Portland, Ore.) –The Oregon Bioscience Association’s Board of Directors announced today the selection of Oregon Bio’s new Executive Director, Denise McCarty, who will take over leadership from Dennis McNannay on March 31, 2016.
McCarty is joining the association after a successful legislative session; impressive gains in employment and the number of firms; an increase in investor engagement; and the recent announcement about the 74 percent success rate in job placements for successful graduates of the public/private BioCatalyst program. These grads earn an average of $87,780, twice the Oregon average annual wage.
McCarty is departing the Columbia River Economic Development Council in Vancouver, Washington after three years’ leadership. While there, McCarty led the effort to successfully recruit 25 new companies to Clark County, as well as numerous expansion projects. One such project, Banfield Pet Hospital, was awarded Project of the Year by the Washington Economic Development Association in 2015 in acknowledgement of the creative collaboration of numerous public and private partners spearheaded by McCarty to meet the needs of the company.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to build upon the solid foundation that Dennis McNannay has put in place to further cultivate the bioscience ecosystem in Oregon,” said McCarty. In collaboration with the Port of Vancouver, she also managed the strategic planning and initial implementation of the new Columbia River Life Sciences Building at the former Red Lion in Vancouver.
Before joining CREDC, McCarty worked for 16 years at Avnet Electronics. She directed global business management, overseeing two multi-national corporations with 60 operating sites. Her education comprises a Bachelor of Science from Portland State University and from Texas A&M, an Industry Distribution, Sales and Operations Certificate.
McCarty also comes at a time when growth in economic impact has shown Oregon is home to 13,556 direct jobs in the bioscience industry and, including the economic multiplier, as many as 56,552 total jobs aligned with bioscience. Today’s average annual wage for bio-workers in Oregon is $62,538.
Oregon Bio’s Board Chair Matt Smits said, “Oregon Bio's efforts to advocate, educate and cultivate a thriving bioscience community in Oregon continue to influence our industry's potential among our existing and future members. By playing to Oregon's strengths and aligning our partners, we foresee continuing our trajectory. Denise McCarty brings to us a track record of regional economic development success, executive leadership experience, and a gift for cultivating key relationships and influence among a wide variety of stakeholders. Within Washington’s bioscience community, her most recent success involved securing state influence and funds to create lab space and economic development were there were none.”
“While we are sad Dennis is stepping away from his current role, we are excited for him as he returns to the startup community with his new company and stays local within Oregon’s growing bioscience community,” said Smits.
McNannay has mixed emotions leaving an organization he led for five and a half years. He noted in the December search announcement, “I feel fortunate to have been part of such a vibrant organization. Strategically, Oregon Bio is perfectly positioned to continue building on our twelve-year growth trend.”
Oregon Bio member, Acumen Executive Search, assisted in the recruitment.
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About Oregon Bioscience Association
The Oregon Bioscience Association advocates for its members and the industry to create opportunity through advocacy, cultivation and education. Oregon Bio promotes the growth and quality of the bioscience industry in Oregon and continually seeks ways to support sustainability and growth in the life science, bioscience, biotechnology and device manufacturing industries and to create acceleration initiatives so members can achieve their full scientific, economic and social potential. Oregon Bio, a nonprofit membership association, is the Oregon affiliate of BIO, Biotechnology Industry Organization.
BIO found in 2014 Oregon’s jobs in biotech grew faster than most other U.S. markets. The association’s most current economic impact study showed that Oregon has 802 bioscience establishments and 13 life science research institutions and that Oregon is emerging in several
bioscience areas with job growth in four of the five major subsectors from 2007 to 2012. BIO also found the state’s research, testing, and medical labs subsector has grown particularly fast in recent years, increasing employment by 33 percent. Oregon’s research universities are especially focused in the biosciences relative to other fields with their $456 million in bioscience academic R&D in 2012 accounting for 67 percent of all academic research.
NIH awarded Oregon nearly $304 million in 2014, with 673 grants awarded to 42 firms. Additionally, the National Cancer Institute gave 62 awards, totaling more than $39 million; 43 SBIR and STTR awards totaled $18.8 million; the Department of Defense granted almost $3 million; and the National Science Foundation awarded $60.3 million in grants. More about the Oregon Bioscience Association atwww.oregonbio.org.
