What did you do before this?

I spent four years at McKinsey & Company. I specialized in developing and implementing new operating procedures after crises for a variety of activities, including oil rig operations, rail transportation, mining, and utility safety. Before McKinsey, I completed my PhD in chemical engineering at UC Berkeley and helped start a biotech company focused on automated high throughput screening for metabolic toxicity.

Why did you come here?

Zymergen was the perfect opportunity to return to my technical roots in a position that could leverage the consulting skills I learned at McKinsey to lead customer facing teams while contributing to building an exciting business.

What’s your work at Zymergen really like?

On a day to day basis, I get the opportunity to manage a technical team in service of meeting customer needs, and in doing so, I have the opportunity to develop tools that Zymergen will continue to use to facilitate various aspects of our business. I spend about one week per month traveling to meet with customers, to attend technical meetings, or to do business development. When I’m on-site, the day starts with a 15-minute daily stand up meeting with my project teams and then I work with our scientists to prioritize topics for technical meetings, test new tools, and prepare for customer interactions.

What do you like most about your role?

I like that I get the opportunity to adapt skills I’ve learned through my experiences in management consulting to the innovative science we do at Zymergen and to share those skills with the scientific team to build a sustainable business.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I like to ride my road bike and walk my dogs with my husband. I also like to cook.