About Us

Dr. Derek Latil de Ros

CEO - CEO and main founder of Algemy

Derek is passioned about industrial biotechnology as a tool to make our lives better, healthier and more sustainable. He has close to 15 years of experience in biotech innovation, specifically in the field of microalgae. He has worked at all stages of product development from idea and concept generation to laboratory research, scale-up, bioactivity analysis, marketing and product launch. He is also experienced in collaborative research project management and private and public fundraising. Derek holds a PhD in microalgae biotechnology, an Executive Masters degree in innovation and a Professional Science Masters in Bioprocessing and Bioenergy.

Dr. Mariana Jiménez Veuthey

Senior Process Specialist

Dr. Mariana Jiménez Veuthey is a senior process specialist at Algemy. She is passionate about microalgae. With over 10 years of experience in the world of microalgae biotechnology, she is an expert in cultivation, both at laboratory and industrial scales, as well as in obtaining extracts with bioactive compounds. Additionally, Mariana has extensive experience in the development of new food products. She holds a degree in Food Engineering and a PhD in Engineering.

Dr. Maria Roca-Ayats

Senior Product Scientist

Dr. Maria Roca-Ayats is Senior Product Scientist at Algemy. She has over 12 years of experience in chemistry research applied to sustainability and green energy, focussing on the synthesis and characterization of different products and materials. She has also been working as head of
an instrumental analysis laboratory for three years, where she developed different extraction and analysis methods for the characterization of a large variety of environmental and food samples. During her research career Maria worked both in public and private research and transfer projects. She holds a Bachelor’s degree and a PhD in Chemistry.

Cristina Ylla

Communication Manager

Xavier Vergés

Business Development Manager

Toni Solà Pérez

Nutrition and Food Formulation Advisor

Nutritionist. PhD candidate in Experimental Sciences and Technology. Executive Master in Business Administration (EMBA). Official Master in Nutrition and Health, Master in Nutrition and Food Quality and Master in Integrative Physiology from the University of Barcelona (UB). Associate university professor and researcher.

Founder of RealMet Institute 2021 and PROTEIN GASTRONOMY, S.L. dedicated to the manufacturing and marketing of organic dietary products.

Throughout his professional career he has been strongly linked to the world of sports, where among other jobs, he has been responsible for the design of diets aimed at consumers with a high performance profile, such as soccer players and other athletes whose diet require a meticulous and demanding control of nutrient intake.

Dr. Pat O'Sullivan

IP advisor

Dr. Pat O'Sullivan has a 20+ year of experience in turning R&D funds into business results in organizations such as QSS, Quark, Lotus, as well as CTO at IBM, where he supported numerous SMEs to accelerate their business roadmaps in IBM's SME/GEP acceleration program.

He is ranked on Wikipedia's list of prolific inventors with 360 granted patents. Currently, Pat supports a broad ecosystem of EU in the protection and commercialization of patents in different EU-funded projects. Specifically, he will support Algemy with IP and Patent protection to support the long-term differentiation of the company's solutions in the biotechnology field.

Yash Chadha

Financial advisor

Mr. Yash Chadha is a highly experienced is public accountant and entrepreneurial expert with a proven track record of achievement for over 25 years in the financial management of technology, distribution, recycling, security and service companies. He has specialized experience in strategic direction, driving change, and delivering significantly higher business performance.

He has held a director position in private and public companies in many European countries.

Jenny Rainbird

Management Advisor

Jenny Rainbird has over 21 years of experience as a lead manager of ambitious multidisciplinary international research projects, with a deep understanding of the complexities of managing diverse stakeholders to achieve quality results. Jenny leads winning project teams across geographies to deliver complex, high-value projects, consistently achieving business results, on budget and on time.

She is an expert in conflict management, barrier removal and problem solving, turning around failing projects to ensure success for executive stakeholders. Jenny has an MBA and is PRINCE2 certified.

Patrick Durkin

Business Strategy Advisor

Mr. Patrick Durkin has led a variety of business ventures over a 35-year career in enterprise technology with business leadership positions at global technology providers such as Teradata, Informix and SAS Institute.

He has helped many early stage companies grow from the initial idea to a global scale. While, he was CEO of iQuate, led the company from start-up to become a recognized world leader in IT cost optimization, raising €2.1 million in venture capital funding and expanding business growth in Europe and the United States. In recent years, Patrick has supported various EU research teams to assess the commercial applicability of his research by guiding practical market validation for their technology solutions.

Ignasi Ballús

Sustainability Advisor

Ignasi is our expert in Life Cycle Assessment (over 12 years of experience). He is helping us objectively measure our impact to ensure we propose truly sustainable solutions.

Maria Gaya

Biotechnology Intern

Maria is about to finish her degree in Biotechnology and she is exploring with us the production of active ingredients from microalgae and their application in food.