About

IRISH CELTIC ROOTS

Born in Ashbourne House in County Meath, Ireland, to Sir Peter Evans-Freke, the 11th Baron Carbery, and his wife Joyzelle, The Hon. Stephen Evans-Freke traces his roots to Elizabethan Ireland of the 16th Century. His Welsh Celtic lineage can be traced to Elystan Glodrydd, Prince of Fferlys, a celebrated Celtic leader in the 10th Century wars against the invading Anglo Saxons.

CASTLE FREKE – SHEPHERDING AN HISTORIC REVIVAL

As a child, Mr. Evans-Freke was fascinated by an oil painting – a romantic portrait of a distant and mysterious ocean-side castle – which hung in the nursery of his home. In 1999, he ventured to Ireland’s County Cork and to a tiny hamlet called Rathbarry. There he found the subject of that painting – Castle Freke – built by his ancestors centuries ago on a vast estate which had been the economic hub of the West Cork region. Long abandoned and in ruins – forlorn, bare and covered in moss and vines –there was no question that it had to return to the family’s hands. Upon purchasing Castle Freke, he began the process of restoring it to its original grandeur, with painstaking attention to historical and aesthetic authenticity courtesy of a small but dedicated team of highly skilled stone masons, plasterers, artists and workmen.

CAMBRIDGE TO WALL STREET

In 1973, Mr. Evans-Freke graduated with a law degree from Trinity College, Cambridge University. He joined the newly established mining and precious metals department of London-based international stockbrokers W.I. Carr, and soon after found himself in South Africa working with IBM to build the first computer program for valuing gold mines. In 1975, he was named by Institutional Investor as one of the top three mining analysts in their annual poll of investment managers. The following year, he moved to New York, becoming one of Wall Street’s leading life science and biotechnology bankers and rising to become President of PaineWebber Development Corporation and later a member of PaineWebber’s Board of Directors. Since leaving Wall Street in 1990, he has made his mark as an investment manager, entrepreneur and venture capitalist in the biotechnology industry. He founded or co-founded several pharmaceutical companies, including SUGEN, which was sold to Pharmacia Corporation for $720 million in 1999, a transaction credited with starting the bull market in biotechs over the following years.

SETTLING IN THE CARIBBEAN

In 2008, Mr. Evans-Freke moved to the US Virgin Islands where he co-founded Auven Therapeutics, a private equity fund that invests in drug development programs. He is Managing General Partner of the Virgin Islands-based company together with Dr. Peter Corr, former Global Head of R&D and Chief Scientific Officer of Pfizer. The company’s portfolio includes being founder and lead investor in ADC Therapeutics focused on oncology, with a recent $1.3 billion private market valuation. In addition, Mr. Evans-Freke has founded new ventures impacting the US Virgin Islands including the leading Caribbean air ambulance company, AeroMD, and the Water Island Development Company.

COMMITMENTS & INTERESTS

Philanthropy is an important part of Mr. Evans-Freke’s life, and he believes strongly in the importance of public/private partnerships as its cornerstone. He prefers project-specific causes that result in measurable differences, especially in the Ireland and Virgin Island communities where he lives.

When work and travel schedules allow, he enjoys deep sea fishing, scuba diving, sailing, drinking Painkillers at Soggy Dollar on Jost Van Dyke, tennis, playing piano, reading history and philosophy and horseback riding… having once served as Master of Hounds for Cambridge University Drag Hounds.

AWARDS & DISTINCTIONS

Mr. Evans-Freke’s achievements in the life science and biotechnology industries have been recognized with numerous awards and distinctions, including being inducted into the GIST Hall of Fame by the Life Raft Group in 2010 for his role in bringing Sutent through development as a life-saving treatment for GIST patients.

Mr. Evans-Freke’s efforts to improve global health outcomes also resulted in his most high-profile honor, when he was appointed as a Knight of the Order of St John (K. St.J) by Her Majesty the Queen in 2000.

Mr. Evans-Freke’s endeavors outside of the science sphere have also been regognized by the Investment Partnership Association in Washington D.C. who awarded him the 1988 Outstanding Contribution to Society Award.