New chairman of the board for Gradipore

Gradipore (ASX: GDP) has appointed Australian businessman Jeremy Davis as its new chairman of the board.

Davis has an illustrious background with over 30 years' experience in business management. In addition to his role as the AMP Society professor of management at the Australian Graduate School of Management, he is currently a director of Transurban Holdings, and a member of the council of the University of New South Wales. He is also a director of venture capital fund Amwin Management.

Former positions include directorships at the Australian Stock Exchange, and AIDC, as well as Capral Aluminium and Nucleus. He joined Boston Consulting Group in Boston in 1970, and moved to its Paris office in 1972. In 1974, he established its San Francisco office, and became a director of the firm in 1975.

"Jeremy has a comprehensive understanding of business management and his solid background in management consultation will have an immediate impact on the development and execution of our business plan and our leadership strategy in biological separations," Gradipore CEO and vice-chairman Robert Lieb said in a statement.

Gradipore COO Tim Wawn said that Davis brought several qualities to the company.

"First of all, he's had substantial experience chairing and being part of boards, so he will bring to Gradipore more awareness of corporate governance issues at a time when Gradipore is looking towards expanding globally," he said. "The second thing is his experience in companies he has been involved with in the past, such as the Nucleus group."

Wawn said that Davis had a global perspective that would be useful to Gradipore as it embarked on a globalisation plan.

Davis said he was looking forward to leveraging his business experience to assist Gradipore's future growth.

Former chairman John Manusu will continue on at Gradipore as a board member and as the strategic adviser to Lieb, while Tim Wawn has resigned from the board in order to concentrate on his role as COO.

At the time of writing Gradipore's share price had risen 15 per cent to $1.44.