Category Archives: Spotlight Interviews

Peter J. Boogaard, CEO / Founder at Industrial Lab Automation

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People-PeterBoogaardPLAAMSPeter Boogaard has extensive experience in laboratory management to enable cross-functional collaboration between research, development, quality assurance and manufacturing corporations. Peter is founder of Industrial Lab Automation. He is publishing in national and international magazines and contributes in several industry advisory boards. Peter is Dutch citizen, studied analytical chemistry in Delft and is a Member of ISPE.

1. As a new partner of BRW, how will you benefit from this relationship?

My relationship with BRW started 2 years ago by delivering high content value, during well attended and successful webinars. The feedback from both industry delegates and solution providers has been overwhelming positive. Based upon that success I am excited to extend my relationship and bridge domain expertise from solution providers with the industry during our Paperless Lab Academy congres.

2. Can you tell me what the benefits of attending your annual Paperless Lab Academy are?

The Paperless Lab Academy is the ideal learning platform, for those considering consolidating, integrating and simplifying laboratory data management systems. It is recognised as the leading European laboratory automation by industry experts. Managing change is easier sad than done. The Paperless Lab Academy will help the scientific industry to industrialise processes and to adopt a new mindset to manage the change processes.

3. In your experience, what makes a successful campaign?

When you deliver the right message to the right audience to deliver better than expected results.

 4. What motivates you?

The energy and passion created by clients telling me “Thank you, you have significant helped me to over achieve my goals”.

5. What has been the best moment in your career?

To start my independent consulting company. Should have done that earlier.

 

Please come and visit us at the Paperless Lab Academy on 14-15 April in Barcelona.

Find out more details and register here.

Grant Adam, Principal Engineer BSc, PgDip, CEng, CmarEng, MIMarEst from Jee

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Grant AdamGrant is an experienced chartered engineer who has been working in the oil and gas industry since 1994. He is the head of Jee’s integrity management discipline and has an in-depth knowledge of the field and its associated areas, including internal and external inspection. Working closely with a number of major operators, Grant provides technical support and pipeline technical authority services, advising on all aspects of design, construction, integrity, repair and the operation of pipeline systems.

Grant has completed a number of integrity management related projects, including creating riser inspection strategies, inspection tool and stuck pig contingency plans, corrosion management strategies and pipeline lifetime extension studies.

With his vast technical understanding and dynamic presentation skills, Grant also presents Jee’s ‘Failure of deep-water pipelines and risers’ course around the world, successfully developing delegates’ competencies. 

1. What are you looking forward to explaining to the audience?

The webinar will discuss the consequences of ineffective subsea pipeline integrity management and why it is so important. I am looking forward to sharing my experience with the audience and hope the lessons learnt will prove to be a useful insight for oil and gas operators and service providers.

2. What is the most interesting thing you’ve done within your current role? 

As part of my role, I also present Jee’s ‘Failure of deepwater pipelines and risers’ technical training course around the world. Utilising case studies of real pipeline failures, this course looks at integrity management issues affecting deepwater risers and flowlines. Teaching provides a fantastic opportunity to travel, but more importantly a chance to give back to the industry and pass on lessons learned, improving industry standards and best practice.

3. What is the ideal outcome you would like from doing the webinar? 

We aim to provide attendees with an overview of subsea pipelines integrity management best practice in addition to examining the primary threats and lessons learnt. The webinar will also discuss how lifetime extension can maximise the profitability of mature assets and how integrity management is applied to decommissioned pipelines. I hope that all attendees go away with a better understanding of pipeline integrity management which will help them in their roles going forwards.

 4. Where is your favourite place in the world and why?

My favourite place in the whole world is my home. No matter where in the world you travel to and the experiences gained during these travels, it’s always nice to get home!

Grant Adam will be presenting the Jee webinar ‘Lessons Learned in Subsea Pipeline Integrity Management’ on the 24th February at 3PM London / 10AM New York. Register here.

 

Dr. Kai U. Ziegler, Vice President Engineering Compressors, MAN Diesel & Turbo

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Kai Ziegler has the overall responsibility of MAN Diesel & Turbo’s compressor engineering departments in Oberhausen. He is deeply involved in project AIRMAX and pushed its development from scratch to market maturity. Ever since he finished his studies of mechanical engineering with a doctoral degree at RWTH Aachen, Ziegler dedicated his professional life to research, development and engineering of compressors. He joined MAN in 2005.

