# Stephen Gallagher

> Stephen Gallagher is a British scientist and entrepreneur who co-founded Dotmatics with Alastair Hill in 2005. Following research at Los Alamos and information-management work at Merck, he led the scientific software company through international expansion, became Chief Strategy Officer in 2021 and left in March 2024. Smytec lists him as Director of Business Development.

- **Role:** Director of Business Development at Smytec
- **Organizations:** Dotmatics (co-founder; former CEO and Chief Strategy Officer), Smytec, Merck / MSD (former employee), Los Alamos National Laboratory (former postdoctoral researcher), RockStep Solutions (listed in an executive biography; role descriptions differ between directories)
- **Nationality:** British
- **Education:** PhD in Biochemistry, University of Warwick, Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry, University of Warwick
- **Known for:** Co-founded Dotmatics and led its development from a two-person startup into an international scientific software business., Led Dotmatics when it secured investment from Scottish Equity Partners in 2017., Led Dotmatics during its 2019 Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade.

## Career timeline

- **1997-2000** — Postdoctoral research at Los Alamos.
- **2000-2005** — Senior Systems Analyst at Merck / MSD, providing research IT applications.
- **2005** — Co-founded Dotmatics with Alastair Hill.
- **2010** — Dotmatics moved to The Old Monastery in Bishop’s Stortford.
- **2012** — Dotmatics released its free Elemental chemical-structure editor for iPad.
- **2017** — Scottish Equity Partners invested in Dotmatics.
- **2019** — Dotmatics received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade.
- **2021** — Insightful Science acquired Dotmatics in April; Gallagher later became Chief Strategy Officer as Mike McKee took over executive leadership.
- **2022** — Appointed a director of Smytec on 25 October, according to Companies House.
- **2024** — Left Dotmatics in March; said he intended to help startups and play more golf.
- **2025** — Siemens completed its acquisition of Dotmatics on 1 July, after Gallagher’s departure.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Dotmatics and led its development from a two-person startup into an international scientific software business.
- Led Dotmatics when it secured investment from Scottish Equity Partners in 2017.
- Led Dotmatics during its 2019 Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade.
- Dotmatics’ 2019 award entry recorded overseas sales rising from £3 million to £14.9 million over six years.
- Led Dotmatics when Arkema selected its software for a project covering 800 researchers in France in 2021.

## Latest updates

- **2025-07** — Siemens completed its $5.1 billion enterprise-value acquisition of Dotmatics, a company Gallagher co-founded and had left in March 2024.
- **2024-03** — Announced his last day at Dotmatics and plans to help startups.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-gallagher-3146081/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/stephen-gallagher
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-23