The Team

Dr. Mahler is CEO & Board Member at ten23 health. He previously led the Drug Product Services (DPS) Business Unit at Lonza AG (2015-2021) and worked in various leadership roles such as Head Pharmaceutical Development & Supplies at Roche (2005-2015) and at Merck KGaA (2000-2005). He has an extensive expertise in formulation development, process development & validation, packaging/device development and integration, sterile manufacturing, and regulatory submissions with numerous IND/IMPD and BLAs.

He studied Pharmacy at the University of Mainz, Germany, holds a Ph.D. in toxicology from the Institute of Pharmacy, University of Mainz, and pharmacist specialization degrees in Toxicology & Ecology, and Pharmaceutical Technology. He has also was further trained Business and Marketing (Akad).

Hanns-Christian obtained his venia legendi (German Habilitation) from the University of Frankfurt, Germany, in 2010 and is adjunct faculty member and lecturer at the universities of Frankfurt and Basel.

He was elected an AAPS Fellow in November 2013, nominated extraordinary Professor for Pharmaceutical Technology in November 2015 and received the PDA Distinguished Service Award in 2018.

He is on the board of KriyaBio SA. Furthermore, he serves as Editor for Pharmaceutical Research and Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Hanns-Christian has published more than 150 manuscripts and book chapters and is co-inventor of more than 50 patents.

Patrick Klassnitz is Head of Finance at ten23 health. 

He previously worked for 13 years at Thermo Fisher Scientifc, most recentlyas Sr. Director Finance, Clinical Trial Division EMEA, and Managing Directorat the Clinical Packaging site in Allschwil. Prior to that, he worked for 5 years at Ernst Young Accounting Services, Basel, Switzerland.

Patrick has done a commercial apprenticeship at the Commercial Business School, Liestal, Switzerland, and during his time at EY the further education as Swiss Certified Fiduciary at the Swiss Fiduciary School, Switzerland.

Dr. Jörg is Chief Customer Delivery Officer (COO) at ten23 health. She was previously Head of Pharmaceutical Development, Drug Product Services (DPS) at Lonza AG (2016-2021), acting also ad interim as Manufacturing Site Head in Stein and Business Unit Head DPS.

Before that she worked in various leadership roles such as Head Early Phase Pharmaceutical development at Novartis AG (2006-2016). She has over 15 years of experience in formulation development, process development, transfer and validation, sterile manufacturing and regulatory submissions for early-, late-stage and life-cycle parenteral dosage forms.

She studied Pharmacy at the University of Mainz, Germany, and holds a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical technology from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), Munich, Germany, that was performed in a research collaboration with Merck KGA, developing high-concentration antibody formulations.

Alessandra Seriacopi is Chief Quality Officer (CQO) at ten23 health.

Alessandra brings over 20 years of experience in quality leadership across the pharmaceuticals, biotech, and vaccines sectors. Before joining ten23 health, she held senior roles at Thermo Fisher Scientific, MSD, Novartis, and GSK, where she led global quality operations, regulatory compliance, and successful product launches. She has deep expertise in GMP quality systems, regulatory inspections, and managing complex CDMO environments. Alessandra is passionate about building resilient, high-performing teams and fostering a quality culture that drives both compliance and innovation. She holds a degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Siena.

Felicia Werk serves as Chief People Officer at ten23 health.
Prior to ten23, she held a range of senior positions at Bayer, her last as Global Change & Transformation Lead.
Felicia holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Psychology from universities in Germany and the US, as well as an MBA from Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University. She is a certified Profile Dynamics® Consultant, Systemic Coach, Leadership Development Trainer, Certified New Ways of Working Coach (Loop Fellow), Project Management Professional (PMP), and certified Strategy Deployment Coach.

Prof. Dr. Allmendinger is CSO at ten23 health (starting in November 2021). She is also Adjunct Professor and Group Leader at the University of Freiburg, researching novel parenteral drug formulations and device solutions to improve stability, usability, and cost of goods.

From 2010 to 2021, she worked at Roche as Principal Scientist, Pharmaceutical Development. She worked inter alia on manufacturability and injectability of high-concentration formulations, syringe and high-volume drug/device combination products, particulates and surfactant strategy.

