Appointment of Chief Technology Officer

RNS Number : 8324K

Versarien PLC

07 January 2021

 

7 January 2021

Versarien plc

("Versarien" or the "Company")

Appointment of Chief Technology Officer

Versarien plc (AIM: VRS), the advanced materials engineering group, is pleased to announce that Dr Stephen Hodge has been appointed as the Company's Chief Technology Officer ("CTO") and has joined the Company's Board with immediate effect.

Dr Hodge is currently Head of Research at Versarien, a role he has held since July 2018. Prior to this, he was employed as a Principal Engineer at Cambridge Graphene Limited, a supplier of graphene inks and other graphene materials, and a subsidiary of Versarien. He has also held post-doctoral research associate positions at the Cambridge Graphene Centre, a research centre attached to the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge, and in the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College London, where he also completed a PhD in Nanomaterial Chemistry.

Stephen is a member of the International Advisory Board for the Graphene NOWNANO CDT at the University of Manchester and was formerly a Teaching Fellow in the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) program in Graphene Technology at The University of Cambridge. Stephen also holds the role of Chairman of the Technical Working Group within the Graphene REACH registration consortium.

Following Dr Hodge's appointment, the Company's Board now comprises James Stewart (Non-executive Chairman), Neill Ricketts (CEO), Christopher Leigh (CFO), Stephen Hodge (CTO), Susan Bowen (Non-executive Director) and Iain Gray (Non-executive Director).

Neill Ricketts, CEO of Versarien, commented:  "We are delighted to welcome Steve to the Versarien Board. He brings significant research and scientific experience to the CTO role and will be responsible for developing solutions and creating partnerships with the Graphene and Plastics division's commercial pipeline.

"His academic credentials are impeccable and his time as Head of Research at Versarien ensures that Steve will continue to contribute to the progression of our commercial partnerships and international expansion strategy."

Further information on Dr Stephen Hodge

Dr Stephen Anthony Hodge, aged 34, holds no other current directorships or partnerships and has no former directorships or partnerships within the last five years.

Dr Hodge does not hold any ordinary shares of the Company. As part of his existing remuneration package, Dr Hodge has been previously granted share options over the Company's ordinary shares as follows:

a)  453,720 share options with an exercise price of 117p per share expiring in December 2028; and

b)  75,000 share options with an exercise price of 21.25p per share expiring in April 2027.

Save as disclosed above, there are no additional disclosures to be made in accordance with Rule 17 or Schedule Two paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

Enquiries:

Versarien Neill Ricketts, CEO Chris Leigh, CFO	[phone]
SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker) Matthew Johnson, Ewan Leggat, Adam Cowl	[phone]
Berenberg (Joint Broker) Mark Whitmore, Simon Cardron	[phone]
Yellow Jersey (Investor Relations)  Charles Goodwin Georgia Colkin Henry Wilkinson [e-mail]	[phone]

Notes to Editors:

Versarien Plc ( AIM:VRS ), is an advanced engineering materials group. Leveraging proprietary technology, the Group creates innovative engineering solutions for its clients in a diverse range of industries.

For further information please see:  http://www.versarien.com  

 

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