| RELEASE: Immediate | CONTACT: Susan Seymour, Norman Smit |
| DATE: October 1, 2004 | PHONE: (919) 807-7155 or 807-7181 |
NCCCS BioNetwork Centers Attract Top Candidates
Raleigh - Managers have been appointed for three of the six North Carolina Community College BioNetwork Centers - and they are each highly rated candidates in their fields. NCCCS President Martin Lancaster says "the hiring of these three top professionals is a tremendous step forward for the North Carolina Community College BioNetwork. I expect the remaining managers to be in place soon. It's a tribute to the good work already happening in community colleges and to the great potential of biotechnology that we are able to attract such talented people."
The new appointments are: Dr Linxian Wu, known as Lin to his friends and colleagues, who will be the Dean of the BioNetwork Capstone Center - the dedicated Community College clean-room space at the Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC) at NC State's Centennial Campus; William 'Bill' Cooper, the Manager of the BioNetwork Bioprocessing Center that will be based at Pitt Community College; and Dr. David Brigham, the Manager of the BioNetwork BioEd Center, based at Gaston Community College.
"The BioNetwork Centers will play a key role in making North Carolina even more competitive in biotech", says Susan Seymour, NCCCS BioNetwork Director. "North Carolina is already number three in the US in biotechnology, and these centers will help us further close the gap on Massachussetts and California", she said. "BioNetwork was able to attract these industry leaders because of how highly rated the state's biotech industry is and the reputation of NC's community colleges."
Dr. Linxian Wu has been both an educator and a top biotechnology business executive. He obtained his undergraduate training in Microbiology from Xiamen University in China, and holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases from University of Alberta in Canada. His post-doctoral studies were in Molecular Virology and Immunology at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, where he stayed on as faculty member. Dr. Wu's tenure in the life-sciences industry has been in the biomedical, medical device and pharmaceutical fields. He was the R&D Director at Gen Trak Inc. in Plymouth Meeting, PA; Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Gull Laboratories, Inc. in Salt Lake City, UT; and President and COO at Fresenius HemoCare Inc. in Redmond, WA. His most recent appointment was President and COO at Fresenius Kabi in Clayton, NC, a contract pharmaceutical development and manufacturing company recently acquired by Hospira Inc.
A strong believer in community-based education, he says he is very excited about the BioNetwork initiative, and is honored to be part of it. "I believe our state is in an excellent strategic position to create more employment opportunities for North Carolinians and that the BioNetwork initiative will play a key role in translating those opportunities into jobs", he said.
An avid gardener, he and his wife Charlene live in Cary, NC. They have two daughters, Amy and Janet, and a dog called Monty. After living in several states in the country, Lin said he and his wife "fell in love with North Carolina".
With biomanufacturing key to future job growth in the biotech industry in North Carolina, the Bioprocessing Center will play an important role in BioNetwork. Bill Cooper, who will head the Bioprocessing Center, was an operations executive who is recognized for his ability to lead and transform chemical processing sites into world class facilities. Cooper's unique talents in site development, restructuring, and turnaround are supported by his strengths in innovation, insightful and analytical decision making, communication, and negotiations. He credits his focus and his ability to champion safety to his 30 years as a firefighter.
Cooper's expertise stems from three decades in the chemical processing industry. His most recent position was General Manager of the world's largest phosphate mine and chemical processing site, a $2 billion facility with over 1000 employees owned by PCS Phosphate. In this position he revitalized the site, earning the NCOSHA STAR, the country's first Mining STAR, and the Sentinel of Safety award from the federal government for being the safest site of its kind in the nation. He developed several new products and over $130 million in new facilities at a time when this industry was struggling to survive in the US. That site still remains one of the few of its kind that is profitable.
Prior to joining PCS Phosphate, Cooper held various positions with The NutraSweet Company. He identified, developed, and managed international tolling operations with sites in the US, Japan, Brazil, and Italy. He built a plant in Brazil on budget despite an inflation rate running at 3.5% per day. Cooper also led the start up of an aspartame plant in Augusta, GA., which was successfully producing on grade product within seven months. He developed a joint venture between Monsanto and Ajinomoto to construct and operate a NutraSweet plant in Europe and his early career includes positions with Witco Chemical Corp., BASF, and Merck.
Cooper earned both his Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemical Engineering from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA. He is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He is also a member of the Salvation Army Advisory Board, the Beaufort County Partnership for Children Board of Directors, and the Beaufort County Community College Foundation Board of Directors.
Dr David Brigham will head the BioNetwork BioEd Center. He came to North Carolina from a nationally recognized biotech training facility at Indian Hills Community College in Iowa. Dr. Brigham was instrumental in the design and management of a 13,000 square foot training center/pilot plant and where he developed credit and non-credit courses and training for biotechnology. As such, he will be able contribute a great deal of expertise to BioNetwork from his experience there.
His experience from Indian Hills will assist BioNetwork in using its specialized training as an economic development tool. He played an important role in marketing that state's biodevelopment by making client contacts, performing business evaluations and developing training and delivering training for them.
Dr. Brigham received his Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University and brings to the Center strengths in procurement of grants, interaction with regional, state, and national biotechnology and economic development organizations.
Dr. Brigham plans to have the BioNetwork BioEd Center develop credit and non-credit training modules and collaborate with BioNetwork Centers across the state. "It will also serve as a clearinghouse and data bank of industry-driven short courses and certification programs in biotechnology from experts across the country and around the world", he said. The BioEd Center is having an official opening and ribbon cutting on October 27th, 2004.
Each of the BioNetwork Centers has an area of specialization. They will be responsible for developing expertise and curricula that remain abreast of the cutting-edge technologies used in this industry and then making it available to community colleges statewide. They will also conduct train-the-trainer courses. By sharing resources, BioNetwork can be responsive to industry's workforce training needs.
The Capstone Center will differ in that it will train students and workers in their aseptic suites at the BTEC, which is being built as a industrial-scale pilot plant training facility. Students and incumbent workers receiving training at their local community colleges on bench-scale equipment will travel to the Capstone Center at the BTEC where they will get realistic hands-on training on commercial scale equipment that would have been too expensive to replicate. They will be able to experience an environment that mirrors a pharmaceutical or biomanufacturing facility, but without the risk of ruining millions of dollars of a medical product during the training process. The Capstone Center will be run by a consortium of 7 Research Triangle Region Community Colleges led by Wake Technical Community College. The consortium comprises Wake Technical Community College, Central Carolina Community College, Durham Technical Community College, Johnston Community College, Piedmont Community College, Sandhills Community College, and Vance-Granville Community College.
For further information, contact:
Norman Smit
NCCCS BioNetwork Marketing Director
Smitn@nccommunitycolleges.edu
200 West Jones Street
5003 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-5018
(919) 807-7181
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