Meet the Team
Our experienced team look forward to meeting you.
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Partners
Dafydd Wright
Managing Partner
Seeking to redefine the approach to Executive Search and Interim Management, Dafydd believes that our industry deserves a more straightforward, empathetic way of working where behaviour drives results. Working closely with the other shareholders, Ryan Watson and Austin Clark, Dafydd intends to deliver on that aspiration.
Now he leads a carefully picked, high quality team providing executive search, interim management, and talent advisory services to the start-up community through to mid-cap businesses. Dafydd is proud that in two years, SCi Partners has grown to form a significant team of experienced industry professionals who work together, first and foremost, for the benefit of the people we serve: customers, candidates and colleagues.
With an award-winning resume, Dafydd brings to SCi Partners more than 20 years of experience in life sciences executive and interims recruitment. This has included the role of Managing Partner of a global specialist search organisation where he led the executive interim management practice.
He began his career as a research scientist for the biotechnology and brewing industries, developing rapid diagnostics for earlier and more cost-effective detection of beer-spoilage organisms.
Dafydd is on the trustee board of RAFT, a medical research charity which works to improve the surgical tools available for the treatment of burns, wounds and other major traumas. These have included Smart Matrix® which uses naturally occurring proteins to heal skin after burns, Smart CaP, an adaptation of Smart Matrix which enhances the body’s ability to regenerate bone, and 3D-printed organic facial implants. RAFT is now working on biologically sympathetic breast implants to improve outcomes after mastectomy. Dafydd has been a trustee of the charity since 2012.
In 2010, Dafydd was awarded the prestigious IMA Interim Consultant of the Year. He holds a degree in Applied Microbiology from the University West of England in Bristol. He has worked and lived in the UK and Finland.
Dafydd Wright
Managing Partner
+44(0) 7775 710 033
Emma Whittle
Partner
Emma is an executive search and interim management partner with a track record of successfully placing high level professionals across the life science sector. These include critical board and sub-board appointments, focusing on assignments for the healthcare and life science Industry.
In her early career, she spent 10 years in a senior role at a top tier FTSE 250 global recruitment company, where she grew highly successful technology and life science practices. Emma was also a consultant in the healthcare and life science interim management practice of a major search firm. She has also worked alongside our other partners at a boutique life science search firm.
Emma has worked in talent acquisition for a highly regarded US technology company, leading talent acquisition across North America and EMEA.
At SCi Partners, Emma leads on our talent consultancy, advising clients on talent strategies. This enables them to hire skilled employees who can transform recruitment from an ‘as-needed’ function to a proactive hiring strategy. Her client-side experience and understanding of RPO has also enabled her to lead talent consultancy projects for our biotech clients.
More than 20 years of international experience has given Emma a deep understanding of talent search and interim placement in different markets. She is recognised for her keen insights on candidate fit and gains satisfaction from seeing the creativity and continuity that interims bring to temporary assignments.
Emma joined SCi Partners after a previous assignment with our founder, Dafydd Wright, and enjoys the positive and team spirited nature of our business. Emma is an advocate for all forms of diversity. She holds a BA(Hons) in International Politics.
Emma Whittle
Partner
+44(0) 7871 842 750
Mark Johnson
Senior Partner
Mark Johnson is a respected executive search professional who specialises in building out VC funded biotech companies.
He is experienced at recruiting C-suite and executive positions as well as functional teams in discovery, R&D, CMC & Manufacturing, QA/Regulatory and Clinical Operations
Clients view Mark as a trusted ambassador for their organisation and value his collaborative approach to filling challenging appointments. He recognised as an expert in cell and gene therapy, with a deep network in this space, and a proven track record in delivering outstanding talent.
Mark was drawn to SCi Partners after working with several of our consultants in previous businesses. He enjoys our accountable and collaborative culture and spends most of this time working with long term clients and referred business.
Beginning his career 25 years ago in biologics at MedImmune and Novartis, Mark worked in development, manufacturing and quality for vaccine products that ultimately made the transition to full global release.
Mark holds a BSc in Applied Biology from Liverpool John Moores University.
Mark Johnson
Senior Partner
+44(0) 7701 009 215
Paul Edwards
Managing Partner and Board Member, SCi Partners
Paul has played a pivotal role in our company since 2005 and is deeply connected to both scientific innovation and corporate transformation within our industry. Specialising in international, senior level and board appointments across the life science, pharmaceutical, generics and medical device sectors, Paul has a track record of executive roles within a succession of innovative companies, giving him important insights into candidate selection.
