Isabel Afonso
Chief Executive Officer
Isabel became CEO of Arcera Life Sciences in October 2023. She has been named as one of Forbes Middle East’s Top Healthcare Leaders for 2026.
Isabel has strong experience in business turnarounds across private equity (PE)-owned companies, large pharmaceutical corporations, and startups. Prior to Arcera, she led Novartis International’s $20B In-Market Brands portfolio and Business Innovation from Basel. Earlier, she served as General Manager for Novartis Oncology in China, a major company market. Isabel’s leadership experience includes roles such as Chief Commercial Officer at Performance Health, where she led U.S. and international markets and digital transformation, and Head of Global Commercial Operations and Member of the Executive Committee at Sandoz, a $10B Novartis division. Over 18 years at Novartis, she held executive positions in IT, Sales and Marketing, and General Management, across Innovative Medicines, Generics & Biosimilars and Consumer Health.
Isabel earned a computer science engineering degree from Minho University in Portugal and completed INSEAD’s general management and IN-BOARD programs in Singapore and Paris. She also attended executive programs at IMD, Wharton, and Harvard Business Schools. Driven by lifelong learning, Isabel obtained Stanford’s Genetics and Genomics certification in 2021 and completed a Neuroscience for Business course at MIT in 2024.
Sunil Bhilotra
Chief Investment Officer
Sunil Bhilotra is Chief Investment Officer of Arcera. Prior to this role, Sunil was an Executive Director in the Healthcare and Life Sciences team at ADQ focused on building the Life Sciences vertical.
Before moving to ADQ, Sunil spent 10 years as a private equity executive at Investcorp and 10 years in M&A, leverage finance and sponsor coverage at Credit Suisse and Barclays Capital in Europe.
Sunil holds an MBA from London Business School and Bachelor of Commerce and Real Estate from McGill University. He is also a Certified Canadian Chartered Accountant.
Andrew Crossley
Chief Financial Officer
Andrew Crossley is the Chief Financial Officer at Arcera, bringing extensive experience in finance across the pharmaceutical, medical device, and FMCG sectors.
Prior to joining Arcera, Andrew served as CFO for Johnson & Johnson across the Russia, Africa, Middle East, and Turkey regions. With over two decades at Johnson & Johnson, he has a proven track record of driving business growth both organically and through strategic acquisitions while leading the unification of policies, processes, and information technology systems.
Andrew is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW). He holds a Master’s degree from the University of Leeds, UK, and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics. Additionally, Andrew is a certified Process Excellence Black Belt with a specialization in process re-engineering.
Adriaan Kooy
Chief GenMed Officier
Adriaan Kooy is the Chief GenMed Officier at Arcera. Prior to this role, Adriaan held a range of senior strategic and operational leadership roles at global, regional, and country level at Novartis and Alcon.
Adriaan brings over twenty years of leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry across the globe including Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. He has a proven track record of driving transformation, advancing digital innovation, and building diverse, high-performing teams. His experience spans multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, cardiology, neuroscience, immunology, and ophthalmology, where he has led successful product launches and shaped portfolio and market access strategies across diverse local healthcare systems.
Adriaan holds a Master of Science in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. He has also completed further studies in Political Sciences and Strategic Management, including executive education at Harvard Business School.
Muhanna Al Nuaimi
Chief People Officer
Muhanna Al Nuaimi is Chief People Officer of Arcera. Prior to joining in June 2025, he served as Group Chief People & Culture Officer at MAIR Group, based in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.
In his role as Chief Human Capital Officer at International Capital Trading until 2024, Muhanna led a comprehensive HR transformation agenda, integrating cutting-edge digital solutions to enhance employee experience and operational efficiency. During 2015 to 2023, Muhanna has held various senior HR leadership roles at TAQA, TAPCO, and Aldar Properties, managing large-scale talent frameworks and implementing progressive HR policies across complex, multinational organizations.
An Emirati citizen, Muhanna holds a bachelor’s degree in HR Management, with extensive executive education in leadership, digital HR, and corporate governance.
Amin Ben Lakhal
Chief Legal Officer
Amin Ben Lakhal is the Chief Legal Officer of Arcera since October 2024. Prior to this role, Amin was the Assistant General Counsel – International at AstraZeneca and has previously worked in various regional roles with AstraZeneca, Baxter and Hewlett-Packard.
Amin is a member to the New York and Tunisian bars and he holds two Master’s degrees from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and the Faculte des Sciences Juridiques Politiques et Sociales de Tunis.
Ingrid Eberle
Chief Compliance and Sustainability Officer
Ingrid Eberle is the Chief Compliance and Sustainability Officer at Arcera. Prior to this role, Ingrid was Head of Compliance and Sustainability at Acino.
Ingrid has spent the last 10 years in in-house legal and compliance roles at various life science companies in Switzerland. Prior to this, she worked at several international law firms in the U.S. and Switzerland, in the areas of M&A, corporate finance, corporate governance and litigation.
