Jackie Macritchie
Senior Managing Director at Charles River Laboratories, Cambridge, UK
Having joined a small CRO back in 2000 as a Team Leader in Medicinal Chemistry, I found I loved the sheer speed and diversity of science that a CRO offers and the opportunity to collaborate with many different drug discovery companies. That small CRO was acquired by CRL in 2014 and we have expanded markedly since then. I loved working in and leading multidisciplinary projects to identify compounds that have the potential to treat diseases and even though I have moved out of chemistry now, I am still excited by what we do.
At the end of 2017, I took over the leadership of the Early Discovery organisation in CRL which has around 600 people on six sites situated in 3 countries. My day is very different now as I focus on everything needed to lead a business and much less on the science itself. No two days are the same and so I am constantly learning and developing. I love a challenge and a problem to solve and this role doesn’t disappoint. We all have our own part to play to make an organisation an engaging and successful place to work. I look for enthusiasm, reliability, and proactivity in all our employees. I rely on our staff to continually improve what we do, to look for solutions to challenges that come along and to provide constructive feedback. I care about our business and I am really proud of our team. I believe in our people and want each to succeed personally and contribute to the future success of our business.