Executive committee

Appointed: 2000

Nationality: German

Edgar is CFO of Axplora. He joined the company in 2000. He has a strong experience as CFO of +25 years in different companies such as Rodenstock Group (optical lenses), Müller Group (dairy), and Lekkerland (wholesale). He started his career as Consultant at McKinsey & Company in Munich, Buenos Aires, in 1992. Throughout his career, he held several Board seats, including stock listed companies.

At Axplora, Edgar’s area of responsibility is Finance and IT with responsibility for Controlling, Accounting, Treasury, Tax, Legal and IT. His vision is to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and visibility of Finance and IT by establishing these functions as true business partners for the Business Units.

Edgar holds a Master’s degree in industrial engineering from the Technical University of Karlsruhe and a PhD degree in Economics.

Edgar lives in Munich. He is passionate about sport (running, golf, skiing) and enjoys spending time with his family, especially since his three grown-up kids live in different cities/countries and do not see them that often. Travelling and living abroad (e.g. Argentina) has been very important to him, however, visiting Southern France or the North Sea in low season remains a favorite.

Appointed: 2023

Nationality: Spanish and Canadian

Pere joined Axplora on March 1^st, 2023, as COO. Chemist, he started his professional life in the fine chemical sector in Spain, always dealing with innovative and complex projects. Prior to his most recent role as Chief Quality & Technical Operations Officer at Centrient, Pere worked with Boehringer Ingelheim and Apotex, where he was President for Global API and Executive Vice President for Global API & Procurement.

During his tenure spanning three decades, he has gathered valuable experience in the API industry among others and has successfully led global operations efforts for major API industry players. Pere brings extensive international experience in technical operations and quality and has a strong track record of successfully leading significant improvement and transformation programs.

Pere is an alumnus of the University of Barcelona in Spain, from which he holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Chemistry and a PhD degree in Chemical Engineering. He holds an MBA from the ESADE Business School in Spain.

Pere is fluent in English, Spanish and Catalan, with notions of German and French. Pere likes to travel, and he practices golf.

Appointed: 2022

Nationality: German and English

Arul joined Axplora as CCO on July 18, 2022. Based in Raubling (Germany), Arul oversees the Global Marketing Strategy and Business Intelligence and has a global role bringing together the BU Marketing organizations to foster our business impact in close relations with the BU Presidents and the sales teams.

A Chartered Chemical Engineer from the UK with an MBA from INSEAD, Arul has a 25-year business career as a General Manager, Executive Coach and Commercial Negotiator. He led Commercial (Marketing & Sales) and Operational (Technical Operations & Supply Chain) organizations at Novartis, Baxalta & Shire in several countries and has also served as CEO of a Swiss Biologics CDMO. Most recently, he has been supporting a German Pharma major set up a global rare dermatology business.

Arul likes to being able to practice his six languages at our sites, while indulging in a conversation or two about the local region and sports, many of which he follows. Outside of work, he is an avid skier and hiker with his family.

Appointed: 2012

Nationality: French

Bertrand joined Axplora in 2012. Before his current position, Bertrand held the role of HR Director for the Synthesis Business Unit, additionally taking on HR responsibilities for the Corporate Team. He took over the Communication department in 2018. From an HR perspective, Bertrand said that our ambition is to provide a safe and caring environment, where all employees can develop and proudly deliver our collective performance. The communication team is determined to communicate widely both externally and internally to share our story and raise visibility for our brand.

Bertrand Waymel holds a degree from the INSEEC Business School in Paris, having specialized in Human Resources Management.

He is curious in many topics (photo, paintings, architecture, detective stories, history, and geography…), and he practices regularly sports (mountain bike, running, skiing). Traveling in Europe is a great pleasure that he loves to share with his family. Hid passion is to sail, and to share this passion equally with expert or rooky.

Appointed: 1993

Nationality: French

Jean joined Axplora in 1993 and was a member of the founding team of Novasep. He started in R&D where he developed strong expertise in chromatography processes and held various positions within the group, including engineering, sales management, marketing and business development and general management ofbusiness units.

Jean took over the lead of the CDMO Business Unit (BU) in January 2017. His vision is to develop his BU to become a top tier CDMO partner for Pharma innovators including both biotechnology companies and Big Pharma. Jean’s core mission is to acquire new projects, deliver quality products timely for our customers and invest wisely to generate sustainable growth, all while managing costs carefully.

He is an expert in business development, and a promoter of customer-centricity.

Jean is a biochemical engineer from INSA (Lyon, France) and a chemical engineer from ENSIC (Nancy, France).

​Jean loves to see his 5 children develop in their own way, while planting seeds that his wife and Jean hope will bear nice fruits (so far so good!). He also enjoys time with his 2 grandsons. For relaxation, Jean likes to run or play his cello, alone or in a band.

Appointed: 2014

Nationality: Italian

Mario is both the Managing Director of our site in Italy and President of the Steroids & Highly Potent Products Business Unit. He has been with Axplora since 2014. Before that, he held various positions at Fabbrica Italiana Sintetici S.p.A, for 8 years started as Engineering Manager and ended up as Site Director. Then we worked at Erregierre S.p.A, an active pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturer for both Human and Veterinary use for 6 years as Plan operations Manager. Mario has +20 years of industry experience in APIs.

Mario Heholds a Master’s degree in Industrial Chemical Engineering from the University of Bologna  and having specialized in Economics.

Mario said that the enthusiasm and passion exhibited across the company will ensure brilliant results over the coming years.

Mario likes to walk in the woods in his spare time, especially in the mountains.

Appointed: 2007

Nationality: Indian

Anant is the Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer in India as well as being Co-President of the Specialty Products BU at Axplora. He joined the Group in 2007 as Managing Director. He is Based in Andhra Pradesh in India.

Previously, Anant was Senior Director at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, a leading multinational pharmaceutical company based in India, for 5 years. He started his career at Gharda Chemicals in 1990 where he spent 12 years as Senior project manager. Anant has strong experience in the pharmaceutical industry and demonstrated and recognized skills in operational excellence, process optimization and Engineering, and R&D.

Anant is a chemical engineer from Laxminarayan Institute of Technology (India) & TQM certified from OSAKA university, Japan.

Anant is passionate about building a knowledgeable and enthusiastic team who can comfortably manage multidimensional challenges. In doing this Anant loves to share his technical experience and expertise with younger team members. Anant has a personal interest in Environment, Social and Governance issues (ESG) and spends his own time researching and understanding this important topic. In addition, Anant loves to write, read and public speaking.

Appointed: 2017

Nationality: Swiss

Stephan joined Axplora (in 2017. He is in Basel, Switzerland. He started in the company as Head of Marketing & sales for 5 years before taking over his current position of Specialty Products BU President in 2022.

He started his career in 1997 at Lonza as International Product Manager. He also worked at DePuy Synthes, the Orthopedics Company of Johnson & Johnson, for 3 years and at Siegfried, as Drug substance portfolio Manager and Head of Drug substances EMEA & Asia for 8 years. He gets +25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and live science industry.

Stephan got a bachelor Business from HEC Lausanne University. He is skilled in portfolio management, investment activities, new business development, M&A and change management.

Stephan likes to spend time with his family; he has two teenage daughters that still are not sick of their dad! An avid reader and follower of news and politics (formerly a town councilor in his hometown). And practice ski-touring.