Website update in progress

Following the transformation of Polpharma Biologics (learn more), this site will focus on biosimilars development in Switzerland. In Poland, we operate now as Rezon Bio – a contract developer and manufacturer of biologics (CDMO). More at www.rezonbio.com.

Due to the demerger of Polpharma Biologics into two independent companies (detailed information can be found in the “Knowledge center” section), the website polpharmabiologics.com is currently being updated. For details on the CDMO business, please visit the Rezon Bio website

Go to Rezon Bio website

Experienced leadership, global vision

Our leadership team brings decades of combined experience in biologics development, manufacturing, and commercialization. Passionate about patient impact and committed to operational excellence, they drive our mission forward every day.

Jerzy Starak

Founder and Owner Polpharma Biologics Group

Jerzy Starak is one of the Polish entrepreneurs whose activities contributed to the modernization and innovative development of the Polish economy. A visionary full of courage and determination in realizing ever new business challenges.

Jerzy Starak played a key role in the development of the Polish pharmaceutical sector. In 2000, he became the owner of Polpharma S.A. Ambitious modernization processes, huge investments in research and laboratory infrastructure and cooperation with top class specialists made Polpharma S.A. a European leader in the production of generic drugs.

In 2010, Jerzy Starak, inspired by the global direction in pharmaceutical development, made the decision to expand his business activities into production of biological drugs. Already in 2012, the first Research and Development Center opened in the Gdańsk Science and Technology Park and in 2020 another modern Center for Development and Production on an industrial scale began its activities in Warsaw-Duchnice. Today, Polpharma Biologics is the largest biosimilar drug development company in this part of Europe, operating in partnerships with global leaders in the pharmaceutical market.

Supervisory Board Polpharma Biologics Group

Emmanuelle Lepine

Chairwoman

Polpharma Biologics Group

“We are passionate about getting safe and effective medicines to patients”

Dr Joerg Windisch

Vice Chairman

Polpharma Biologics Group

“We value everyone equally and always treat each other with respect”

Michel Cup

Supervisory Board Member

Polpharma Biologics Group

“We care about being respectful and transparent”

Dr Konstantin Matentzoglu

Supervisory Board Member

Polpharma Biologics Group

“We work with dedication and find innovative solutions”

Gertjan Noordermeer

Supervisory Board Member

Polpharma Biologics Group

Management Board of Polpharma Biologics Switzerland AG

Emmanuelle Lepine

Chairperson of the Board

of Directors

Gertjan Noordermeer

Member of the Board

of Directors

Philipp Leitner

Member of the Board

of Directors

Anjan Selz

Chief Executive Officer

The People Behind the Molecules

Alexander Pirc

Head Finance

Ruth Blättler

Head P&O

Hannes Teissl

Chief Business Officer

Emmanuelle Lepine

Chairwoman, Polpharma Biologics Group

Emma has over 25 years of experience in Pharma and Biotech, specializing in team leadership, B2B partnerships, and startup growth. She co-founded a biosimilar startup as Deputy CEO and later led a global biosimilar company as CEO. Her expertise in the Biosimilar industry makes her a valuable addition to our Supervisory Board. Emma, educated in Science and Business, hails from Canada and now resides in Spain.

Dr Joerg Windisch

Vice Chairman, Polpharma Biologics Group

“We are passionate about getting safe and effective medicines to patients”

Dr. Joerg Windisch has around 25 years of experience in the development, manufacture and regulatory licensure of biologic therapies. Since joining Polpharma Biologics, Dr. Windisch has made significant contributions to the organization’s formation and growth, and the development of its frontrunner products. Prior to joining Polpharma, Dr. Windisch served as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Affimed, a NASDAQ-traded biotech company which develops innovative bi- and trispecific antibodies as immune cell engagers to treat various kinds of cancer. Before that, Dr. Windisch spent almost 20 years at Novartis/Sandoz where he most recently served as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) for Sandoz Biopharmaceuticals. He was a key figure in developing the first biosimilars approved in Europe and the US.

