Our expert eye
Take a look at the experts and opinions that make Kindeva the leading CDMO in the industry.
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RISA JOY
Advanced Engineer since 2020
Woodbury, MN
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What is the best advice you’ve ever been given? Always continue learning.
Where did you grow up and how did you get into your career?
Lisbon, North Dakota. I worked in a QC lab testing edible beans and then edible oil (I tested the oil that the Lays company used to fry their chips and the different vegetable oils sold in stores). My husband later became a railroad engineer in St. Paul, so we moved our family down here.
Tell us about your role?
I am the lead analyst for the Woodbury QC lab. We test the components that go into asthma inhalers to make sure they have the correct amounts of compounds in them and communicate closely with manufacturing sites in Clitheroe, Loughborough, and Northridge. When we okay the lots, they are assembled into marketed product inhalers. Most components have multiple tests to complete before they can be released.
What is a challenge you and your team are working to solve?
Getting all our instruments up and running again after the move from 3M.
What do you love about your job?
The people I work with daily and the pace of clearing lots. I like being in the lab working with different instruments.
If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
Turks and Caicos, because I love the Caribbean. But also maybe Scotland; the landscape is beautiful.
What’s your guilty pleasure?
I listen to books while I’m working in the lab. I also like reading at night while having a glass of wine.
What hobbies are you into?
Reading, riding motorcycles, and I love different eyeshadows. I like to experiment with looks. I also enjoy archery.
Favorite sport or game? hockey and football
What is the best advice you’ve ever been given? Always continue learning.
Morning person or night owl? I’m a night owl; I’ve occasionally stayed up all night to read.
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? fajitas
SHAWN ELLIOTT
Distribution Operator since 1996
Loughborough, UK
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Proud to be “born and bred in Loughborough UK.”
Where did you grow up and how did you get into your career?
Proud to be “born and bred in Loughborough UK.” I started back in 1994 as a contingency worker for 3M, then as an operator in 1996. I happily transitioned with Kindeva.
Tell us about your role?
The Distribution Operator role is about facilitating a smooth flow of materials and finished goods into the plant and through to manufacturing to meet production demands. Along with managing internal flow and storage of materials ending with the timely shipping of finished packs out to our customers.
What has been your proudest moment with Kindeva?
Being part of a team that worked together to achieve a smooth transition from 3M to Kindeva.
What is a challenge you and your team are working to solve?
The transition onto Kindeva’s choice of warehouse/production management system “D365” is being evolved to smooth out early issues.
What do you love about your job?
Being involved in the “start, middle, and end” of processes that turn components into finished products that support and make difference in the lives of our customers.
What is your Superpower?
Instilling self-belief and fostering life skills into 9- to 18-year olds through instruction as a Petty Office within the Sea Cadet Corp’s UK.
If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
The UK. So much beauty and diversity in one place.
What’re your hobbies?
There’s a long list but never enough time for all of them: kayaking, SUP-boarding, SCUBA, walking, and being a Uniformed Instructor for the Sea Cadet Corp’s.
What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Believe in yourself. It’s the power to achieve.
Favorite sport or game?
Kayaking is my thing. I enjoy coaching others and enjoy my own time out on the water.
DIANE NIERENBERG
Plant Admin Assistant since 2020
Northridge, CA
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We get to be part of the beginning of something, we get to build it together and leave our mark in the process.
Where did you grow up and how did you get into your career?
I grew up in Madrid, Spain. I was determined to be a journalist but business took my curiosity, so here I am! For seven years, I worked for PSA Peugeot Citroen and that’s where I developed as a professional in various roles, the last one being Communication Manager for UGT (their union).
Tell us about your role?
I am an Administrative Assistant for the Northridge facility and I support all managers on site. I have many responsibilities but what takes most of my time is working for D365 as purchasing agent.
What has been your proudest moment with Kindeva?
I think we all can agree that the transition was a challenge but also one of the most exciting moments. We get to be part of the beginning of something, we get to build it together and leave our mark in the process, and that is something wonderful and that I am proud to be part of.
