Board of Directors

Dr. Firmenich is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Aquilus Management Ltd. He is also Managing Director of Aquilus Pte Ltd, based in Singapore, and a director of Alatus Capital SA, an Investment Manager based in Geneva, Switzerland.

He is a Director of DSM-Firmenich, serving on its Audit and Risk Committee, and as Head of its Sustainability Committee. He is a past director of Firmenich International, where he served on its Audit, Finance and Risk Committee as well as Governance & Compensation Committee, and previously on its Nomination Committee. Between 2004 and 2015, he served on the Board of Sentarom, the holding company of the Firmenich group, acting as its Chairman since 2009. He is a past director of Nobel Biocare, the world’s largest implant & digital dentistry firm and a past director and manager of Finarom SPF, a diversified Luxembourg investment company. He has been appointed by the President of Stanford University to the Advisory Council of its Graduate School of Business.

Dr. Firmenich has extensive experience in managing industrial businesses and a deep knowledge of corporate governance. From 1996 to 2006, he held a number of successful global executive management positions within Firmenich International, the world’s second largest flavor and fragrance producer. Between 1995 and 1996, as Executive in Residence at Sierra Ventures, he developed and implemented the early-stage investment strategies for BB Biotech, then the world’s largest biotech fund ($450m). Prior he was a fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Stanford University and an investigator at the Center for Cancer Research at MIT.

Dr. Firmenich earned an MBA from Stanford University, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Stanford Medical School (under the tutelage of Dr. Paul Berg, Nobel Laureate), and a B.Sc. in Life Sciences from MIT, where he was John Asinari award winner, Scholastic All-American, and elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi.

Ms. Hanson is Executive Director and Compliance Officer of Aquilus Management Ltd.

Ms. Hanson also acts as the Chief Operating Officer of a group of affiliated companies providing trust, corporate and accounting services (the “Zobec Group”). As one of the key principals of the Zobec Group, Ms. Hanson directs all aspects of the business including strategy, management and development. She is responsible for the oversight of a dedicated and qualified team providing corporate and trust administration services to a variety of entities across a broad spectrum of industries. Ms. Hanson’s practice has covered all aspects of corporate and fund administration, overseeing an extensive and varied portfolio of companies including pharmaceutical, film production, manufacturing, insurance, permit and mutual fund companies. Ms. Hanson’s experience extends to licensed and exempted funds and partnerships of various types. Whilst Ms. Hanson has primarily focused her work on entities based in Bermuda, she has also worked with trusts based in the BVI, Cayman, UK and USA, companies and partnerships.

Prior to joining Zobec Services Limited, Ms. Hanson was a director and Vice President of FairIsle Management Limited and previously, an associate in the Private Client & Trust department of Conyers Dill & Pearman’s Bermuda office.

Ms. Hanson is a qualified Barrister and Attorney and was admitted to the Bar in Bermuda in 2002. She is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. She is currently a director of Watlington Waterworks Limited (registered on the Bermuda Stock Exchange).

Mr. Stewart is Executive Director of Aquilus Management Ltd.

Mr. Stewart served for many years as a director of a pension fund trustee company of the Shell Group of Companies in Bermuda and is also a director of several Bermuda international companies such as Fidelity International Limited and SOP (Bermuda). Prior to his retirement in 2008, Mr. Stewart was a director and Vice-Chairman of the Bank of N.T. Butterfield, Chairman of the Audit Committee, a trustee of the Bank’s Pension Fund, and Chairman of several mutual funds operated by the Bank. He also previously served as a director of the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

Mr. Stewart was previously appointed as manager of Old Mutual Asset Managers (Bermuda) Limited (1999 to 2002). Mr. Stewart worked for 30 years with Shell Overseas Trading Limited, Bermuda with the last 14 years of this tenure (1985 – 1998) as Chief Executive of Shell Group of Companies in Bermuda. Between 1982 and 1985 Mr. Stewart was a manager in pension fund management in Shell International Petroleum Company Limited London. He holds honours degrees in Economics and Law from the University of London, and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries and Administrators. Mr. Stewart is the author of “Bermuda – An Economy which Works”, published in 1997 and “A Guide to the Economy of Bermuda”, which was published in 2003. He has been published in several international economic journals.