Michel Cup

Supervisory Board Member, Polpharma Biologics Group

“We value everyone equally and always treat each other with respect”

Michel Cup (52), a Dutch national, was EVP and CFO of Mead Johnson Nutrition based in Chicago until 2018, MJN is a global leader in pediatric nutrition. Since 2011 he was the CFO and Board member of DE Master Blenders 1753, (currently JDE Peets Coffee), a global pure coffee & tea player and was as CFO responsible for the carve out from Sara Lee in Chicago and the subsequent listing at the stock exchange in Amsterdam in 2012. He was closely involved in the merger with the Mondelez coffee activities after taking private in 2014. 
From 2009 until 2011 he was EVP and CFO of Provimi, a global Animal Nutrition company based in Rotterdam the Netherlands, which was acquired by Cargill end of 2011. 
Before that Michel served as CFO Asia Pacific for Numico (Danone), a pure play infant and adult nutrition company, where he was based in Singapore. Since 1999 he had several finance roles within Numico based in the US and The Netherlands. 
Michel started his career as a Chartered Accountant at Deloitte in the Netherlands. 
He has a post-doctoral degree from the University of Tilburg Netherlands.

Dr Konstantin Matentzoglu

Supervisory Board Member, Polpharma Biologics Group

“We care about being respectful and transparent”

Konstantin Matentzoglu is the Delegated Supervisory Board Member of Polpharma Biologics Group and a seasoned leader in biotechnology.

Throughout his career, he has led significant growth transformations in the life sciences sector.

He also serves on the boards of BSP Pharmaceuticals S.p.A. in Latina, Italy; Prediction Biosciences SAS in Lyon, France; and CDL Therapeutics GmbH in Cologne, Germany.

Formerly, he was CEO and Board Member of Celonic Group.

Gertjan Noordermeer

Supervisory Board Member, Polpharma Biologics Group

“We work with dedication and find innovative solutions”

A graduate of the VU University of Amsterdam, Gertjan has nearly 30 years’ experience of working for international corporations in finance. He has held CFO positions with increased responsibilities.

Before joining Windstorm, Gertjan served as CFO of the Polpharma Group and previously as CFO of Teva Pharmaceuticals Europe where he built up extensive knowledge and expertise in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to that he held the position of CFO in Avebe U.A., with responsibility for Finance, Tax, Treasury and ICT.

In his various roles Gertjan’s responsibilities included company development by organic growth and acquisitions, designing innovative growth plans, post-merger integrations, cost optimization plans and design/implementation of new financial organizational structures and systems. A pragmatic team leader with the ability to think clearly under pressure, Gertjan is rated highly for quality performance, team impact and helping global organizations define their future strategies.

Justyna Tyborowska

Chief People Officer, Polpharma Biologics Group

„Teamwork is the key to unlocking our collective potential and achieving greatness together”

Justyna joined Jerzy Starak’s company group in early 2023. She sat on the Supervisory Boards of Polpharma ZF and Herbapol and served as Chief People & Culture Officer at some of the Group’s companies. She has been with Polpharma Biologics since December 2023. From 2016 to 2022, she worked as SVP/Chief HR Officer for an international medical network, where she built and managed HR structures in 15 European countries. She created and implemented patient experience programs and was involved in building company value through acquisitions, participating in due diligence processes and post-acquisition integrations in Western Europe and CEE. Previously, as Executive Director, she worked at Russell Reynolds Associates, an executive search firm. From 1999 to 2014, at Tech Data – a U.S.-based technology distribution company, as Regional HR Director, she managed the Nordic and CEE HR teams and, as Culture Change Leader, led one of the streams in an international strategic sales transformation program. She started her career as a Senior Management Consultant at KPMG, where she worked on Human Capital projects. She is a graduate of the University of Warsaw with a master’s degree in psychology and a specialization in clinical psychology.

Dr Konstantin Matentzoglu

Supervisory Board Member, Polpharma Biologics Group

“We care about being respectful and transparent”

Konstantin Matentzoglu is the Delegated Supervisory Board Member of Polpharma Biologics Group and a seasoned leader in biotechnology.

