Devices & Diagnostics, Hospitals

Biotech CEO resigns in huff over board decision to consider outsiders to succeed him

Could this only happen in Minnesota? The 71-year-old CEO of Techne Corp (NASDAQ GS: TECH) has abruptly […]

Could this only happen in Minnesota?

The 71-year-old CEO of Techne Corp (NASDAQ GS: TECH) has abruptly resigned his position as the top executive and chairman of the board. The public, Minneapolis-based life sciences firm makes products used by hospitals and the medical research industry.

The reason? Because the board is considering external candidates in its succession plan and has hired a national executive search firm. In an email to the company’s board of directors and its corporate lawyer dated Oct. 31, Oland writes:

To fill the CEO position with someone who has no detailed knowledge of our culture, management or operations, and with whom you have not had a working relationship, will put at risk all that we and our employees have built over the past 30 years. Also, I believe the appointment of an outside CEO will be of great concern to many of our employees and shareholders and you risk losing their support.

Since I do not agree with your decision to hire someone from the outside as CEO, I will not participate in the recruiting process and I cannot endorse or support your position with either our employees or shareholders.

Accordingly, I will resign and retire.

Oland, who recommended the post go to CFO Greg Melsen,  has been at the helm since 1985.  Melsen, who will assume the interim CEO role when Oland leaves Nov. 30, declined all comment.

Melsen, 60, may be infinitely qualified for the CEO role. He has been VP and CFO at Techne since 2004. But that is besides the point.

If the board never makes an attempt to find out what kind of expertise is out there, I doubt that would make for a very prudent decision from both a shareholder standpoint and from the perspective of the company’s future. Not to mention that mathematically, a sample size of one may not make a convincing case for any decision.

After vetting all other candidates if Melsen appears strong, then by all means, he should be appointed CEO. But to never even ask the question as Oland is advocating….

Which takes me to my original question. Could this happen only in Minnesota?

In this case at least, I will have to take the argument I just denounced and share my lone experience with the people of the state. I am glad for many things in Minnesota – healthcare is top notch, schools are good and we can afford a nice lifestyle here.

But breaking the ice with (most) Minnesotans, now that is another matter. Inclusive they are not. Friendly, beyond the superficial Minnesota nice, they are not that much. I remember accompanying my husband to a home of a senior executive of his employer and sitting next to people at dinner, who clearly knew each other’s families. They hardly spoke a word to me or my husband during the entire time we shared the table.

I have invited Minnesotans to my home where I have cooked dinner from scratch and they have promised to invite us over. Two years later … I am still waiting. I am also living next to people who have complained that they cannot stand the smell of Indian spices – I am assuming they are Minnesotan, here. Perhaps that is my bias.

But then this is also a place where a top Thai restaurant makes its waitresses wear outfits worn by Singapore Airlines flight attendants. (it’s all Asia, right?). [I apologize if King and I Thai may have altered the dress code, but after witnessing the discrepancy several years ago I consciously made the decision never to patronize the restaurant arguing that this level of ignorance would never be on display in larger, more diverse American cities.]

This is also the state where getting an outsider to lead a top firm – Best Buy – meant going 15 miles to hire the former chief of hospitality and restaurant company Carlson (OK, he is French, so kind of an outsider).

Given the state’s parochial bent, the board of Techne, irrespective of their final decision, should be cheered for casting a wide net.

 [Photo Credit: yunayuni.blogspot.com]

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