Our Team

Rakesh has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry. He was appointed Contura’s Chief Executive Officer in 2021, following 12 years in previous positions of Chief Operating Officer, General Manager Northern Europe and Vice President of Marketing. Prior to his time at Contura, Rakesh spent five years at Takeda as EU Head of Specialty Products and held various roles in Corporate Development. This followed Rakesh’s earlier years at Pfizer and Pharmacia & Upjohn (1996 – 2003).

Ieva has worked for Contura since its inception and oversees day to day management, as well as product development and manufacturing expansion. For more than a decade Ieva worked on creating our injectables. She was the driving force behind the development of several novel products in different therapeutic areas from ideation through to the final product. She successfully led development of Bulkamid and brough it to PMA approval by the US FDA in 2020.

Morten Vestergaard has been with Contura for over 15 years. He was appointed VP of Strategic Projects in 2023, prior to that he held a position for ten years as head of manufacturing at Contura and 5 years within Research & Development.

Richard was appointed Contura’s Chief Financial Officer in 2022. Prior to this, he worked with the Board on the sale of Bulkamid to Axonics Modulation Technologies Inc. Richard has extensive experience in CFO / CEO roles with Private Equity and HNWI-backed businesses across a range of industries including Property Development, Recruitment, Payroll/Employee Benefits, and Fintech. Previously, Richard was Chief Technology Officer for SOCX, a joint venture between Deutsche Bank and Wall Street Systems, Global Chief Operating Officer for Credit Lyonnais Rouse, and Vice President (Pricing, Risk, and Control Systems) with Salmon Brothers International Limited. Richard qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen in 1989, working in the Financial Services group, specialising in financial and risk systems consultancy.

Lotte brings nearly 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry. In February 2023, she joined Contura as the Chief Operating Officer. Before joining Contura, Lotte spent four years leading the Manufacturing division at Ferrosan MD. Prior to that, she held various senior-level positions in Medical Device Development and Manufacturing of Drugs and Medical Devices at Novo Nordisk A/S, ALK A/S, and Coloplast A/S for a span of 16 years. Her extensive background in the industry positions her well to contribute to Contura's success.

Ian, our Chairman, has over 30 years of pharmaceutical industry experience, including founding Juno Pharmaceuticals Inc. He joined Contura in 2016 as Non-Executive Chairman. Ian was previously Chief Executive of Cobalt Pharmaceuticals (2000 – 2010) and was instrumental in the development of Arrow International business units. Ian’s other past roles include Executive VP of Genpharm Inc. and senior management roles at Amerpharm/Merck Generics, a division of Merck KGaA. Ian also worked in the office of the president of Par Pharmaceuticals (US).

Rakesh has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry. He was appointed Contura’s Chief Executive Officer in 2021, following 12 years in previous positions of Chief Operating Officer, General Manager Northern Europe and Vice President of Marketing. Prior to his time at Contura, Rakesh spent five years at Takeda as EU Head of Specialty Products and held various roles in Corporate Development. This followed Rakesh’s earlier years at Pfizer and Pharmacia & Upjohn (1996 – 2003).

Patrick has more than 25 years of experience in the life science sector. He was Contura’s Chief Executive from 2010 to 2021, and before that he was the company’s Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Contura Patrick was Chief Financial Officer at Inpharmatica Limited (2001 – 2007), a chemogenomics company, and Phairson Medical Limited (1996 – 2001), a protein therapeutics discovery company. Patrick is a Chartered Accountant by training and prior to his career in the life science sector he worked for 10 years in the financial markets practice of Arthur Andersen in London.

Graham brings more than 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience to the company. He joined Contura in 2016 as a Non-Executive Director. Graham is Chief Executive of Aspire Pharma Limited, which he established in 2009. Aspire specialises in the licensing and marketing of both branded and generic medicines. Prior to establishing Aspire, Graham held sales and marketing roles with GSK and Dominion Pharma, and was Managing Director of Pliva Pharma UK.

Craig has over 15 years of pharmaceutical industry experience. Prior to co-founding Juno in 2011, Craig worked for Cobalt Pharmaceuticals in its business development group. He was responsible for negotiating product license and supply agreements for Cobalt’s OTC and generic divisions, and was Cobalt’s primary lead on all global M&A transactions.