PharmaTelevision - Dr. Jay Tischfield of RUCDR & Tracye McDaniel explain why you should 'Choose New Jersey'

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Video title: Dr. Jay Tischfield of RUCDR & Tracye McDaniel explain why you should 'Choose New Jersey'

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In this episode of PharmaTelevision News Review, filmed at BIO 2011, Fintan Walton talks to Dr. Jay Tischfield & Tracye McDaniel, CEO and President of Rutgers University Cell & DNA Repository and Choose New Jersey

CNJ's role and business initiatives

Fintan Walton:

Hello and welcome to PharmaTelevision News Review here at BIO 2011 in Washington DC. On this show I have two guests, I've got Tracye McDaniel, who is CEO of Choose New Jersey and I've got Professor Jay Tischfield , who is the MacMillan Professor of Genetics at Rutgers University , but you also have the title of CEO of Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository , welcome to the show both of you.

Jay Tischfield :

Thank you.

Tracye McDaniel:

Thank you.

Fintan Walton:

Now I wanna turn to you Tracye first of all, Choose New Jersey is obviously an offering to people, could you tell us what Choose New Jersey is all about?

Tracye McDaniel:

Absolutely, Choose New Jersey really started back in June 2011 and that's when Governor Christie basically asked the business community to collaborate in a public private partnership and that was we would take the private dollars approximately 7 million to be exact from 16 companies in the state of New Jersey to create an aggressive marketing initiative and that initiative is going to be to attract business and also retain companies in our state. We will do several things to get there it's going to be a research driven campaign so we've conducted a perception study and that's study is going outside of the state asking corporate America CEO's what do you think of New Jersey? What are some of their strengths? What are their assets? What are their top industries that are there? Those findings along with the comprehensive economic development strategy will mould the marketing plan and the brand for New Jersey that we market to industry.

Fintan Walton:

Sure, I know of course some of the leading pharmaceutical companies have been there for years.

Tracye McDaniel:

Absolutely.

Fintan Walton:

So some people might say well isn't it obvious why somebody should set up a company in New Jersey because these companies have been very successful so you are trying to make sure that message is very clear presumably?

Tracye McDaniel:

We make sure that message is clear, but also economic development is so competitive there are countries and there are states around the world that are going to bed at night trying to figure out how to take those companies out of New Jersey. So we want to make sure that we do everything we can to create a business climate that is pro-business to retain those companies and attract more.

Fintan Walton:

Sure, and as you said these are typically tough economic times so these are big challenges?

Tracye McDaniel:

These are big challenges because you have to be competitive, you have to be research driven I believe to get the best return on that investment and it's a science it just doesn't happen by a rifle, a shotgun approach you have to be strategic laser focused in your approach to attract these companies and you also have to build a relationship with the pharma companies that we have in our state to make sure we address their business needs.

RUCDR: Origin and Functions

Fintan Walton:

Right, now of course one of the things just happened in New Jersey is obviously the creation of a new centre now you are involved in this Jay this is the Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository which was set up several years ago you are an example I suppose of how resourceful New Jersey is but also with a well established university, so tell us professor the story?

Jay Tischfield :

Well one of the reasons I came to New Jersey 12-years ago was because of assurances that the state university was gonna play a very big role in the development of New Jersey. We started an enterprise at the time it was mostly funded by the federal government the RUCDR which was our Cell and DNA Repository when we came to New Jersey in late '98 our total volume of work was about a $1 million a year with the university we partnered, we then developed new ways of doing things in the university, we run the RUCDR like a business and we are now a $35 million a year enterprise, I am the CEO, we have a Chief Operating Officer and we are within state law we are given a lot of latitude and we perform a very vital function for at first it was the national research enterprise now it's the international we in certain areas we supply all the research materials for researchers throughout the world in the areas of mental health for example autism, tourette disorders, schizophrenia , alcoholism things like that.

Fintan Walton:

So what was specific to New Jersey, I mean obviously Rutgers is a very important university we are talking a little bit about here about New Jersey itself what was it about New Jersey that made a difference to RUCDR ?

