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Poole College’s BioSciences Management Club Provides Insight for MMB/MBA Students

The challenging, complex and fast-paced biosciences industry demands serious leadership with a sound knowledge of emerging science – and an understanding of how businesses can grow to achieve their potential. The BioSciences Management Club based in NC State Poole College’s Jenkins MBA program provides students additional academic and professional resources to develop this knowledge.

Led by Matt Takvorian, president, and Jessica Cotton, vice president, the BioSciences Management Club fosters the growth of its graduate students into leaders in the BioScience and Biotechnology sectors.

“The purpose of the club is to bring those students that have interests in business and science together, to allow for a greater understanding of the opportunities that are out there,” Takvorian said. He and Cotton are both in the dual degree Master of Microbial Biotechnology (MMB) and MBA program, in the biosciences management concentration.

Currently open exclusively to graduate students, the club’s members come from diverse backgrounds with unique aspirations.

“We are focusing on making a quality club for a small group,” Takvorian said. “Many of our members are Jenkins MBA students concentrating in biosciences management, or students in NC State’s Master of Microbial Biotechnology (MMB) program.”

“The goals of our student members vary. They all have inherent interest in the biotechnology and biosciences fields, and some even want to go into business development or marketing after graduate school,” he said. “My reasons for coming back to school revolved around becoming a more well-rounded individual that understood both advanced science concepts and research but had the traditional business background of an MBA.”

One of the club’s main objectives for the coming yearis to offer networking lunches with representatives from various companies in the Research Triangle Park (RTP), and to continue the club’s involvement in the college’s annual BioSciences Forum, scheduled for October 26 at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. The Forum, now in its eighth year, is a mix of presentations by various industry leaders. This year, MBA and graduate Microbial Biotechnology students will also have a poster session showcasing recent practicum and other projects they completed with biosciences companies as part of their coursework.

“The overall purpose of our club’s events is to create an environment where the students are able to meet industry contacts and continue to grow as individuals,” Takvorian said.

Cotton, who is in the MBA-MMB dual degree program, said that continued demand for biosciences and biotechnology will place increasing importance on developing leaders in the lab and the office.

“The biosciences industry is extremely dynamic,” she said. “As the baby boomer population continues to age, healthcare will continue to be one of the largest factors in American lives. The bioscience industry is creating not only the drugs, but the technologies behind those drugs.”

“A lot of issues arise (in the process), especially in technology based companies initially managed by scientists,” Cotton said. “These individuals can sometimes be blinded by their passion for science and miss the business knowledge needed to become successful. A lot of start-ups with great technologies have failed for this reason. This is why a mix of a biotechnology based degree and an MBA is so important. The scientists have to trust that you know their technology and you need to be able to speak in business terms and make knowledgeable business decisions.”

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