Leslie Alexandre, who stepped down as chief executive officer at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center earlier this year, is joining the North Carolina State University College of Management.
Alexandre will be the college’s director of corporate relations for health care and life sciences. Her appointment was effective Aug. 16.
“We are very pleased to welcome Leslie to our faculty,” Ira Weiss, dean of the college, said in a statement. “Her depth of experience and knowledge of the health-care and life sciences industries complements the work of our faculty in our MIE department and particularly in our BPMI and CIMS. She is joining us at an ideal time, as we continue to expand our research and academic programs in these vital areas for North Carolina’s economy and beyond.”
Alexandre had been working as an adjunct professor in the College of Management’s Department of Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MIE).
BPMI refers to the college’s Biopharma Management Initiative. CIMS stands for the college’s Center for Innovation Management Studies.
Alexandre led the Biotechnology Center as CEO from August 2002 to January of this year.
In her new role, Alexandre will be tasked with creating partnerships with health-care and life science companies as well as helping develop additional course offerings.
“NC State and its College of Management not only talk the talk, but they also walk the walk when it comes to valuing industry engagement and public-private partnerships,” Alexandre said in a statement issued by NCSU. “I am thrilled to be joining the faculty of this outstanding academic institution, where my health-care and life sciences expertise and relationships can be put to good use on behalf of students, faculty and the community at large.”
Alexandre worked with the National Cancer Institute as assistant director for national relations before joining the Biotech Center. She had replaced Charles Hamner, who retired after leading the Biotech Center for 14 years. Under her leadership, the Center greatly expanded its reach, opening five regional offices across the state in an attempt to expand North Carolina’s life science industry.
The Center also launched new grant and loan programs in late 2006 that are designed to help increase growth of small and startup life science firms.
Under her direction, the Biotech Center wrote a strategic plan for expanding the state’s life science sector that was presented to Gov. Mike Easley.
Alexandre also fought aggressively to increase funding for the Center from the N.C. General Assembly. And she played an active role in industrial recruitment, such as the landing of the new Novartis vaccine plant that will be built in Holly Springs. Alexandre also worked with entrepreneurial organizations, including a post on the board of directors at the Council for Entrepreneurial Development.
