Brussels Metropolitan Area
Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel, and executive leader with more than 20 years of experience supporting biotechnology, pharma, and life sciences companies through growth, transformation, financing, strategic transactions, and commercialization. I have advised boards of directors, executive management teams, and business leaders in both publicly listed and private companies operating across Europe and the United States. My experience spans corporate governance, compliance, licensing, corporate development, M&A, financing readiness, litigation management, and broader business-critical decision-making in highly regulated and capital-intensive environments. Throughout my career, I have held senior leadership roles in innovative biotechnology companies, including TiGenix, Celyad Oncology, Biophytis, Mnemo Therapeutics, and SwiftPharma. In addition to legal and compliance leadership, I have served as Board Secretary, executive committee member, corporate development leader, and trusted advisor to boards and management teams navigating periods of growth, financing, restructuring, strategic transactions, and organizational change. I have led and supported complex negotiations and high-value transactions, including licensing agreements, strategic partnerships, financings, M&A transactions, corporate restructurings, and other strategic initiatives. My focus is on protecting enterprise value, preserving strategic optionality, strengthening governance, and enabling sustainable growth. I bring a multidisciplinary perspective to business-critical decisions, operating at the intersection of law, strategy, governance, finance, and innovation. Supported by legal training and an MBA, I combine legal judgment with commercial awareness and strategic decision-making to help organizations navigate growth, transformation, and complexity. Focus areas: Chief Legal Officer | General Counsel | EMEA | Life Sciences | Biotech | Pharma | Advanced Therapies | Cell Therapy | Gene Therapy | HealthTech | Corporate Governance | Compliance | Corporate Development | Business Development | Strategic Transactions | Licensing | M&A | Financing Readiness | Corporate Restructuring | Negotiation | Intellectual Property | Data Protection | Regulatory Affairs | Board Advisory | Board Secretary | Executive Leadership
Management company through which General Counsel, Executive Committee member, and senior leadership roles are performed within biotech and healthcare companies across development stages, including but not limited to Johnson & Johnson, TiGenix, Celyad Oncology, Biophytis, Mnemo Therapeutics, Galapagos, SwiftPharma, and Oblita Therapeutics. Executive leadership across Legal and Compliance (corporate law, complex contracts, regulatory, IP, data protection, governance), Corporate Development and Licensing, Strategic Partnerships, Financing Readiness, Human Resources, Investor Relations, Communications, and Risk Management. • General Counsel and Executive Committee member roles in biotech organizations • Strategic partner to CEOs and Boards on governance, capital strategy, and risk alignment • Lead negotiator for high-value licensing, R&D collaborations, strategic alliances, financing documentation, and M&A transactions • Governance and board structuring, delegated authorities, equity administration, subsidiary oversight • Corporate development and complex transactions, including M&A, restructurings, and strategic investments • IP, data, and asset protection oversight, including freedom-to-operate and clinical data integrity • Compliance frameworks and crisis navigation in regulated environments • Human capital and executive contracts, incentive design, equity plans, and leadership transitions • Investor relations and disclosure alignment, and strategic communications Executive contribution: • As GC/CLO, responsibilities extend beyond legal oversight to structuring negotiations, protecting valuation in complex agreements, enabling financing readiness, and aligning growth, governance, and risk. • Translating risk into structured business choices, protecting speed from becoming fragility, and maintaining companies investable, partnerable, and credible at every stage of development.
• Executive Committee member and Board Director at a capital-constrained biotech scale-up, advising on strategy, governance, transactions, and organizational stabilization • Supported critical leadership and organizational changes, including executive team restructuring and talent prioritization • Led a restructuring and governance remediation effort and reset, strengthening decision-making, internal controls, stakeholder accountability and cost discipline • Drove corporate development and partnering (licensing, tech transfer), while building internal understanding of market standards, execution realities, and value-creation pathways • Acted as senior point of contact for the company’s principal shareholder, providing transparency on governance risks and strategic options in a resource-constrained context SwiftPharma is a biotechnology company developing recombinant biologics using plants as mini-bioreactors, with a focus on sustainable and scalable biomanufacturing.
• Executive Committee member and Board Secretary; advised leadership on a broad range of strategic, operational, compliance, corporate governance, and litigation matters across EU/US operations • Co-led a company-wide restructuring, including the wind-down of U.S. locations • Supported business development and R&D activities, including licensing discussions, strategic partnering and technology transactions (licensing, tech transfer, manufacturing/supply) Mnemo Therapeutics was a biotechnology company focused on developing innovative immunotherapies for cancer patients. During my tenure, the company was headquartered in Paris, with operations in New York City and Princeton, New Jersey.
• Executive Committee member and Board Secretary; Chief Legal Officer & HR Director in a publicly listed clinical-stage biotech • Led legal, governance, compliance, and strategic transaction support for R&D/clinical and partnering activities in a highly regulated and time-critical environment Biophytis (Euronext Growth Paris: ALBPS and formerly NasdaqCM: BPTS) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing therapies targeting age-related diseases.
• Senior Management Team member • Developed and managed the company’s contracts and compliance strategy • Supported Business Development, R&D, Medical and Clinical Development activities (including licensing, partnerships, technology transfer, manufacturing and supply) • Represented the company at pharmaceutical industry associations (including pharma.be) and external forums, contributing to sector-level dialogue on regulatory, compliance, and innovation-related topics Celyad Oncology (Euronext Brussels and Paris, and formerly NASDAQ: CYAD) is a biopharmaceutical company, specialized in cell therapy, that is developing landmark technologies aimed at treating severe diseases with poor prognosis (www.celyad.com).