Board of Directors
Thomas Bergen, Chairman
Thomas got his business and economics degree in 1993 from the University of St.Gallen. He was vice president at Migros Bank. In 1999, Thomas co-founded getAbstract. As CEO, he is running the global business of getAbstract from the Lucerne headquarters. From 2003 until 2011, he served as a member of the board of the Swiss Management Association, which he presided for the last two years. He is also a member of the foundation council of the famous monastery in Einsiedeln, lectured on entrepreneurship at the University of St.Gallen and is one of the co-founders of Amphasys.
Heiner Scherrer
Heiner got his diploma as a mechanical engineer at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich). After two years as assistant professor at ETH he started his own engineering company. In 1985 he co-founded CTC Analytics where he is still engaged as chairman. Heiner joined the board of Amphasys as investor to contribute his knowledge in the design, production and distribution of scientific instruments.
Michael Pereira
Michael is Chief Agronomist at Finistre Ventures, Principal Consultant at Granum Services and teaches at the UC Davis. He is a highly accomplished agriculturalist with extensive experience over a 40-year career in agronomy, seeds, and biofuels. Mike previously held executive leadership positions with Syngenta’s and Limagrain’s global seed production organizations. His focus has been developing and building agricultural operations focusing primarily on seeds, for example research farms in Peru, production organizations in China and global production organizations for multinationals to hybrid seed production systems. His vast experience in agriculture is an invaluable source of advice and inspiration for Amphasys.
Advisory Board
Prof. Federica Caselli
Federica is Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Rome Tor Vergata (Biomedical Microdevices Laboratory). Her research deals with the development of lab-on-a-chip systems for diagnostics and life science, with emphasis on impedance flow cytometry. Leveraging an interdisciplinary background (M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering, M.Sc. in Mathematics, Ph.D. in Biomechanics), she seeks novel solutions for single-cell analysis, through model-based device design and advanced signal processing. Federica aims at promoting technology transfer between academia and industry.
Dr. Iris Heidmann
Iris is CEO and senior researcher on plant cell biology at Acepo, Enkhuizen (NL). Her research and services focuse on pollen viability analysis, plant regeneration systems from somatic and generative cells, mutagenesis and epigenetics. She completed her PhD studies at Wageningen University. Before Acepo, she worked for many years at Enza Zaden and at various research institutes in Germany (Inst. for Horticultural Plant Breeding, Ahrensburg; University of Konstanz, Max-Planck Institute of Plant Breeding Research Cologne). Iris’ knowledge about pollen development and her initial exploitation of Amphasys’ impedance flow cytometer for pollen analysis was essential for all further developments in this field.
Dr. Ladislav Kucera
Ladislav received his PhD in electrical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) in 1997. After working as Director Electronics & Control at ESEC AG, where he was leading more than 50 engineers, he founded his own company, Triamec Motion AG. He is an expert in HF Signal Processing, has a profound theoretical background of impedance analysis and a compelling experience in the programming of embedded systems. Ladislav was instrumental in developing Amphasys’ electronics hardware for the impedance flow cytometer.
Jan Droppers
Jan is looking back on a long and successful career in seed production including crop and quality management, production research, product screening and trialling. He was working internationally in multi-cultural and cross-functional teams, always following a holistic approach to challenges, optimization and innovation. He loves to work in this fast-evolving industry embracing precision farming, agroclimatology and climate change mitigation towards a sustainable food supply. Jan’s vision is to help feed this world adopting a socially and environmentally responsible frame of mind, with a modern technology tool kit that will help to produce more with less. Born and raised in The Netherlands, Jan received his Bachelor´s degree from VHL University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), an Agronomy Master´s from Auburn University (USA), and a Project Management certificate from UC Davis (USA).