What is a challenge you and your team are working to solve?
The biggest challenge right now is D365. New systems come with a lot to learn and improve but I’m a natural problem solver and I love challenges.
What do you love about your job?
Connections. I love working with people, learning from them, offering them solutions or help, and getting to know them better.
Favorite local business?
Claudine Artisan Kitchen & Bakeshop, www.claudinela.com. This place is AMAZING. They have the best coffee and baked goods in all of LA and we love going there on the weekends for breakfast!
What hobbies are you into?
Since I was little, I have collected comics and played video games. A little later in life, I got into Cosplay. Cosplay is the “art” of making costumes and dressing up as characters especially for conventions. Fun fact is, I met my husband through this hobby, online, so it also has a special place in my heart.
What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Be patient. My father was my role model for everything, and I can say that I am the person I am today thanks to him and his teachings. He was a very calm and kind person, and he always told me to be patient in life, to be calm in situations where normally it’s difficult, to stop everything, breathe and think. I’m still trying to master it, but I can say that I try my hardest every day.
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
My husband’s lasagna.
What is one thing on your bucket list?
Traveling to Japan. It’s been on my bucket list for years now, and funny enough (or not at all) my husband and I booked to go right before the pandemic began. We had to cancel and it’s still pending.
KAROL WROBEL
Supply Chain Systems Analyst, IT since 2015
Loughborough, UK
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It’s an interesting mix of problem-solving, creative thinking and constant learning.
Where did you grow up and how did you get into your career?
I grew up in Polish countryside in the late 90’s and early 00’s where personal computers were very few and incredibly far between, but as soon as they started appearing my interest in them was massive. I was tinkering with them ever since, mostly on software front. I chose IT classes in my secondary school (alongside Math, Physics, Geography and English language), where I was exposed to databases, programming, etc. Since then – at any place I worked at that had computers, I became a “go-to” person when something weird happened with IT equipment. With 3M, two major projects helped me find my way into IT and those were the SAP implementation and the 3M MES project. Those helped me to gather the experience needed to get a job in Site Systems that has now become part of Global Kindeva IT.
Tell us about your role?
I work at Loughborough IT, but some might know it as “site systems.” I’m looking after the Item Master Creation process (and the application that drives it), as well as SAP (legacy) data interrogation tasks. More recently I’ve been gravitating towards Reporting and Analytics, helping build the foundation of reporting for Kindeva.
What has been your proudest moment with Kindeva?
I think it was the realization of how focused the whole IT organization was on delivering all the various systems and infrastructure in a relatively short time and making sure we remain operational in that time.
What is a challenge you and your team are working to solve?
One of the biggest ones currently is the delivery of a robust suite of reports accessible through a user-friendly platform. Those reports will help the leadership team to make the right decisions to drive our business in the right direction.
What do you love about your job?
It’s an interesting mix of problem-solving, creative thinking and constant learning that I think make it great and keeps it fresh. There is also a fun aspect of global virtual collaboration between US and UK.
What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Don’t be afraid to learn – we truly develop ourselves only when we step outside of our comfort zone. Ask good questions and listen well to the answers.
What hobbies are you into?
Puzzle-solving with the Rubik’s cube at the forefront (I own over a dozen different kinds), but occasional Origami and an electric guitar session.
Morning person or night owl? Easily a night owl – while I appreciate mornings as they are crisp and energetic, I enjoy the peace and serenity of evenings a bit more.
What’s your guilty pleasure? Gaming – you can find me on PSN and Xbox Live (is anyone still playing Pokémon Go?)
Book or podcast? Regrettably podcasts/audiobooks. While I wish I could read more, audiobooks are the best companion while cooking or working out.
Favorite sport or game? To participate – skiing and cycling. To watch – F1 and ski jumping.
JONATHAN KNIGHT
Global Supply Chain Optimization Manager since 1999
Loughborough, UK
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It’s good to plan ahead, but don’t try to plan too far ahead.
Where’d you grow up and how’d you get to Kindeva?
