Bruntwood SciTech appoints managing director of Alderley Park
Dr Kath Mackay has joined the Bruntwood and Legal & General joint venture to lead the Alderley Park life sciences campus in Cheshire.
When she starts her role in October, she will be responsible for the site where over 2,000 people work, and has a £160m development plan in place.
She joins from her role as director for ageing society, health and nutrition at Innovate UK, part of the £7bn UK Research & Innovation body. In this role, Mackay lead a team focused on growing and scaling businesses working in the biomedical, health, agriculture and food sectors.
Phil Kemp, chief executive of Bruntwood SciTech, said: “I’m delighted that Kath will be leading our team at Alderley Park. Over the past decade she has established a reputation as a talented and inspiring leader in a critical area of innovation and discovery. Every day our community of business, research charities and institutions strives towards scientific breakthroughs. Kath has a formidable level of insight into the challenges they face and the value of what they can achieve.”
Mackay said of her appointment: “I’m thrilled to be joining the team at Alderley Park. The new generation of companies and research organisations based at the Park are actively engaged in high value science and tech discovery and collectively build on Alderley Park’s internationally-recognised reputation. I’m looking forward to being part of the Greater Manchester and Cheshire life science ecosystem working closely with partners at Health Innovation Manchester and Manchester Science Partnerships to support businesses to start, grow and scale as Alderley Park enters its next phase of transformation.”
She will be taking over from Dr Chris Doherty, who has been the managing director for the last five years. Doherty is set to continue his involvement with Alderley Park in a mentor, ambassadorial and independent non-executive director role.
This appointment comes before Bruntwood SciTech opens its 150,000 sq ft Glasshouse on the campus. It is intended to reflect the convergence of life science and tech, and will be aimed towards tech and innovation-based companies.