1. What are you looking forward to explaining to the audience?

My colleagues Sebastian Parzigas and Dr. Marco Ernst will reflect on the reasons that have led to the development of AIRMAX “mega-trains” for large air separation units. In short, they are mainly used to produce large amounts of oxygen for the subsequent Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. This is a future-oriented process that is used to produce synthetic fuels out of coal or natural gas. They will have a detailed look on the advantages of AIRMAX for our customers – mainly better price, higher efficiency and highest robustness. The audience will be introduced to the technical configuration of AIRMAX and the development of its new axial/radial main air compressor AR-MAX1. My colleagues will also reflect on the “first-time-right” shop tests, the erection of the first references in world scale coal-to-liquid plants and the latest machine concepts for high pressure air separation.

2. Why did you decide to do a webinar with Business Review Webinars?

We have recently organized physical events for our customers at MAN Diesel & Turbo’s Oberhausen site in Germany. The feedback that we got was extremely positive. Now we are trying to allow even more interested parties to see and discuss our latest developments, independent from their residence and without the need of traveling. We regard a webinar with Business Review Webinars as a good option to continue and enlarge the dialogue with our existing and new stakeholders.

3. What do you most enjoy about presenting to a live audience?

It is clearly the chance to get a direct feedback from the audience and to answer their questions as close as possible to the point of time when they occur. In general, I enjoy uncomplicated ways of communication.

 4. What motivates you?

The development of the AIRMAX air compressor train was an ambitious and challenging task. In fact, it is the result of several years of intensive development work. Together with our development partner MTU Aero Engines in Munich we have combined for the first time the advantages of industrial compressors with the advantages of gas turbine or aero engine compressors, resulting in the new blading generation MAX1. It is extremely satisfying – and in a way overwhelming – how the market has responded. We have sold a total of 19 AIRMAX trains even before we had the first one running in the field. That success, supported by first-time-right shop test results, is highly motivating – for all our staff and for sure for myself.

In my every day working life I’m also motivated by the exceptional team spirit we have. When I’m walking through the offices I can often see that colleagues have put press clippings or pictures of AIRMAX on their walls. They are fully committed to our product. That’s very encouraging.

 5. What has been your best holiday and where would you recommend visiting?

That clearly depends on the life situation. I had my most fascinating vacation, when I was a doctoral student, by car from Germany through Spain and Portugal, including Gibraltar. Today I prefer more relaxed holidays in family clubs in Greece or Turkey, where I can play with my two boys in the pool or the sea the whole day long.

Dr Kai U. Ziegler’s colleagues Dr Marco Ernst and  Sebastian Parzigas will be presenting the MAN webinar ‘A New Generation of Air Compressor Trains for Air Separation Units’ on the 5th February at the following times:

8am London / 9am Paris

3pm London / 10am New York

 

Mark Leach, Sales Director, Business Review Webinars

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Mark Leach 2

I regard myself a loyal, confident, hard-working and professional individual who has excelled during my career in international sales and product development across digital and print sectors. I’ve been working within the sales industry for over 9 years through employment at Cavendish and more presently Business Review Webinars, moving from researching leads for senior sales, sales executive to Sales Director. It’s brought me into contact with senior decision makers around the world and given me the opportunity to produce high quality, revenue-generating products. Travel has become a constant in my life whether it is travelling globally for business or holidays and something I’m hoping to continue in the future. My previous role as a Senior Buyer put me face to face with sales companies attempting to negotiate becoming contract suppliers to the NHS, this opened up my desire to work in sales.

1. What motivates you?

What motivates me? I would say my main motivation is my son, everything I do in life revolves around making a good path for him to follow. My fiancée and the future we are building together and of course, working within a high energy sales environment, seeing clients gain a return on their investment and seeing individuals developing in their own career.

2. How are you hoping to help Business Review Webinars to grow in the near future and what are your plans for the sales division in 2015?

In the short term I am looking to consolidate on what is already a good core sales team, mid-long term I would like to see the business unit grow outward into different industry sectors. The potential for Business Review Webinars is endless, with a great delivery team and a responsive database there is no end to where the division can grow to.

3. In your experience, what makes a successful sale?

In my opinion, what makes a successful sales; Industry knowledge, attention to detail, understanding the clients need, rapport (a cliché maybe but people do buy from people) and helping the client to understand the value of what you are selling.

4. What has been your favourite moment in your career?

Do I have to name one? I will give you a few: 1) Being the first person ever to break the monopoly at Cavendish Group where the same 3 people were 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the yearly sales table (then staying there until leaving), 2) My very first business trip to Singapore and 3) Seeing the positive changes within the last 11 months on the webinar team. There has been challenges but, as a team, everyone is pulling in the same direction to build a successful division.

