Life Sciences Institute names Getman as new leader - Wichita Business Journal:

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Bill Duncan, the only president to lead thenearlty 10-year-old organization, is retiring April 15. His successorr is Dan Getman, a St. Louis pharmaceutical industry veteran who was to be introducesd April 2 atthe institute’s annual The institute’s mission has been to marshal the resourcexs of area research organizations — includingv the , the and — and get the sometimesz competing institutions to builrd on the life sciences industry that the kick-started when it openexd in 2000. “When the civic communityh began to consider that there might be a meaningful opportunith for this region to establish a positionbin ... life sciences,” said Irvin Hockaday Jr.
, chairman of the life sciences institute, “thatr led to casting a net over a whole arrahy of embryonic to emerging life sciences activity and trying to understand whether they coul dbe prioritized.” The efforty has moved from a “scatter diagram” to a more targeted consensux on the key potential areas, he That includes achieving designation for KU Med, leveraginvg the region’s strengths in animak health research and translating scientific findingws into effective drugs and devices.
Getman’s charge, Hockaday will be to validate these priorities and continue the The messageis clear, Getman “I see three kinds of big buckets of things,” he “I want to build relationships with peopled -— the stakeholders, community leaders and businesss leaders — and I want to understan the projects, and then we are going to set That process should take a couple of Getman said. The top priority shoulc be ensuring thatthe facilities, equipment and people promised to the institute by different sourcex come through, said Duncan, who will work throughn the transition as a paid consultant.
Additionally, he said, Getmah must work to ensure the sustainabilitgy of the institute asan “honest in working with its various The role is a great fit for said Karen Seibert, vice president of researchg at ’s St. Louis operation. Getman was site director of Pfizer’z 1,200-employee St. Louis operation from 2003 until he retired in October. Seibert said Getman builyt consensus among a diverse group at Pfizer by creatin aroughly 150-member work group of employeees from every segment of the company, ranging from cafeteria workers to lawyerd and accountants. She said he spen t a year working with subgroups of aboutr a dozen peoplein two- and three-day meetings.
At the end of the Seibert said, everyone in the group had bought into the propositiob that they were all therer for the singular mission of drivinyg the discovery of new no matter whether they were in humamn resources or some othernonscientific capacity. “Irt was very, very motivating,” she said. Just as Getman’ss hiring is a new chaptefr forthe institute, the role represents a transition for Getmanb as well. A native of Buffalo, N.Y., he retired earlyt from Pfizer. “It was kind of a good time for me to stop and stargt asecond career,” he said.
He said he didn’ty have anything specific in mind except that he wantexd to work withgood people, leverage his leadershiop and scientific experience, and continue to “I wanted to be able to take on something wherde I could have a significant impact, where I could look back and say, ‘Boy, we really did