Univercells and Exothera announce Thibault Jonckheere as NEW CEO of Exothera:

Univercells S.A. (“Univercells”) and Exothera S.A. (the “Company”) are pleased to announce that effective June 1, 2021, Thibault Jonckheere has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Exothera, a Univercells company and uniquely positioned full-service viral vector Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO). The appointment of Thibault is the next step in driving Exothera to realize its vision of making cell and gene therapies (C>) available to all.

Thibault joined Exothera as Deputy Chief Executive Officer following last year’s carve-out of the Company from Univercells. The Company has since experienced rapid growth, more than tripling its number of collaborators to over one hundred. The beginning of this year also marked the signing of Exothera’s first contracts, including a development agreement with CyanVac LLC for its Covid-19 intranasal vaccine candidate, which will be manufactured at Exothera’s Jumet plant expected to be GMP-certified by early H2 2021.

Thibault started his career in the energy sector, holding several financial and consultancy positions. He joined the leading cell therapy CDMO, MaSTherCell, in 2013 as Corporate and Business Development Manager, generating revenue streams of several million Euros and driving the organization to profitability. In 2016, Thibault joined ImmunXperts, an immunology Contract Research Organization, where he developed the company from the ground up until its sale to Nexelis at the beginning of 2020.

Thibault holds a Master of Business Engineering from the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management.

Hugues Bultot, CEO of Univercells commented: “Univercells has become an incubator for talent, of which the appointment of Thibault as the new CEO of our spinoff Exothera is another wonderful example. The Board and I are confident that Thibault’s international background in business engineering, operations, and business development will enable him to lead the continued expansion of Exothera successfully.”

Thibault Jonckheere addressed his new role, adding: “Together with the rest of the team, I’m very much looking forward to leading Exothera into its next development phase, beginning with the much-anticipated GMP-certification, expected this summer. By expanding our expertise, we enable our clients to bring their products to market, thereby realizing our ambitious vision of bringing life-changing therapies to all.”