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By Christine
Imbs
We’ve all heard the saying, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
But sometimes fate has a plan of its own.
“Of course, you like to plan things out, but there’s this little
thing called happenstance,” says Michael Collins. “That’s how I
really came to be here.”
For Collins, happenstance occurred about 30 years ago. He was fresh
out of Chicago’s Northwestern University with an MBA, and his plan
was to go to work as a financial analyst for Motorola in Schaumburg,
Ill. That is, until he learned they wanted to send him to Kuala
Lumpur.
“It was the height of the CB radio craze and Motorola had this big
factory that built them overseas,” he says. “So I guess they were
looking for some young kid to go over there. But I’m not quite that
adventurous. So I told them, ‘No thanks’.”
Instead, Collins decided to try a different path. Unlike his college
friends who went to work for large corporations, he chose a much
smaller company completely unknown to him—Mallinckrodt.
“I joined Mallinckrodt in 1976 and they were doing about $224 million
in sales,” he says. “Today, we’re approaching total revenues of
$4 billion. So sometimes things just work out.”
That’s putting it mildly. Today Collins is the group president of
Mallinckrodt Pharmaceutical/Tyco Healthcare, and he’s having the
time of his life.
“I really love what I do. It’s fun building things and then watching
things happen,” he says. “A good example is our business in upstate
New York.”
Prior to 1996, Mallinckrodt primarily produced active ingredients
and then sold them to pharmaceutical companies. The New York venture
was a test to see if they could produce their own pharmaceuticals.
“It was a small business and we purchased it for about $30 million.
Over the last ten years we’ve spent close to $150 million at the
site and the number of employees has gone from 180 to almost 800,”
he comments. “So it grew rather quickly.”
Collins admits that at the time, many St. Louisans questioned Mallinckrodt’s
decision to start the new business outside the region. But he says
despite its location, St. Louis is still reaping the benefits.
“All of the chemicals used there are produced here in St. Louis,”
he explains. “And because of the growth, we’ve had to build three
$30 million production units here at our north plant. So it’s been
a win-win situation.”
Collins says although it’s difficult starting off small, sometimes
it’s simply what you have to do to get where you want to be.
“A lot of people dream about building things and doing something,
but if they can’t do it perfectly or the way they want to, it just
doesn’t get done,” he says. “I think of myself as a practical dreamer.
I’ve found that if you can’t do it one way, just try another approach.
It may be a little more difficult, or take a little longer, but
in the end you’ll get to where you want to be.”
And it seems now Collins is exactly where he wants to be. “I really
enjoy what I do,” he says. “And in many ways, St. Louis is a smaller
version of Chicago. But St. Louis is more affordable. It’s a great
place to raise your family.”
And that raises one more question—Cubs or the Cards?”
“I was a diehard Cubs fan when I first came here and stayed that
way for a few seasons,” Collins admits. “But after I attended my
first World Series in 1982, the transition was complete. Now if
anyone mentions the Cubs it’s, ‘Who are they?’”
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TalkingPOINTS
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BORN:
Fort Wordon, Wash.; RAISED: Chicago
EDUCATION: BA-Economics and MBA-Finance from Northwestern
University
FAMILY: Wife, Elaine and five children— Chris, 23;
Keith, 22; Mike, 13; Kyle, 12; Cassie, 10
HOBBIES: “My kids.”
BOOKS: “History books like John Quincy Adams or 1776.”
MUSIC: “I’m still listening to things I did in college.
The frightening part of this is I’m actually getting sick
of Led Zeppelin, because my two older boys have adopted them
as their own.”
BIGGEST INFLUENCE: “My parents. They gave me the gift
of education.”
ST. LOUIS IMPRESSIONS: “In a lot of ways it’s a smaller
version of Chicago. But St. Louis is more affordable and it’s
a great place to raise a family.”
ST. LOUIS AND LIFE SCIENCES: “It’s a real challenge,
but it’s also a real opportunity for the region. And I’m hoping
to be part of it.”
CARDINALS CHANCES OF A WORLD SERIES: “Let’s just say
I don’t plan to go out of the country in October.”
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