Appointment of Independent Non-Executive Director

Instem plc

 ("Instem", the "Group" or the "Company")

Appointment of Independent Non-Executive Director

Instem plc (AIM: INS), a leading provider of IT solutions to the global life sciences market, announces that it has appointed Mary Dolson as an Independent Non-Executive Director to the Board and Chair of the Audit Committee, effective 9 January 2023.  Mary will also join the Remuneration and Nomination Committees immediately upon appointment.

Mary is an expert advisor on regulatory, financial and accounting compliance issues, with extensive experience advising businesses in the pharmaceutical, biotech and life science sectors. She is a specialist and experienced advisor in taking companies through periods of change, from start-up to venture capital investments to public offerings.

Most recently, Mary was a Non-Executive Director at Nuvelution Pharma Inc (Boston, USA) between 2019 and 2021, where she consulted as an expert in finance, modelling, and risk across all phases of the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.  

Mary has spent most of her career in audit and served as a PwC partner in London for over 20 years, where she became the Global Lead on pharmaceutical industry accounting and reporting before retiring in 2018. Mary was a founding member of the 'Pharma Forum', an industry based International Financial Reporting Standards working group.

Mary served as a Non-Executive Committee Member for the Financial Reporting Review Panel (UK), a position she held from 2011 until 31 December 2020 (when it was dissolved). In this role, Mary helped to guide the implementation of accounting standards, corporate governance, and other reporting codes.

Mary is a Bachelor of Business Accounting graduate of Pace University, Lubin School of Business, New York, and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the State of New York.

Revised Board and Committee Membership

Effective with Mary's appointment, Board committee membership has been revised as follows:

Committee membership will be reviewed periodically in line with good governance practice.

Following completion of Mary's initial on-boarding process, David Sherwin (Non-executive Director) has indicated that he intends to retire from the Board, with a confirmatory announcement to be made at that time.

Strengthened Team

The Company is also pleased to announce that John Alarcon has been appointed into a full-time employee position as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Vice President of US Finance. John joined Instem on a contract basis in 2019 and led the buy-side due diligence, modelling, and integration efforts on the d-Wise acquisition, and supported on those of The Edge and PDS Life Sciences. More recently he took responsibility as Interim Controller for Instem's Clinical Trial Acceleration business unit. John draws on over a decade's finance experience with VC backed technology companies and prior to joining Instem was running his own consulting practice.   

In his new role based in the US, John will head Instem's US Finance team and will report to Chief Financial Officer, Nigel Goldsmith.

Commenting on the appointments, Phil Reason, CEO of Instem, said: "We are delighted to welcome Mary to the Board of Instem as an Independent Non-Executive Director. To have the support of someone with such unequivocal financial and industry expertise will be invaluable in helping the Company and Board realise its aspirations, and her joining the Board is undoubtedly a testament to where Instem has progressed to today. Mary's experience is comprehensive, and she is perfectly suited, having worked extensively in the UK and US, to advise on the challenges and opportunities that we encounter.

"Equally, we are very happy to have John move into his new role. John's support was central to the acquisition of d-Wise and his appointment highlights the Company's capability to successfully integrate new businesses."

Further disclosures pursuant to Schedule Two, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies:

Mary Ruth Dolson (formerly known as Hines), aged 63, has no current directorships and has previously been a director of the following companies within the past five years:

·    Nuvelution Pharma, Inc

·    Tuckerbox Consultants Limited

Mary has no beneficial interest in the shares of the Company.

There is no other information required to be disclosed pursuant to Schedule Two, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

For further information, please contact:

About Instem

Instem is a leading provider of IT solutions & services to the life sciences market delivering compelling solutions for Study Management, Regulatory Submissions, Clinical Trial Acceleration, and Informatics-based Insight Generation.

Instem solutions are in use by over 700 customers worldwide, including all of the largest 25 pharmaceutical companies, enabling clients to bring life enhancing products to market faster. Instem's portfolio of software solutions increases client productivity by automating study-related processes while offering the unique ability to generate new knowledge through the extraction and harmonisation of actionable scientific information.

Instem products and services address aspects of the entire drug development value chain, from discovery through to market launch. Management estimate that over 50% of all drugs on the market have been through some part of Instem's platform during their development.

To learn more about Instem solutions and its mission, please visit  www.instem.com