Catherine Isted
Catherine is Chief Financial Officer at BenevolentAI and is responsible for all financial activities of the Group as well as playing a key role in defining the strategic direction of the company. In addition Catherine takes a prominent lead in the Company’s relationships with current and potential new investors as well as interactions with other equity capital markets professionals.
Catherine is an experienced strategic finance professional and chartered accountant with over 25 years within the life sciences industry. She was most recently CEO of ReNeuron (AIM: RENE), a UK-based leader in stem cell-derived exosome technologies, having previously been CFO. Prior to this, she was at Oxford Biomedica plc (LSE: OXB), a quality and innovation-led viral vector Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), at a time of significant growth for the company, where as part of the finance leadership team, she headed up Corporate Development and Investor Relations as well as worked with the Board on various strategic projects.
Previously Catherine had a successful career in leading healthcare banking teams, 12 years of which were at Partner level, holding research analyst and equity sales positions at Morgan Stanley, ABN AMRO, Nomura and Peel Hunt. She started her career as a bench scientist at Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), before moving into their finance department as an accountant. Catherine holds a first-class Chemistry degree and is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant.