Meet the management team
The Vivacta management team has extensive experience in piezofilm and biosensor technology, and a track record of managing diagnostics companies.

Tim Carter
Chief Executive Officer
Tim holds a BSc in Biochemistry, an MSc in Clinical Biochemistry and a PhD in Clinical Chemistry. He was awarded the Rank Fund Prize for Opto-electronics in 1991 for the discovery of enhanced chemiluminescence, commercialised as the Amerlite® immunoassay system.

Tim has been a pioneer of piezofilm technology since 1993 when he helped Elara Associates set up a piezofilm sensor project. He then founded PiezOptic's gas sensor business in 1994, becoming its Managing Director ten years later. Realising the potential for the use of piezofilm sensor in IVD led him to found PanOpSys in 2001 and then Vivacta in 2006.

Prior to his work on piezofilm, Tim was a senior researcher with the Battelle Research Organisation in Geneva, held product and business development posts with Corning Medical, was Whatman's International Marketing Manager, and ran the UK operations of a Swiss healthcare business consultancy, Corporate Dynamics SA, for six years..

Oliver Boucher
Chief Business Officer
Oliver joined Vivacta in July 2010 to lead the company’s commercial and corporate development activities. Oliver has extensive experience of the life sciences industry internationally through prior postings in four European countries as well as in North America. He has an extensive track record of strategic partnering and acquisition transactions in entrepreneurial start-up companies, including Sigmoid Pharma in Ireland, where he was Chief Business Officer, and Trigen in the UK, where he led the firm’s commercial, business and legal functions.

Oliver also has experience of large companies and held a series of senior positions over 7 years in the worldwide business development group at GSK where he was instrumental in the successful negotiation and execution of numerous licensing and business development transactions .

Oliver earned a Masters degree in Natural Science from the University of Cambridge, UK, qualified as a patent attorney in Canada, obtained a certificate in technology transfer from the University of Strasbourg, France and holds an MBA from INSEAD business school.

Steve Ross
Director of R&D
Steve holds BSc and PhD degrees in Chemistry from the University of Edinburgh, is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a chartered chemist. He has held research positions at the Dyson Perrins Laboratory, University of Oxford, the Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination du CNRS, Toulouse, France and the University of Utah, USA.
 
He started working with piezofilm sensors in 2001, initially developing a novel styrene sensor which was commercialised by PiezOptic. Since then, he has been closely involved in developing the technology for immunoassay applications.
 
Steve has co-authored over 20 scientific papers, several patent applications and two book chapters, including "Piezo-Optical Sensors", published in the Encyclopedia of Sensors in 2006.

Sonja Johnston
Director of Quality
Sonia joined Vivacta's management team in January 2007, taking responsibility for structuring the Company's quality management system and ensuring operational compliance with ISO 13485:2003 and FDA QSR 820.

Sonia has a wealth of experience in quality management and compliance. She joined Vivacta from a quality management position at a pharmaceutical printing company. Prior to this, she held a quality/compliance management position at the heavily regulated biotechnology company, Genzyme Diagnostics, and worked at a flexible packaging converter/printer, where she was responsible for all quality-related matters, including certification to international standards and laboratory management.

At the same company, she worked in a sales and business position, and a more technical role. She began her career working as an analytical chemist and experimental officer for petrochemical and agrochemical companies, including Shell and ICI, after obtaining a Chemistry BSc in Germany.

Stafford Moss
Process Engineering Manager
Stafford is an expert in medical device design and manufacturing process optimisation, and is responsible for Vivacta's Cartridge Pilot Manufacturing Facility.  Before joining Vivacta, he was the Engineering Manager for PoC fertility testing company, Genosis Plc. He has also worked on medical device manufacturing process design, management and improvement for companies including: Owen Mumford, Provensis and Alcan.

He developed a specialist interest in process optimisation while working at Bespak Plc between 1993 and 2000 as a Production, Manufacturing and, later, Project Engineer. Following his BSc in Applied Chemistry, he began his career as an Analytical Chemist at Laporte Fluorides Plc before moving into quality assurance at Norwich Injection Moulders Ltd.

Nigel Newton
Finance Director
With a career in business administration, Nigel brings a wealth of experience to the role of Company Secretary. He was formerly Business Administration Officer and Financial Director for Red Bull Racing (formerly Jaguar Racing Limited and Stewart Racing Limited). Prior to that, he was Chief Financial Officer to the British Racing Drivers Club. As a Chartered Accountant, he has also served in the corporate finance departments of two leading investment banks.