The Team

Takaaki Takai

President, Kyoritsu Seiyaku Corporation & Director, Carus

Experience:

Takaaki is a charismatic figure who started Calmic Japan Limited, a joint venture with Rentokil Initial PLC UK, in 1969 and rapidly grew this into a successful business which employs 700 people with an annual sales turnover of £97 million. In 2011, Takaaki became the President of Kyoritsu Seiyaku Co. Ltd. Established in 1955, with 600 employees and a turnover of £310 million, Kyoritsu Seiyaku Co. Ltd is the number one animal health company in Japan and ranked eleventh globally. He values relationships with people and has an extensive network in multiple sectors which he uses to strengthen business development opportunities.  Takaaki has a driven leadership style that is focused on achieving targets.

Personal: He is a huge rugby fan. Attending the Brighton Community Stadium on 20th September 2015, he cheered the Japanese National Team on with a strong belief of victory when no one believed it possible they could beat South Africa!

Hisanori Ken Tsukahara

CEO

Experience: Ken has 15 years’ experience working in the consulting industry. He started his career with PwC which  subsequently became part of IBM, and worked in its business consulting division for 9 years. He then worked at Accenture for four years and another two years at KPMG. As a global operation and IT innovation consultant working mainly in the business strategy, sales, logistics and procurement areas, Ken has delivered 18 projects for major companies in various industries, including consumer electronics, manufacturing and e-commerce retailing.

Ken is adept at understanding the needs of clients and is focused on promoting and delivering new initiatives in the animal health industry at a global level.

Personal: Married with one daughter, Ken plays tennis and also swims and jogs to keep himself in good shape. He likes to travel to various places and he recently relocated from Tokyo to London and is very much looking forward to travelling around Europe.

Jolian Howell

Commercial Director

Experience: Jolian Howell is commercial director at Carus Animal Health. He has over 20 years’ experience in the animal health sector with several leading companies including MSD, Zoetis, Pfizer, Novartis and Leo in a variety of commercial positions both in the UK and the EU.

Jolian began his career in animal health as a sales representative, then moved into marketing to manage the Rimadyl (Carprofen) brand. Following the creation of a central European function at Pfizer, Jolian relocated to Paris to take on the newly created role of European Brand Team Leader, launching both Cerenia and Trocoxil across the EU region.

Since 2007 he has led teams at a European level and been a member of the European Business Unit leadership team. This involved working in a variety of European marketing and strategic planning positions across multiple species sectors, to bring new medicines from clinical trial development to a pre-launch, and subsequently to full commercial launch. In 2010 he led the integration process between the Pfizer and Fort Dodge equine business units. This involved supporting local countries to develop operational teams and establish a business unit portfolio through new product development, phase IV planning, geographic expansion and licensing.

Following a return to the UK in 2013, Jolian led the marketing and technical team that oversaw the launch of Bravecto, a novel innovation in the ectoparasiticide sector. To further broaden his healthcare experience, he entered the human health dental sector with Simplyhealth leading the marketing team for Denplan.

Carus focuses on developing an innovation led portfolio and novel life science technology platforms for application in the animal health sector. Jolian is looking forward to shaping this strategy and partnering with organisations to achieve these goals.

Personal: With four children he has a busy home life keeping the peace but when he does find the time enjoys cross country and water sports.

Rich Irvine BVSc MRCVS

Technical Director

Experience: Rich is a veterinary surgeon and is passionate about providing the best possible care for animals, whether directly under his care or more globally through his work in the animal health industry.  He worked in the human pharmaceutical industry before, and while qualifying as a vet in 2004. Rich has practiced in a number of first opinion and charity clinics & hospitals throughout the South East & London, and gained extensive experience as a locum vet before moving full time into the veterinary pharmaceutical sector, working with a number of leading animal health companies.

He has developed a strong interest in anaesthesia and analgesia, and maintains memberships of the Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists and the anaesthesia section as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine in London.

Rich is experienced in new product development and clinical trial work, as well as the technical support, pharmacovigilance and sales and marketing of established veterinary products through working for animal health companies and as an independent consultant.

Rich joins Carus as the company’s first Technical Director and is excited to embrace the new technology and discovery tools needed to achieve Carus’s mission to be a  leader in veterinary innovation. Rich will primarily be responsible for seeking and evaluating new products and technology, liaising with academic centres of excellence, technical due diligence, implementing a portfolio management system, defining and controlling the development portfolio and managing development projects including clinical studies.

He is keen to hear from scientists, innovators and clinicians who would like to explore potential partnerships with Carus.

Rich is a Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and holds memberships with the AVA, BVA and BSAVA.

Personal: In his personal time Rich loves cooking and entertaining. He also enjoys design, build and renovation. He has a wonderful and supportive fiancé and together they have a family of two cats and two chickens. They are hoping to add a dog and some highland cattle to this furry family shortly!

Greg Firth BVetMed, CertVOphthal, PhD, MRCVS

Veterinary Advisor

Experience: Greg is a veterinary surgeon with experience in both first and second opinion practice. He graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 1992 and was appointed House Surgeon at Glasgow University Veterinary School. Following his return to London as a Wellcome Trust Veterinary Clinical Training Scholar, he was awarded a PhD and went on to work as a molecular biologist for Nycomed Amersham PLC.

Greg subsequently returned to a clinical career path, initially working in mixed general practice before founding a companion animal practice, of which he remains a director.

Personal: When not working, Greg enjoys spending time with his family, exploring the natural charms of the Peak District National Park and playing sport and music.

Keiko Hattori

Non-executive director

Experience: Keiko brings a rich experience from the Life Science and Pharmaceutical industry. She began her career working for Hoffman la Roche in Japan and then moved to a Swedish pharmaceutical and life science company Pharmacia, which later merged with Amersham and was acquired by GE Healthcare. Keiko held various marketing/commercial and management roles in those companies.

Since leaving GE Healthcare, Keiko has been employed in a range of management positions in international life science companies covering the genomics, proteomics and transomics product portfolio.

Personal: Married with one son, Keiko enjoys gardening and occasional travel.

Howard Wilder

Non-executive director

Experience: Howard Wilder is an entrepreneur and Chartered Director, plus an animal health specialist. With more than 30 years’ experience in industry, he has held sales, marketing, strategy formulation and general management roles in local and multi-national pharmaceutical and agribusinesses, predominantly in the B2B and B2C veterinary sector.

In the first half of his career he was engaged both in the UK and overseas in blue chip big pharma companies such as Dow Agriculture, Duphar, Solvay, American Cyanamid and Fort Dodge. He held responsibilities for new product development and procurement, as well as for establishing Europe and Asia-wide distribution and marketing strategies. He has also played a key role in merger and acquisition activities and for developing integration strategies for global marketing and distribution post purchase. He has run businesses of a scale up to $50 million including those with the complexity of production facilities and multiple national organisations.

He founded Genitrix in 1997 and grew it from scratch into a top 20 UK veterinary pharmaceutical company which was exited via a trade sale to Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC in December 2010. An award-winning board director and chairman, he was elected twice to serve as Chairman of NOAH, the industry association for the vet pharma industry. He is now investing in private limited companies on his own account, providing strategic advice and using his Chartered Director qualification to help various organisations to develop effective boards and winning strategies. Howard was part of teams that achieved very successful exits in Lintbells and Slate Hall Veterinary Practice.

Awards: 2006 Animal Pharm Awards Informa Winner Outstanding Contribution by SME
2009 IoD Director of the Year

Personal: Howard lives in Horsham, West Sussex, has two successful adult daughters and is a keen scuba diver and yachtsman.