4C Expands its Executive Team

4C's Life Sciences has made several early strategic hiring at high levels to support its growing client base and address the outsourcing-related difficulties they encounter right across the value chain.

FREMONT, CA: 4C Associates, a worldwide procurement and supply chain consultancy, appoints two Directors and two Senior Managers to its Life Sciences practice. Following the establishment of the firm’s life sciences business earlier this year, the firm is now well-positioned to assist companies in the sector wanting to achieve more control over their cost base and increase the flexibility and transparency of their complex supply chains.

Several pre-pandemic industry fundamentals remain constant, even as COVID-19 vaccine news dominates current affairs discourse and COVID-related disruption shapes supply-side dynamics for many. Executives naturally focus on cost management and the role of outsourcing in supporting the organization while the overall return on investment in life sciences research and development continues to face strong headwinds.

4C's Life Sciences has made several early strategic hiring at high levels to support its growing client base and address the outsourcing-related difficulties they encounter right across the value chain. 4C’s Managing Partner for Life Sciences, Nick Muir, stated: “4C is serious about Life Sciences and our clients expect serious thought leadership and experience, not just enthusiastic consultants. I’m thrilled to have Rob Aitchison, Dr. Michael Gaynord, Lowri McIntosh, and M¡ireMcPoland joining our team. They are deeply passionate about this industry and ready to challenge existing ways of working to deliver value for our clients.”

Director: Rob Aitchison Rob has 23 years of experience in the pharmaceutical sector, 20 of which have been spent in commercial, outsourcing, and procurement roles. Aitchison has worked for various organizations, ranging from small startup biotechnology startups to industry behemoths Pfizer and Novartis. He was most recently assisting Clinical leadership on outsourcing strategy for a rapidly developing Belgian biotech company, notably their China trials plan. Before that, he was the Head of Outsourcing and Contracts for a Japanese pharmaceutical company. Aitchison is a member of the Pharmaceutical Contracts Management Group (PCMG), an industry association for outsourcing and procurement experts, where he chairs the steering group for the 2022 annual conference.

Director: Dr. Michael Gaynord, M.D. Michael has had a dynamic career that has involved hands-on patient care in an NHS teaching hospital and leadership of big R&D outsourcing transactions. He is a Medical Doctor with degrees in both Law and Biotechnology. Gaynord has 21 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with operations and business development experience in Clinical Research Organizations; he has managed the transition of oncology programs following Novartis and GSK mergers; and most recently, he managed Roche’s Clinical Services outsourcing portfolio, which included topics such as Patient Recruitment & Retention, Regulatory Affairs, and Clinical Trials. He delivers unrivaled insight into the value drivers in clinical outsourcing, as well as hands-on technical expertise gained from constructing some of the industry’s largest outsourcing deals.

Senior Manager: Lowri McIntosh comes to 4C from Huma, a healthcare technology firm, where she was Chief of Staff to the CEO and later Innovation Projects Lead. Before joining Huma, McIntosh worked for Deloitte as a Strategy and Operations consultant, where she led several digital and operational optimization projects for big global pharmaceutical customers. These included automating the highly regulated Adverse Events reporting process for AstraZeneca using RPA (winning a ground-breaking regulatory endorsement from the MHRA and an MCA award for the effort) and digitizing a global top pharmaceutical company’s 2 billion dollars clinical trial outsourcing spend. McIntosh earned a first-class honors degree in law from the University of Bristol.

Senior Manager: Mire McPoland is a CIPS-certified procurement professional with more than 20 years of experience in consulting and internal procurement. She started her career as the head of procurement for an NHS Trust before running a Collaborative Buying Hub for 15 NHS Trusts. Mire subsequently went on to work with Proxima and Accenture in management consulting, where she gained experience in a variety of industries, including Life Sciences. She has led initiatives in operating model design, strategic sourcing planning, procure-to-pay policy change, process and platform implementation, process design, and operational delivery. Furthermore, she has gained a thorough understanding of both Ariba and Coupa and SAP S4 Hana as a result of her efforts.