Ins & Outs: Genezen new CEO to lead transition into full service CDMO

Ray Kaczmarek, the new CEO of Genezen, figuratively sat down with BioProcess Insider to discuss his strategy and aims for the firm. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s Ins and outs.

Kaczmarek has spent the past 20 years in pharmaceutical and biotechnology manufacturing, as well as supply chain operations, serving in senior roles at Trilink Biotechnologies, Nitto Avecia Pharma Services, and Pacira Biosciences.

His latest career move takes him to contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Genezen, where he serves as CEO with responsibility for leading the team into a full-service company in the viral vector industry.

Ray Kaczmarek CEO at Genezen. Image c/o Genezen

Bioprocess Insider (BI): What is your main goal as CEO of Genezen?

Ray Kaczmarek (RK): My primary goal is to build out the internal capabilities, increase the overall capacity, and strengthen our supply chain over the next 18 months as we are already scheduled to deliver on key client programs. It is an exciting time at Genezen as I lead the team’s transition into a full service CDMO in the viral vector space.

BioProcess Insider (BI): You arrive at Genezen following the firm’s plans to construct a 75,000+ square-foot lentiviral vector production facility in Indianapolis, Indiana. How does your strategy tie in with this investment?

RK: With the launching of our new process development facility in Q4 of this year and our new cGMP manufacturing facility in Q2 of 2022, we are poised to help our clients improve upon their current timelines to get their therapies into the clinic. Our team is developing scalable manufacturing processes and are focused on providing high-quality products while meeting strict timelines for our clients.

BI: How do you intend to meet the goals you have outlined?

RK: Our people are the key to our success. Therefore, my focus will be on our company culture as it will be key to our continued growth and shared vision. We will ensure we are doing things safety, correctly and on time. With our collaborative and technical leadership team, our clients will experience a journey leading them to high quality vector material manufactured with scalable processes and measured by robust testing methods.

BI: How does your previous experiences shape your approach in your new role?

RK: I believe my past experience building key manufacturing capabilities under strict timelines as well as dealing with the recent pandemic era supply chain organizations has allowed me to develop management philosophies that will be very useful at Genezen. This is a unique opportunity to build a company such as Genezen, and I look forward to working alongside the leadership team as we become a world class organization.

BI: How do the current well-documented supply chain shortages affect your strategic approach?

RK: As we deal with worldwide shortage of key construction and manufacturing materials, Genezen must take a new approach to relationships within our supply chain to ensure our success.

BI: What will this approach be?

RK: We are focused on building and staffing a new cGMP facility to support our current and future clients, and the team has taken great effort to detail out key areas of risk and build relationships with our suppliers to minimize delays while ensuring we meet our current construction and start up timelines.

Thank you for joining us for this week’s Ins & Outs. If you have a story you think would work for us, please contact [email protected].