Club Medal.