Our team

Our team consists of over 130 employees who all have one thing in common: they have enthusiastically dedicated themselves to the subject of innovation. Here we introduce our management team on behalf of our entire staff.

Management

Portrait_Marc-Struhalla

Dr. Marc Struhalla

CEO and Founder

Marc is co-founder, shareholder and managing director of c-LEcta. He earned a Ph.D. at the University of Hamburg following an undergraduate study in biochemistry at the University of Leipzig. On completion of his Ph.D., he returned to the University of Leipzig before founding c-LEcta. Marc has more than 15 years of experience in product development and commercialization in the industrial biotech field and managed the closure of numerous strategic alliances with industry partners.

Portrait_Thomas-Pfaadt

Thomas Pfaadt

CFO

Thomas Pfaadt has worked at c-LEcta since 2018 as CFO and managing director. He previously held management positions at a private equity-backed operator of rehabilitation clinics in Berlin and a family-owned integrated healthcare group. Prior to that, he gained experience as an investment banker and consultant with a strong focus on the healthcare sector. Thomas studied business administration at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main and at the University of Southampton in the UK.

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Carsten Fietz

Senior Vice President Finance & Administration

Carsten Fietz joined c-LEcta in 2004. He studied business administration at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and has experience as a consultant in the life sciences industry as well as in the founding of biotechnology companies. Carsten is responsible for the areas of finance and administration and supports the development and implementation of product marketing strategies.

Senior management

Wim-Averhals

Wim Averhals

Senior Vice President Operations

In March 2023, Belgian Wim Averhals joined c-LEcta. In this position he is responsible for Pro­duction, Quality and Occupational Safety at c-LEcta. Wim studied in Ghent holding degrees in Biochemistry and Environmental Sciences. He then held various positions in the Kerry Group for over 20 years. Among others as manager of a production plant in Bornem, Belgium and Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands. Most recently, as a Trans­for­ma­tion Agent, he led a global program to standardize production facilities in the areas of human resources, management and operations, with the goal of achieving and sustaining operational excellence there. Wim successfully implemented the program at five Kerry sites in Europe. At c-LEcta, he will focus on safety, quality, service, cost effi­cien­cy and sustainability to ensure consistently strong performance in manufacturing and third-party manufacturing.

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Dr. Mathias Bell, MBA

Vice President Legal, IP, Licensing

Mathias holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry (Charité, Berlin & Justus Liebig University, Giessen) and a Master of Business Administration (MBA; ESCP Europe). He has spent more than 15 years in the biotech industry and in the area of intellectual property asset management and licensing for a variety of companies. As head of legal affairs and IP, Mathias lends his professional experience to c-LEcta over the entire spectrum of in- and out-licensing of technologies, structuring and negotiating business terms and contractual terms for licensing and cooperation agreements, and dealing with intellectual property issues.

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Dr. Andreas Buthe

Vice President Business Development

Andreas is head of Business Development at c-LEcta and obtained his academic education at the University of Heidelberg and the RWTH Aachen University in Germany. He graduated in 2006 with a PhD degree in biotechnology and biochemical engineering. In 2006 he joined the Group Research of Ciba Inc. in Basel Switzerland followed by an appointment with the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering at the University of Minnesota. His research was dedicated to the implementation of immobilized enzymes to large-scale processes and the development of biofunctional materials. Driven by the dynamic prospects of industrial biotechnology he joined c-LEcta in 2010.

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Dr. Arnd Knoll

Vice President Production

Arnd joined the company in 2012 as head of Production. He is responsible for c-LEcta’s internal production facility as well as the manufacturing of c-LEcta’s products at external sites of contract manufacturing organizations. After graduating in process engineering majoring in biochemical engineering at the University of Technology Dresden, he obtained his PhD in biochemical engineering at the Chair of Biochemical Engineering of the University of Aachen (RWTH). Before joining c-LEcta Arnd worked as Process Engineer in the Department of Biotechnology Plants of Linde Engineering.

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Dr. Paula Pescador

Vice President Regulatory Affairs

Paula studied biology at the University of Oviedo followed by earning a Ph.D. at University Rovira i Virgili (Spain). After postdoctoral work at CIC BiomaGUNE (2007-2009) and at the University of Leipzig (2009-2011), she joined c-LEcta as a business development manager. Since 2017, Paula is responsible as head of regulatory affairs for the registration and approval processes for c-LEcta’s product portfolio.She serves as representative for c-LEcta at the European Enzyme Industry Association (AMFEP). 

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Dr. Andreas Vogel

Vice President R&D Enzyme Development 

Andreas has more than 15 years of experience in the field of biocatalysis and enzyme engineering. He is head of R&D Enzyme Development at c-LEcta. He originally trained in chemistry (University of Münster, Germany). After obtaining his Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry/Chemistry from the University of Münster he started postdoctoral work at the EMBL outstation in Hamburg in 2000, where he focused on structure-function relationships of enzymes. In 2003 he started his second postdoctoral research at the Max-Planck-Institute for Coal Research with Prof. M. T. Reetz, where he was involved in the development of methods for enzyme optimization (CASTing, B-Fit) and biocatalysis. In 2006 he joined c-LEcta, first as a Scientist and since 2007 as head of Biocatalysis & Enzyme Engineering. Andreas is author of more than 40 scientific publications and patents and co-editor of the book “Industrial Enzyme Applications” which was published by Wiley-VCH.