Scientist Snapshot | Mike Gibson, Chief Technical Officer

Mike Gibson joined Sterling’s Cramlington site in 1998 after graduating from the University of Oxford and working as a Synthetic Chemist at AstraZeneca. Today, Mike is our Chief Technical Officer and is responsible for global technical alignment across our sites.

Can you briefly describe your background?

After graduating from the University of Oxford with an MChem in Chemistry, I spent two years working for AstraZeneca as a Synthetic Chemist in their research laboratories. I then decided to move back to the North East, as that’s originally where I’m from, and joined what is now Sterling’s Cramlington site as a Process Support Group Chemist. This role involved transferring new processes onto the plant, troubleshooting, and gaining experience in production.

After a couple of years based In production, I joined Product Management within the commercial group and was responsible for a number of US biotech company accounts. Within this role I managed the commercial and supply chain aspects of established products and had responsibility for several new product introduction projects.

When the Cramlington site became part of Rhodia in 2001, I started to manage customer projects that were being carried out at our European sites. In 2005, I became Head of Product Management and then in 2006 transitioned into the role of Sales and Marketing Director.

In 2013, I was given the opportunity to return to the technical side of the business as Technical Director, where I was responsible for research and development (R&D) and new product introduction (NPI). It was during this time that, with the help of Mark Muldowney our Head of Technology and Innovation, we established our Technology and Innovation strategy and formed a new group focused on building Sterling’s expertise in key areas of innovative chemistry.

Following the investment by GHO and as the business grew, I became Chief Technical Officer, with responsibilities across the Sterling network.

What does your role as Chief Technical Officer involve?

I am responsible for our global technical resources, including a network of scientists and project managers across the globe, and also support the business in terms of strategy, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), as well as integration across sites from a technical perspective. I spend a lot of time working with our technical and project teams to ensure our projects are on track and meeting our customers’ technical requirements, succession planning within the function, and looking at how we can further align our processes across the network. I am also involved in supporting the preparation and delivery of some of our key new business proposals.

We have a ‘One Sterling’ strategy across the network, so a part of my role is leading the NPI and R&D teams to ensure we have the right processes in place across our sites to improve our customer experience and allow us to grow.

Can you tell us about your role as part of the executive team?

Within the executive team, part of my role is to work with the site leads to ensure we have the right technical resources and capabilities across our network and also to provide them with support if we come up against any technical challenges at a particular site.

I also provide the technical lead for M&A evaluations and also any technical issues we want to raise within board meetings with our investors.

How has your background supported you in your current role?

Having worked in both the commercial and technical sides of the business, I think I have a good understanding of each area and how they come together. My technical background, combined with my commercial experience, allows me to understand what is important to those I’m presenting to, whether that’s the board or customers, and be able to explain in a clear and logical way the commercial and business implications of a technical problem. When you’re passionate about a subject, it can be very easy to get carried away with technical jargon and detail, so having a good balance of technical and commercial insight in this situation is beneficial.

The commercial aspects of my experience also give me an understanding of what the important technical drivers are in terms of proposals and what will be competitive within the market place. Having had time on both sides of the business is very useful for this.

Can you tell us more about the teams you work with? What does that involve?

I typically work with the chemists and project managers across our sites. These are employees with very technical backgrounds, and often PhDs. Most of the project managers have come from lab-based roles too.

I work closely with the new chemistry teams that come onboard when we acquire a site. For example, I’m currently working with the Cork site on establishing their technical team, whilst also working with the Newcastle Biosphere site to bring a new set of scientists into the Sterling network and understand how we can best use their resources to support our customers and their projects. Part of this also involves looking at succession planning, and seeing where we can develop our workforce. Our employees are our future leaders, so we must support them and provide them with the technical experience and opportunities necessary to progress their careers.

How does our Technology and Innovation Programme benefit our customers projects?

Through this programme we have evaluated a number of different technologies to determine which could benefit our customers the most. Once we start to work on a customer’s project, we consistently look for ways in which we can improve processes for them through innovative technologies to ensure they have the most economic, sustainable, and reliable process possible.

We have been working over the last few years to enhance our flow chemistry and biocatalysis capabilities, with investment into our Cramlington facility. These are key technologies for our customers as they can offer new and efficient ways to access more complex molecules, and represent an area that we want to continue growing our offering in.

One way we do this is through our partnership with universities. We have established Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) with Northumbria University in order to develop our internal skills and capabilities in some key technology areas. Our most recent KTP was focused on biocatalysis and allowed academic expertise to be applied within an industrial setting to support customer requirements and provide employment opportunities in the region.

We are constantly looking for new ways to engage with our academic and industrial partners globally, in order to support our customers’ projects through innovative technologies and processes.

What makes you proud to work at Sterling?

One thing that hasn’t changed over the years that I have been at Sterling is the way our people feel about the company and how, as a company, we always try to do the right thing for our people. Our employees are very dedicated and passionate about what they do, so it’s great that we are able to experience Sterling’s success and growth together.