I wish everyone a happy festive period and a successful 2015.

Dr Paul Denny-Gouldson, VP Strategic Solutions & Dr Scott Weiss, Senior Director of Product Management, IDBS

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Paul Denny-GouldsonAs VP of Strategic Solutions, Paul heads the overall strategic planning for the various market verticals and scientific domains that IDBS works in. By working both internally, across IDBS, and externally, with customers and partners, Paul is charged with the exploration and creation of new products, solutions and service offerings. He joined IDBS in 2005 as part of the acquisition of his ELN company and has spearheaded the drive to make E-WorkBook Suite the market leader.

Prior to this, Paul founded a number of companies focused on combining science, technology and business. He started his career as a Post Doc and subsequently Senior Scientist at Sanofi-Synthelabo Toulouse (now Sanofi) for just under five years, where he managed a multi-disciplinary molecular and cell biology department.

Paul obtained his PhD in Computational Biology from Essex University in 1996, and has authored over 25 scientific papers and book chapters.

Scott WeissScott joined IDBS in 2004, and leverages over 25 years’ experience in pharmaceutical drug development, informatics and software development. He is currently responsible for product strategy at IDBS, and enjoys leading a talented team focused on designing intuitive software that enables organizations to accelerate their R&D – by fostering efficiency, collaboration and data insight. Prior to IDBS, he served as Director of In-Vivo Pharmacology at Vernalis Research. Scott obtained his Ph.D. in Psychology specializing in neuroscience at the University of Leeds and has authored over 45 scientific papers, journal articles and patents.

1. What did the audience learn from attending the webinar?

Paul Denny-Gouldson: We hope that we made a clear case for the business benefits of focusing on user experience (UX) when it comes to developing, and using and implementing research and development (R&D) software.

After exploring the drivers behind the trend towards prioritizing UX in software design, we set out to show that UX and critical functionality are not mutually exclusive and that in fact you can have the best of both worlds.

We believe that we’ve shown that UX-friendly design can facilitate working and collaboration in the externalized, multi-stakeholder lab of the future. By reducing the amount of training needed for in-house and partner R&D specialists, organizations will be able to control costs and support the uptake of new technology.

2. What did you most enjoy about presenting to a live audience?

Scott Weiss: The buzz from presenting live comes from the fact that you really have to articulate your passion in order to stoke the same passion in your audience. I think we both enjoy the immediacy of live presenting and it’s a great opportunity to look at a subject from a new angle thanks to the input from your audience.

3. How did you get into the industry and what do you most enjoy about your role?

Paul Denny-Gouldson: I worked for Sanofi for around five years in France – that was the incentive to start a company to solve some of the problems that I was seeing while running a team of brilliant scientists – we needed to capture what everyone was doing in a way that made it re-usable and reportable. I get a real buzz from solving problems and helping people do more and hopefully one of those people will go on to do something to really impacts people’s lives in a positive way.

Scott Weiss: Both at university and as a post-graduate in pharma, computers and software were an essential part of my daily routine; whether I was writing snippets of code or using commercial software. When I eventually ran a department, I brought in ActivityBase to manage our data and reporting needs. At that point I was hooked, and the rest is history. The best part of being in the product management team is that I get to work with customers and the talented people at IDBS to help deliver clever solutions to common business challenges.

 4. What motivates you?

Paul Denny-Gouldson: Making a difference and my family.

Scott Weiss: I left pharmaceuticals because I felt what I could accomplish at IDBS would have a far bigger impact on the industry than I ever could working within it. Satisfaction comes from delivering successful products that people enjoy using and ‘can’t live without’ in their day-to-day working lives.

 5. What’s the best thing someone has ever taught you?

Paul Denny-Gouldson: Always talk to people to make sure the dialogue keeps flowing.

Scott Weiss: Listen to people. My first impulse is usually to start talking. I had an inspirational boss early in my career who taught me to listen first. Talk second. I usually remember his advice.

You can watch Paul’s and Scott’s webinar ‘Putting User Experience at the Heart of R&D’ on demand here.

 

Grant Blewett, Packaging Segment Manager, Kodak

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Grant BlewettGrant Blewett is the Packaging Segment Manager for Kodak, a world leader in technology solutions for the printing industry. Grant holds a print management degree and has over 21 years of professional experience in the graphic arts industry. With a strong background in print production, business development and prepress technology, he has led successful sales and marketing teams for Kodak, and formerly Scitex, across diverse geographic regions.

