New CEO, growth ahead for Ventana Medical Systems
by Teresa Truelsen on Oct. 29, 2008, under Edge, Local, Special
Severin Schwan, CEO of Roche Holdings AG, met with community leaders Tuesday to discuss the parent company's plans for Ventana Medical Systems. Schwan said Ventana's people are what drew Roche to the Oro Valley-based biotech firm.
Ventana Medical Systems Inc. Chief Operating Officer Hany Massarany will take over the Tucson operation when President and CEO Christopher Gleeson retires at the end of the year.
Massarany has been with Ventana since July 1999, when he was hired as the first director of Asia-Pacific operations. The Australian native said he has been in Tucson about seven years.
Gleeson’s retirement was announced Tuesday at a luncheon with Severin Schwan, CEO of Roche Holdings AG, Ventana’s parent company. The transition to Massarany from Gleeson, who has been CEO since May 1999, was planned and is not connected to Roche’s takeover of the company, Ventana spokeswoman Alana Bolton said.
“It is supported by Roche and they have every confidence in (Massarany),” Bolton said.
Schwan was making his fourth visit to Tucson since the Swiss company bought Ventana for $3.4 billion in January. Each time he has addressed the employees at Ventana.
“He’s definitely a motivator,” Bolton said. “They look forward to his visits.”
This visit was the first time Schwan made a public appearance. At the luncheon, hosted by Stone Canyon Club in Oro Valley, Schwan put forth Roche’s plans for Ventana to about 45 community and business leaders.
Gleeson, who introduced Schwan, said Roche is committed to significant investment in the community, with plans to make the Tucson area its global center of excellence for tissue diagnostics.
Despite the rough start to their relationship, Gleeson said, referring to Roche’s hostile bid, the company has been an “excellent corporate partner to our growing company.”
And Schwan echoed that message of growth as a part of Roche’s plans to improve medicine through personalized health care – targeting treatments through better detection, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of diseases.
“Ventana is an important . . . pillar in this,” Schwan said. “Direct examination of tissue is very important information. In Tucson we have found the right partner.”
Schwan said Ventana has about 750 employees here, and it is expected to expand to about 1,000 by the end of next year.
Roche plans to invest in research and development and expand the high-tech labs at the Ventana facility, he said.
Schwan said Roche’s acquisition strategy is not to engulf a company, but to allow it to continue in its own culture and with its current staff. Allowing those separate cultures to flourish is what spurs creativity, he said.
Ventana’s culture was a big factor in Roche’s decision to acquire the company, Schwan said. The employees’ energy, dedication and passion were impressive.
“We have very dedicated, very qualified people around the world, but Tucson stands out,” Schwan said. “You have to trust the people you give the money to.”
Ventana was one of six or seven acquisitions Roche has made in the past 18 months. It is currently bidding to buy out California pharmaceutical firm Genentech.
