Kendalle Burlin O'Connell wants biotech industry to look to Massachusetts for solutions

Boston Globe

3 hours ago

O'Connell, MassBio's chief executive, would argue that industry researchers and executives need each other more than ever in these tumultuous times. And she'll make the case at the
BIO International Convention
next week that the industry needs Massachusetts and its dense cluster of biotech innovators more than ever as well. Among other activities at BIO, O'Connell will share the stage next Tuesday with Governor
Maura Healey
and
Thermo Fisher Scientific
chief executive
Marc Casper
to discuss why Massachusetts remains the global epicenter for life sciences.
Here's the message she'll try to convey: 'When there's uncertainty, when you don't know where to go, you go back to what has a proven track record of success. This is the place for innovation. This is the place for hope for patients.'
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Other local speakers will include Lieutenant Governor
Kim Driscoll
, top
Takeda
executive
Julie Kim
, and
Wendy Chung
of
Boston Children's Hospital
.
O'Connell was working as a lawyer in 2008 when then-chief executive
Bob Coughlin
persuaded her to oversee MassBio's purchasing consortium, rather than take a job at the Massachusetts Highway Department. She gradually worked her way up MassBio's ranks. Former state senator
Joe Boncore
replaced Coughlin after his departure; she took over a year later, and Boncore now has an active lobbying practice.
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Lately, with all the threats facing the industry, MassBio is doing more federal lobbying than ever, she said, while reaching out to members of Congress from other states for the first time to make the industry's case. (Former state rep
Ed Coppinger
heads up MassBio's lobbying efforts.)
Through it all, O'Connell remains relentlessly optimistic.
'We've navigated choppy waters before here in Massachusetts,' O'Connell said. 'The world needs what Massachusetts is doing as it relates to innovation.'
Jump-starting a new kind of battery
Can the 'American Battery Revival' get a jump-start in Massachusetts?
AM Batteries
chief executive
Lie Shi
and the Billerica manufacturer he leads are betting on it.
The company held a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week to celebrate its new 'Customer Success Center,' essentially a dry room and an electrode manufacturing production line that allows clients to do test runs, or hire AMB to make the electrodes for them. Shi was joined by US Representative
Lori Trahan
, state interim economic development secretary
Ashley Stolba
, and
Lily Fitzgerald
, of the
Massachusetts Technology Collaborative
, among others.
Roughly half the $5 million center's cost was funded through a state grant provided through MassTech. The company has doubled its workforce in the past year, adding 25 new jobs, with plans to add 15 more in 2025. Investors include
TDK Ventures
,
Toyota Ventures
, and
Anzu Partners
.
Most batteries rely on a liquid mixture applied to the electrodes that helps them store and release energy. But AMB's technology, developed by
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
professor
Yan Wang
and
Heng Pan
(now at
Texas A&M University
), uses a coating of dry powder instead, and as a result is more efficient and environmentally friendly.
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Manufacturing batteries, Shi said, involves a careful balance of cost, performance, and sustainability. Usually, battery makers have to compromise on one aspect, but Shi said AMB's process excels in all three areas.
'All the battery makers realize this should be the future of manufacturing,' Shi said.
Banking competition heats up
The white gloves are coming off in Greater Boston's private banking battles.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
recently held ribbon-cutting ceremonies at 14 branches for its new affluent banking arm, mostly at renovated former First Republic locations
JPMorgan typically wields the Chase brand for its retail operations, but not this time. Instead, the signs out front say 'J.P. Morgan.'
'We're testing a new model, leveraging . . . the JPMorgan brand,' said
Stevie Baron
, head of affluent banking at New York-based JPMorgan. 'This is an opportunity to take the JPMorgan brand to focus more up market [though] we've got inspiration from First Republic.'
The personalized banking services are available to customers with at least $750,000 of deposits and investable assets. (JPMorgan also has a private banking arm for much wealthier individuals, one without standalone branches.)
First Republic's chocolate chip cookies have been replaced by squares of Dylan's chocolate.
JPMorgan's rollout comes as
Citizens Financial Group
steps up its efforts to cater to wealthy customers through its own private bank. Citizens was among the bidders for the failed First Republic in 2023, but lost to JPMorgan. However, at least 150 bankers from First Republic left later that year to help Citizens launch the private bank.
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Last year, Citizens reopened a former First Republic branch in the Back Bay to serve as its first private banking office in Boston, and it currently has four others across the United States with more on the way. (The chocolate chip cookies stayed on the menu.) The venture has turned a profit more quickly than chief executive
Bruce Van Saun
expected.
'I think there's a void in the market where First Republic played and Silicon Valley [Bank] played,' he said. 'A lot of the customers of those banks recognize that the personal level of service that the bankers offer was second to none, and Citizens is going to occupy that space.'
Honoring Jack Connors' legacy
When
Eversource
chief executive
Joe Nolan
wanted the right place to put a statue honoring his longtime friend, ad mogul-turned-philanthropist
Jack Connors
, he first considered a public park such as the Commonwealth Avenue Mall.
Nolan soon learned that city rules require at least a five-year waiting period for public art. So Nolan found a privately owned spot instead, and it turned out to be the most appropriate location in the city: at the base of 200 Clarendon, a.k.a. the John Hancock Tower. That's where Connors held court for four decades — first as chief executive of ad agency
Hill Holliday
, and then from his
'Joe's not waiting five years, that's clear,' said
Sharon McNally
, chief executive of
Camp Harbor View
, the charity Connors started and championed. 'It's a great solution.'
On Saturday, at the annual Beach Ball for Camp Harbor View, Mayor
Michelle Wu
announced her support for the memorial. (Also that night, event planner
Bryan Rafanelli
, former mayor
Marty Walsh
, and Rev.
John Unni
of
Saint Cecilia
'squeezed every penny out of the room' to raise $1 million in donations for the camp, McNally said.)
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'Boston thrives because of people like Jack, who build careers and lives dedicated to solving problems and doing good,' Wu said in a statement. 'I am delighted to partner with the Connors family and Joe Nolan to dedicate a permanent memorial to Jack in his beloved Back Bay, a lasting tribute to his life and legacy of service.'
Nolan got to work soon after Connors died last July from pancreatic cancer. He consulted with members of Connors' family. Eventually, they agreed on a concept. The bronze statue would sit on a bench, with one arm outstretched, as if in a friendly conversation.
'No matter who you were, when he was talking to you, you were the most important person in the world to him,' Nolan said.
Sculptor
Pablo Eduardo
has been tapped to make the statue, and Nolan hopes it will be installed sometime this fall.
While tower landlord
BXP
will donate the space, Nolan plans to raise $2 million to cover the costs. Surplus funds will go to the camp.
'It won't be hard to raise,' Nolan said. 'Everyone wants to do something for Jack.'
Jon Chesto can be reached at