CEO Monthly Issue 5 2018

14 CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 5 2018 , Evolve BioSystems Inc. is amicrobiome company dedicated to developing the next generation of products to establish, restore, andmaintain a healthy human gut microbiome. We spoke to the company’s CEO, David Kyle as we look to find out more about the company’s success as well as his own. Evolve is Solving Dysbiosis of the Newborn Gut Microbiome Evolve is on a mission to create a world with less disease and morbidity. David starts off the discussion by providing us with an overview of what impact Evolve aims to make in the market, and what strategies it has in place which will help see it achieve its mission. “Here at Evolve, we believe that the best way to create a world with less disease and morbidity is though primary prevention, and it has discovered that the first 150 days of life is critical for the development of optimal immune and neurological systems. This window of opportunity is dependent on the interaction between the gut (the second brain) and the developing immune and central nervous systems. A delicate balance of microbes in the infant’s gut and its natural food source – breast milk – has been disrupted in the past 100 years and this disruption has paralleled the appearance of autoimmune disease. “However, Evolve has discovered a way to rescue that natural infant microbiome in all babies. As such, the company markets this solution over an e-commerce platform to consumers and health care professionals alike in the US and Canada. The company’s initial focus is on products designed to establish and maintain the healthy gut microbiome in new born infants at home, as well as for those infants that need to spend some time in the neonatal ICU.” As CEO, it is David’s responsibility to help the company achieve its mission, and he must lead the team in a way that motivates them to work hard and produce their best work. Leading by example, David is passionate about his work and this rubs off on his employees, and he comments on how he influences his employees to do their best work. “In every industry, the CEO’s primary attribute is leadership and the main responsibility is the success of the company and maintaining the security and support of the shareholders. I lead by example and drive passion into the organisation by continuously reminding the entire company why we are in business. “Throughout my career, I have been in situations where you can have an excellent team, but everyone is pulling in different directions. This is quicksand and you need to recognise it quickly and refocus the team to a common cause. “My responsibilities include planning to provide global leadership to the company and I now do that as Chairman of the Board. We need to gather more believers in our mission from both the private and public sectors. As such, this requires driving of the operational activities of the company to 1805CE03 success, as well as turning the resources of the world to help us with our aspirational mission of a world without disease.” It is this striking ability to keep his staff focused on achieving their mission which David attributes to his success. Ensuring that all staff are working hard, David leads by example and is sure to communicate the goals to every employee, which is essential in getting results. He tells us about the internal culture and what other strategies he has utilised in order to keep his employees motivated. “Crucial to my role, I have always been passionate about the work I do, and I try to infuse that passion to everyone in the company. First and foremost, I surround myself with top talent and then simply allow them to do what they do best, while I focus on motivation and removing obstacles.” Looking ahead, the next step for Evolve is global expansion.