In brief: Australian Stem Cell Centre, Biotech Capital, Circadian, Alexanders Securities

Prof Vicki Sara has been appointed as director of the Australian Stem Cell Centre and will replace inaugural chairman Robert Moses when he relinquishes the role he has held for three years at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on November 22. Sara is the chancellor of the University of Technology, Sydney, a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering and a former head of the Australian Research Council.

Biotech Capital's (ASX:BTC) founding chairman Bill Ireland will retire from the board at the company's AGM due to an increasing work load from his other business interests. Kathryn Greiner will replace him as non-executive chairman. Greiner is, or has been, Financial Planning Association of Australia's chairman, the Salvation Army's (Sydney) chairman, a member of the international council of the Asia Society, a member of the advisory board for LEK Consulting and the Sydney Peace Prize Foundation's chairman.

Circadian Technologies (ASX:CIR) has appointed Dominique Fisher as its chairman. Fisher is principal and executive director of EC Strategies which advises local and overseas companies on electronic commerce and major commercial transactions. She is a member of the ICT Advisory Board, a director of Malaysian property developer Jayaland Corporation, the Malthouse Theatre and the Prostate Cancer Foundation Victoria, and a former director of Insurance Australia Group (IAG). She was appointed as a non-executive director at Circadian's AGM earlier this month.

Investment firm Alexanders Securities (ASX:ALE) has engaged Dr Anthony Coulepis as strategic industry advisor to assist in positioning the company in the healthcare industry. Alexanders owns 75 per cent of Stem Cell Technologies, an unlisted company which provides human blood services, specialising in umbilical cord stem cells. A former CEO of AusBiotech, Coulepis is currently a director of Medical Developments International (ASX:MVP) and a strategic industry adviser for biotechnology consulting firm Innovation Dynamics and the Melbourne TAFE college Box Hill Institute.