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Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is our company’s ultimate decision-making body.

The company has an appropriate mix of executive directors (EDs), non-executive directors (NEDs) and independent directors (IDs) to maintain the Board’s independence and separate its functioning of governance and management.

Elected by our shareholders, this diverse team has extensive experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. They are responsible for the group’s corporate governance and accountable for its activities, strategy, risk management and financial performance. They remain committed to contributing immensely to our mission of enhancing global healthcare and achieving a sustained increase in corporate value.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Non-Executive Chairperson

Ms. Shaw is a first-generation entrepreneur with over 45 years of experience in the field of biotechnology. She is a recipient of ‘Padma Shri’ and the ‘Padma Bhushan’ awards. She was also conferred with the highest French distinction – Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Legion d’honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) in 2016. She is a recipient of ICMR’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in Healthcare in 2019. She was Honoured with Order of Australia, Australia’s highest civilian award and was named EY World Entrepreneur of the year in 2020. She is also the Chairperson of Biocon Limited, Independent Director on the Board of United Breweries Ltd and Narayana Hrudayalaya.

Jonathan Hunt

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer

Jonathan has over 30 years of experience in the global life sciences and biopharmaceuticals industry. At Syngene, he is responsible for strategy, strategy execution, leading the executive team and the Company’s business operations and steering its investment decisions.

Prior to joining Syngene, he held leadership positions at AstraZeneca for over a decade, including President and Director of AstraZeneca, Austria, and President, AstraZeneca, India. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of Syngene since 2016, Managing Director since 2020 and is a member of the Stakeholders Relationship & ESG Committee, the Risk Management Committee and the Science & Technology Committee.

He completed his BA in Business Studies & Economics from the University of Sheffield and holds an MBA from Durham University, United Kingdom.

Sibaji Biswas

Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director

Sibaji is a certified Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) from ICFAI and holds a B.Tech from IIT- Kharagpur. With an MBA from University of Calcutta, he has also completed Management Development Programs at Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad and London Business School. He has over 25 years of extensive experience in finance and related functions. His prior experience includes working with Vodafone (Romania), Vodafone (India), Hutchison Essar Limited, Fascel Limited, and the ABP Group. Prior to joining Syngene, he was the CFO and a member of the Board at Vodafone (Romania). He was appointed as the CFO of Syngene in December 2019 and is a member of the Executive Committee. He oversees the finance, supply chain, legal, secretarial and IT functions and plays an important role in driving strategy, improving profitability, identifying new opportunities, improving cash generation and enabling organizational growth.

Professor Catherine Rosenberg

Non-Executive Director

Professor Rosenberg is the Canada Research Chair in the Future Internet, the Cisco Research Chair in 5G Systems and a professor in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Waterloo, Canada. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. At Syngene, she is Chairperson of the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee, and a member of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee, the Stakeholders

Relationship & ESG Committee and the Science & Technology Committee.

Paul Blackburn

Independent Director

Mr Blackburn has a BSc in Management Sciences from Warwick University, United Kingdom, and a professional accounting qualification from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, United Kingdom. With more than 40 years’ experience in the field of finance, he worked as a senior finance executive at GlaxoSmithKline in the UK. Mr Blackburn also served on the Board of Mereo Biopharmaceuticals, UK, and chaired the Audit and Risk Committee for five years ending 1st October, 2020. At Syngene, Mr Blackburn is Chairman of the Audit Committee and the Risk Management Committee and a member of the Stakeholders Relationship & ESG Committee.

Dr. Vijay Kuchroo

Independent Director

Dr Kuchroo has a doctorate in Pathology from the University of Queensland, Australia. He is also the Samuel L. Wasserstrom Professor of Neurology at the Harvard Medical School, Senior Scientist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Institute Member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, all in the United States. Dr Kuchroo has won many awards for the discovery of TIM-3 ‘checkpoint’ molecules for cancer immunotherapy and Th17 cells in the induction of autoimmunity. Dr Kuchroo holds over 50 patents and has published over 400 research papers in immunology. He is a member of the scientific advisory boards of leading pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi and GSK. He has founded eight biotech companies, including CoStim Pharmaceuticals and Tempero Pharmaceuticals. At Syngene, Dr Kuchroo is the Chairman of the Science & Technology Committee and a member of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee and the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee.