Andrea studied Pharmacy at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and the University College London, UK, and holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Basel, Switzerland. She obtained the venia legendi (German Habilitation) from the University of Freiburg, Germany, in 2021, and also serves as Editor-In-Chief for AAPS Open Journal.

Dr. Van der Heide is responsible for Sales and worked previously as Chief Business officer at Pivot Park Screening Centre BV (2020-2021). Before that, he has been working in the pharmaceutical / pharmaceutical supply industry for over 25 years, in sales, business development and business management, at Lonza AG (2002-2020), DSBG Ltd. (2001-2002) and other companies.

Teun studied Organic and Analytical Chemistry at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and he obtained his PhD in Organic Synthesis from the same university.

Alissa Monk is Fairstainability Officer at ten23 health. She has nearly 20 years’ experience in the fields of environmental science and corporate sustainability.

Alissa has a background as a researcher in environmental science, more specifically ecotoxicology and then transitioned from measuring impact at the end point to focusing on reducing it at the source.

She was previously an Environmental Sustainability Lead in the research department at Novartis. She is an executive member of ‘Go Circular in Life Sciences’ and a steering committee member for My Green Lab.

Alissa pushes for collaborative action to address systemic issues and is passionate about understanding and measuring environmental impact, and creating tools and automated processes to help accelerate sustainable action.

Tamara Hell is Diversity, Inclusion & LGBTQ+ Officer and Drug Product Scientist at ten23 health. She is also CFO and Assistant to the CEO at MiHKAL GmbH, Allschwil.

She previously worked at Lonza AG as Lead Scientist in Bioanalytics, asBioassay Lead at NBE Therapeutics AG and as Lab Professional at Novartis Pharma AG, all in Basel, Switzerland. She completed an apprenticeship as Biology Laboratory Technician and is currently studying for the Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education at aprentas.

Creixell Espilla-Gilart is Chief Marketing Officer at ten23 health.

Creixell is responsible for ten23’s strategic marketing and worked previously as Team Leader Marketing for the aerospace trade show ILA Berlin at Messe Berlin (2019-2023). Before that, she worked at the PDA - Parenteral Drug Association (2011-2019) in different positions, her last as Marketing Lead for Europe.

Creixell holds a master’s degree in History of Art by the Universitat de Lleida (Spain) and a MBA from the Dresden International University (Germany).

Richard joined 3i in 2007 and is co-Head of 3i’s North American Private Equity team and Global Head of Healthcare. He focuses on Healthcare and Industrials and has been involved in 3i’s investments in ten23 health, SaniSure, Cirtec Medica, Quintiles, Q Holding, Dynatect Manufacturing and Mold-Masters. He currently sits on the Boards of ten23 health, SaniSure, Q Holding, Dynatect Manufacturing and Cirtec Medical, and previously sat on the Boards of Quintiles and Mold-Masters. Prior to joining 3i, Richard was a Principal at Halyard Capital, where he invested in companies in the media, business services and communications sectors. Prior to joining Halyard, Richard was an Associate at Entrade, where he invested in technology and internet infrastructure businesses. Richard began his career at Security Capital's Preferred Growth Private Equity fund. He is actively involved in several non-profit organisations and is the Chairman of the New York Private Equity Network. Richard received a BA in Economics from Williams College.

Nikhil joined 3i in 2016 in the New York office and is a member of 3i’s Healthcare sector coverage team. He participates in all elements of the investment process, including industry segment analysis, identification and screening of new opportunities, due diligence, transaction structuring, financing and execution. He currently sits on the Board of ten23 health, SaniSure, Q Holding and Cirtec Medical.

Prior to joining 3i, Nikhil was a Vice President at Chicago Pacific Founders, where he was an integral member of a debut middle market private equity fund and participated in the acquisition of three portfolio companies. Prior to joining CPF, Nikhil was a Senior Associate at Water Street Healthcare Partners, a mid-market private equity firm with approximately $2 billion of capital under management. While at Water Street, he helped execute a number of platform investments and successful portfolio company exits.