A graduate chemist with over 40 years in the industry, Paul began his career at Beecham Pharmaceuticals before joining Genzyme Corporation where he went on to head the company’s UK operations. As Chief Executive Officer at GeneMedix plc, a biosimilars company, he established manufacturing operations in Ireland and China and led the company’s 2000 IPO on the London and Singapore stock exchanges.
As a Non-Executive Director of Goldshield Group plc, he was part of the team that helped oversee a £179m management buyout led by a private equity trust, HG Capital. He prepared Bio Products Laboratory for a successful exit, with 80% of its shares sold to Bain Capital and with the company attaining an overall valuation of £230m. Paul’s interest in science is as constant as his executive capability. In 2020, Paul joined NanoMab Technology Ltd as board advisor and interim CEO, where he worked on cancer precision therapies via the development of radiopharmaceuticals.
In 1994, as Chairman of the UK BioIndustry Association’s Manufacturing Advisory Committee, Paul championed the need to build a sustainable biomanufacturing infrastructure in the UK. In 1997, Paul’s role as industry advisor, combined with his heavyweight scientific and executive career, led to an MBE for services to biotechnology. In 1999 he was the recipient of the IChemE Donald Medal, awarded for service to the biochemical engineering sector.
Today, in addition to his involvement in SCi Partners, Paul is Executive Chairman of IsomAb Ltd, an academic spinout developing isoform specific monoclonal antibodies for areas of unmet medical needs, including diabetes, oncology and inflammation. Since 2022, as a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) member of Imophoron Ltd, he has supported a pre-clinical stage company in the development of a novel vaccine platform, the ADDomer, which has been demonstrated to create highly immunogenic vaccine candidates.
Paul is also a Non-Executive Director of the Oxford Bio Network (OBN), the UK’s leading life science membership organisation.
Paul Edwards
Managing Partner
+44(0) 7771 575 374
Samantha Leeman
PARTNER
Samantha is confident that there is no recruiter out there that loves their job more than her. That enthusiasm is based on a desire to help change people’s lives and help them develop career paths, very much as her own was changed by one of the first recruiters she met back in 2005.
Her commitment to this began in 2007 in her first recruitment role, before joining Entrust People in 2012. As the first member of staff, she was instrumental in building the business – applying her knowledge of the tech industry across a range of sectors including energy, life sciences, education, legal and finance. From there, Samantha’s tech recruitment expertise took her to Lloyds Banking Group as Engineering Recruitment Lead, where she was responsible for redesigning the organisation’s engineering recruitment process, with transformational results.
In 2020, Samantha’s technical knowledge and people skills led her to retrain as a successful Scrum Master. Coaching software developers to achieve optimum performance in a number of pioneering banking projects during this time, she eventually returned to her recruitment roots to consolidate and develop the tech recruitment portfolio of Entrust Resource Group, by relaunching Entrust People to market in the autumn of 2022.
Sam’s blog “Once Upon a Tech Recruiter” shares some of the inspirational stories of the many candidates she has worked with over the past 15 years, as well as drawing upon her own journey as an IT recruiter: Home – Once Upon A Tech Recruiter
Samantha Leeman
Partner
+44(0) 7791 615 823
Tarquin Bennett-Coles
SENIOR PARTNER
Tarquin is senior executive search specialist who is deeply networked within the life science industry. His focus is on senior leadership roles across the sector, from biotech, pharma and diagnostics companies to life science service businesses, healthcare consultancies, charities and university spinouts. Tarquin has handled hundreds of complex assignments across general management, market access, HEOR, R&D, digital health, data science, drug discovery, competitive intelligence, medical affairs, and clinical development.
He has been involved in many high-profile hires including the CEO for the global vaccine non-governmental organisation CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations).
Prior to joining SCi Partners, Tarquin held senior roles in life science boutique search firms. His career has also included successfully supporting AstraZeneca as Global Talent Scout for its Innovative Medicines and Early Development (IMED) Biotech Unit and biologics business units. This covered senior hires, talent pipelines and onboarding in the UK, Sweden and US.
Tarquin is primarily focused on mid-size pharma and biotech organisations who augment the skills of their inhouse talent teams with his expert knowledge of key functional areas. An essential element of these relationships is understanding the significance of the role to the organisation and the skills and attributes needed to deliver impact. Focused on delivering results within realistic and contained budgets, Tarquin’s flexibility of approach is unusual within the recruitment sector and enables clients to benefit from a high level of expertise whilst successfully managing budgets.
With a BEd (Hons) from Homerton College, University of Cambridge, Tarquin began his career in teaching before moving into recruitment more than 20 years ago, He is an accomplished communicator who chairs industry panels, has been a regular guest on Royal Pharmaceutical Society podcasts and written articles on talent issues and the life science sector.
