BEHIND THE LIST WITH MELVIN L. BILLINGSLEY

President and CEO of Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central Pennsylvania

Q: What are some of the big trends you are seeing in your industry?

A: I think the biggest trend that we're seeing with the early-stage life-sciences industry is what the exit strategies are for the companies, and most of the exit strategies today are looking more at M&As, with IPOs (going public) as a much more rare event.

The other thing, too, is that then sets the sights of companies working through a medical device ora therapeutic as to what stage of the device they'll look to partner or flip. It used to be that the goal was to take a product or a therapeutic as far as you could to completion. (There are) mergers and acquisitions at earlier and earlier stages.

Q: What are the biggest challenges in the industry?

A: I think the biggest local challenge that we have here is the need for additional access to early-stage capital. That continues to be an issue that this part of Pennsylvania is working on. It's improved since (the Greenhouse began), but it also (could) improve a lot more.

Q: What is your approach to managing portfolio companies?

A: We're very hands-on because of the early stage, and, once we invest, we move on their side of the table because clearly we're going to be with them as they mature into different levels of investment and growth. And so we encourage active management. We also encourage them to find appropriate entrepreneurial management as they grow, which is probably the most critical component for a company's success.

Q: Is recruitment an issue for you?

A: It hasn't been an issue for us, per se. I mean, the greenhouse is a small group, and we have a team of people that have really highly specialized talent.

Q: Do you have a favorite piece of management advice?

A: One of the things that we recognize is that most of our companies, because they're in the early stage, the integrity and the excellence that that company has to achieve starts with the very first dealings that we have with them. They have to be of the highest integrity with a drive towards excellence because, at the end of the day, you're working on devices that have a strong impact on people's health, and a lot of this really comes down to execution. You know, the world's really awash in technology, but it's really executing the technology so it finds the right solution for the right problem. It's really about the people, not about the technology.

- David Dagan

ABOUT MELVIN L. BILLINGSLEY

Melvin L. Billingsley has been president and chief executive officer of the Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central Pennsylvania since 2002. He previously held a range of position with the Penn State College of Medicine in Derry Township. He holds a doctorate in pharmacology from George Washington University Medical School in Washington, D.C., and did post-doctoral work at Yale University. Originally from Pittsburgh, Billingsley has been in the midstate since 1984. He is married to Elizabeth and has three children.

Melvin L. Billingsley, among exhibits in the Harsco Science Center in the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts in Harrisburg, is president and chief executive officer of the Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central Pennsylvania. The Harrisburg-based nonprofit provides pre-seed venture capital to early-stage life-science companies.