Bridging Commercial & Operations in CDMO with Michael Stanek

In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove speaks with Michael Stanek, former Vice President (VP) and General Manager (GM) API Global at Thermo Fisher Scientific.

With more than 25 years in the contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) sector, Michael has led turnarounds, integrated acquisitions and rethought how commercial and operational teams work together. He shares his dual sales model and what it takes to shift a big pharma culture into a multi-customer CDMO mindset.

Key Takeaways

· Understand why empathy, listening and curiosity are Stanek’s three core leadership traits, and why they matter most in high-pressure CDMO environments.

· Learn how to look beyond first impressions when developing talent, and why investing in people before they believe in themselves can define careers.

· Discover why tough environments build better leaders than comfortable ones, and how pressure sharpens the instincts that sustained success can quietly erode.

· Explore how to keep teams focused under pressure, from repeating purpose at every level to celebrating small wins during a restructuring.

· Identify why the disconnect between commercial and operations in CDMOs is structural, rooted in different time horizons, incentives and definitions of risk between the two functions.

· Gain insight into why traditional sales models break in CDMO, and why expecting one person to win new accounts and manage complex long-term relationships rarely works.

· Apply the dual sales model that pairs a business manager with a sales manager, eliminating handover gaps and building customer trust from proposal to delivery.

· Understand what it takes to shift big pharma culture into a CDMO mindset, and why the cultural shift typically takes two to five years.

· Take away Stanek’s advice for the next generation of CDMO leaders: stay curious, communicate openly and invest in people early, before they fully see their own potential.

Snippets

• "Tough environments teach you things that success simply can't. Success can be comfortable... it can dull your instincts."·

• "Selling in our industry is not about charisma or persistence. It requires deep technical understanding, operational willingness, and the ability to navigate uncertainty."·

• "Creating trust upfront and accountability downstream; that combination dramatically improves delivery and customer confidence."

Timestamps & TopicsResources

The following timestamps are approximations:

· [00:00] – Intro: Career spanning science, operations and commercial execution

· [00:01:40] – Key Ingredients: Empathy, listening and curiosity

· [00:06:34] – Early Leadership: Believing in people before they believe in themselves

· [00:14:03] – Tough Environments: Why pressure shapes leaders faster than success

· [00:19:59] – Commercial vs Operations: The structural disconnect in CDMO organisations

· [00:30:06] – Dual Sales Model: Pairing business and sales managers to build trust

· [00:38:00] – CDMO Integration: Shifting big pharma culture into a multi-customer mindset

· [00:49:07] – Next Generation: Stay curious, communicate openly, invest in people early

Resources

· Follow Michael Stanek on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-stanek-638b453/

· Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

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