Throughout his career, he has led significant growth transformations in the life sciences sector.

He also serves on the boards of BSP Pharmaceuticals S.p.A. in Latina, Italy; Prediction Biosciences SAS in Lyon, France; and CDL Therapeutics GmbH in Cologne, Germany.

Formerly, he was CEO and Board Member of Celonic Group.

Dr Adriana Kiędzierska-Mencfeld

President of the Management Board Polpharma Biologics SA, Chief Operating Officer Polpharma Biologics Group

“We work with dedication and find innovative solutions”

Dr Kiędzierska-Mencfeld has more than 15 years of experience in recombinant protein purification and expression in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems, and more than 10 years of experience in the development and GMP production of biosimilars. Prior to joining Polpharma Biologics as Production Director, Dr. Kiedzierska-Mencfeld spent four years as Head of GMP Production at the biotechnology firm Mabion S.A. She earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Wroclaw, her MS in molecular biotechnology and biocatalysis from the Technical University of Wroclaw, and completed her masters thesis at the Technical University of Dresden.

Mathieu Ballie

Chief Quality Officer, Polpharma Biologics Group

“Our patients expect and deserve high quality and innovative medicines”

Mathieu Ballié is a pharmacist from the University of Strasbourg, France. Fascinated about the engineering of biological drugs, he started his career in 2002 with Novartis France at a site manufacturing monoclonal antibodies. He was the site Quality Director when after 10 years, he moved to Switzerland to lead the Quality Assurance oversight for contract manufacturers for Novartis biologics, and later on for Bayer Healthcare Switzerland. Eager to be part of a new greenfield project, he relocated with his family to Singapore as Quality Director for the first biopharmaceutical plant built by Novartis in Asia contributing to facility approval by US FDA and EMA. Prior to joining Polpharma Biologics, Mathieu was in New Jersey, leading the US Quality organization for Advanced Accelerator Applications, a Novartis company, for manufacture and distribution of innovative radioligand therapy products.

Hannes Teissl

Chief Business Officer, Polpharma Biologics Group

“We care about delivering on our commitments”

Hannes Teissl is the Vice Chairman of Polpharma Biologics Group B.V. He has been with Polpharma Biologics since 2012 and was instrumental in establishing its foundations in Poland as well as the Netherlands (acquisition of Bioceros) and Switzerland (creation of Joint Venture Bioeq AG). Prior to joining Polpharma Biologics, Hannes has been an Executive Management Board Member at Sandoz, where he held several international management positions over 22 years (e.g. Global Head of Biopharmaceuticals, Global Head of M&A, CEO of Sandoz Germany).

Jakub Walkowiak

Chief Financial Officer, Polpharma Biologics Group

“We are passionate about getting safe and effective medicines to patients”

Jakub Walkowiak is the Chief Financial Officer of the Polpharma Biologics Group. Jakub joined Mr.Jerzy Starak’s group of companies in 2017, first working in the Strategic Investments team of Polpharma and then switching his focus increasingly towards the Polpharma Biologics business. Earlier, Jakub worked in the Warsaw office of an investment banking boutique headquartered in Vienna, where he was responsible for leading Mergers & Acquisitions as well as consultancy projects, predominantly for institutional investors. He has an extensive background in finance, strategy and business development, as well as experience in consulting.

Dr Joerg Windisch

Vice Chairman, Polpharma Biologics Group

“We are passionate about getting safe and effective medicines to patients”

Dr. Joerg Windisch has around 25 years of experience in the development, manufacture and regulatory licensure of biologic therapies. Since joining Polpharma Biologics, Dr. Windisch has made significant contributions to the organization’s formation and growth, and the development of its frontrunner products. Prior to joining Polpharma, Dr. Windisch served as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Affimed, a NASDAQ-traded biotech company which develops innovative bi- and trispecific antibodies as immune cell engagers to treat various kinds of cancer. Before that, Dr. Windisch spent almost 20 years at Novartis/Sandoz where he most recently served as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) for Sandoz Biopharmaceuticals. He was a key figure in developing the first biosimilars approved in Europe and the US.