Kirstin Anderson

Senior Director, Finance

At Sesen Bio, we have 10 leadership behaviors that serve as a guideline about how to “get stuff done.” These behaviors outline how we accomplish the company’s objectives and establish what the “tone at the top” looks like.  This list is particularly helpful because we have three different locations, and the natural leaders at each site can reinforce support from the executive team and impact how work gets done. I’ve worked for institutional-like companies and start-ups before, and I’ve never seen this type of energy around leadership behaviors. In the big companies, I really don’t recall having behaviors specifically highlighted. And in the start-ups, there was never a set written down or formalized and communicated.  Here, the list is a reminder of the way we work with each other and a useful end-of-year framework for assessing if we accomplished our goals using these behaviors.

At Sesen Bio, our 10 Leadership Behaviors are an integral part of how we do business and how we measure our performance.

Krishna Persaud

Tech, Process Development and Manufacturing

 
Beginning with my first interview at Sesen Bio, I knew this was the type of place where the work ethic was aligned to my values. Here, everything we do centers around doing the right thing—from every stroke of a “t” to every dot of an “i”.  In our day-to-day work, that means we are dependable, we are there whenever needed, and we always focus on the patients we’re trying to help.  Say you go to the pharmacy to buy some over-the-counter medicine, like tablets or cough syrup for your child or another family member.  You’d want to know that whoever played a role in making that medicine was committed to doing the right thing, providing the best possible medicine. That’s the way it is at Sesen Bio. The work we do for patients is so important, and doing the right thing is what we’re about.  At Sesen Bio, we do the right thing and never sway from our core values.

Sachin Pannuri

Executive Director, CMC

 
We are a small company with limited resources and big aspirations. We are committed to making a significant difference in patients’ lives through the quality, affordability and delivery of our product.  That’s a tall order. So when we face difficulties or have disagreements about how to achieve our goals, we have to manage the differences gracefully.  Whenever we face a tough situation, we try to approach it in a calm way, so we can work together to manage the challenge constructively. It comes down to being resilient and communicating openly.  Being able to have a direct conversation with people helps us to understand the issue and put it in perspective relative to our higher purpose.  It helps that our leaders model this type of behavior, too. And it all flows from there. At Sesen Bio, we are resilient and lead gracefully, without outbursts or passive aggressiveness.   

Jamie Barton

Senior Executive Administrator and Office Manager

 
At Sesen Bio, we are small team that works hard to save and improve the lives of people with bladder cancer. With each advancement of our lead program toward approval comes a need to evolve quickly to support the next phase. Vicinium is now in Phase 3 with BLA submission just around the corner, which speaks volumes about our teams’ trust in each other and the ability to work collaboratively. To me, trust is the foundation for all relationships, both personal and professional. Once trust is established, possibilities are endless. It takes a conscious effort to establish trust—and it can be challenging at times. But it’s worth the effort. I have the pleasure of serving our CEO, and our working relationship is founded on frequent, open and honest communication, active listening and accountability—which ultimately has helped us to earn each other’s trust and accomplish our objectives and goals in a highly productive way. At Sesen Bio, we earn and build trust to work collaboratively.

Arjune Premsukh

Director, Process Development and Manufacturing

 
At Sesen Bio, we work in an atmosphere that is data-driven, and we make decisions based on factual information. So “conflicts” are addressed with an objective process that focuses not on finding fault or assigning blame, but rather on identifying the source of a problem.  We meet collectively as a cross-functional team and use a matrix to guide us in figuring out the source of an issue.  When we work like this, each person has a voice to share what he or she thinks may be the cause of an issue.  And we handle constructive feedback well because we’re all committed to doing the right thing.  Personal conflicts don’t happen often, but if they do, we come back to assuming positive intent from each other. Usually, a healthy face-to-face debate uncovers different views on an issue, and we work together to find the best path forward.  This type of setting makes for a positive work environment.  At Sesen Bio, we resolve conflict constructively, always assuming positive intent.