For 14 years, Tarquin lectured postgraduates for Cambridge University Master’s programmes, firstly in Bioscience Enterprise and latterly for its Therapeutics Science programme. He has enjoyed helping students from diverse backgrounds plan their careers and has continued to support them as they have progressed.
Tarquin is a trained STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) and SIP (Science Industry Partnership) Ambassador and a mentor for the Homerton Changemakers programme. This is an initiative run by his former college at Cambridge University which supports graduates, postgraduates and alumni in building connections and developing their communications skills.
His active involvement in mentoring life science professionals and postgraduates reflects Tarquin’s reputation as a valued contact who helps executives manage their careers. He is regularly consulted on the skills and knowledge required for specific roles and on corporate career mentoring.
Tarquin is an advisor to Gynii and Me, a charity that helps companies provide fertility information and support as part of their benefits structure. As part of his involvement, he has been interviewed on fertility benefits for the Gynii and Me online magazine, discussing the importance of fertility benefits in the workplace.
As a volunteer for Form the Future, Tarquin gives interview and application advice to school students from Year 8 upwards. This includes hosting a ‘What’s My Line’ event for STEM subjects where students question professionals on their job roles. Starting conversations about core skills with pre-GCSE students helps them to make better subject choices and creates a skilled pool of future executives within the science and technology sectors.
Tarquin is a qualified rugby coach and first aider for the youth section of Shelford Rugby club and has coached the girls’ and boys’ teams. He has given blood over 80 times and is looking forward to reaching 100 donations.
Tarquin Bennett-Coles
Senior Partner
+44(0) 7876 564 645
Research
Jane Spillman
Senior Researcher
Jane’s expertise lies in identifying and attracting exceptional talent for the pharmaceutical and life science industries. She has considerable experience working across a wide range of organisations, from start-ups and early stage biotechs to major global pharma companies, medical research organisations and not-for-profits.
She sources talent at senior and board level, working across a variety of functions including board leadership, R&D, regulatory, manufacturing, commercial, finance, HR and technology.
A clear communicator, Jane ensures she has a full understanding of her brief, ensuring candidate identification is well targeted and focused. Jane has a warm and engaging manner that immediately puts clients and candidates at ease, enabling sincere and helpful discussion to take place. She is persistent in her quest to identify and engage with the ‘perfect fit’ candidate and hopes that, through the placement of the right talent, she is playing a small part in building teams that may develop a next-generation treatment or cure.
After spending the earlier part of her career in FMCG marketing (firstly in the beauty industry and subsequently in the baby care industry), Jane moved into executive search, where she has found her home.
Jane has a BA (Hons) degree in Business Studies from South Bank Polytechnic (now University of the South Bank).
Jane Spillman
Senior Researcher
+44(0) 7873 332 924
Kelly Kerr
Senior Researcher
With eleven years’ experience of researching candidates for both executive and interim C-suite roles, Kelly is a highly regarded member of the SCi Partners team.
Kelly’s industry experience and pragmatic nature enables her to skillfully define the essential and desirable qualities needed in a candidate, giving both our consultants and clients clarity on the best way to proceed.
Once the candidate profile has been established, Kelly builds a shortlist of candidates using a wide range of sources, including speaking with industry contacts. Her experience of the market is critical at this stage in identifying the ideal candidates for a position.
Accustomed to engaging with people from all backgrounds, Kelly is widely accepted and respected as an intermediary between candidates and clients. She combines this with an ethical approach to helping both parties decide on cultural fit.
Kelly enjoys working with a wide range of employers in the life sciences industry. She has delivered many successful placements for blue chip pharma and biotech companies and is equally successful when working with startups, where she has a keen understanding of the qualities that candidates need to thrive in a less formal, more entrepreneurial environment. She has the experience to support clients with talent mapping and talent pipelines, as well as salary research projects for UK and international roles.
Prior to executive search, Kelly worked in a private company providing audio forensics to law enforcement and she is also a qualified nurse.
Kelly Kerr
Senior Researcher
+44(0) 7456 340 631
Bethany Latham
Researcher
Bethany’s role at SCi Partners involves researching scientific appointments, seeking to understand the essential and desirable skills for each role.
Understanding the importance of going beyond the skills that can be captured on a CV, Bethany works closely with clients, enabling her to fully understand the cultural ethos of the hiring organisation and to build genuine relationships. In turn, this helps her to identify relevant candidates and convey the nature of the role and organisation. She understands the importance in biotech and emerging technologies of hiring individuals with the right cultural fit as well as the right skills base.
Bethany particularly enjoys working with early phase life science companies, helping to build out world-class teams in innovative organisations, operating at the ‘bleeding-edge’ of scientific revolution.
