Making risky, complex decisions affecting the success of a company are part of every R&D leader's day, whether it be in the life sciences or any other industry. As R&D portfolios grow in size, they also grow in complexity, cost, and scientific or engineering difficulty. Executives facing tough decisions are often armed only with their own experience and intelligence and an army of advisors with conflicting objectives.

In this audio conference, our speakers propose a method of decision-making which helps the leader take key conflicting objectives into account consistently, while bringing clarity and transparency to the risk-cost-reward tradeoff discussion. The presentation draws upon a real-life examples from the new product development arena within the pharmaceutical industry. By focusing on achieving the core objectives of the company, leadership can identify the top projects and focus their scarce resources, thereby obtaining the largest value for their R&D efforts.

This audio conference covers:

• Focusing on key objectives instead of alternatives
• How conflicting objectives can be consistently addressed
• The process of structuring objectives to help an organization become aligned
• How risk can and should be included in all R&D decision-making
• Why transparency is critical for complex and far-reaching decisions

About the speakers:

Jack M. Kloeber Jr., Ph.D. is Senior Partner at Kromite LLC with over 10 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He also has over 20 years experience in the US Army, where, as a LTC, he gained experience in R&D portfolio management, decision analysis, modeling and simulation, technology selection and strategy development. He taught mathematics at West Point for three years and graduate-level decision analysis, systems simulation and technology selection for six years at the Air Force Institute of Technology. His work has supported decisions for various superfund sites within the Department of Energy and many technology organizations within the Departments of Army, Air Force and Navy. Dr. Kloeber applied this experience as Head of Portfolio Management for Bristol-Myers Squibb (2000-2002), and more recently, he coordinated the portfolio management efforts for J&J Pharmaceuticals across multiple R&D companies and marketing operating companies as Head, Portfolio Management, J&J Pharma Services. He received his Ph.D. in Economic Decision Analysis from Georgia Institute of Technology and Masters in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University.

William 'Bill' Klimack , Ph.D. is a Senior Consultant at Kromite LLC where he applies his expertise in decision analysis and modeling and simulation. He has over thirty years of experience in both technical and management positions. A retired U.S. Army Colonel, he was the Director of the Operations Research and Systems Engineering Programs, the Operations Research Center of Excellence, and served as Head of the Department of Systems Engineering professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He maintains an adjunct relationship with the US Military Academy. Other key Army assignments include Chief of Staff of US Forces Haiti and Chief of Operations of the 101st Airborne Division. He has extensive experience in selecting portfolios of energy opportunities as well as oil and gas project development. Pharmaceutical work includes establishing optimal R&D portfolios, forecasting technical and market success, and global analysis of disease burden and estimating prevalence. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University, M.S. in Applied Mathematics from Johns Hopkins University, an M.M.A.S. from the Command and General Staff College, and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the Air Force Institute of Technology. He is a Certified System Engineering Professional, a licensed Professional Engineer, and a Fellow of the Society of Decision Professionals.

Who should attend?

• Presidents and Heads of R&D
• R&D Controllers
• Heads of Portfolio and Project Management
• Heads of Strategy
• Chief Marketing Officers
• CFOs
• CIOs
• Governance committees for late stage development or early development