The Client Opportunity

A drug development organization with a focus on ophthalmologic compounds and a unique form of drug delivery wanted to accelerate the hiring of a seasoned executive to manage the product development process and manufacturing of a specialty ophthalmic product that they had licensed. The company itself does not conduct the basic drug research but instead licenses innovative drugs from research organizations and shepherds them through the development process using their proprietary drug delivery system. To bring the new product to market quickly and ensure that the most talented candidate meeting the highly specified job requirements was hired, the company selected Ashton Tweed to spearhead the search.

 

The Ashton Tweed Solution

After learning about the needs of the company and the urgency of filling the position, Ashton Tweed went to work to find an appropriate candidate. The client was in need of a highly experienced professional who had the ability to identify companies for delivery of raw materials, processing, manufacturing, packaging and sterilization as well as a full understanding of polymeric drug delivery. The ideal candidate would also need the skills necessary to implement a program that ranged from conducting due diligence to overseeing logistics.

Because the Ashton Tweed leadership team has extensive and diverse backgrounds in the life sciences industry they can call on their large professional networks to quickly source the finest talent with current industry expertise. Our partners are further linked in to the industry through our dynamic executive talent bank of highly experienced life sciences professionals available to provide just-in-time solutions to clients’ urgent business needs. Within one week of first contact with the client, Ashton Tweed identified an individual with many years experience in global product development in the area of drug delivery for companies such as Elan, NanoSystems and Cydex. As such, this industry expertise proved to be the perfect match for the client’s particular criteria.

Initially, the management team at the client company was looking for a full time, permanent employee to work out of their offices in Jersey City, NJ. However, the Ashton Tweed candidate was based in Kansas City, KS, and the interim executive employment model appealed to him. The Ashton Tweed Leadership Team counseled the management of the client company on the benefits of engaging their candidate on an interim employment basis.

“After a review of the candidate’s credentials and a telephone interview with him,” said the COO of the client company, “we were sure that he could fill the role, even given the fact that he would not be located in Jersey City. We were especially pleased that the entire process took less than two weeks.”

 

The Benefit

Ashton Tweed’s client is very pleased with the interim executive’s work. The candidate afforded additional value by identifying companies for delivery of raw materials, processing, manufacturing, packaging and sterilization. Despite various challenges along the way, the entire process has gone smoothly due to the industry experience and competence level of the Aston Tweed interim executive candidate.

According to the client company’s COO, “the candidate Ashton Tweed placed with us has exceeded all of our expectations. He combines significant experience, a sense of urgency and the unique ability to look for solutions in a very demanding project. I cannot say enough good things about him!”