Jay Tischfield :

Well there are lot of things actually, I think lot of people myself included wanted to be closer to where the action was happening on the east coast, I was in the mid west at the time. New Jersey is a very entrepreneurial place, I think people understand the relationship between the academia and economic growth on one level I thought and it turned out to be true that I could more easily recruit top people into New Jersey there are also the opportunities for private partnership with venture capital and things like that were also right across the rivers we say those were some of the reasons and also the commitment of the university primarily.

Key findings from Choose NJ's perception study on New Jersey economic development strategy

Fintan Walton:

Right, okay. So if I go back to you Tracye, so you this is an example, I mean obviously for a state like New Jersey you've got the pharmaceutical companies well established they got some of their research operations within New Jersey and also you've got the universities themselves obviously Rutgers is one example you've got Princeton and so forth top universities recognized worldwide so it's not just how attractive these the state itself is, but it's the people that will presumably make the difference for you?

Tracye McDaniel:

Absolutely, I will go back to the perception study when we ask the CEO's outside of the state what were the strengths, some of the early findings we identify were the talent pool, of course the location and I think as Doctor Tischfield mentioned access to capital financial services that are here in this tri-state area and makes New Jersey very unique, we have one of the strongest customer base in that countries access to about a 100 million consumers within a 24 hour period. So that is something that's very interesting to businesses we are trying to push their cargo and products to our consumers so that's very important.

Fintan Walton:

So what are the other key findings that you found from your perception study?

Tracye McDaniel:

I think some of the things that were early is that we need to really be laser focused like I mentioned in our approach for marketing, identify the strengths which is pharma, biotechnology making sure that we maintain our market share in those clusters and then really I think unlike a lot of states when it comes to attraction we really need to maintain our focus on retention in the state of New Jersey and maintain the companies that we have here.

Rutgers University : A Resource for potential new business

Fintan Walton:

If I could turn to you again Professor Tischfield about the university and particularly your repository as well, but you also see talent within your own within the university do you see an opportunity for more spin-outs coming out of the university obviously even the repository that you are CEO of is another resource for potential new business?

Jay Tischfield :

Yes, as a matter of fact we currently employ well over a 100 people, we've trained a lot of people who have started small companies some of them have actually been successful, the university is just like a corporation except it's fishing in a different pool is looking for top talent all the time and it needs to retain top talent if it's gonna have the research base that it hopes to have if it's going to bring in the kinds of public and private dollars that it needs to and it needs to spin-off companies and other kinds of enterprise provided top people, we've had top people from the university from the medical school for example become head of companies at J&J, Centocor has Bill Haight a former director of our cancer centre, there is a lot of that.

Fintan Walton:

So bit of proven track record?

Jay Tischfield :

It is cross fertilization and really you need a critical base people forget that Rutgers is a state university of New Jersey and the state has a real stake in promoting Rutgers and interfacing it with business in the state.

Choose NJ's future key milestones

Fintan Walton:

So if I go back to you Tracye, just how would you measure your own success going forward into the future, what's sort of key milestones would you like to see to say yes Choose New Jersey is actually working?

Tracye McDaniel:

Well I think you get to the bottom-line of it and that's job creation been able to create new jobs in our states and retain jobs, I mean if you look at the capital investment how much investment can we bring in our state through this initial, I think those are two areas that are critical, the other thing when you really look at an marketing or public PR awareness, building awareness is how we have changed the minds of people to really open them up and become more aware of what New Jersey has to offer and that has to be a baseline that we measure.

Fintan Walton:

I'd like to thank you both for coming on the show.

Jay Tischfield :

It's a pleasure.

Tracye McDaniel:

Thank you, it was great.

Fintan Walton

Dr Walton is the Founder and CEO of PharmaTelevision. After completing his doctoral research on the genetics of cell proliferation at the University of Michigan (US) and Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland), Dr Walton gained broad commercial experience in biotechnology in management positions at Bass and Celltech plc (1982-1992).