Jodi Luht

Director, Quality

 
When I think of Sesen Bio, the one word that comes to mind is focus—every person here is dedicated to achieving success for Vicinium.  As we head towards a BLA submission, the technology transfer and scale-up to a CMO is a pivotal step. During this transfer, issues and challenges have been resolved quickly and efficiently to ensure our Corporate timeline is maintained.  We don’t say, “this is not my job”; we focus as a team, and we’re committed to getting our priorities done and done right. We have a relentless attention to detail and hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards of quality and performance.  I think Sesen’s culture fosters great teamwork across the organization, and with our external CMO, and that will only help us pursue our mission – to save and renew the lives of patients with cancer.  I can’t wait to see what is around the corner. At Sesen Bio, we focus all our efforts and energies on our current priorities.

Jeannick Cizeau, Ph.D.

Director, Clinical Data Management

Working with speed is  part of our culture at Sesen Bio. Because timing is everything with some of the tasks we do, we need to work efficiently to get the best results in the time allocated.  To do this, we train people so they know what they are doing and they can be efficient and maintain the highest standards of quality. Operating this way also means we trust our employees. They know what’s expected of them to make deadlines.  It’s not a 9-to-5 type of environment. Here, employees understand that some days they will work a little longer, while other days may be a little lighter. Being comfortable with that flexibility and still dedicated to get the work done well and quickly allows us to be efficient while maintaining quality. At Sesen Bio, we work with speed and efficiency without sacrificing quality.

Rachelle Dillon

Senior Director, Clinical Operations

Everything we do at Sesen Bio is interrelated—even across departments—and hitting our goals is dependent on clear and frequent communication. For example, I’ve interacted with every single person in the company in the last month for one task or another. So communicating early and often with my manager and colleagues is just smart. It ensures that we’re all aligned, that we have prioritized our tasks, and helps me know exactly what I’m expected to do to help meet our goals. Checking in frequently also helps me anticipate different things that we might need. And then I can either volunteer this information or already be working on it. Whether we communicate face-to-face, by phone, or by email, it’s a two-way process where everyone is committed to clear and helpful communication so we achieve the best outcome. It’s a case where more really is more. At Sesen Bio, we provide clear and helpful communication. 

Chad Myskiw

Executive Director, Supply Chain

 
At this stage in our product’s lifecycle, we make critical decisions every day. That’s how we operate and that’s how we move forward.  In every role at Sesen Bio, there is an opportunity to make choices based on the information we have at hand. And employees are empowered to make smart decisions, getting confirmation from trusted colleagues who can give sound input.  After that, we own that decision collectively.  There’s literally no time to revisit, or second guess, or lobby for a different decision.  That causes too much churn and prevents us from doing what we have to do.  Naturally, if we receive new information that suggests we need to change a decision we’ve made, we consider it and go through the decision-making process again.  In this way, our decisions are smart and based on our best thinking given the information we have. At Sesen Bio, we make decisions smartly and fully sponsor them.

Erin Clark

Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations

 
We’re in a unique market, so there aren’t a lot of ready-made answers for what we’re trying to do to help patients. That means we have to rely on our knowledge and experience to figure out the best approach.  To me, you can’t approach something and say you don’t know. You can say, “I don’t know—but I’ll find a way.” At Sesen Bio, when we face a challenge, we start by generating ideas on how to address it.  We have to think differently, because doing the obvious won’t get you very far.  But we don’t stop there. Once we have sound ideas, we test them. We ask colleagues for feedback to see if we can make the ideas stronger. We don’t react impulsively if the ideas are challenged, because we know in the end we are working together to find the best approach.  That’s makes for a really collaborative work environment.  At Sesen Bio, we are resourceful and think differently, using deep insights and evidenced-based rationale to generate strong ideas, loosely held.

Christy Eccles

Quality Assurance, Manager

We take tremendous pride in the important work we do at Sesen Bio.  I guess you could say that we’re drawn to work that matters a lot and doing it right the first time. That’s what is inspiring to us. I’ve worked in both Quality Control and Human Resources, and regardless of the functional area we are in, we want things done right. That mindset drives us to work hard—even when there are no guarantees in what we’re undertaking.  We understand that our goal to deliver a novel product to the market carries risk.  That’s a given. And we realize that there is a chance we will not succeed; that down the line we might lose our jobs. But that’s not where we focus our energy. Even when we face reality, we choose to move forward confidently and optimistically, doing everything in our power to succeed. In every department, every step of the way. At Sesen Bio, we thoughtfully confront reality and demonstrate a grounded confidence and optimism.