Directors

Geoffrey Vernon - Director
Ph.D., MBA

Dr. Vernon is a former executive director of Rothschild Asset Management Ltd, partner of the venture capital group Advent Limited and has over 20 years’ experience in healthcare and life sciences. Dr. Vernon is chairman and/or non-executive director of a number of quoted and privately owned companies in the UK, USA, Germany, Ireland and Israel. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Directors and one of the first directors in the UK to be admitted as a Chartered Director.

John Scott - Director
Ph.D.

Dr. Scott became chief scientist of a US public company in the early 1980s following a highly regarded career as an astrophysicist, academic and consultant to a number of governments, including the USA and several NATO countries. He then started his first company which was funded in the traditional angel/VC investment method which was sold about three years later. This was followed quickly by his second company, which also sold for a profit. By the early 1990s, Dr. Scott had become an investor in several venture funds and was on the board of various venture-backed companies. Combined with his personal company-building background, he had gained a significant amount of experience about the venture capital investing model and was already developing the original principles of a far more systematic way of building new companies. In 1993, together with some of the current XL TechGroup management team, he formed in 1993 a company called XL Vision where six out of 8 companies they created achieved successful exits either through trade sales or IPOs. XL Vision became XL TechGroup in 2002. 

Dr. Scott has authored business theories surrounding the development of successful technology enterprises, and lectures to business schools throughout the USA. He has served in a number of technical and management positions in the private sector, including chairmanship of two public companies. Previously, he was a professor at the universities of Maryland and Arizona and a visiting professor at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Scott has also been a consultant to the US and various European governments and was a national research council fellow at NASA. Dr. Scott holds numerous patents and has been published extensively in refereed scientific journal papers. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Astrophysics at Michigan State University and a Ph.D in the astrophysics/physics dual program from the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory.

David Szostak - Director
CPA, B.Sc. Finance

Mr. Szostak began his career in Chicago, Illinois working as an auditor for a large size accountancy firm (Laventhol and Howarth) and later other smaller accounting firms. He then moved into industry in 1987 as corporate controller at Extel, Inc., a global manufacturer of electronic communication equipment for industry and governments. When Extel acquired Hetra Computer, Inc., a manufacturer of government specialty computers, in 1990, Mr. Szostak relocated to Florida and accepted the position of vice president and CFO of Hetra. In 1993, when XL Vision, the predecessor company to XL TechGroup, acquired Hetra, Mr. Szostak continued in the same position with XL Vision. During his tenure at XL Vision, he was active in both the fundraising and public offerings of the XL Vision spin-out businesses.  In addition to the normal accounting and finance functions, Mr. Szostak was responsible for many of the internal functions such as human resources and benefits, legal, travel and facilities. Mr. Szostak earned his Bachelor of Science in Finance at Southern Illinois University, with graduate studies at DePaul University in Chicago.

Gregory (Bill) Haskell - Director
B.Sc. Engineering & Applied Mathematics

Mr. Haskell is an executive with over 20 years’ experience in creating and building technology companies. As an entrepreneur, Mr. Haskell has co-founded several companies. Mr. Haskell’s experience reflects a combination of executive management, private equity investment and company creation. Mr. Haskell co-founded XL Vision in 1993 and served as its President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Haskell was also part of the early management team at Internet Capital Group where he served as Managing Director of Operations. Prior to XL Vision, Mr. Haskell spent over a decade in various technical and management roles in private industry. Mr. Haskell earned a degree in engineering and applied mathematics from Iowa State University.

Andrew Heath - Director
MD, Ph.D

Dr. Heath has been CEO of Protherics plc, the first UK biotechnology company to develop and manufacture two FDA approved biopharmaceutical products, since 1997. Upon joining Protherics, Dr. Heath instigated a restructuring of the board, a refocussing of the product portfolio and merged Therapeutic Antibodies with Protherics plc, transforming the fledgling biotech company into a now self-sustaining business. He has considerable experience in the pharmaceutical industry with Glaxo Inc. and Astra USA, Inc. From 1993 until 1996, he was responsible for more than 500 sales and marketing professionals for Astra US as vice president of marketing and sales. He served as CEO at AeroGen, Inc., a privately held drug delivery company, from 1996 until 1998, and currently serves on the Board of the BIA, the UK BioIndustry Association.