Since 2008 Grant has been based in Belgium with specific responsibility for the packaging market segment for Kodak in the EAMER region. He has a passion for flexo and been instrumental in introducing the market leading KODAK FLEXCEL NX Plate making solution to the European, Middle East and African markets. Grant is a frequent guest speaker at industry events across Europe and brings with him an in-depth understanding of the needs and pressures of Brand Owners.

1. Why did you decide to do a webinar with us?

Kodak clearly understands the importance of the ‘Brand Owner’ in the packaging value chain of which print has a major part to play. Kodak today has several solutions that provide significant cost, productivity and shelf impact benefits to the Brand Owner and we would like to make use of this forum to inform the Brand Owners of our value proposition. 

2. Who or what inspired you to get into the industry?

I have been in the larger print industry most of my professional career, so for me the question is why the flexo packaging industry? To which my answer would be that flexo print is the most dynamic, fast changing and challenging part of the entire industry which continually stimulates and challenges me. 

3. What’s your favourite thing about presenting to a live audience?

Honestly, presenting technically interesting topics to large and small audiences is something I truly enjoy doing. I love the interaction and energy that flows back from an audience when they appreciate the topic, this energy in turn inspires me. 

4. What has been your best holiday and where would you recommend visiting?

Ah well, it’s not for everybody but one of the best ever would be attending the world skydive ‘boogie’ (which is the term for a skydive holiday). This was in the most beautiful valley north of Cape Town South Africa, which by the way is also beautiful from the ground too. You should try and see this part of the world.

5. What one item would you take with you to a desert island and why?

Well this would simply have to be a package deal, which would consist of a parachute, aeroplane and runway. Can you imagine skydiving onto your very own island surrounded by the sea? 

Grant will be presenting Kodak’s webinar ‘Using flexo to meet your most demanding flexible packaging challenges‘ alongside David Luttenberger CPP, Global Packaging Director, Mintel Group Ltd on the 18th November at 10am New York/3pm London. To read more and register click here.

 

Dr. Eliot Randle, MBA, Head of Global Solutions Consulting, IDBS

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Eliot Randle
After being awarded a first class honours degree in Biochemistry, Eliot completed a Ph.D. at the University of Manchester. Subsequently he spent over 6 years within the Biotechnology industry, initially with the protein expression group at British Biotech. He then moved to Prolifix where he led the Antifungal Research team prior to his appointment as Head of High Throughput Screening. 

Eliot has spent over 12 years as a consultant the R&D software industry and joined IDBS in 2005 where he has worked extensively with IDBS’ Bioprocess Development and Manufacturing clients. He is currently Head of Global Solutions Consulting and also holds an MBA from Warwick Business School.

1. What were you explaining to the audience within your webinar? 

My aim was to explain how bioprocess operations can be optimized to improve productivity and increase capacity. We’re all being asked to do more with either the same, or less, resources – I discussed several ways to achieve just that. I described how the time skilled scientists spend on labor-intensive data administration can be greatly reduced, giving them more time to innovate and expedite the development of new products. I also highlighted some of the other advantages of process optimization, such as how quality can be improved by engineering common errors out of processes, and how organizations can break down departmental silos to gain greater product and process insight.

2. What’s your opinion on our webinar platform, was it easy to use? 

I found the platform very intuitive and easy to use. The support available and the ability to go through a dry-run before the live event were also much appreciated. Overall, I found the platform to be user friendly, well designed and to work well for live set-ups such as Q&A.

3. How did you get into the industry and what do you most enjoy about your role?

After spending six years as a scientist in the biotech industry, I fancied a move out of the lab into the commercial world. I started thinking about what made the most difference to my daily work and what I could be passionate about when speaking to other scientists and I realized it was software. So I joined a company providing bioinformatics software for scientific users as a consultant. During my time there my interest in enterprise solutions grew and I moved into the data management industry, where I’ve been for 10 years, the majority of which has been with IDBS.

The things I enjoy most about IDBS are working with a great group of very talented people to help solve a wide range of problems for our customers, and the incredible variety that brings to my role.

4.  What has been the best moment in your career?

It’s a tough question as there have been a lot – both as a scientist and as a consultant. Whether it’s been a research breakthrough or helping a customer make a transformational change to their business, the thing they all have in common is that they’ve all been the result of hard work and addressing a variety of challenges, to eventually get a memorable result.

5.  What motivates you?

Being able to make a difference and helping others fulfil their potential.

