LONDON: Oxford BioDynamics Plc (AIM: OBD) today announced the appointment of Richard Compton as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with immediate effect. It is anticipated that Richard will be appointed to the Group’s Board in due course, subject to the completion of normal regulatory due diligence by the Company’s Nomad.
Iain Ross, who has served as Executive Chairman since January 2025 will remain as Non-Executive Chairman.
Richard Compton is a public company life sciences executive with more than 25 years of operational, commercial and P&L leadership across genomics, diagnostics, scientific software and healthcare technology. He has held senior leadership roles at Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Illumina and the BIOVIA business unit of Dassault Systèmes, and has a track record of scaling complex technology businesses from early commercialisation to global adoption.
Richard was Senior Vice President, Sales and Commercial Operations at Oxford Nanopore Technologies from mid-2016 to late 2025 and was a member of the executive leadership team during the company’s transformation from early commercialisation to a publicly listed global genomics company. During his tenure, Oxford Nanopore grew annual revenues from approximately £4 million to more than £200 million and completed its London Stock Exchange IPO.
At Oxford Nanopore, Richard led global commercial strategy across research, clinical, applied and national sequencing markets. He was responsible for organisational scale-up, regional execution, customer support, service capability, commercial operations, corporate development and business development. He worked closely with the CEO, Board and executive team on investment priorities, market focus, pricing, partnership strategy and the transition from technology adoption to sustained revenue growth.
Before joining Oxford Nanopore, Richard was Vice President and General Manager EMEA at Illumina, where he led the EMEA business across more than 40 countries, with full P&L responsibility for a commercial operation that grew from less than $280 million in 2012 to more than $600 million by 2015. He led the region through a period of rapid adoption of next-generation sequencing across research, clinical, translational and national genomics markets.
Previously, Richard was Vice President and General Manager EMEA at Accelrys, where he led the regional business across commercial execution, operations, product input and scientific software platforms for life sciences, chemistry, modelling, informatics and laboratory data management. Accelrys was subsequently acquired by Dassault Systèmes and became the foundation of the BIOVIA life sciences software business.
Iain Ross, Chairman of Oxford BioDynamics said: “On behalf of the Board and the entire OBD team, I am delighted to welcome Richard as Chief Executive Officer.
Since joining OBD as Executive Chairman in January 2025, my focus has been on stabilising and refocusing the business, strengthening the commercial foundations and preparing the Company for its next stage of development. The Board believes OBD now requires a CEO with deep experience in scaling commercial genomics and diagnostics organisations internationally.
Richard brings precisely that experience. He has helped build and scale major life sciences technology businesses at Oxford Nanopore, Illumina and Accelrys, combining commercial execution, operational leadership, strategic partnership experience and public company understanding. His appointment reflects our confidence that OBD has the scientific and clinical foundation to become a leading international diagnostics company built on its proprietary 3D genomics platform, commercially available precision clinical tests and strategic industry partnerships.
On a personal note, I would like to thank the management team and staff at OBD for their hard work, resilience and commitment over the past eighteen months. I look forward to working closely with Richard as we build the next chapter of the Company.”
Richard Compton, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford BioDynamics, said: “I am delighted to join Oxford BioDynamics at an important point in its development.
OBD has built a distinctive scientific and clinical foundation, with commercially available products, a proprietary 3D genomics technology platform and a growing body of clinical and translational evidence. The opportunity now is to turn that foundation into a more focused, scalable and commercially disciplined business.
My immediate focus will be on execution. We will prioritise clinical utility, customer adoption, strategic partnerships and disciplined allocation of resources towards the opportunities with the greatest potential to create value for patients, customers and shareholders.
I look forward to working with Iain and the rest of the Board and wider OBD team and our customers, partners and investors as we shape the next phase of the Company’s development.”
