“Thank You for a Phenomenal Year of Growth”

Normally at this time of year I provide the readers of this newsletter with a wrap up of the community’s accomplishments during the year.  Last month our Chairman, Norbert Riedel, CVP and Chief Scientific Officer of Baxter, did that much more eloquently than I ever could.

So let me instead thank everyone who shares responsibility for those accomplishments.  The number of organizations acknowledged indicates the extent to which we are changing the “silos of excellence”—which characterized Illinois for so long—into a highly networked, collaborative community.

To folks in the Chicago Public Schools; educators in K-12, community, and 4-year colleges statewide; Agricultural Leadership Foundation; Illinois Ag in the classroom; State Board of Education; Illinois Community College Board; Illinois Board of Higher Education; the workforce development staff in the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO); National Governor’s Association; the Illinois Governor’s Office, the Biotechnology Institute; and Board Members of the iBIO Institute; the Chicagoland Chamber Foundation; World Business Chicago; participants in the iBIO iCONS Awards Gala; and industry and educator members of our new Council of Champions for education: thanks for helping us build consensus on what to do for our kids coming through the talent pipeline and how to do it.

To San Diego CONNECT® , Illinois Venture Capital Association, ARCH Development Partners, Ceres Fund, Illinois VENTURES, The University of Illinois Vice President’s Office, Forest City Enterprises, Bell Boyd and Lloyd, McCracken & Frank, LEK, Dwayne Morris, KB Partners, Baxter, White Oak Communications, Baird Venture Partners, NanoSphere, Ovation Pharmaceuticals, KeraCure, Advanced Life Sciences, Vasista Consulting, Center for Business Models, Kellogg Center for Biotechnology, the EDC, University of Chicago, L3 Healthcare Marketing, Biotechnology Business Consultants, Rush University Medical Center, DCEO, City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development, University of Chicago Technology Transfer, and Champaign County Economic Development Council: thanks for helping make the launch of the iBIO PROPEL Coaching, CEO Roundtable, and Educational Assistance, and SBIR/STTR Workshop programs so successful!

To Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Baxter International, Abbott, Astellas US and the Board of iBIO: Thanks for your help in raising nearly $1 million in seed funds for the iBIO Institute.

To Goble Associates, Treacy Marketing Group, Dunbar Vocational Career Academy, Northwestern’s International Institute for Nanotechnology, NanoSphere, Takeda, Baxter, Abbott, Astellas, Hospira, Tap, McDonnell Boehen Hulbert & Berghoff, Ovation Pharmaceuticals, Northwestern University and the University of Illinois, and City of Chicago Mayor’s Office, and VWR International: thanks for making the first iBIO iCON Awards Gala an inspirational success.

To ABG, ADM, American Farmland Trust, Argonne National Laboratory, BMO Capital Markets Food Group, Bunge Foods, C-FAR, Dupont-Pioneer, Growmark, Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation, Illinois Beef Association, Illinois Corn Growers, Illinois Corn Marketing Board, Illinois Dept. of Agriculture , Illinois Dept. of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB), Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association, Illinois Pork Producers, Illinois Seed Trade Association, Inc., Illinois Soybeans Association, Illinois State University, John Deere & Company, Kraft Foods, Monsanto Company, National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center, Renessen, Southern Illinois University College of Agricultural Sciences, Tate & Lyle, USDA -- National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, University of Illinois College of ACES, Valent Biosciences, and Western Illinois University:  thank you for making the Ag-Bio Leadership Summit successful in its quest to build an ag-bio strategy for Illinois, and helping the IFB-led Vision for Illinois Agriculture strategy sessions supported by iBIO and the iBIO Institute.

To the national BIO organization, Neil Flynn & Associates, Merck, Sienko & Associates, Abbott, Pfizer, Tate & Lyle, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, ADM, Eli Lilly & Co, Dupont-Pioneer, Amgen, Hospira, TAP, Astellas, Takeda, MedImmune, the Illinois Farm Bureau, the Illinois Corn Growers, Forest City Enterprises, supporters in the Illinois State Senate; the Illinois House Bio-Technology Committee, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the Illinois Department of Agriculture, DCEO, the General Assembly Office of the Speaker of the House, the iBIO Governmental Affairs Committee, PhRMA; the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce; the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, and Coryell Associates: thank you for making 2007 an outstanding year for development of sound public policy in both Springfield and Washington DC.

To Abbott, Astellas, Baxter, Takeda, TAP, Bell Boyd & Lloyd; Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, Monsanto, Goble & Associates, ADM, Plexus Groupe, Ernst & Young, Hospira, Valent Biosciences, VWR International, White Oak Consulting, Intellectual Asset Commercialization; Ungaretti & Harris, Brogan Pharmaceuticals, Chromatin, Immune Cell Therapy, KeraCure, Midwest Energy Group, NeoCytex Biopharma, Genome and Agricultural Biotechnology, ProNAi Therapeutics, Quintessence Biosciences, Renessen, SanoGene Therapeutics, Valent Biosciences, Accenture, Barns & Thornburg, bioStrategies Group, Chicago Technology Park, Illinois Institute of Technology, Illinois Science + Technology Park, KAR Laboratories, Rosenbaum & Associates, the University of Illinois, World Courier, the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute at Northwestern University, the Physiology & Biophysics Department at the University of Illinois; the Institute for Genomic Biology; Nanotope, Argonne National Laboratory; Renewable Agricultural Energy, Ford Motor Company, Renessen, Prescience, Inc; BioPharma Solutions, Dharmacon, Inc.; Biopharmaceutical & Drug Delivery Consulting; and Lettuce Planet: heartfelt thanks for making the iBIO IndEx a world class event.

I’m sure I’ve probably left out some important organizations that helped with these or other projects.  The leadership of the iBIO and iBIO Institute Boards of Directors under Dr. Norbert Riedel of Baxter and Takeda President Mark Booth, respectively, was phenomenal. 

And though I’ve avoided naming specific names, there are few folks, typically out of the limelight, who help us make everything work and who deserve special mention: Don Wilson, Eileen Ryan, Jane Fisher, Bob Sheets, Ray Drymalski, Curt Paison, Kate Starshack, Dennis Sienko, Kaitlin Fahey, Carol Brown, Joe Kuchta and his amazing team at Goble, Carole Bax, Jim Bray, Michael Rosen, Sylvia Yacoubian, Matthew Raymond, and Alicia Loffler.

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