Ingrid is a U.S. attorney licensed in New York and California. She obtained her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ingrid more recently completed professional certificates in healthcare compliance and business sustainability management from Sciences Po and the University of Cambridge, respectively.
Moez Youssef
Chief Internal Audit Officer
Moez Youssef is Chief Audit Executive at Arcera, with nearly 20 years of international experience across compliance, internal audit, risk management, ethics, and finance.
Before joining Arcera, he held leadership positions at Novartis, most recently leading Ethics, Risk & Compliance for Oncology. He previously worked at Boston Scientific and PwC.
Moez holds master’s degrees from the University of Paris, France, and is a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA).
Jaap Kalkman
Chairman of the Board
Dr. Jaap Kalkman is Chief Investment Officer at ADQ. He is responsible for identifying compelling investment opportunities, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and restructuring efforts, across the Energy & Utilities, Sustainable Manufacturing, and Healthcare & Life Sciences clusters. He develops and implements unique investment strategies that foster the growth of thriving clusters with an expanding global presence, generating returns for ADQ and contributing to strengthening the Emirate’s economic resilience in alignment with government priorities.
He serves as a board member of Etihad Aviation Group. Before assuming his current role, Dr. Jaap held the position of Chief Transformation Officer at ADQ, overseeing new ventures, digital transformation and portfolio optimization.
With over 25 years of experience in management consulting and private equity, he has served as Managing Partner and Global Head of Energy and Utilities at Arthur D. Little. Additionally, he was Partner for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa at Roland Berger. His extensive professional journey includes roles as Director and Head of Infrastructure Investments in Bahrain and Singapore at Arcapita, as well as Managing Partner at McKinsey & Company in the Philippines and Bahrain.
Dr. Jaap holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, where he also attained degrees in general philosophy, physics and mathematics.
Abdullah Tahlak
Member of the Board
Abdullah Tahlak is an experienced investment manager overlooking ADQ’s Healthcare & Life Sciences cluster. He is a founding member of ADQ’s Life Sciences team where he co-developed asset allocation strategies, led key asset management activities, as well as led various business development activities, including sourcing investment opportunities, due diligence, closing processes and government-to-government partnerships across various geographies.
Prior to joining ADQ, Abdullah served as an investment professional within Mubadala Capital’s Private Equity team.
Abdullah holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a major in Finance from the American University of Sharjah and has completed executive education programs at the Yale School of Management.
Ahmed Al Shamsi
Member of the Board
Ahmed Al Shamsi is a Vice President at L’IMAD, where he drives performance and value creation across the portfolio as part of the Portfolio Operations function. He also serves on several boards and board committees across L’IMAD’s operating companies.
Ahmed brings over a decade of experience across healthcare investment, portfolio management and finance. Before his current role, he was responsible for ADQ’s healthcare portfolio, spanning healthcare provision and animal health. In this role, he focused on M&A, business development and greenfield projects and shaped the portfolio’s growth strategy. Earlier, Ahmed was part of Mubadala Capital’s Private Equity team, where he worked on deal execution and asset management with a focus on European markets. He has also worked in healthcare finance.
Ahmed earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a major in Accounting, from the American University of Sharjah.
Deepak Kulkarni
Member of the Board
As Senior Executive Director – Portfolio Management at ADQ, Deepak leads the Healthcare & Life Sciences cluster. In his role, he oversees the growth and transformation of ADQ’s portfolio companies across the healthcare value chain, aiming to contribute to positioning Abu Dhabi as a global hub in this field.
He brings extensive experience in private equity investing and portfolio management, with a distinguished record of driving growth within the healthcare and related sectors. His expertise spans investment strategy, operations, and value creation, and includes specialist knowledge in CDMOs, commercialisation platforms, and public-to-private transactions.
Prior to joining ADQ, Deepak was a Partner at a major Boston-based patient centric and thematically driven private equity firm, where he led major investments across the healthcare industry.
Deepak also currently serves on multiple boards within the healthcare and life sciences sectors.
He holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Jawad Shafique
Member of the Board
Jawad Shafique is a seasoned investment professional with more than 20 years of experience across investment management, mergers and acquisitions, turnarounds, and corporate restructuring. He currently serves as Executive Director, Investments at L’IMAD, where he is responsible for identifying and executing new investment opportunities and overseeing the firm’s existing portfolio across sectors.
Prior to joining L’IMAD, Jawad was Head of Financial Services Investments at ADQ, where he led and managed investments across the financial services sector. Before that, he was a Partner at KPMG, where he focused on the firm’s Deal Advisory practice. In this role, he advised sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, private equity firms, and corporate investors on a broad range of complex transactions across industries and geographies, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, and joint ventures.
His experience spans financial services, healthcare, consumer, and infrastructure, with expertise in capital allocation, corporate restructuring, investment strategy, and corporate governance.
Jawad currently serves on the boards of PureHealth Group, Wio Bank, Abu Dhabi Aviation Group, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and Odea Bank A.Ş. He is a CFA charter holder and a fellow member of ACCA, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University, UK.