KOP Insiders: Paul McKenzie, Chief Operating Officer, CSL Behring
KOP Insiders delves into the stories of the people who make King of Prussia one of Pennsylvania’s most dynamic live-work-play-stay destinations.
In depth interviews provide insight into the companies that make up our diverse business community and put a face to the individuals behind the business. In this edition, we are joined by Paul McKenzie, Chief Operating Officer, CSL Behring.
Can you tell us a little about your background and your time here in King of Prussia?
I joined CSL Behring about three years ago — and the time since has flown by! I was born and raised in Philly and attended the University of Pennsylvania for engineering before receiving my PhD at Carnegie Mellon.
Seeing the change that has happened here in KOP has been unbelievable. When I joined CSL and my family and I returned to the area, westayed in AVE King of Prussia for a couple of months before we figured out where we wanted to live, and my son lives in KOP now. The number of wonderful things you can do in KOP has increased exponentially over the years.
The infrastructure looks so much different than it used to. When you think about the roads, trains and all of the connections, it’s incredible to operate in a place where so much investment is happening. And when you’re here, you can get anywhere. Nowhere else are you so centrally located — and that connectivity has been huge for our business.
What motivated CSL Behring to invest so heavily in King of Prussia?
Again, when you think about the KOP ecosystem and all connections to universities, top talent, community events and even our incredible history (CSL itself dates back over 100 years ago!), that proximity to so many great things is what has kept us here. We hear it all the time from our employees; they love working here and many have chosen to live in KOP as well, especially given how great the school districts are.
What factors are contributing to the major growth we’re seeing in KOP’s healthcare scene?
Well, for one, you’re seeing places like Temple and CHOP expand because they were likely a bit gridlocked in the city, and I’m sure they found that people wanted to get that kind of world-class healthcare service in the suburbs. Having gone to Penn Health for many years, it’s no wonder that they’re expanding out here given KOP’s one-of-a-kind infrastructure.
What makes KOP a good fit for your employees and company culture?
From a talent perspective, we’re able to attract so many great people who support the biotech industry here and in the surrounding areas, including of course Philly. You know, a lot of people don’t realize that CSL is a nearly 30,000-person company. We’re one of the larger biotech companies, having quietly grown over the last decade or so into a big contributor to the biotech space.
And again, we hear it all the time from our employees: depending on what you want, you can have a city experience or a more outdoor adventure experience. In KOP, you can really make your experience your own.
What advice would you give to someone thinking about moving their company to KOP?
That’s easy: you should absolutely consider it for all the reasons we’ve been speaking about. KOP as a location provides everything business owners and key stakeholders need to be successful.
The floor is yours. Tell us anything you’d like to share about yourself or CSL Behring.
For CSL, it’s all about the continual investment and getting to really drive our presence in the community. We’re a company that depends on the community for a large portion of our business in plasma donations, but we feel like we also give back a lot into the surrounding communities in terms of advocacy for various charities like Ronald McDonald House and the Backpack-A-Thon. For us, it’s not just about being in a building in KOP, it’s about being a part of the community and giving our employees opportunities to thrive both professionally and personally. We take a lot of pride in what we do within rare diseases and we as a company want to exude that pride by giving back in every way we know how.
About CSL Behring
It began with a promise. CSL Behring’s parent company, CSL, was formed more than 100 years ago to save lives using the latest technologies. In the century since, CSL Behring has grown into a global biotechnology leader, driven by that same promise to save and improve lives. We offer the broadest range of quality plasma-derived and recombinant therapies in our industry. Our ability to innovate and deliver life-saving medicines for patients with rare disease and other unmet medical needs around the world has earned us a reputation for always putting patients first. We are CSL Behring and we are driven by our promise.
1020 First Avenue King of Prussia, PA 19406-0901 | www.cslbehring.com