Appointed

Chris was appointed Chairman of Nanoco Group plc in May 2016, having joined the Board as a Non-executive Director in November 2015.

Skills and experience

Following a successful international career in the agrochemical and life sciences industries, Chris has become a highly experienced non-executive director and business adviser. Chris is the former Chief Executive Officer of Arysta LifeScience, a Japan-based agrochemical business which grew rapidly under his leadership. After stepping down as CEO in 2010, he became Arysta LifeScience’s Non-executive Chairman until the sale of the business in 2015 to Platform Specialty Products.

After gaining his DPhil from the University of Oxford in Biological Science, Chris worked as a research scientist for four years. He began his executive career in 1983 in the Plant Protection division at Imperial Chemical Industries plc, which later became Syngenta. For 20 years, he has lived in various countries including Colombia and Japan and led international marketing and commercial functions.

Other roles

Chris currently holds a number of executive and non-executive roles at quoted and private businesses. He is the Interim CEO and Executive Chairman of Plant Health Care plc (AIM: PHC) and a Non-executive Director of Origin Enterprises plc (AIM: OGN).

Committees

● Nominations Committee ● Remuneration Committee

Appointed

Brian Tenner was appointed as CEO with effect from 1 September 2020. Brian joined the Group in August 2018 as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Brian also serves as the Company Secretary.

Skills and experience

Prior to joining Nanoco, Brian held a number of senior finance positions with both publicly listed and private multinational companies. His roles have typically focused on broad ranging operational finance with an emphasis on leading change and transformation programmes. Brian’s previous roles include Interim CEO and subsequently CFO of NCC (LSE: NCC) from 2017 to 2018 (cyber security professional services), CFO of Renold plc (LSE: RNO) from 2010 to 2016 (engineering manufacturing), Scapa plc (AIM: SCPA) from 2007 to 2010 (speciality chemicals) and British Nuclear Group (hi-tech chemicals and large-scale decommissioning projects) from 2003 to 2007. Brian qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC in 1994 and holds a Law degree (LLB Hons) from Edinburgh University.

Appointed

Nanoco’s technology team is led by Nigel, who is a co-founder of Nanoco and inventor of Nanoco’s key quantum dot scale-up technology. In 2000 he moved to Manchester where he co-founded Nanoco Technologies in 2001.

Skills and experience

Nigel has co-authored over 70 academic papers and is an inventor on 150 patents and pending applications. He has a passion and experience in taking research work from the academic bench through to full commercialisation. Nigel graduated from Newcastle University in 1991 and chose to remain at Newcastle to pursue a PhD in the field of Main Group Organometallics and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. After graduation in 1994, he undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at St Andrews University, Scotland, in the field of precursor design for metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy (“MOVPE”) growth and synthesis of nanoparticles using chemical vapour deposition (“CVD”) techniques. In 1996 he won a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (“JSPS”) fellowship and spent the following year working at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan. In 1998 he became a Research Fellow at Georgia Institute of Technology, US, working on the design and evaluation of precursors used in MOVPE.

Appointed

Liam Gray was appointed as CFO with effect from 8 November 2021. Liam has been serving as Nanoco’s UK Finance Director and Company Secretary since September 2020, having joined the Company in March 2019 in the role of Group Financial Controller.

Skills and experience

Prior to joining Nanoco, Liam held a number of senior finance roles in both public and private companies. Liam began his career with KPMG and qualified as a chartered accountant in 2012. He has a degree in Accountancy from the University of Liverpool.

Appointed

Alison was appointed to the Board in April 2017.

Skills and experience

Alison holds an MBA from Manchester Business School, a PhD in Organic Chemistry and a first-class degree in Chemistry from the University of Glasgow and an MSc in Mindfulness from the University of Aberdeen.

Alison started her career at Zeneca PLC (now Astra Zeneca) followed by five years at McKinsey & Company and later co-founded Techtran Group Limited, which was acquired by IP Group in 2005, where she held the role of Director and COO until 2013. Whilst at IP Group, she also sat on the board of and advised several early stage and quoted IP Group-backed technology companies.

Other roles

Alison is Venture Partner at IP Group and is also currently a Non-executive Director of Getech Group plc and a Non-executive Director of Maven Income and Growth VCT PLC.

Committees

● Audit Committee ● Nominations Committee ● Remuneration Committee

Appointed

Chris Batterham was appointed to the Board in April 2019.

Skills and experience

Chris holds a Natural Sciences degree from Cambridge University. He then qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen LLP in 1979 where he spent his early career.

Chris has considerable financial and operational experience and became the Finance Director of Unipalm Group plc, from 1996 to 2001. He then went on to become CFO of Searchspace Group Limited from 2001 until 2005. Chris then went on to hold a number of non-executive roles across a range of companies with a technology focus in many cases.

Other roles

Chris is currently a Non-executive Director of NCC Group plc.

Committees

● Audit Committee ● Nominations Committee ● Remuneration Committee

Appointed

Dieter was appointed to the Board in February 2024.

Skills and experience

Dieter was Chairman and CEO of Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH, one of the world’s leading optoelectronic components companies, participating in electronics applications such as facial and iris recognition, health monitoring, vehicle navigation, and virtual and augmented reality as well as uLED displays. As CEO, Dieter developed relationships with leading companies throughout the sector. His earlier career spanned Senior Vice President positions in semiconductor technologies (Infineon), and connected devices and digital consumer services in both mobile consumer products (Nokia) and automotive (BMW).

Other roles

None

Committees

None

Dr Jalal Bagherli brings broad experience of working with a number of the world’s largest brands in the electronics industry. Jalal is the Board Chair of PTSL Ltd. He was the CEO of Dialog Semiconductor plc (“Dialog”) from 2005 until the successful sale of the company to Japan’s Renasas in 2021. Under Jalal’s leadership, Dialog became a world leader in mobile power management and connectivity products, selling to most of the major companies in the consumer electronics and mobile phone sector. His earlier career included roles as CEO of Alphamosaic and before that at Sony Semiconductor and Devices Europe as Vice President and Managing Director.