UK entrepreneur advocate Len Heller retires
Lexington, KY - Entrepreneurs, by nature, see opportunity where others see disruption, accept calculated risks and tolerate failure. In Lexington, entrepreneurs are growing in number, exhibiting remarkable creativity and a growing level of sophistication.
One man who encouraged and helped nudge some of those entrepreneurs and their start-ups along is Len Heller, recently retired as University of Kentucky vice president for the Office of Commercialization and Economic Development (UKCED).
“The entrepreneur culture in Lexington is incredible. It’s part UK, part city-state-federal, and part individuals, but it’s a unified city in which you’ll see great growth,” said Heller in a recent interview.
The creation of UKCED was former UK President Lee Todd’s vision. He felt universities needed to explore a new role that included commercializing their innovations while also creating jobs.
In his final annual report on the UKCED’s activities, Heller said the office made good strides in 2011 toward meeting several goals. Goals met in some form included facilitating growth in UK’s intellectual property and technology, providing infrastructure to help new technology-based companies and increasing the number of tech-driven small companies that use research from UK faculty, staff and students.
Other goals achieved included generating income through royalties for UK’s intellectual property and creating more public awareness of the entrepreneurial bent of the UKCED.
“My accomplishments are tied to the collaborations and partnerships in this community. We worked for one good and that was to make Lexington the best place to live, get a quality education, a job or even to start a company,” said Heller.
Heller also said he sees a high level of trust and cooperation in the community. “That makes me most proud,” he said.
The report indicated the UKCED was No. 12 in creating start-up companies among public and private institutions in the United States, according to an Association of University Technology Managers survey.
Heller said the whole process of becoming an entrepreneur is difficult. Entrepreneurs are required to work all the time in many areas — starting with an idea, creating something people want, and finding money to launch it and grow the markets.
There are reasons why some new companies succeed, according to Heller.
“They have excellent management teams, both on the science and business sides,” said Heller. “Their egos aren’t too large, and they take instruction and advice from all kinds of people. Then they just put their heads down and work hard.”
Heller is proud of the many “babies” birthed through UKCED, but especially CoPlex Therapeutics, co-founded by UK Department of Chemistry researchers Burt Lynn and Mark Lovell and CEO John Beran. The company offers treatments for mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders.
Beran met Heller five years ago.
“Len put a friendly space between me and the professors so that I, as a businessman, could pursue niche opportunities in technology,” he recalled. “‘Open for business’ is the best way to describe it.”
Beran said Heller had an appreciation, empathy and respect for the professors and the entrepreneur.
“He had a welcome-mat approach, whether it was solving problems or raising money. If you had difficulty with business processes, he was the guy to go to — a mentor to me.”
From CoPlex Therapeutics, Beran helped produce two more branches on the tree — Outrider Technologies (specializing in soluble organic acene-based semiconductors) and Scout Diagnostics (targeting early diagnosis of Alzheimer'’ disease). His mentor is pleased with his success.
“The work that he is doing with our licenses for three companies is exemplary,” Heller said admiringly.
Another point of pride for Heller is UK-influenced start-up Allylix, a renewable chemicals company developing terpene (organic compound) products and their derivatives for the flavor and fragrance, food ingredient, pharmaceutical, agricultural and biofuel markets.
Heller said Allylix was one of the first start-ups to emerge after he arrived at the Office of Commercialization and Economic Development. It is affiliated with UK’s College of Agriculture.
“They’ve been at it for five years and have gotten multiple rounds of significant money. I think they’re close to breaking out,” Heller noted. “They’ve increased their product line. Their flavors are sought out by the likes of Coca-Cola and International Flavors & Fragrances — you name it.”
Heller said start-ups will still be the key to developing innovations and new products. He predicted growth in university-industry partnerships, such as UK’s master alliance agreement recently signed with Alltech, the Nicholasville-based animal health and nutritional company. Alltech expects the agreement to generate annual funding for research of $2.5 million in the next year, growing to $5 million annually by the end of the third year.
UKCED also has a strong relationship with Lexmark. Two more potential university-industry alliances are currently being nurtured, and in the meantime, Coldstream Research Campus in Lexington is growing. There are now 15 buildings (four owned by UK), 65 companies and about 1,000 employees on the 735-acre campus. With construction of mattress maker Tempur-Pedic’s new headquarters and the new Eastern State Hospital, plus expansion of UK’s College of Agriculture Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, total employment at Coldstream is expected to double by the end of the year.