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By Debra Solomon
Baker
JOHN McALISTER III
president and CEO,
TIPOS INC. |
“Our biggest success has been that we have stayed at the fore- front
of innovation in drug discovery,” says Dr. John P. McAlister, Ph.D.,
president and chief executive officer of St. Louis-based Tripos
Inc. “This is attributable to all of the bright scientists and computer
scientists that we’ve been able to attract and to the fact that
we have given them creative freedom—the freedom to innovate.”
Most St. Louisans, particularly those without a solid grasp of chemistry,
likely would find the work that Dr. McAlister oversees at Tripos
quite cryptic. However, there are few of us who have not, directly
or indirectly, benefited from the performance of Tripos’ 375 employees
worldwide. After all, they help bring us products to enhance our
lives.
Tripos is a leading provider of discovery software products and
services and chemistry research to the life science industries.
The company, which employs about 175 locally, combines information
technology and scientific research to optimize and accelerate its
customers’ molecular research for new drug discovery. Its customer
base, more than 1,000 in 46 countries, includes virtually every
research pharmaceutical company in the world. Pfizer reigned as
last year’s largest.
“There’s a real focus on building St. Louis’ reputation as [the
center of] the BioBelt,” he says. “We’re a very exciting research-based
company right in the heart of St. Louis. We have been pioneering
biotechnology for the last 24 years, and we will continue to invest
in biotechnology in the future.”
They’ve been a St. Louis Regional Technology Top 50 Awardee five
years.
Dr. McAlister earned an undergraduate degree in chemistry and a
Ph.D. in biochemistry and X-ray crystallography. His tenure with
Tripos began more than 20 years ago, when he supervised software
development for molecular graphics applications. He became President
in 1988. The most rewarding part for him?
“Being able to take the vision that I had and that other people
in the company shared and finding ways to implement it more broadly,”
he says.
Traditionally, Tripos has developed technological tools for others
to use. However, recently, beginning with the acquisition of a small
British company, Tripos has entered a new realm: using this technology
to perform the pharmaceutical research itself, a direction that
McAlister fully expects will be a positive one.
Debra Solomon Baker is a St. Louis-based free-lance writer.
LEADERSHIP CIRCLE INSIGHTS 
If you could add one thing to the St. Louis region in 2004, what
would it be?
“I would add a renewed concern for the student in higher education.
Too many of Missouri’s colleges and universities have forgotten
their customers—the students. Students are not numbers; they are
people. They seek education and guidance as they prepare for their
future. Too many institutions are worried about their elite “status”
and are focused on how many students they can reject, rather than
how many they can help succeed.”
DENNIS SPELLMANN
PRESIDENT, LINDENWOOD UNIVERSITY
“I would add a top-notch transportation infrastructure that will
allow St. Louis to grow once again, instead of being a dormant island.”
THOMAS P. DUNNE SR.
CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT & CEO,
FRED WEBER INC.
“I would like to see groundwork laid for an initiative to really
bring St. Louis City and St. Louis County together, in terms of
tax base, school systems, economic development, and a host of infrastructure
activities. Until we realize that it’s “one for all and all for
one,” our metropolitan community will continue to be a healthy county
adjoining a city without a truly vibrant and healthy heartbeat…the
City of St. Louis.”
RICHARD RUBENSTEIN
CHAIRMAN, ADAMSON ADVERTISING
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