Managing Team

Tom B. van Aken - Chief Executive Officer
Tom van Aken was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Avantium in November 2005. He holds a Master's Degree in Chemistry from Utrecht University. Before joining Avantium Tom held numerous commercial positions at DSM. He worked in DSM's fine chemical and pharmaceutical product divisions in the US and the Netherlands. In 2002, he joined Avantium as Vice President of Business Development Life Sciences. In March 2004, he became Vice President of Global Marketing & Sales and member of Avantium's management team.
Frank C. H. Roerink - Chief Financial Officer
Frank Roerink was appointed as Chief Financial Officer of Avantium in February, 2007. He holds a Master's Degree in Econometrics from the University of Amsterdam. Before joining Avantium, Frank worked for more than ten years at Unilever in numerous finance and accounting positions. He was Finance Director at Unilever Bestfoods in the US from 2000 to 2003. After that, he worked as Director of International Funding and Director of Mergers & Acquisitions for Unilever N.V.
Gert-Jan Gruter - Chief Technology Officer
Gert-Jan Gruter became Chief Technology Officer of Avantium in January, 2004. He joined the company as Technology Manager Chemicals when Avantium was established in 2000. Gert-Jan holds a PhD in Organo-metallic Chemistry and Catalysis at the Vrije Universiteit (VU University) in Amsterdam. He worked at DSM in 1994-2000, where he chaired DSM's corporate high-throughput technology activities. He was also professor for Polymer Catalysis at Eindhoven University of Technology from 1999 to 2006. Currently, he is a member of the scientific / industrial boards of the Dutch Institute for Catalysis Research (NIOK), the Association of the Industrial Advisory Board of NIOK (VIRAN), the high-throughput cluster of the Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI) and the bulk chemicals cluster of CatchBIO. Gert-Jan Gruter is (co-)inventor of more than 45 patents.
Gunnar Staaf - Chief Executive Officer Avantium Pharma
Gunnar was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Avantium Pharma in December 2009. Gunnar has over 15 years of experience in a range of commercial and executive positions in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies including Eli Lilly, Novartis, Astellas and Serentis, a privately owned biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, UK. He holds a BA in Economics and Accounting from Reading University and an MBA from Warwick Business School, UK. Gunnar will lead the spin-out of the Pharmaceutical business unit from Avantium Holding BV and act as Chief Executive Officer of the new company.
Guus Scheefhals - Chief Operating Officer Avantium Pharma
Guus was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Avantium Pharma in January, 2009, after holding the position of Chief Business Officer at Avantium for the previous 3 years. He joined the company as Vice President of Business Development Life Sciences in October 2003. Prior to his career at Avantium, he gained vast experience in the pharmaceutical industry in several commercial positions. He was Business Development Manager at DSM Biologics from September 1999 to 2003. Before that, he worked at the Division Pharmaceutical & Industrial R&D of Analytico and the Product Partnering Division of Fresenius. Guus holds a Master's Degree in Pharmacy from the Utrecht University.