Meet the Team
Kevin Marks, Director Warwick Innovations
Tel: +44 (0) 24 7657 5491
Email: k dot t dot marks at warwick dot ac dot uk
Kevin received his BSc in Engineering Science from Warwick before joining Lucas as a Graduate Apprentice. He then moved to the Wolfson Research Laboratories at the Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre, Birmingham to design and develop blood analysers, and became a Chartered Engineer and member of the IEE. After 7 years he progressed to the University of Birmingham as a Lecturer in Electrical and Electronic Engineering having research interests in sensing systems and Automotive Electronics. At this point he gained his MPhil in short range identification systems.
He was then asked to set up an Automotive Electronics development department at T&N Plc’s central research facility in Rugby which migrated into a team developing control systems for novel production processes and machine tools. After specialising in Aluminium gravity foundries, Kevin became a chartered foundryman and led the Group’s development programme across 160 manufacturing sites throughout Europe, US and South Africa.
Kevin then became Manufacturing Director of Lec Refrigeration plc, who at the time manufactured some 400,000 domestic refrigerators per year. Despite building a new factory and introducing a new environmentally friendly product range, Kevin was finally forced to outsource production to China and close the factory. During this period Kevin successfully completed a Warwick distance-learning MBA and became a fellow of the RSA.
Kevin left Lec to join the MBO of the commercial refrigeration trading company Caravell (UK) Ltd. By the middle of 2008 the company was sufficiently viable to be sold to the Austrian trans-national AHT. Kevin joined Warwick Ventures in March 2009.
Dr Shum Prakash, Business Development Manager
Tel: +44 (0) 24 7657 4145
Email: s dot prakash at warwick dot ac dot uk
After her BSc in Chemistry (Wales), Shum read for her PhD in Biochemistry (Kent) and undertook R&D with Nihon Medi-Physics Co. Ltd and Johnson Matthey Plc to develop radiopharmaceutical drugs for cancer therapy and brain diagnosis. After her MSc in Science and Technology Policy (Sussex) and research fellowship in Innovation Policy at Canterbury Business School, Shum influenced UK and European policy through consultancy projects at SQW Ltd, Technopolis Ltd, and at the European Parliament.
She joined Warwick Ventures in December 2001 as a Business Development Manager where she also managed the inaugural year of the HEIF funded Midlands Medici Programme at Warwick and led the DTI funded Mercia Biotech BEP (Biotechnology Exploitation Platform) Programme. Whilst at Warwick, Shum has successfully completed her MBA (Warwick) for which she was awarded a Sainsbury Management Fellowship. Shum has taken a broad range of technologies from concept to royalty generating commercial licenses and to trading spin off companies.
Brendan Spillane, Business Development Manager
Tel: +44 (0)24 765 75480
Email: b dot spillane at warwick dot ac dot uk
After PhD research on DNA fingerprinting at Cardiff University, Brendan embarked on a career in software sales and marketing, working for a range of blue chip companies, including New Brunswick Scientific, Pharmacia Biotech, PDI and Computer Associates.
From 2000, he turned his attention to business development, building substantial sales pipelines for a number of start-up companies. More recently Brendan has moved into the field of technology commercialisation, becoming a Senior Technology Transfer Manager at Isis Innovation, the University of Oxford’s technology transfer company.
Dr Suzanna Wood, Business Development Manager
Tel: +44 (0) 24 7657 5490
Email: s dot k dot wood at warwick dot ac dot uk
Suzanna was formerly a Consultant at Isis Enterprise, the consulting arm of the University of Oxford’s technology transfer company, Isis Innovation Ltd. There she worked with a number of UK and international universities and government organisations to help them commercialise academic inventions.
After a period working as a Postdoctoral Scientist at the University of London, Suzanna left academia to pursue a career in sales. She has established a long track record working in a variety of sales roles within the biotech industry. Prior to her appointment at Isis she worked as the UK Product Manager at MWG Biotech and later as the Key Account Manager in the UK for Proligo, both multinational biotech companies.