About us

Dr. Jonathan Milner, Founder of Abcam plc, is an experienced entrepreneur and investor and is passionate about supporting UK life science companies. He has provided considerable investment and support to over 80 companies and has assisted three technology companies to IPO on the London AIM Stock exchange.

Jonathan founded the EET in 2010, working with the EET Partner Network to achieve significant impact in focus areas across education, conservation and human health. Amongst the many successes, the EET was the founding funder for Sir David Attenborough’s documentary ‘A Life on our Planet’ which had the widest ever cinema release for a UK documentary and won three Emmy Awards.

Jonathan has worked with the Natural History Museum London since 2011, both as a trustee and Ambassador, and was the inspiration behind the Urban Nature Project which will open the Museum’s transformed gardens to the public in 2024.

Jonathan also co-founded the Milner Therapeutics Institute at the University of Cambridge with Professor Tony Kouzarides in 2015 and the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath with Professor Laurence Hurst in 2018.

Michael is an experienced fund manager who designs appropriate investment strategies for private individuals, charities and trusts. This will incorporate investment across all investment disciplines, coupled with prudent tax structuring for UK residents, domiciled and non-domiciled individuals.

Michael is a seasoned Trustee having been on the Board of the Evolution Education Trust since 2010. He was also a Trustee and Board member of the Cambridge Arts Theatre for six years.

Catalina joined in 2021 to develop the Trust’s pipeline, strengthen the community of partner organisations and shape the Trust's public profile.

Her experience in designing impactful programmes includes four years at the University of Bath where she designed and delivered enterprise education activities for students as part of the university's curriculum transformation and stewardship packages for major donors as part of the university's development team.

Catalina's experience on the start-up scene includes managing acceleration programmes for early-stage tech start-ups in London and Romania. As a former entrepreneur herself, Catalina built Romania's first crowdfunding platform for community impact, championing tech for good and achieving well over industry-average donor retention rate through a strong brand and community.

Chris is the former CEO of the Evolution Education Trust and led development of the organisation from 2017 until December 2023. He continues as an Advisor to the leadership team.

Chris has a particular interest in the support of entrepreneurial thinking and development of early-stage funding models within the charity sector.

Chris has been engaged in public science education since 2010 and was the founding CEO of the Cambridge Science Centre (est. 2013) which provides high-quality STEM education interventions throughout East Anglia. Chris obtained a PhD in Electronic Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley and an Executive MBA from London Business School.