Updated: October 17, 2022
/
2022 Outstanding Women in Business
Outstanding Women in Business: Friel's impressive career is just beginning
Photo | Matthew Wright
Natalie Friel, vice president, site head, and general manager at Resilience US, Inc.
By Susan Shalhoub
Natalie Friel took the concept of getting out of one’s comfort zone to a whole new level when she worked for biotech giant Roche in Switzerland. A director of quality control for a department of 300 employees, she had to learn to speak German.
“I had a year to learn,” Friel said, “and it took me two years to feel comfortable. My boss said, ‘For six months, I will speak English to you and after that … it’s all German.’”
With help from a private teacher, she set to work. Friel calls it a lesson in vulnerability.
“It was having the bravery to say things in German, even though I felt I might mess up. As long as you got some verbs and nouns out there correctly, showing that willingness to make mistakes, built a lot of empathy for me as a leader,” she said. “The other employees that had to learn German who came to the site felt my pain.”
Friel, who was born in South America to a Chilean mother and American father, said the experience forced her to find alternate ways to communicate.
After Switzerland, Friel – a U.S. Army veteran who served as a captain in the area of military intelligence – went on to work at Roche subsidiary Genentech in South San Francisco in 2019.
Her next stop was at Resilience in Marlborough, where she landed last year. The technology-based biomanufacturer is building a new plant, with a goal of increasing access to complex medicines. The facility is 85% complete and due for a 2023 grand opening.
The company is trying to solve a problem in the industry, said Friel, and it’s an effort she is excited to help remedy.
“The cost of goods of making new modalities of medicines is extremely high,” she said. “We are looking to find new ways to manufacture at lower cost and deliver these medicines faster, not just copying what others have done in the past.”
Change is in the air, with Friel along for the experience it offers. Flexible space will be a focus of the plant, with mobile, single-use technology intended to serve many clients and products. Friel’s early career work on the plant floor – coming up through a support role – is proving valuable.
“This dual perspective is rare in our industry,” said Viet Nguyen, Resilience chief manufacturing officer. “It has allowed her to see both sides of issues and strategies, end-to-end thinking, and credibility to speak across functions.”
Friel stretched her confidence and leadership capacity in the military during deployments in Iraq and Kosovo. She is skilled at identifying new leaders, said Nguyen.
“With a plant startup, she is able to build and lead a new leadership team, balancing different personalities, diversities, experiences, and demographics into a cohesive and effective team,” he said.
She is inspired to show young people what a biotech education can do for them. With Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School near the new Resilience plant, recruiting and talent pipeline initiatives are set to kick into full gear next year, with the organization setting up partnerships with colleges and tech schools.
Friel encourages students to do an internship inside a biotech plant and see the many things a biologist can do with that degree.
“There is such a wide variety of options in the biotech space. When I was in school, I couldn’t understand what people could do in this field,” said Friel.
For Friel, helping people new to the biotech industry realize its possibility is a cause she can attest to and exemplifies every day.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments