Company leadership & management

Enabling life-improving breakthroughs by mastering peptides

Hans de Backer has over 10 years experience in the life sciences industry. He has gained experience in business development during his career at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, where he worked with entrepreneurial researchers to set up their own businesses, developed and reviewed strategic plans for established pharma companies, and advised (public) investment funds. He extended his track record in turning potential into actual delivery of results by mobilizing teams and letting blossom individual team members within Aspen Oss. He fulfilled an operational management position as Manager Technical Affairs after program manager roles in the fields of safety improvement and business process/IT transformation (incl. SAP/LIMS implementation). He holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering & Management Science from the Eindhoven University of Technology.

Peter Timmerman joined Pepscan in 2001 and is responsible for scientific developments at Pepscan and in his role as CSO drives further advances in protein mimicry for peptide drug discovery program. He is inventor of the CLIPS technology and held a chair as Professor (by special appointment) in Protein Mimetic Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam from 2007 to 2022. He studied Chemistry at the Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam), and obtained his PhD summa cum laude from the University of Twente. In 1995, he was recipient of the Backer Prize for the best thesis in Organic Chemistry. He did post-doctoral research at the ETH in Zürich and was Assistant Professor in Supramolecular Chemistry and Technology at the University of Twente from 1995-2001. He is co-author of over 80 scientific papers and co-inventor on >10 patents.

Evert van Dijk is as Chief Commercial Officer responsible for the worldwide commercialization of Pepscan’s peptide R&D and clinical products and discovery, optimization and epitope mapping services. He is an experienced commercial (B2B) business leader with over 25 years of experience, of which >15 years of experience in executive leadership, in the life sciences, (bio)pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. Evert combines strong interpersonal skills and an energetic commercial drive with a deep scientific understanding of Pepscan’s products and services, which is reflected in his career path. As an early employee of Pepscan Evert has been instrumental in the development of Pepscan’s peptide services, both the R&D peptide services as epitope mapping. Following the commercial success, his sales team has grown to a provider of peptide based products & services. Evert succeeded in building a team of experts that all share in the energy and result-orientation of their manager. He holds a B.Sc. degree in Biochemistry in 1994 from the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen.

Hanne Kho joined Pepscan in 2018 after working for 12 years at AstraZeneca and is Pepscan's QA Lead. He is an experienced pharmaceutical professional with 25+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and has broad experience managing several pharmaceutical/business areas. Next to expertise on GMP, he also gained knowledge and experience on Operational Excellence and Lean. He studied Pharmacy at Leiden University in the Netherlands and received his Pharmacy degree in 1986 after which he worked at several Pharmaceutical companies.

Tamara de Graaf is an expert financial controller with over 20 years of experience in several financial roles. She possesses broad knowledge of the many aspects involved in business administration, including accounting and reporting. Tamara joined Pepscan in 2020 and is responsible for overseeing Pepscan’s day-to-day accounting operations, preparing financial reports, analyzing financial data and ensuring the organization’s financial soundness during its rapid growth. She also drives process improvements throughout Pepscan, as she is continuously looking for new ways to increase efficiency through simplification.

Sylvia Boelens joined Pepscan in 2001 as Human Resources and Office Manager. She is a highly experienced executive assistant and the company’s confidante. As one of the pivotal employees at Pepscan, Sylvia has played an important role in the development and implementation of numerous company procedures and projects, including shipment, location management and company culture.