On the move: the latest East Midlands hires

Nottingham contract research organisation Sygnature Discovery has appointed Dr David Witty as chief scientific officer (CSO).

Witty is an industry veteran, who started his working life in a medicinal chemistry lab as an 18-year-old school leaver, before going on to work for some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world.

In his 30-year-plus career, he has led numerous integrated discovery and development programmes across a wide range of therapeutic areas including neuroscience, metabolic diseases, oncology, and anti-infectives, and worked on some twenty candidate molecules, including vixotrigine and intepirdine.

Witty has held many senior leadership roles in the pharmaceutical and drug discovery space, including director of chemistry and head of operations at convergence pharmaceuticals, co-editor of Progress in Medicinal Chemistry, and director and co-founder of pharmaceutical consultancy firm Witnet.

He joins the team at Sygnature Discovery from Eliem Therapeutics, where he served as vice president of chemistry and intellectual property and led the research, development, and scale-up of various neuroscience projects.

Witty said: “Before joining Sygnature I was looking for a role where I could use my experience of working with global drug discovery partners. I wanted to work with a team that had both scientific excellence and customer focus at its heart, and to be able to influence the development of those capabilities.

“In my previous role I learned that the Sygnature team were both enthusiastic and talented, and appreciated there was a drive for continuous improvement of scientific capabilities and customer experience. It is the perfect fit and I hope to use my experience of commissioning and running programmes to ensure Sygnature is always seen as the first choice to run discovery research programmes.”

CEO at Sygnature Discovery Dr Simon Hirst added: “David is a great addition to the leadership team and brings a wealth of scientific knowledge and industry experience which are both essential to the future success and growth of our business.”

James Cardon and Stacey Greatorex

Property consultancy Fisher German has made a double hire.

James Cardon has joined Fisher German’s agency team at its Ashby office as a sales manager following a seven-year career in the property industry.

He joins Fisher German alongside Stacey Greatorex, who joins the team as a sales co-ordinator.

Cardon will be marketing residential property in and around Leicestershire, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire in his new role.

He said: “I’m really pleased to have joined Fisher German at what is a busy time in the Midlands residential market.

“Before I joined Fisher German I worked for a number of years at a local estate agents in Burton-upon-Trent, which gave me a great grounding in my career, but I wanted to move onto something bigger and better.

“When the opportunity came up at Fisher German, I thought it was a great chance to join a larger, multi-disciplinary firm with great presence across the Midlands and nationally.

“I’m looking forward to helping the Midlands agency team go from strength to strength, and I’m confident of hitting the ground running.”

Greatorex added: “It’s fantastic to be starting at Fisher German – I’ve had a keen interest in property for a long time so I’m very excited to support the Midlands agency team in achieving its expansion.

“Fisher German has a reputation for supporting its employees and their careers, so I was delighted to secure the role. And since starting, the team have been very welcoming and have enabled me to settle in quickly, so they are practising what they preach.”

Thomas Blake, who leads Midlands Agency at Fisher German, said: “James and Stacey are excellent additions to the team, blending experience and enthusiasm.

“The Midlands’ market is on an upward curve at the moment, so both of them have joined at a great time for the sector and region.

“We’re excited to see how well they will complement the team and drive it forward over the coming months and years.”