Vita 34 AG

Jakub Baran graduated in 1995 from the Wrocław University of Technology as a Master of Science and Engineer in Electronics, majoring in Telecommunications – Digital Signal Processing. He started his professional career at Hewlett-Packard as Staff Engineer and then later as VAB Developer, PC Sales Representative, Senior Account Manager. He joined IBM in 2003 as Sales Director for Telecommunication Market. While working in the IT industry, Jakub has been very successful in sales always meeting or exceeding the number of goals. In 2005 he decided to leave IBM to join PBKM board – the company established in 2002 where he was one of five founders. At PBKM he was initially responsible for sales, operations, finance and business development as well. In 2006 Jakub Baran initiated international expansion of PBKM. He was responsible personally for ~20 successful M&A-nature transactions in: Hungary, Spain, Romania, Poland, Turkey, Latvia, Switzerland, Czech Rep., Slovakia, Portugal and the UK. In the meantime in 2009 he was appointed as CEO of PBKM. He led successful IPO of PBKM at WSE in 2015. Under his management PBKM (operating under umbrella of FamiCord Group) reached position no 1 in Europe with ca 40% market share and no 4 in the world in family stem cell banking sector. During his career at PBKM Jakub gather a lot of expertise in various areas like building international capital group, creation and implementation of strategy, preparation and execution of company budgets, deep experience in mergers and acquisitions, practical knowledge of law in the area of commercial and investment agreements, practical knowledge of financial reporting and experience in managing international teams/companies of 500+ people. Jakub was an initiator and spiritus movens of the merger between PBKM and Vita34. Jakub finished couple of dozens of various professional trainings across Europe (including programs organized by INSEAD and IESE). He is also co-author of a dozen of articles on stem cells applications and technology. Privately a fan of SF literature, strategic games and economy. He stays in informal partnership and has one child.

 

Dirk Plaga, born in 1965, joined the Management Board of Vita 34 AG on August 1, 2022. He studied economics at the Ruhr University in Bochum and graduated with a degree in economics. Mr. Plaga started his professional career at Deutsche Erdölversorgungsgesellschaft (DEMINEX) in Essen, where he gained first experience with SAP implementations and management processes in international companies. He then moved to F. Hoffmann La Roche in Basel (Switzerland). In the Corporate Audit department, Mr. Plaga carried out audit projects on behalf of the Group Executive Board in subsidiaries worldwide and gained initial insights into the pharmaceutical/healthcare sector. His path then led him to Bayer AG in Leverkusen, where he spent 4 years as Chief Financial Officer of a group of subsidiaries in Boston (USA). After his return, he led a global project for Bayer Healthcare AG to reduce their receivables portfolio. Mr. Plaga’s next career step led him to Sonic Healthcare Germany, based in Berlin, as Chief Financial Officer. Sonic Healthcare is a medical laboratory company listed in Sydney, Australia. Prior to joining Vita 34 in Leipzig, Mr. Plaga served as Executive Vice President Global Finance for Evotec SE, a research-based biotech company in Hamburg, Germany. As an internationally experienced executive, Mr. Plaga brings more than 20 years of healthcare experience and extensive know-how from global finance organizations. He is particularly familiar with mergers & acquisitions, compliance, ERP implementations, organizational development, transformation and change management, financings and last but not least US IPOs.

In 1997, Tomasz Baran completed medical education with MD title from Medical University in Lublin, Poland. Since then he has been working on several positions in pharma industry in Poland. His duties covered sales, marketing, business development and pharmacovigilance. In 2008, Tomasz completed Executive MBA programme by Quebec University in Montreal. During 13 years of work for domestic and international companies (Pliva, AstraZeneca, Stiefel and GSK) he has gained an expertise in several therapeutic areas – including oncology, cardiology, dermatology and aesthetic medicine. In 2010, he joined Polski Bank Komórek Macierzystych S.A. (PBKM) in a role of Sales &Marketing Director for domestic market. Then the role expanded to cover also international markets, where PBKM operates under FamiCord brand. In 2012, Tomasz joined the Management Board, and since 2020 he serves as Executive Vice-president. In recent years, he attended dedicated international executive training programmes done by IESE. He regularly attends and contributes as speaker on stem cell conferences in Europe and in the US. Additionally to developing of family cord blood bank activity Tomasz contributed to strategic projects of FamiCord group, such us stem cell based Advanced Therapy Product (ATMP) manufacturing and novel CAR-T technology in licensing (as CEO of daughter company – FamiCordTx).