Staffing + Recruiting
[Raleigh, NC, December 2022] HIPP Design + Consulting (HIPP), welcomes another industry expert to the growing list of leaders and professionals comprising the HIPP team. Bill Clark, an expert in Plasma Fractionation, Gene Therapy, and Cell Therapy Production joins HIPP as Process Lead out of the Raleigh, NC office.
After graduating from Penn State (Chemical Engineering Bioprocessing), Clark followed in his father’s footsteps, pursuing a career in life sciences. “I got into this field because I saw the career my father had, but also because I wanted to do something I enjoyed, that also positively impacted people,” says Clark.
Clark began his career by joining a small engineering firm in Durham, NC, and then went to Bristol-Myers Squibb in Syracuse, NY because they were seeking to start a pilot plant. Clark worked in the plant, steaming, cleaning, and sampling tanks. His team, which included some of the country’s top PhDs to develop products, also remodeled the facility, ultimately hiring staff to work on the bioreactors and feed tanks, and perform the cell sampling.
Recognizing that he didn’t want his career path to include research at the next level, Clark came back to the Triangle, joining what would later become Grifols as a Plant Engineer. Here he supported 24-hour operations for one of their flagship products. He was then promoted to project manager, which led him to be their Process Group Lead. After Grifols, Clark worked with DPS for a short time before joining the HIPP team as Process Lead.
“Over my career, I’ve seen several projects from whiteboard brainstorming to FDA approval and that has been rewarding,” says Clark on his professional experience so far. “I remember having initial conversations about a new building - how many floors should it be, where it should be put - and then, years later, actually having the FDA letter delivered to us,” Clark recalls designing the pilot plant and then seeing it become operational. On leading a project through design, commissioning, validation, and operating Clark says, “Seeing operators use it and seeing the machinery pump out products is very rewarding.”
Clark, when asked where he sees the industry going remarks, “We have a lot of mature processes - most buildings need power, water, HVAC, etc. Where I think where the gene and cell therapy work going on in the industry is summed up by;
‘Why treat a disease when you can cure it?'
Clark observes that the Triangle (specifically Research Triangle Park) is broadening the space quickly and many large companies are moving to the area. With the educational base being what it is, and land being relatively inexpensive compared to other parts of the country, companies are seeking to expand here in pursuit of curing diseases. Right now, experts are targeting hemophilia and cystic fibrosis and those processes require a lot of expertise to produce such curative products on such a large scale.
Clark’s expertise will be an asset to the HIPP team as they seek to continue supporting clients in pioneering projects that continue to drive the industry forward. By being the leader in new technologies that drive these processes, Clark says, “I want to make HIPP the best process group in the Triangle.”
