Bench International Opens Office in San Diego
February 24, 2020 – Los Angeles-headquartered search firm Bench International has expanded with the opening of a new office in San Diego. This expansion is being co-led by Denise (DeeDee) DeMan, chairman and CEO, and Kim Mittemeyer, regional head, San Diego.
Fueled by an increase in San Diego life science venture capital funding, Bench International is focused on making an impact addressing the commensurate backlog of C-suite, strategic, R&D and other technical executive openings by leveraging its global reach. The firm said that from early stage to established life science companies, matching bioscience industry leadership requirements to leaders is a critical skill, made more difficult by San Diego County’s unemployment rate of 2.8 percent.
The firm’s expertise was demonstrated recently with the placement of Scott Gottlieb to Illumina’s board of directors. Mr. Gottlieb, former commissioner of the FDA and resident fellow of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), elevates both the profile of Illumina and the San Diego life sciences cluster.
DeeDee DeMan, chairman and CEO of Bench International, is a native of San Diego and understands the important interdependencies between the region’s premier academic/research institutions and life science companies, from both intellectual and human capital perspectives. “San Diego has all the necessary ingredients to surpass the growth and success of Boston’s life science cluster,” said Ms. DeMan. “Our firm is committed to support and give back to make this a reality.”
“And so far, Bench International is delivering on that promise, having recruited top talent to the region for both local startups and one of the largest life science employers in San Diego,” said Joe Panetta, president and CEO of Biocom. “Having a partner like Bench International with its extended reach to over 100,000 worldwide life science executives and leaders, is vital to San Diego’s continued growth.”
“With 40-plus years of life science expertise and well over $150 billion in successful exits for companies we have built or rebuilt, we’re ready to respond not only more proximally to our current San Diego client base and continue to expand our relationships, but to give back by supporting the emerging companies, ensuring they are ready to take on their competitive markets,” said Ms. DeMan. “San Diego has every opportunity to scale and ultimately exceed the growth and success of Cambridge and Boston. The cost of doing business, the cost of living, the quality of scientific and medical talent and, of course, the environment, are all tangible assets for making this happen.”
Trusted Partners
Established in 1974, Bench International is a senior talent provider to life science institutions, exclusively. Over one-third of candidates placed in last 30-plus years meet diversity standard, and exclusively serves the pharmaceutical, life science platform technologies, biotechnology, devices, diagnostics, bio-pharma and drug/device combinations.
Tapping Outside Talent for Life Science and Healthcare
For these top 50 executive recruiters working in the life science and healthcare sectors, the last decade has been one of transformation. Pressure on pricing, regulatory changes, emerging innovations, growth, and an uncertain political environment have all helped shape a new field of play.
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“The experience and the approach to recruiting that Bench International is bringing to the San Diego community will benefit us immensely in a rapidly growing market where we truly have a need for high-caliber recruitment to ensure that we hire the most qualified professionals to keep our industry at the forefront of innovation,” Mr. Panetta said. “As a founding partner and sponsor of BioLabs we know how important it is for life science companies within BioLabs to be able to attract the diversity of talent that they require, and that those companies will be successful in large part due to the talent of their employees. There is no better formula for their success than to work with Bench International in their recruiting.”
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
