Abcam to appoint Gavin Wood, former Affymetrix executive, as Chief Financial Officer

Gavin gained considerable finance leadership experience during a long tenure at Affymetrix where he held a number of positions during a 10-year period

Abcam, a global leader in the supply of life science research tools, announces that Gavin Wood, former Executive Vice President (EVP) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Affymetrix, is to succeed Jeff Iliffe as Abcam’s CFO. He will join the company on 18 July 2016 as CFO-elect and, after a handover period, will replace Jeff as CFO and an Executive Director on the Board on 12 September 2016.

Gavin gained considerable finance leadership experience during a long tenure at Affymetrix where he held a number of positions during a 10-year period, including VP Finance and International Controller, based in the UK.

He was appointed EVP and CFO in 2013 and led Affymetrix’s global finance and information technology functions based in their Santa Clara head office, prior to the company’s acquisition for $1.3bn by Thermo Fisher Scientific in April 2016.

Gavin is a Chartered Accountant who qualified with Morgan Brown Spofforth in 1997 before moving to Grant Thornton LLP. In 1999 he joined the Unipart Group, where he held a number of positions including Business Unit Controller and Business Process Manager for a major ERP system implementation in North America.

Commenting on the new appointment, Alan Hirzel, Abcam’s Chief Executive Officer, said: 'We are delighted to welcome Gavin to Abcam as we enter another exciting phase of growth and leadership in our industry. Gavin is a well regarded public company CFO and brings directly relevant industry experience to Abcam. We were all impressed by his track record of financial control, systems implementation experience, market knowledge and transactional experience at Affymetrix. As we look ahead to building our business, we are confident that Gavin has the skills and leadership to strengthen our team and deliver results. I thank Jeff for his significant contributions to Abcam’s success for nearly a decade and for his support during this transition.'

Gavin Wood, Abcam’s future Chief Financial Officer, added: 'I am pleased to be joining Abcam at this important time in its development and I look forward to working with Alan and the board as the company continues to invest internally and externally to expand and deliver against its strategic priorities.'

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