Technical Director appointed

Jim Warwick joins Abcam as Technical Director.

Jim holds a degree in Computer Science from Christ’s College, Cambridge University. From 1986 to 2003 he worked for Analysys Ltd, a Cambridge based telecoms consultancy, heading up their IT, software and web development initiatives. During this period he also held a number of external non-exec directorships including Workbench Software Ltd, a start-up with a targeted software package for time recording systems and VBN Ltd, a web-based hosting company specialising in business cluster and innovation network solutions. Jim joined Abcam in 2001 as Technical Director, initially part time then full time from 2003. He has overseen the expansion of Abcam’s bespoke web-based systems.

UK Online for Business Award, highly commended

The power and effectiveness of Abcam’s internet trading was again recognised, this time by the DTI’s UK Online for Business E-Commerce Awards 2001. The company’s “highly commended” position in the east region category led the judging panel to praise Abcam’s “exemplary use of electronic commerce”.

CEN Millennium Business Excellence Awards finalist

At the first attempt and despite its relative youth, Abcam was shortlisted as a finalist in the “Small Business of the Year” category at Cambridge Evening News’ Business Excellence Awards.

10th employee hired

Finance Director appointed

Eddie Powell joins Abcam as Finance Director.

Eddie gained a PhD in chemistry at Cambridge and then qualified in 1976 as a chartered accountant with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell (now KPMG) in London. He then worked for two years as a financial controller in Frankfurt, Germany. After returning to the UK he joined Marconi Instruments as financial controller, later Finance Director. Part of GEC, this was a £100 million sales high tech group with subsidiaries in six countries. In 1990 he moved to Colt, a £90 million turnover privately owned international light engineering group. He joined Abcam in March 2000 and continues to have the key role in the financial management of the company in order to allow it to achieve its strategic aims.

Eddie’s reasons for joining Abcam were that it was “An exciting opportunity to be in at the ground floor of a high-tech start-up company.”

New premises on the Cambridge Science Park

Less than two years after its formation, there was sufficient confidence within the company to move from the University of Cambridge’s Bioincubator in the city centre to new, purpose-designed offices and laboratories on the Cambridge Science Park. The 2,200 sq ft facility provided a four-fold increase in laboratory space which was immediately put to good use purifying and characterising Abcam’s growing range of antibodies.

First (of many) awards

Eighteen months after its formation, Abcam won the first of many prestigious business awards. Given by Business Link for Cambridgeshire, the Profit by Design award was in recognition of the pioneering use of a website as a sales tool. At a time when only a handful of large, consumer-based “e-tailers” had recognised the future significance of e-selling, Abcam actively chose to use the internet to build a prosperous business selling antibodies to the research community worldwide. Company founder Dr Jonathan Milner commented at the time: “I want Abcam to be to antibodies what Amazon is to books”.