Meet Armend Håti — Kosovo-born, Norway-raised bioengineer who turned an early patent into ClexBio.

We talk about being a “young” biotech founder, the US spark that flipped his mindset, why his first industry role was (surprise) in krill, paying patent bills out of pocket, fundraising nerves, and the big move from Oslo to Zurich to surround the science with the right talent. We finish with a compact masterclass for PhDs and first-time founders on validating ideas and actually asking for the money.

ClexBio in one line | Enabling cells as therapy — first with delivery systems for stem-cell assets, then toward engineered, vascularised tissues.

www.clexbio.com

Mentorship Minute | Validate the need with uncomfortable conversations, filter the feedback, refine or kill fast. And if you can, co-found with legal firepower.

Chapters
00:00 Meet Armend — origin & identity
02:10 From Kosovo to Norway — values & education
06:40 Nerd energy → bioengineering (dyslexia as edge)
10:50 US spark — Santa Barbara & Boston shift to building
24:55 Why krill? First industry role & learning to pitch
31:40 From IP to startup — buying the patent & fundraising
52:10 Landing in Zurich — talent, scale, next chapter
56:50 ClexBio in one line — enabling cells as therapy
1:02:50 Mentorship Minute — advice for PhDs & founders

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➡️ For the latest life sciences roles, follow us on LinkedIn or visit our website!

From Red Bull to Swiss MedTech — Adrian Hunn on leadership, curiosity, and building Swiss innovation.

From marketing energy drinks to leading the Swiss MedTech association — Adrian Hunn’s career proves that leadership lessons can come from anywhere.

In this episode of leadership lab, host Maurice Thornton dives into Adrian’s story — from his early love of team sports and military service, to a decade at Sonova, a CEO role in dental implants, and now shaping Switzerland’s medtech ecosystem.

You’ll hear:

• How teamwork and curiosity shaped his leadership style

• Lessons from Red Bull, Sonova, and the “Hear the World” campaign

• Why culture can make or break a career move

• Swiss MedTech’s mission: networking, knowledge & impact

• The realities behind the 39% US tariff and what it means for medtech

• His Mentorship Minute on goals, curiosity, and knowing yourself

Follow Leadership Lab for more stories of ambition, resilience, and leadership from across pharma, biotech, medtech & digital health.

#leadershiplab #medtech #careergrowth #headcountag

From law to biotech CEO — Franz-Werner Haas shares how vision shaped his career and leadership journey.

From rural Germany to biotech boardrooms — Franz-Werner Haas’s career is anything but linear. A law graduate who started out in the fishing industry, he went on to lead CureVac during COVID and today serves as CEO of LimmaTech Biologics.

In this Leadership Lab conversation with Maurice Thornton, Franz shares how vision shaped every step of his journey — and why titles matter far less than ambition, resilience, and timing.

You’ll hear:

• Why vision was his fuel from law school to biotech leadership

• The unexpected lessons from the fishing industry

• Leading through CureVac’s COVID-19 crisis

• Building teams and trust in biotech

• His mentorship advice on resilience, safe spaces & networking

Follow Leadership Lab for more real leadership stories from pharma, biotech, medtech & digital health.

From table tennis to VP HR — Agata Baranowska's bold journey through global pharma leadership.

Agata shares how a childhood of constant moves built her adaptability — and how she turned early opportunities into a global HR leadership career.

Maurice Thornton explores Agata’s path from PwC to senior roles at Amgen, Alexion & Takeda, and her decision to join Galderma’s mission to become the #1 company in dermatology.

In this episode:

• Lessons from a performance-driven upbringing

• Turning assistant roles into leadership opportunities

• Navigating high-performance cultures in pharma

• Making bold career jumps — and thriving

• Practical advice for aspiring HR leaders

Follow Leadership Lab for more real-life leadership stories from pharma, biotech, medtech & digital health.

From figure skates in Boston to biotech boardrooms in Basel—Sarah Holmes-Klotz never took the obvious route. Now Head of Global HR at Santhera Pharmaceuticals, she joins host Maurice Thornton to talk about long-distance love, career pivots, resilience, and what it really takes to lead HR at a publicly traded life sciences company.

Expect honest insights on relocation, rejection, reinvention—and why the scenic route might be the smartest career move of all.

How do you turn legal into a true business leadership function?

In this episode of Leadership Lab, we follow the journey of Marc Bauer, Head of Legal, EMEA at argenx.

From his first exposure to law in a small German firm, to building legal teams that drive strategy at Europe’s largest biotech, Marc has made legal his constant—even as his career evolved into broader leadership roles.

He shares practical insights on:
✅ Building legal as a business partner, not a compliance bottleneck
✅ Making smart career pivots—and knowing when to take risks
✅ The cultural differences between European and US biotech leadership
✅ How to own your career development, at every stage
✅ Lessons from moving between big pharma, law firms, and biotech startups

If you’re building your leadership journey in legal, life sciences—or anywhere in between—you’ll find plenty to reflect on here.

👉 Follow Leadership Lab on Spotify so you never miss an episode.
👉 Explore new life sciences opportunities at headcount.ch

#LeadershipLab #LifeSciencesLeadership #LegalCareers #BiotechLeadership #headcountag

Daniela Marino on bioengineered skin, bold leadership & skin in space

This week on The Leadership Lab, we meet Daniela Marino, CEO and co-founder of Zurich-based CUTISS — a pioneering techbio company growing personalized human skin to transform burn care and reconstructive medicine.

She shares:

• Her early love of science - thanks to a surprise anatomy book

• How a research project evolved into a clinical breakthrough

• What it really takes to go from postdoc to startup CEO

• The rollercoaster of scaling a biotech business

• And yes… why CUTISS launched skin into space 🚀

A story of resilience, vision, and science that heals.
Don’t miss it.

🌐 More on CUTISS: cutiss.com

#LeadershipLab #BiotechFounders #RegenerativeMedicine #WomenInLeadership #Entrepreneurship #SwissTech #LifeSciences #headcountag

Before leading the Swiss Biotech Association, Michael Altorfer was a kid who struggled to focus and avoided making big decisions.

What changed?
A 7-month solo trip that reshaped how he saw the world—and himself.

In this episode of Leadership Lab, Michael opens up about how traveling helped him find direction, build confidence, and develop a leadership style rooted in curiosity, perspective, and purpose.

🎙️ With Maurice Thornton, they explore:

• Why slowing down sometimes helps you move forward

• How personal growth feeds professional leadership

• The path from indecision to impact in the world of biotech

This is a story about exploration—geographically and personally—and how getting lost can be exactly what leads you where you need to go.