Board of
Directors

Thibault Basquin joined Ardian in 2001 and is the Head of Americas Investments for Ardian Buyout & Managing Director, and Executive Board Member of Ardian U.S. LLC. He has developed significant expertise in the Food Value Chain and Healthcare. In 2010, Basquin contributed strongly to the launch of the Ardian Foundation and handed over related responsibilities to other employees in 2015. He began his career in 2000 at Arthur Andersen as an auditor. Basquin graduated from ESCP Europe with a master’s degree in finance. He is based in New York since 2018.

Robert Kirby is an Operating Partner with Golden Gate Capital. Kirby was previously CEO of Atrium. He was also the CEO of Vi-Jon, a leading private label manufacturer in the personal care market. Prior to this, Kirby was CEO of Accellent, a leading contract manufacturer in the medical device market. Earlier in Kirby’s career, he was a General Manager and led Research & Development, and Global Manufacturing & Supply Chain at large cap companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly Clark and Fort James. Kirby has broad-based experience in Consumer Personal Care, Over-the-Counter (OTC) and Medical Devices. During his 30-year career, he has led large-scale and complex integrations of acquisitions, implemented lean processes, and driven rapid, positive change.

Christopher Sand is a Managing Director with Ardian’s Buyout team, which invests in high-quality mid- and large-cap companies in both Western Europe and North America, applying transformational strategies to develop global leaders in their niche markets. Based in New York, Sand focuses on the food and beverage, healthcare, and specialty chemical sectors. The New York team seeks to identify transatlantic opportunities, North American businesses that the team can support as they expand internationally, and compelling acquisitions for European portfolio companies. Previously, Sand was responsible for investments in the food & beverage, financial services, and industrial sectors at Centre Partners Management. He began his career in leveraged finance at RBS. Sand received an honors degree in economics, politics, and philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Javier Puig is a Principal of Golden Gate Capital, which he joined in 2009. Prior to joining Golden Gate Capital, Puig worked as an Associate in the San Francisco office of the Boston Consulting Group. From 2013 through 2015 he worked at Alloy Investments, a public equities hedge fund which he co-founded. Puig has an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in ethics, politics, and economics from Yale University (cum laude).

Will VandenBerg is a Director with Ardian’s Buyout team, which invests in high-quality mid- and large-cap companies in both North American and Europe, applying transformational strategies to develop global leaders in their niche markets. VandenBerg is based in New York where he is focused on identifying North American businesses that can be supported as they expand domestically and internationally, transatlantic opportunities, and compelling acquisitions for European based portfolio companies. Previously, VandenBerg was an investor with CI Capital Partners and Sentinel Capital Partners, and worked in investment banking at Baird. He graduated cum laude from Kenyon College with a degree in economics.

Julie O’Neill joined the Advancion Board of Directors in October 2021. A results-driven biopharmaceutical executive with more than two decades of experience in senior leadership roles, O’Neill was formerly Executive Vice President, Global Operations at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to Alexion, she was Vice President of Operations at Gilead Sciences. Throughout her career, O’Neill has held several senior roles at the Board and Committee level. She currently serves as a board member for Achilles Therapeutics Limited, ILC Dover LP, ICON plc, Hookipa Pharma and DBV Technologies. She also serves as board member and Audit and Risk Committee Chair for the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research & Training (NIBRT) in Ireland. She received her master’s degree in business administration from University College Dublin and her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Trinity College Dublin.

Jonathan Arnold joined the ANGUS Board of Directors in October 2021 and is a seasoned commercial and operations executive with more than 25 years of international leadership experience with life sciences and pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) companies. He currently serves as President, Oral & Special Delivery, for Catalent Pharma Solutions, one of the world’s leading life sciences CDMOs. Prior to Catalent, Arnold most recently held the role of Chief Procurement Officer and Vice President of Global Supply Chain at Patheon, a global life sciences CDMO. He began his career in the life sciences CDMO sector in 1995 at RP Scherer, a specialist in softgel technologies and now part of Catalent, where he served in a variety of international business development and strategic customer account roles. Arnold earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural, biochemistry and nutrition from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K.

David Neuberger joined Advancion as Chief Executive Officer in January 2018. Neuberger, a chemical industry veteran, has 20 years of experience in a variety of leadership roles in executive management, finance, corporate development, marketing and investor relations.

Prior to joining Advancion, Neuberger most recently served as Group Vice President for the Pharmaceutical, Agriculture and Nutrition Specialties business for Ashland Global Holdings Inc., a leading, global specialty chemical company. In this role, he was responsible for managing Ashland’s most profitable P&L, as well as a global pipeline of new product introductions. Neuberger previously served as Vice President for Ashland’s North American Industrial Specialties business, with leadership responsibility for all commercial, technical service and supply chain functions.

His previous experience includes senior management roles in research and development, operations, marketing and finance while at WR Grace. Neuberger holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he was named a Palmer Scholar.