Mayne Pharma Named Pitt County Industry of the Year
By Sharieka Breeden
The Daily Reflector
GREENVILLE, NC (February 17, 2016) – A company that plans to invest $65 million in expanding facilities and add 100 employees to a 350 people staff was honored on Tuesday for its leadership and community impact. The Pitt County Development Commission named Mayne Pharma the Pitt County Industry of the Year on Tuesday, recognizing company for its expansion plans, employment opportunities and fostering relationships with the community, including East Carolina University and Pitt Community College.
The company is a corporate partner of Uptown Greenville and sponsor of PirateFest, as well as supporting charitable causes and local youth athletics teams.
“The company’s expansion was only a component of the business receiving the award,” Wanda Yuhas, executive director of the PCDC, said. “They hire and train locally. They are involved with the university and Pitt Community College in terms of actually developing classes. They set a standard in terms of environmental commitment, all the things that you want to make a great corporate citizen.” Personnel, social, economic and environmental criteria are evaluated during the selection process for the award. Brenda Jarman, chairwoman of the PCDC board, presented the award to Mayne Pharma President Stefan Cross. “As chairman it is my pleasure and happiness to present you with the 2015-2016 Pitt County Industry of the Year,” Jarman said. “With the $65 million expansion and 100 new jobs coming to Pitt County, who would have been the better industry to choose but you?”
Mayne Pharma, a publicly company headquartered in Australia, acquired Metrics Inc. in 2012. Metrics, named the Industry of the Year in 2007-08, was founded in 1994 by John Bray and Phil Hodges as a laboratory providing analytical chemistry support services to pharmaceutical companies. Hodges remained with the company until retiring in November 2013.
Metrics Contract Services now is a part of Mayne Pharma and operates out of the Sugg Parkway facility in the Indigreen Corporate Park. “You’ve gone beyond capital investments, increased employment here, you’re committed and invested to our people here and our community here,” Jarman said. “One of the things I think about is that we had local entrepreneurs here who had a vision and who took that vision locally and made it globally with Mayne Pharmaceuticals.”
Yuhas said the company’s success has a foundation in an ability to recognize the value in people and see opportunities.
“As Metrics this was a local startup,” Yuhas said. “It was a handful of people and tiny little spaces and running back and forth across parking lots until they were able to build a building. So often entrepreneurs are not able to grow to genuine success, but Metrics and Phil Hodges did just that, and they were so successful that then Mayne Pharma said that’s exactly the style of company that we want to be and that we want to be involved with.” Yuhas said Mayne Pharma’s international presence helps place Pitt County at the top of a list in an industry that serves as a major employer in North Carolina.
“Mayne helps solidify our communities place in pharmaceutical manufacturing,” she said. “They do generic drugs and their own brand of drugs. It means we are a leader in pharmaceutical production. If you look at the chain of counties from Johnston County to Wilson, Nash … there are 9,000 people-plus directly employed in the pharmaceutical industry. That’s a big deal, not only for East Carolina but for the entire state of North Carolina.”
With several employees looking on, Cross thanked the commission for the award and expressed pride in receiving the honor.
“I personally feel a little guilty about standing here because this award is not about me,” Cross said. “It’s actually about everyone in this room who has actually made Mayne Pharma what it is today. I think it’s a pretty special place that we’ve created.”
For Cross, the company’s growth and progress since 2012 is an indicator of the opportunities to potentially expand the business in the United States.
“We’ve actually tripled the business from an earnings and revenue perspective,” Cross said. “Within 3½ short years, this business has grown threefold from where it was. That is just the beginning for us as a business.”
While Cross said he expected the company to grow, he did not foresee the growth happening so quickly. And he looks forward to the company continuing to establish relationships throughout the area.
“We’ve chosen Greenville as our U.S. center for manufacturing,” he said. “There’s an area of expertise that we’ve developed, and we want to build on that level of expertise to be able to stay and expand in the area.
“Obviously the key thing is getting access to great people and talented people that understand the pharmaceutical industry,” he said. “We are obviously committed to helping Pitt Community College and our relationship with ECU to help provide skilled people for our business. … We can build whatever we want but it doesn’t run itself. It’s all run by the people that are in it.”
Contact Sharieka Breeden at 252-329-9567 and sbreeden@reflector.com. Follow her on Twitter @ShariekaB.
