Dr Michel Spagnol

Chief Executive Officer
Chairman of the Supervisory Board

Michel Spagnol joined Novasep in June 2013 as CEO. He was appointed as Chairman of the Supervisory Board in March 2014.

Holding a PhD from Stanford University (USA), he has worked in Europe, UK, India and the USA in various executive positions including R&D, sales, marketing and global business management.

“Novasep’s differentiation to win business will always be the quality of our services, the passion of our teams supported by high added value technologies. We want to become a leader in all our markets, more agile, more transparent and we are aiming for nothing less than excellence to serving our customers."

Martin Hopcroft

Chief Financial Officer

Martin Hopcroft joined Novasep in October 2019, and he was appointed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in November 2019.With over thirty years of international experience in multi-site operations across multiple industries, he provides financial, operational and strategic management to corporations in change or facing challenges.

He holds a Bachelor of Science (Economics) in Mathematical Economics and Econometrics from The London School of Economics and Political Science. He is a Member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and he is a Member of The Institute for Turnaround.

Damien Brichant

President of the Process Solutions Business Unit​

Damien Brichant is a food processing engineer from AgroParisTech School (Paris, France).

He joined Novasep in 2003 and has held various positions within the Group, including Process Engineer and Project Manager for IB activities.

In 2011, after a few years outside Novasep, he moved to Shanghai and was mainly involved in process, sales and R&D development in China. In 2013, he became General manager of Novasep Asia with a broader involvement through Asia Pacific, and particularly emerging Indonesia. In 2016, Damien moved to the U.S. as Process Solutions VP for Americas region.

Since April 2020, Damien has been promoted to the position of President of the Process Solutions Business Unit.

”Our core mission is to continue the growth of Novasep in the industrial biotechnologies market, by providing more efficient solutions through our technologies and improving our customers' processes”  

Jean Bléhaut

President of the Synthesis Solutions Business Unit

Jean Bléhaut is a biochemical engineer from INSA (Lyon, France) and a chemical engineer from ENSIC (Nancy, France). He is one of the founding members of Novasep.

He has held various positions within the group, including R&D, engineering, sales, general management of business unit, marketing, strategic business development and innovation.

Jean's core mission is to strengthen Novasep's position as a global, technology and customer focused contract manufacturing services provider for biopharmaceutical, pharmaceutical and fine chemicals industries through strategic investments and further implementation of operational excellence programs.

Cédric Volanti

President of the Biopharma Solutions Business Unit 

Originally from Belgium, Cédric Volanti is a passionate cell and molecular biologist. He holds a Ph.D in Sciences and a Master Degree in Management before confronting industry. Cédric then continued his studies at Harvard University (USA) and joined a virology laboratory and then worked in cellular immunology.

During his professional career, Cédric has held various top management positions in international CDMOs.

Since February 2020, Cédric Volanti has been General Manager of the Biopharma Solutions Business Unit at Novasep, based in Belgium and is committed to develop the business with the sales forces and to project the whole BU towards tomorrow's therapies - and viral vectors in the front line - with growth based on solid foundations.

"The Senrise IV and Senefill production units, respectively focused on Viral Vectors bioproduction and Fill & Finish operations, represent major investments for Novasep. The Gosselies and Seneffe sites are a rough diamond, which we need to polish to reveal its great value. With the local teams, I hope to be the artisan of this work of valorization."

Bertrand Waymel

Human Resources & Communication Director

Bertrand Waymel holds a Master Degree from the INSEEC Business School in Paris, having specialized in Human Resources Management. He joined Novasep in September 2012 and became Human Resources Director, Group, in May 2015. In January 2017, he took over the responsibility of Communication for Novasep.

Before his current position, Bertrand built a strong experience in Human Resources Management in an international company with multi-sites.

Bertrand's core ​mission is to lead the company in people management to ensure commitment and performance.

His goal is also to make HR management into a differentiating quality for Novasep, allowing the Group to develop talents as well as attract new ones. Thanks to internal and external communication initiatives, his ambition is to let employees testimony about their job and make Novasep a key market reference recognize for its services.

Pierre-Louis Mikus ​

Chief Legal Officer​​

Pierre-Louis Mikus is a member of the Quebec Bar and holds degrees, in law from the University of Montreal, and in management from ESCP Europe. Pierre-Louis joined Novasep in May 2015 as Chief Legal Officer.

He previously held top positions in the pharmaceutical industry, in particular as Vice President Legal – R&D and Technical Operations for a leading French biopharmaceutical group and, most recently, at a corporate law firm focusing on the life sciences sector.

Pierre-Louis's mission is to manage Novasep's legal risks and foster a shared culture of compliance bringing value to the Group and its stakeholders.​

Martin Ford

Project Management Officer 

Martin Ford holds Masters Degrees in Political Science and International Relations. He is also a graduate from “Sciences Po”. He brings 35 years experience of delivering business transformation and post-acquisition integration programmes internationally.

He has held executive positions and worked extensively across Life Sciences (“Big Pharma”, CDMOs, Medical Devices) as well as in Automotive, Aerospace, Consumer Goods and Diversified Industrials. He has been a regular contributor to the Executive MBA Programmes at HEC and Cepi Management Business Schools.

Martin joined Novasep in October 2019 as Project Management Officer and his role is to lead Novasep’s business transformation agenda in order to ensure that day-to-day operations are ever closer aligned with strategic intent.