Forbion appoints Silva Deželan, PhD as Head of Impact and ESG

Naarden, The Netherlands and Munich, Germany – 4 May 2023 – Forbion, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm, announces the appointment of Silva Deželan PhD, as Forbion’s first Head of Impact & ESG. Silva has over 15 years’ experience in ESG integration, sustainability and impact investing, including private equity, most recently as ESG Director at Stafford Capital Partners and before that as Director, Sustainability, Private Equity at Robeco. Silva contributes her knowledge of ESG best-practice to a number of professional organizations, including as vice-chair of Invest Europe’s ESG Committee, and as a member of the Responsible Investment Committee of the Dutch Association for Private Equity and Venture Capital (NVP).

Sander Slootweg, Managing Partner and co-founder of Forbion, said: “Forbion’s purpose is to impact the future of medicine for the benefit of patients. As a highly respected ESG leader in our sector, Silva brings a wealth of experience to Forbion as we further refine our approach to impact and ESG. Silva’s appointment underscores our commitment to embedding sustainability, impact and ESG throughout our investment strategy and process, and more importantly, to supporting our portfolio companies in achieving the highest potential patient impact in their respective disease areas.”

Forbion has been enforcing ESG principles for all its investments since 2012, using a framework that includes, among other criteria, ESG risk assessment, monitoring and reporting. Since 2017, the company has been assessing the impact of its investments on patients and society using a distinct scoring mechanism, which takes into account factors such as the severity of the disease being addressed, the level of unmet medical need and size of the addressable patient population, the curative potential, significance of the innovation, and cost-saving potential.