The board of directors and corporate governance of Abingdon Health plc.
The Board of Abingdon Health plc sets the group’s strategy and oversees its governance, risk and performance. It is led by Executive Chairman Dr Chris Hand, and the profiles below introduce each director.
Committee membership, terms of reference and the corporate governance statement follow the profiles.
Board
Dr Chris Hand is co-founder of Abingdon Health. He has over 30 years’ experience in the medical diagnostics industry in the development and commercialisation of immunodiagnostic products, particularly rapid tests. Before Abingdon, Chris co-founded the medical diagnostics company Cozart Bioscience Ltd specialising in on-site saliva drug testing, and was Chief Executive of Cozart plc, following IPO on AIM in 2004, until October 2007 when the company was sold to Concateno plc. Prior to founding Cozart, Chris was Director of Research for the European base of DPC (now part of Siemens Healthineers Solutions) developing a wide range of immunodiagnostic kits in a variety of formats. He has a BSc in Applied Biochemistry from Brunel University, London and a DPhil from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Oxford. He is also chairman of Alta Bioscience Ltd.
Tom Hayes joined Abingdon Health as Chief Financial Officer in January 2025. Prior to joining the company, he spent ten years as Group Finance Director at Northern Bear plc, an AIM-listed Group of ten specialist building services companies. Tom qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen & Co and has also held roles with Sentio Insight LLP, a boutique advisory firm providing a range of financial due diligence and transaction services, and Ernst & Young LLP’s transaction advisory services team.
Mary Tavener is the Senior Independent NED of Abingdon Health and Chair of the Audit and Remuneration Committees.
Mary has extensive experience in the healthcare sector, having previously been Chief Financial Officer and Board member of AIM listed Advanced Medical Solutions plc (AMS) for 19 years during which the company saw 15 years of consecutive growth. Mary is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (ACMA) and a Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers (FCT). She has a degree in Chemistry from the University of Oxford. Mary was previously a non-executive director at Allergy Therapeutics plc and also Yourgene health plc prior to it being acquired by Novacyt Group plc.
Dr Katie Brenner joined Abingdon Health as an Independent Non-Executive Director in April 2025, and sits on both the Audit and Remuneration Committees.
Dr Brenner is based in Madison, WI and founded bluDiagnostics, a company specialising in lateral flow testing with an associated app to allow at-home monitoring of female fertility using saliva samples. She sold bluDiagnostics to Amazon in 2020 and remained there until 2024. Dr Brenner has a PhD in Bioengineering from Caltech and a BS and MS from Stanford University in Electrical Engineering.
Board committees
The Audit Committee is appointed by the Board from amongst the Non-executive Directors of the Group.
The Audit Committee meets at least four times a year at appropriate times in the reporting and audit cycle and otherwise as required.
The Committee’s responsibilities are set out in its terms of reference. The role of the Committee is to assist the board in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities by reviewing and monitoring:
The Audit Committee is required to report its findings to the Board, identifying any matters in respect of which it considers that action or improvement is needed and make recommendations as to the steps to be taken.
RSM UK Audit LLP is the Group’s current Auditor, having been appointed in 2025. There are no contractual obligations restricting the Company’s choice of external auditor.
In order to seek to preserve auditor objectivity and independence, the Company monitors the provision of non-audit services by the Auditor. Such services are subject to the approval of the Group Finance Director and the Audit Committee. The ratio of audit fees to non-audit fees charged by the external auditor in any one year as a proportion of the annual external audit fee is kept under regular review to ensure that neither their independence nor their objectivity is put at risk.
The Remuneration Committee is appointed by the Board from amongst the Non-executive Directors of the Group.
The Remuneration Committee meets at least twice a year at appropriate times and otherwise as required.
The Committee’s responsibilities are set out in its terms of reference. The role of the Committee is to assist the board in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities by reviewing and monitoring remuneration strategy including:
The Remuneration Committee is required to report its findings to the Board, identifying any matters in respect of which it considers that action or improvement is needed and make recommendations as to the steps to be taken.
The objective of the Remuneration Committee is to ensure that remuneration is appropriate to attract, retain and motivate the executive management of the company without paying more than necessary. The remuneration policy will bear in mind the Company’s appetite for risk and be aligned to the Company’s long term strategic goals. A significant proportion of remuneration should be structured so as to link rewards to corporate and individual performance and be designed to promote the long term success of the Company.
The Board has concluded that the Group does not currently require a Nominations Committee but will review this assessment on a regular basis including discussing the matter with its Nominated Advisor.
For all investor relations enquiries, please contact: investors@abingdonhealth.com.