LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS SERIES - Charles De Rohan, Chief Executive Officer at Binding Site

Founded by researchers at the University of Birmingham, Binding Site provides specialist diagnostic products to clinicians and laboratory professionals worldwide, delivering innovative medical solutions that significantly improve the diagnosis and management of blood cancers and immune system disorders. With extensive expertise in antibody specificity technology, Binding Site has been researching, developing, manufacturing and distributing specialist immunodiagnostic assays and instrumentation for over 30 years. The UK head office in Birmingham houses all product development, manufacturing, global distribution and marketing, while worldwide customer support is provided by a further 10 offices in the US and Europe.

Coulter:Pulse recently spoke to Charles De Rohan, CEO of Binding Site about their plans and talent challenges:

Coulter Partners: What are your key business goals for the Binding Site over the next 3-5 years?

Charles De Rohan: We have enjoyed significant, consistent revenue growth in the low double digit % over the past few decades. Being in an enviable segment of the cancer diagnostics market that is growing well, we need to maintain our leadership and product superiority. We will continue to build on our fundamentals of highly sensitive and specific immunodiagnostic tests for multiple myeloma and other conditions of the immune system through introducing new technologies to the clinical laboratory. Such solutions will bring a whole new level of sensitivity to the lab, allowing patients to be diagnosed earlier and treated far better than in the past. In doing this, clinicians will be able to measure the presence of disease and the body’s response to a therapy far earlier than at present. We will also continue to develop our commercial, technical and scientific support workforce on a global basis, going direct in more countries, rather than through intermediaries.

CP: And what are the biggest challenges you foresee in achieving these goals?

Charles: The largest challenges, aside from any macro-economic or political developments that are outside our control, are to be able to manage our growth appropriately and to service all our customers with our product, when they want it in the right quantity. This takes significant planning and resourcing. We also need to ensure that we have the best talent working in our company, something that can require flexibility on our side in terms of location, but also requires continual development of skills.

CP: To realise your ambitious growth and transformation goals in recent years, what were your top priorities in building a team to deliver these?

Charles: Our key objectives were assessing the talents and skills of the existing staff and creating succession planning process and skills matrices. We also looked at what our future organization might look like with the knowledge brought in from new members of the operating board and other senior staff. On the back of these documents, we ensure that the right development plans are in place, together with the hiring of new talent either to replace departures or to fill newly created positions.

CP: What have been the biggest challenges you have had to tackle from an executive talent perspective over this growth phase and how has the team at Coulter Partners supported you with these?

Charles: We are a global company and in an industry that has a worldwide market of over $50bn. However, with our HQ in the UK, we are in a relatively small industry when we seek UK (and Birmingham) based talent. Thus, our more recent searches for IVD experienced talent has required us to look on a global basis, and I’m pleased to say that Coulter Partners was able to support us in this respect, identifying talent that was attracted by the opportunities Binding Site has to offer. During the search processes, they were also able to rule out those individuals who would not commit to relocating or commuting to Birmingham.

Many thanks for these valuable insights and we look forward to helping you realise your goals in 2020 and beyond!