CEO Monthly December 2017

CEO MONTHLY / DECEMBER 2017 7 Accelerate Biotechnology g well as delivering next year’s company budget for approval by the shareholders. Part of that process involves the development and communication about the companies, short, mid, and long-term strategy. As technical innovation development is also an integral part of the company’s revenue strategy this area is also under the CEO responsibility. Working closely with clients and colleagues, I maintain active and close contact with multiple financial institutions to enter into debt financing agreements (and reporting thereof), which is one of the most important financial instruments used to date to support company growth. “Additionally, travelling across the globe, I scout the world for new technologies. Based on their uniqueness, level of development (market readiness) and technological promise I enter into technology evaluation, license option- or straight license agreements in order to add the most exciting novel innovations to the portfolio of Batavia. Naturally, I scout also for organizations that could further propel Batavia company growth beyond the long-term organic company growth model.” A versatile and adaptable CEO, Menzo also participates in a number of committees, varying from the clinical development board, scientific review board, and the entrepreneur board in order to maintain and expend his network and for business intelligence purposes. He presents the company in business conferences and in the (international) scientific and entrepreneurial society. “As an ambassador in acquisition, I am mostly involved in maintaining the excellent relationship the company has with its many clients as well as being a source for M&S commercial lead development.” Following on from discussing his leadership style, Menzo goes into further detail about how he manages his staff, and what key principles he adheres to when creating a thriving and relaxed, but also professional working environment. “With every project successfully completed Batavia staff become more valuable and as such the company puts an effort to create for its employees a professional, exciting, fun, and challenging environment in which people can decide to further develop themselves at their own pace. Batavia is proud on its extremely low personnel turn over (<2%) and has in place a number of instruments to retain talent. These instruments naturally include a competitive remuneration system. “The key principles in managing our staff are based on a win-win system. To explain: every job profile at Batavia is build-up by a specific set of core competences required to execute that specific job. The core competences are further defined being either skill competences (accuracy, independent working, etc) or leadership competences (coaching, self-awareness, etc). The yearly evaluation cycle includes a detailed review of every skill-leadership competence in relation to the job profile and hence results in a detailed and transparent picture on job aspects