Board of Directors

Dr John Brown CBE

Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Board

Dr John Brown CBE is the Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Board for the Novacyt Group (effective from 1st October 2024).
John joined the Novacyt Group Board in September 2023 as Non-Executive Director and was previously on the Yourgene Health plc Board from July 2019.
John has extensive experience in the life sciences sector.
He is Chairman of Laverock Therapeutics Ltd and Calcivis Ltd.
He was until recently Chairman of Synpromics Ltd, BioCity Group, the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and Senior Non-Executive Director of Acacia Pharma plc.
Previously he was Chairman of Kyowa Kirin International plc, BTG plc, Axis-Shield plc, Touch Bionics Ltd and CXR Biosciences Ltd and Senior Non-Executive Director of Quantum Pharma plc.
In the public sector he is Chairman of the Roslin Foundation, a Fellow and past Treasurer of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, an Honorary Professor of the University of Edinburgh and was previously a Member of MRC Council. He was made a CBE in 2011.

Chief Executive Officer

Lyn is a seasoned executive in global healthcare and IVD markets
Since Lyn joined Yourgene Health plc in 2018 he has been instrumental in the transformation of the business.
He led the group through four acquisitions including Elucigene Diagnostics and Coastal Genomics and the fundraising to underpin those deals.
Lyn was appointed to be CEO of the Novacyt Group on 1 May 2024. Prior to joining Yourgene Health, Lyn was Group CEO at British Biocell International (now BBI Group) for over 9 years.
Lyn has completed seven acquisitions during his tenure at BBI Group, all of which have been successfully integrated.
He founded BBI Detection and BBI Animal Health and has demonstrated a strong track record of organic and acquisitive growth.
Before that he spent several years as the Managing Director and founder of BBI Healthcare in 2006, following the successful purchase of the GlucoGel product.
He first began his business career as the European Marketing Manager at Shimano Europe BV.
Lyn holds a degree in Business Studies from the University of Wales.
Lyn is also a Non-Executive Director with MyHealthChecked plc

Chief Financial Officer

Steve joined Novacyt in 2017 and has served as Group Finance Director since 2020 until 2024 when he joined the Board and was promoted to CFO.
Prior to joining Novacyt, Steve spent over 10 years in various finance departments at Hewlett-Packard and then Hewlett Packard Enterprise in positions of increasing seniority.
Steve is a Chartered Management Accountant (CIMA) and has more than 18 years of international commercial experience.

Chair of the Audit Committee

Juliet has 20 years of experience working as an investment banker and strategic advisor to healthcare companies in Europe.
She has built a strong track record of advising companies on corporate strategy, equity and debt fundraisings and international M&A.
Her experience includes senior roles (managing director, head of corporate finance and partner) at Stifel Financial Corp, Nomura Code Securities and WestLB Panmure.
Juliet sits on the Board of: Indivior PLC, a FTSE 250 UK global pharmaceutical company working to develop medicines to treat addiction; Organox Ltd, a private company that was spun out of Oxford University; and Angle plc, an AIM listed company with an FDA approved product with application in the liquid biopsy market.
uliet is also a trustee of Leadership through Sport & Business, a social mobility-focused charity, and trustee of the De Hann family trusts and Director of their associated investment companies.
She is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ACA) and holds a BSc degree in Economics from the University of Bristol, UK.
Juliet is Chair of the Audit Committee and is a member of the Remuneration and Nomination Committees.

Independent Non-Executive Director

Jean-Pierre is one of Novacyt’s founders, having established the business in July 2006.
He has some 30 years of experience in the car and electrical components industry, with various roles in M&A and business restructuring.
During this period, he was located for 10 years in Singapore, North America, Belgium and Italy.
He holds a Diplôme from ESC Le Havre (business school, France) and a DECS (Diplôme d’Études Comptable Supérieures, national diploma).
Jean-Pierre is a member of the Audit and Remuneration Committees.

Chief Scientific Officer

Dr Jo Mason is the Chief Scientific Officer for the Novacyt Group and prior to the acquisition she was CSO and a Board member at Yourgene Health.
Jo has been a champion of modernising diagnostics with the use of genomic technologies having previously held positions as VP Biodiscovery with Cambridge Epigenetix, where she led the development of clinical epigenomic technologies particularly in the area of early cancer diagnostics, the Director of Sequencing and Sample Acquisition for Genomics England, where she managed the delivery of samples and whole genome sequencing for the 100,000 Genomes Project.
She has previously acted as an advisor on the DOH Rare Disease Policy board, MHRA Genomics for Diagnosis forum and UK NEQAS – Genomics England steering committee, Genomics England sequencing advisory board and BIA genomics advisory committee.
Jo previously worked for Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust where she set up and managed a NGS Core facility leading translational research, offering disease-specific diagnostic panels and introducing whole genome sequencing into the diagnostic setting.
Prior to joining Oxford, Jo managed an NGS Core facility in Malaysia and led the Comparative Genomics group at Public Health England studying novel and dangerous pathogens.
Dr Mason holds a PhD from Cambridge in Molecular and Cellular Biology.