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You have held positions where you were expected to recognize and develop talent. Talented people don鈥檛 come with labels on their foreheads.聽What are some of the leading indicators you look for when it comes to identifying talented people?

First of all, a聽one-hour聽interview is not going to be a good predictor of long-term performance. I really like hiring people who have worked with the company聽before:聽interns, students, collaborators. This level of experience is so much better than a聽60-minute聽interview. I will also ask friends of mine if they鈥檝e worked with the candidate. I know a lot of people.聽

Beyond that,聽I聽look聽for someone who has, even in school, some lab experience. I ask about the details of what they studied, and can often go聽deep聽with questions, just based on my curiosity. Then I begin to ask question about the context. How did this fit in with something that was impactful? With the larger team? Or larger project? I聽look聽for people who understand their specific area of research very well,聽as well as聽understand聽how it fits into the wider world.聽

In the decade starting in 2030, what would you project will be the ratio of FDA-approved drugs manufactured in living organisms such as bacteria,聽yeast,聽and mammalian cells vs. through chemical synthesis?聽What leads you to that conclusion?

2030 is only 9 years away. I can聽鈥渟ee鈥澛�9 years into our future, because we are developing the Phase 1 processes now. I think that the聽number聽of biologics will go up, but not radically higher. I think there will be more聽antibody drug conjugates聽getting approved than there are today. There will be a lot more virus-based therapies: gene therapy, oncolytic viruses, cell therapies (that use viruses) and vaccines.聽

What technology trends are you following most closely, with an eye toward how they may impact the work of your scientists, and biopharmaceutical development at AstraZeneca?

Mass Spec keeps evolving. I call it the Rocket Science of the biotech world.聽Machine learning and AI聽is聽important. Many people try to use these tools, hoping to turn bad data into gold. I think we鈥檒l be generating good data specifically to train these models. I鈥檇 like to see a purely virtual process development based only on the protein sequence.聽RNA vaccines and therapies will be important, which means that DNA production at very large scales will be important.聽

If you had聽to聽break it out in rough percentages, how much of your career success do you owe to聽(a)聽your formal academic聽schooling,聽(b)聽the professional training聽provided by your employers,聽and聽(c)聽general聽鈥榦n the job鈥� experience?

More than most, I use what I learned in college and graduate school a lot.聽The best thing I ever learned from professional development was when my company hired an industrial psychologist to do聽360 interviews. They were much better than the multiple-choice 360s we typically get. I really got to see how聽I could become a better leader through this exercise.

Your career now spans more than 25 years. What are some of the most important lessons you have learned about succeeding in industry that professors don鈥檛 teach you in university?聽

People say scientists should not be biased. But聽I train my聽team聽that鈥檚 not completely true. We should have a聽quantitative聽understanding of what we expect to happen, and ideally verify it as we鈥檙e doing the experiment. If it doesn鈥檛 line up, then there is something we don鈥檛 understand; we may have discovered something new. Or we may be working with broken equipment.聽Either way, you may not have noticed unless you had a quantitative understanding of what should happen.聽鈥淥h, that鈥檚 not what I expected鈥澛燾an be聽a discovery, not a disappointment.聽Most problems are not technical, they are psychological (also known as political, but the term has such a negative connotation. People are people.)聽Most people don鈥檛 tell you why they don鈥檛 want to do something. Many of those people don鈥檛 know why themselves.聽Listen to what people are not telling you.

Talk about the metaphorical 鈥渙ne that got away鈥�. Is there a project that eluded you? Why? And if you could return to it, what would you do differently?

I was the CMC team lead for聽bapinuzumab聽in 2008 during the process characterization and process performance qualification. It was the first time I鈥檇 ever done it. The drug was for聽Alzheimer鈥檚 and聽had the same mechanism of action as the recently approved aducanumab.聽Bapinuzumab聽didn鈥檛 work, so it didn鈥檛 get approved. We worked very hard to get the commercial process defined and running.聽

I聽was not so disappointed聽that聽聽it聽didn鈥檛 get approved.聽Perhaps聽I鈥檓 jaded. Or I鈥檓 robust.聽

How has your family influenced your leadership style?

I care very much for my family, and this happens in my team as well. In many ways, I look at my team as my family. I want them to be successful as individuals, as well as get the job done that聽AstraZeneca聽wants done. I鈥檓 very lucky in that I can often provide my team with opportunities that develop their desired career as part of their job.聽

You are a long-time member of the ACS Biochemical Technology Division. How has that affiliation benefitted you?

It really helped me expand my network of friends. I feel like I could go to any major city in the聽US聽and I鈥檇 have a friend there that I met at ACS.

I also learned how to lead and be an executive, at least an executive of a small, poorly funded, volunteer organization. It was great experience.聽

What non-technical skills have you most relied on to-date for your career advancement?

One of the things that I learned from that industrial psychologist was that empathy is one of my superpowers. If I can listen to what a person is saying, and what they are not saying, if I can see on their face what their feeling, I can help them discover more about themselves.聽

It also is hard to deliver聽criticism聽or聽correction because聽I feel聽the pain. I鈥檝e learned how to deliver criticism in a way that makes them feel like they鈥檝e something to look forward to. Something like, 鈥淚 think if you do it this way, then you will be more successful.鈥澛�

Another superpower is curiosity. 鈥淲ow, that鈥檚 neat鈥� is a great way聽to discover new things at work or at home.聽

You and your wife聽home-schooled your children. What聽sort of thoughts ran through your mind聽in recent times聽as millions of parents across the U.S.聽found themselves trying to support their children鈥檚 education from their homes?

I think everybody suffered this past year. I think even homeschoolers suffered because they could not get out and socialize like they normally would. I had hoped that we would realize how important teachers are to the economy. We can鈥檛 have the US economy without kids going to school and parents undistracted.聽If I had my way, teachers would get a 20% raise, and a yearly bonus, like they were bankers. I want to see rich teachers. They do as much for our economy, in my opinion, as any banker.

You did your undergrad at the University of Maine in Orono, and your PhD at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. How would you compare the winters in those two northern climes?聽

Madison was much colder. Orono is on the聽Penonscot聽River, which is tidal聽in Bangor, Maine,聽just a few miles down from Orono. So gets a lot of weather聽like聽the coast, which tends to be warmer.聽

Madison had two weeks every year where the high temperature was -20F. I remember rejoicing when it warmed up to -15F.聽

Orono聽got聽Northeasters, blizzards fed from the warm ocean waters off the coast. These were always exciting because maybe, just maybe, they鈥檇 cancel school. There is no hope like the hope of a kid for a snow day.聽I still feel that way at 55.

Jon is a thought leader within Biologics Process Sciences with over 27 years of experience in major biopharmaceutical companies, including 15 years at Pfizer (formerly Wyeth Biopharma and Genetics Institute) and 6 years at Boehringer Ingelheim (BI). Jon is a strong technical leader who has pioneered the development of novel purification technologies while at Wyeth/Pfizer and most recently continuous manufacturing technologies at BI. Much of his work has been recognized via strong peer reviewed publications record and patents.聽Jon received his BS in Chemical Engineering from University of Maine and his PhD in Chemical Engineering from University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dr. Jon Coffman is Global Head聽Innovation,聽Technology at Boehringer Ingelheim in Fremont, California. Jon and his team are instrumental in driving the implementation of AstraZeneca鈥檚 bioprocessing innovation vision.聽