Vinita Bali

Lead Independent Director

Ms Bali is a global business leader with extensive experience in leading and transforming large companies both in India and overseas. She served as Chief Executive Officer & MD of Britannia Industries Ltd., from 2005 to 2014. Prior to that, she worked for The Coca-Cola Company and Cadbury Schweppes Plc in a variety of Marketing, General Management and Chief Executive roles in the UK, Nigeria, South Africa, USA and Chile. At present, she is a Non-Executive Director on the global boards of SATS Ltd and Cognizant Technology Solutions, and in India, she serves on the board of CRISIL Ltd – an S&P Company. At Syngene, she is the Chairperson of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit Committee and the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee.

Sharmila Karve

Independent Director

Ms Sharmila Abhay Karve is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. She retired as audit partner from Price Waterhouse in June 2019. During her tenure in Price Waterhouse, she was an engagement partner with several large Indian and multinational clients. She was appointed as the Chief Ethics Officer. In 2009, she was appointed as the Assurance Leader of the firm and was elevated to the role of Assurance Risk & Quality Leader in April 2012. In her last role as Global Diversity Leader since December 2016, Ms. Karve focussed her efforts on bringing more diversity throughout the PwC network. At present, she is a Director on the boards of CSB Bank Limited, EPL Limited, Vanaz Engineers Limited, Aadhar Housing Finance Limited and Thomas Cook (India) Limited in India. Her overseas directorships include Fairfax India Holdings Corporation, EPL Packaging (Guangzhou) Ltd., EPL America LLC, and Lamitube Technology Ltd, Mauritius. At Syngene, she is the Chairperson of the Stakeholders Relationship & ESG Committee and a member of the Audit

Dr. Kush Parmar

Independent Director

Dr Parmar holds an MD from Harvard Medical School, a Ph.D. in experimental pathology from Harvard University and a BA in molecular biology and medieval studies from Princeton University. Currently, he is a Managing Partner at 5AM Ventures, a life sciences venture capital firm headquartered in San Francisco. Dr Parmar serves on the Advisory Boards of Harvard Medical School, Penn Medicine, Princeton University’s Department of Molecular Biology, and the Grace Science Foundation. At Princeton University, Dr Parmar worked on developmental genetics with Nobel Laureate Eric F. Wieschaus. Dr Parmar also serves on the Boards of Ensoma, Entrada Therapeutics, GlycoEra, Precede, Rallybio, and is a founding member of the COVID R&D alliance. At Syngene, Dr Parmar is a member of the Risk Management Committee and the Science & Technology Committee.

Nilanjan Roy

Independent Director

Nilanjan Roy has deep experience in international finance as a result of his 33-year career in roles including Chief Financial Officer at Infosys Limited, Global Chief Financial Officer at Bharti Airtel Limited, and senior positions at Unilever. He has worked in a range of geographies in Europe, the United States and India.

Nilanjan’s broad expertise includes traditional finance functions such as treasury, mergers and acquisitions, investor relations, taxation, financial accounting, and reporting. Beyond this, his experience covers corporate governance, ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) and risk management. He has industry sector experience in information technology, telecommunications and consumer products.

Nilanjan holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.) degree from Delhi University and is a Chartered Accountant.

Skill, expertise and competencies of the Board

The Syngene Board comprises of qualified members who bring with them the required skills, pertinent expertise and competencies which allow them to make effective contribution throughout the year thus being instrumental in the progress and growth of the company. The key skills, expertise and competencies identified by the Board which they take into consideration while nominating any candidate to serve on the Board are summarised below:

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