Not only understanding but championing the importance of diversity, Bethany strives to ensure that her interactions with both candidates and clients are considerate, inclusive and tailored to individual needs. She firmly believes that organisational strength is found in an intersectionally diverse cohort.
Joining SCi Partners after an assignment as a human resources intern at HR Circle, she graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2021 with a first-class honours degree in History, having submitted her dissertation on Disability Rights. Her strong background in research has made her an asset to the team and she has developed a broad understanding of biotechnology and executive search.
Bethany Latham
Researcher
+44(0) 7916 808 564
Alina Dulija
SENIOR RESEARCHER
Alina is a multi-lingual life science researcher who has worked for premier executive search companies in both the UK and Germany.
During her career, Alina has provided valuable research for a variety of scientific opportunities in areas such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, biotechnology, diagnostic, medical device, and contract research. This has included work on senior roles in R&D, business leadership, production and corporate. She has also supported the supply of ancillary services such as management assessment, onboarding and coaching.
With studies in leisure marketing, communications and psychology, prior to joining the recruitment industry, Alina worked in various customer service and operations roles. Her experiences have included working in sales and operations for a giftware company in Auckland, New Zealand.
Alina has excellent knowledge of the DACH region, Europe and the UK, as well as Singapore, the United States and Middle East. She speaks English, German, Latvian and Russian which, combined with her extensive travel, gives her deep understanding of international cultures. She is recognised for communicating transparently about the opportunities and challenges of relocation and has a strong sense of cultural fit.
Alina is delighted when she can help candidates find the ideal assignment with a new company in an exciting new location.
Alina Dulija
Senior Researcher
+44(0) 7592 493 314
Administration
Paula McCreadie
Executive Assistant
Originally from South Africa, Paula joined our team in 2022 with 18 years’ experience in the travel industry, network marketing and as a virtual assistant to a paediatrician in Johannesburg.
In addition to acting as the administrative hub of our executive team, Paula is a key contact for clients, candidates, and consultants. Her superior organisational skills put clients and candidates at ease, creating an environment where everyone can perform at their best.
Working with client executive assistants, she creates meticulous plans for candidate selection and ensures that they are regularly updated on arrangements.
Candidates see Paula as a trusted intermediary who seamlessly coordinates the application process, setting up meetings and interviews and providing regular progress updates.
Paula’s life experience and interest in people are evident in the way that she supports candidates and consultants throughout the application process. She is an advocate of our open approach to candidate liaison, believing in the importance of feedback on all applications. This creates a bond of trust with candidates and leads to successful ongoing relationships for all concerned.
New to the industry, Paula enjoys learning about innovation in life sciences and takes a keen interest in developments in our sector.
Paula McCreadie
Executive Assistant
+44(0) 7823 820 409
Group Operations
Ryan Watson
Managing Director
Entrust Resource Solutions founder, Ryan, has built a nationwide business comprising highly talented recruitment consultants and researchers who provide a genuinely unique and holistic partnership approach to Life Sciences recruitment. Following strategic acquisitions, Ryan now leads the group business interests in SCi Partners and Entrust Resource Solution.
Having developed our “bench to board” resourcing service, Ryan remains a hands-on and focused upon building the next generation of Life Sciences professionals, not least through his membership of a steering group created to establish an academy dedicated to identifying sector skills gaps but also to provide cross-sector training in line with Life Sciences’ specific requirements.
Ryan Watson
Group Operations
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Austin Clark
Chief Commercial Officer
Joining Entrust Resource Solutions in its earliest days, recruitment expert Austin brings more than 20 years’ experience to the role, and has been instrumental in the company’s growth, which includes two strategic acquisitions and the launch of SCi Partners.
Drawing upon his own sector knowledge and experience he supports both the ERS and SCi Partners team on a day-to-day basis, as they maximise potential opportunities and offer the optimum solutions to our clients. Developing and maintaining close relationships with our clients, Austin has his finger on the pulse of developments across the UK Life Sciences sector and is passionate about its sustainable future.
Austin Clark
Group Operations
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Alina Dulija Joins Us
The SCi Partners team has been further augmented by the arrival of Alina Dulija as Senior Researcher. Alina is a multi-lingual life science researcher who
BiA 19th Annual BioProcess Conference
Mark Johnson was delighted to attend the BiA 19th Annual BioProcess Conference and Exhibition In Edinburgh last week. The conference began with a warm welcome
REAP Conference 2022
Dafydd Wright and Tarquin Bennett-Coles delved into innovation in agriculture at last week’s Agri-TechE conference REAP. Agriculture is deep into the digital revolution with advanced