Opyl has a new experienced chairman to lead the company into its next stage of growth on the back of successful FY22 results and its flagship platform ready for international launch.

Medtech Opyl (ASX:OPL) has announced the appointment of a new chairman with a wealth of experience leading and supporting high-growth SaaS-based tech companies reach scale and achieve sustainability in global markets.

Mark Ziirsen who joined Opyl’s board in 2021 as a non-executive director will take up the chairman role. Dr Julian Chick will step back into a non-executive director position.

Ziirsen is an experienced non-executive director and CFO and served as chairman of Respiri (ASX:RSH), an eHealth SaaS company supporting respiratory health management.

He was also a non-executive director and chair of the audit and risk committee of Orcoda (ASX:ODA), a SaaS-based technology company.

Beginning his career with EY in business advisory, tax and management consulting, his executive career includes senior finance leadership roles with major ASX listed companies including Cochlear (ASX:COH), Aristocrat Leisure (ASX:ALL), Coca-Cola Amatil Limited, and Goodman Fielder Limited.

More recently, much of Mark’s work has involved guiding high growth and early-stage technology companies.

Mark’s strong finance and operations credentials are complemented by extensive corporate finance, governance, risk management, strategy, M&A and investor relations expertise.

Opyl is chasing a $4.8bn global clinical trial market with revenue targets of $80-$100m. The company’s flagship platform Opin leverages social media channels to identify and attract participants into clinical trials across the globe.

“I often see organisations approaching high-growth phases appropriately focussed on the technology or the sales team, but often forgetting to also evaluate if the board is equipped to support scale,” said Ziirsen.

Itching to scale on back of solid FY22 results

Opyl has delivered impressive FY22 results, with double-digit growth in annual revenue to $900k, underpinned by Opin.

The platform has gained significant traction, with five global biopharma and contract research organisations (CRO) signing on with a total revenue of $415k.

Meanwhile, Opyl’s Trial Key tool is positioned to augment and significantly improve on the current laborious, expensive, time consuming and often biased human-driven trial and study design process.

Opyl CEO Michelle Gallaher said with validation of Opin and double-digit revenue growth over the past year the company was ambitious for scale.

“We could not be more fortunate to have Julian and Mark on our board, providing both startup and scale expertise,” she said.

“With Opin delivering clinical trial recruitment outcomes far beyond industry standards and global biopharma and CRO’s on board, we are perfectly set up to lean into scale, tapping into Mark’s deep expertise in this area.”

Former chairman Chick has thrown his support behind his successor and said he is well qualified to lead the company in its next stage of growth.

“Mark is perfectly placed to support Opyl and work directly with Michelle and the team to accelerate into this growth phase,” said Chick.

“The company needs an intensity of support and particular scale guidance that Mark can provide and given a number of competing priorities on my plate at this time, it is the right time to transition to the role of chair.”

This article was developed in collaboration with Opyl, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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