Bret Bader

Chief Executive Officer Owlstone Inc.

Last Reviewed: September 26, 2026

Executive Summary

Bret Bader is Chief Executive Officer of Owlstone Inc., the chemical sensing company that began as a Cambridge University spin-out in 2004, and a director of Owlstone Medical, the breath diagnostics company Owlstone Inc. spun out in 2016. He has led Owlstone since April 2006. Before that he spent seventeen years in security screening, at EG&G Astrophysics, Heimann Systems and Smiths Detection, finishing as general manager and vice president of Smiths Detection’s Americas division. From 2008 to 2010 he was also chief executive of Owlstone’s then publicly reporting parent, Advance Nanotech, Inc.

Career Highlights

• Chief Executive Officer of Owlstone Inc., signing its July 2023 SEC Form D as President and named on it as executive officer and director.
• Director of Owlstone Medical Limited since March 2016, and of Owlstone Inc.’s UK-registered overseas entity since December 2015.
• Chief Executive Officer of Advance Nanotech, Inc. from September 2008 until he resigned in February 2010.
• Joined Owlstone Nanotech, Inc. in April 2006 as chief executive.
• General manager and vice president of Smiths Detection’s Americas division, after senior roles at Heimann Systems and Smiths Detection from 1999 to 2006.
• Senior roles at EG&G Astrophysics, a manufacturer of security screening equipment, from 1989 to 1999.

Professional Journey

Bader built his early career in security screening equipment. According to Advance Nanotech’s SEC filings, he held senior roles at EG&G Astrophysics from 1989 to 1999, then at Heimann Systems and Smiths Detection from 1999 to 2006, ending as general manager and vice president of Smiths Detection’s Americas division.

In April 2006 he joined Owlstone Nanotech, Inc. as chief executive. Owlstone had been spun out of Cambridge University’s engineering department in 2004. At the time it was a majority-owned subsidiary of Advance Nanotech, Inc., an SEC-reporting company. In September 2008 Bader also became Advance Nanotech’s chief executive. He resigned that post effective 23 February 2010, when a director took over as principal executive officer under a management services agreement, and stayed with the operating business.

Owlstone’s sensor technology applied to markets from defence to industrial monitoring. In 2016 the company carved its clinical work out as a separate company, Owlstone Medical, which closed a $7 million investment that July. Announcing the deal, Bader was described as Owlstone Inc. CEO and Owlstone Medical board member. He called the spin-out “a template for our strategy of creating market specific spin outs in order to take a focused approach to solve profound problems.” Owlstone Medical, led by co-founder and CEO Billy Boyle, has since developed its Breath Biopsy platform for early disease detection. Bader remains on its board, which lists him as CEO of Owlstone Inc.

Owlstone Inc., a Delaware corporation with offices in Westport, Connecticut, last filed a Form D with the SEC in July 2023. Bader is named on that filing as its executive officer and director and signed it as President.

Education

No education record was found in the SEC filings or company pages reviewed.