Tracye McDaniel

President

Tracye McDaniel is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Choose New Jersey. Choose NJ is an independently funded and operated 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to encourage and nurture economic growth throughout the state of New Jersey, including a focus on making New Jersey's most distressed cities engines for growth and opportunity. Tracye McDaniel was chosen after a comprehensive nationwide search for a leader with extensive experience and a track record of success in marketing and promoting states and metropolitan areas to business location decision-makers in the United States and abroad. She brings more than 26 years of executive and senior management experience in economic development, destination marketing, public relations, tourism and international business development. She has held cabinet-level positions in three gubernatorial administrations. McDaniel is a Ford Foundation Regional Sustainable Development (RSD) Fellow, a program of American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE). Prior to assuming her current post, Tracye McDaniel served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Greater Houston Partnership (GHP), where she directed the execution of the organization's 10-year Strategy Plan focused on membership, economic development and public policy. She also had daily oversight of GHP's $32 million aggressive five-year marketing program generating leads for economic development throughout a vast, 10-county region. Upon McDaniel's departure, the progress toward the 2015 goals included over 78,000 net new jobs created, over $3 billion in capital investment and trade growth of 52% since 2005. Previously, Tracye McDaniel served as Executive Director of the Office of the Governor Economic Development and Tourism Division, spearheading award-winning economic development and tourism operations for the State of Texas. During McDaniel's leadership, Texas saw the creation of 16,506 net new jobs and a capital investment of more than $4.3 billion. She also served as Chief Executive Officer for the Texas Economic Development Corporation's "Texas One" Program, a public/private partnership marketing initiative to generate job leads by actively promoting Texas as a business location. A native of Waco, Texas, McDaniel holds leadership positions in numerous professional and industry organizations and is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin.

Jay Tischfield

Chief Executive Officer

Jay Tischfield is currently Professor of Genetics, Rutgers Rutgers University ; CEO Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository (RUCDR) Jay Tischfield is an accomplished world-class geneticist and entrepreneur currently holding the position of Duncan and Nancy MacMillan Professor of Genetics, and Chair of the Department of Genetics at Rutgers , The State University of New Jersey and Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine. Dr. Tischfield is the Director of the Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey. Jay Tischfield, holds MPhil and PhD degrees from Yale University, and did postdoctoral work in Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. He has served on the faculties of Case Western Reserve University, the Medical College of Georgia, the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Indiana University School of Medicine. As CEO of RUCDR , he heads the management of a world-class facility for sharing cell lines, DNA, clinical data and genotype data for studies on the genetics of "complex" diseases. To this end, he is Co-Director of the National Institute of Mental Health Center for Collaborative Genetic Studies on Mental Disorders and the National Institute on Drug Abuse Center for Genetic Studies, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Genetics Repository and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism Repository. He is American Board of Medical Genetics certified in two clinical sub-specialties and is a Founding Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics.

PharmaVentures

PharmaVentures is a corporate finance and transactions advisory firm that has served hundreds of clients worldwide in relation to their strategic deal making in the pharmaceutical, life science and healthcare sectors. Our key offerings include: Transactions / deal negotiations; Product / technology valuations; Deal term advice; Due diligence & expert reports; Strategy formulation; Alliance management; and Expert opinion for litigation/arbitration cases. PharmaVentures provides the global expertise to ensure our clients generate the highest possible return on investment from all their deal making activities. We have experience of all therapeutic areas and can offer advice on both product and technology commercialization.

Choose New Jersey

Choose New Jersey is an independently funded and operated 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation created to encourage and nurture economic growth throughout New Jersey. Choose NJ is one of three interconnected and highly-focused organizations that comprise the New Jersey Partnership for Action, which is the centerpiece of the Christie-Guadagno administration's economic development agenda. Choose NJ's role is to position New Jersey as a world-class leader in the competitive global market, thus creating a prosperous and vibrant economy for the state and its citizens. Choose NJ will champion the state's economic development initiatives and create a surge of national and international awareness that New Jersey is a state that "means business."

Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository

Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository (RUCDR) was established in late 1998 along with a new Department of Genetics at Rutgers , The State University of New Jersey. Facilities are located in Nelson Biological Laboratories on the scenic Busch Campus in Piscataway, New Jersey. RUCDR began when scientific and managerial leadership re-located to New Jersey and transferred several cell line and DNA collections from Indiana University School of Medicine. Soon thereafter, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) transferred its Center for Genetic Studies to RUCDR . Since then, RUCDR has established many new repositories through grants and contracts with the government and private agencies.