You can watch Eliot’s webinar ‘Is your biologics development lifecycle being held up by ineffective data management?’ on demand here.

 

Dr. Peter Klaffenbach, Head of Pharmaceutical Development, LTS Lohmann Therapy Systems

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Peter Klaffenbach
Dr. Peter Klaffenbach has been in transdermal drug delivery systems development for over 20 years and is now in charge of pharmaceutical development of LTS. Prior to joining LTS, Peter was managing director at the German drug delivery company Labtec (now tesa-Labtec) and head of pharmaceutical development at 3M drug delivery in Germany.

1. Why did you decide to do a webinar with Business Review Webinars?

Actually, my marketing department thought that a webinar could be the right platform to reach an interested audience of professionals to share our knowledge of transdermal drug delivery. Patch technology is still a niche – conferences are rare and expensive. Webinars represent a modern and effective way to discuss these kinds of topics with the industry.

2. What are you looking forward to explaining to the audience?

I’m looking forward to share our vision. That is that transdermal systems are not only an excellent option for lifecycle management of established APIs, but the technology should also be considered very early in NCE development and considered as a first line dosage form.

3. What is the ideal outcome you would like from doing the webinar?

If some of the attendees would consider a patch as an alternative to a tablet as part of the initial drug product development, this would be a great outcome.

4. Where is your favourite place in the world and why?

Anywhere, as long it is underwater. Why? Because underwater we need to refocus our senses and we can enjoy life in three dimensions.

5. What motivates you?

To help patients to deal with their problems a little more easily by providing solutions that meet their needs.

Peter will be presenting his webinar ‘Transdermal Drug Delivery: Is it feasible for your drug?‘ on the 25th November at 10am New York/3pm London. Click here to read more and register.

 

James Cabrera, Head of Accounts, Regulated Options

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James Cabrera

James started his career over 12 years ago in the banking sector as a Personal Financial Consultant for one of the biggest banks in the UK, now one of the biggest in Europe. There he consulted investors and provided numerous ways for investment providing the best possible outcome of ROI on their capital.


After some regulatory reform in 2004, James saw an opportunity to investigate other financial markets and decided to move into the Foreign Exchange market. As the market and his knowledge of it evolved, he decided to take what he had learnt in the banking industry and the Forex markets, and with training, education and a detailed REAL outlook on the economic market, he saw the lucrative potential of trading Binary Options. 

The achievements in James’ past and present roles, including predicting some of the major movements in Forex and Binary trades, has given him some unique and valuable experiences and has put him in the driving seat he finds himself in today.

  1.        Why did you decide to do a webinar with Business Review Webinars?

I decided to work with Business Review Webinars to reach a new class or clientele

  1.        What are you looking forward to explaining to the audience?

The real benefits to trading in the financial markets with Binary Options

  1.        What is the ideal outcome you would like from doing the webinar?

New investors, new relationships and new success stories

  1.        Where is your favorite place in the world and why?

London of course! Not just because it’s my home, but because it’s the most versatile place in the world.

  1.      What motivates you?

Success

You can register now for Regulated Options’ webinar ‘Understanding Binary Options Trading in the Financial Market’ taking place on the 13th November at 11am  London / 12PM Paris.

Stephen Tindal, Director, Formulation and Site R&D Lead, Catalent

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Stephen TindalStephen holds a bachelors degree in Chemistry and Analytical Science from Loughborough University, UK. He has worked in softgel R&D for 27 years and has broad expertise in the technology. Stephen specializes in root cause investigation, technology innovation, gelatin innovation, customer liason and supporting business development. Stephen is part of Catalent’s R&D Team at the Company Headquarters in Somerset, New Jersey.

1. Why did you decide to do a webinar with us?

Catalent is a big company with a wide range of capabilities.  It may be difficult for people to truly understand our capabilities based on published information.  It’s important when describing enabling technologies to get into more detail.  This is the only way to match a technology to a specific need.

2. How do you prepare yourself when presenting to a live audience?

I like to make sure I fully understand the message I’m trying to deliver.  I feel more relaxed if I know the subject really well.

3. What are some of the best moments of your career?

The best moment was when I found what I was good at and realized I wanted to do it forever.

4. If you could have a super power, what would it be and why?

Flying.  Just for the thrill.

5. What is your favourite flavour of ice-cream?

Vanilla

You can register now for Catalent’s webinar ‘ Optimize Your Oral Drug Development Pathway – Faster to Market’ taking place on the 30th October at 11am  New York/3pm London.