Nikhil was previously an Analyst in the Global Healthcare Investment Banking division of UBS Investment Bank. Nikhil graduated from New York University’s Leonard Stern School of Business with Honours.

Dr. Redeker is a senior executive with a proven track record in the pharmaceutical and diagnostics industry. She previously spent over 15 years in various leadership roles at Roche, including Global Head of Non-Clinical Safety & Technical Sciences, Head Technical Development Biologics and spokesperson of the Executive Board, Roche Diagnostics GmbH. She has also served on the Boards of the Germanic Cancer Research Center and EIT Health. She is currently a  Board member of  ABB AG, Germany, Smart4Diagnostics and the Academic Advisory Council of the University of Heidelberg. 

Ursula studied Chemistry and obtained her Ph.D. at the University of Bonn (Germany) and a Master’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara (USA). 

Aya Chebbi is United Nations Global Champion on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, and Youth Liaison to the Office of Special Representative and Under Secretary General. She rose to prominence as a voice for democracy during Tunisia’s 2010-2011 Revolution, which toppled a 23-year dictatorship. She then served as the first ever African Union Special Envoy on Youth and the youngest diplomat at the Chairperson’s Cabinet (2018 – 2021) where she impacted over one million young people. She served on the World Refugee Council, Robert Bosch Stiftung Foundation, WHO Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, Council of the Africa Public Health Foundation among others, which produced trailblazing reports in the humanitarian, health, gender and development fields. She received the Bill and Melinda Gates Campaign Award and was named in Forbes Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women.

Dr. Jonas Friedrich is a management scholar and organizational sociologist specializing in participatory leadership and democratic organizing for sustainability transitions. As a Great Minds Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of St. Gallen, he researches the digitalization of participatory governance in the sharing economy, currently focusing on a large-scale democratic enterprise with over 75,000 members.

Jonas holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Witten/Herdecke, an MSc in Sociology from Oxford University, and a PhD in Democratic Organizing for Sustainability from the University of St. Gallen. His work has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, and he has presented at major international conferences.

With a background in organizational consultancy and extensive ethnographic fieldwork, Jonas offers forward-looking guidance to organizations navigating the complexities of innovation, equity, and sustainability. He serves on the advisory boards of ten23 health—the first B Corp-certified sterile drug product CDMO—supporting its integrative, planet-conscious, and patient-centered strategy, and oikos St. Gallen, a leading student-driven organization for sustainability in economics and management.

Susan Hershenson is a biopharmaceutical consultant with over 35 years of experience in CMC (chemistry, manufacturing, and controls) for therapeutic drug development. As President of S Hershenson Consulting LLC, she provides strategic and technical guidance to clients in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and drug delivery fields. She previously served as Deputy Director of CMC at the Gates Foundation (2013-2024), where she provided technical expertise and strategic direction for global health therapeutics projects. Susan has held key leadership positions in the biopharmaceutical industry including Vice President of Pharmaceutical and Device Development at Genentech and Vice President of Pharmaceutics at Amgen. During her tenure, she built industry-leading pharmaceutical development capabilities and contributed to the development and commercialization of numerous therapeutic products that have advanced patient care. She holds a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Yale University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Stroud. Susan is actively involved in the scientific community and currently serves on several advisory boards.

Donald Sandmann is a communication and policy expert with a background in anthropology and economics, and international academic experience in Germany, Brazil, and the UK. His formative years in Cambodia and India deepened his interest in human interactions within diverse sociopolitical contexts and their impact on ecosystems. Donald began his professional career in 2017 at the German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on good governance in the private sector. He later joined a political communication consultancy in Berlin, where he managed projects for political campaigns, international development cooperation, and various associations and advocacy groups. For the past four years, he has led the advocacy efforts of the “Gesunde Erde – Gesunde Menschen (“Healthy Planet – Healthy People Foundation”) initiated by Dr. Eckart von Hirschhausen, focusing on cross-sectoral and holistic policies within the One Health framework. Passionate about promoting health and well-being within planetary boundaries, he works to connect experts from civil society, academia, politics, and the private sector.