I grew up on a farm in small Leicestershire village, just a few miles from the Loughborough plant. In 1996, I graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Biochemistry, and my first job was as a management trainee with Dalgety, a company that manufactured food for horses, pets, and farm animals. After a couple of years, I was keen to get into a new industry and spotted an advertisement in the local newspaper, Loughborough Echo. I promptly applied and soon found myself working for 3M as a Resource Planner for the manufacture of tablets and capsules in the Loughborough plant. The rest is history!
What is the best advice you’ve been given?
“It’s good to plan ahead, but don’t try to plan too far ahead. If you take each opportunity and give it your best shot, you’ll find the opportunities will keep coming.” – Paul Hind, 3M MBB
Tell us about your role at Kindeva.
For the last 2 years, I have been a Continuous Improvement Black Belt working as part of our Global CI Team. It is a really varied role where most of my time is spent leading CI projects or coaching Green Belts who are running their own projects. As a BB some, I led projects focused on my home plant in Loughborough (i.e. improving the performance of our IDD packing lines to remove capacity constraints and changing processes for buying indirect items and services to reduce cost and remove complexity). I have also been running projects that are more global and involve working across all the Kindeva sites (i.e. developing our long-term IBP capacity planning process and the implementation of D365).
Apart from working on projects, the BBs also spend time supporting the site management team with strategic planning, generating new project ideas and managing project hoppers, tracking project benefits, and driving the Continuous Improvement culture across the site.
I recently gained my Black Belt certification and am now transitioning to a new role in the Supply Chain organization as the IBP and Supply Chain Optimization Manager.
What is your proudest moment at Kindeva?
It’s hard to choose just one, getting my BB Certification was a proud moment for me personally, but achieving difficult things as part of a team is the most rewarding. The biggest, by far, has to be the ERP go-live. I was just one part of a huge team, but the collaboration, determination, and teamwork were amazing. It’s an experience I’ll always remember!
What is 1 challenge that you and your team are working to solve?
Most of the challenges that my team and I are working on currently involve optimizing how we use the D365 system. The supply chain teams were using very different systems previously, and whilst we did a great job to ‘Go Live’ in the summer there is still a lot of work to do to improve the functionality, standardize our processes across our sites, and find the real benefits from having 1 global ERP system.
What do you love about your job?
As a BB, and also in my new Supply Chain role, I love having the freedom to challenge the way we do things and implement changes that make a real difference. I also get the chance to work with people from many different parts of the company and that’s really interesting because I enjoy learning about how individual departments work and how they connect together so that we can function effectively as one business.
What is one thing on your bucket list?
I would love to explore the Scottish Highlands in a campervan for 2 or 3 months! My wife is Scottish so we have family connection, but the wildlife, scenery, and coastline are all breathtaking.
What is your life motto?
Actions speak louder than words. I think this applies well to many areas of life, and while I agree that words are important, I tend to look at what people do rather than what they say they are going to do. I try to lead by example, and in 2021 this has given me a new hobby…. Litter picking…. I got fed up hearing locals complaining on social media and to the council about the amount of litter in our village and local countryside. I bought a grabber and on my walks I started collecting litter. Soon, I had offers of help from like-minded people, and so we formed a group called the Quorn Litter Wombles. We’ve cleared over 200 bags of litter from Quorn and the surrounding roads so far this year.
What is a guilty pleasure of yours?
It has to be my Porsche! I love cars, and, in my opinion, if you want a ‘proper sports car’ there is only one badge that it can have!
In reality, I spend more time polishing it than driving it, and I never take it out of the garage unless the sun is shining!
What are you hobbies?
I do enjoy getting out in the fresh air and running, although 10K is my max!
I also love to help my brother on his farm, especially in the summer during the harvest. I am actually quite experienced at driving a whole range of farm machinery including tractors, combine harvesters, diggers, quad bikes. Yes, I admit I am still a boy who likes playing with toys!
SHELDON HILLE
IT Site Lead since 2020
Woodbury, Minnesota
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We went back and forth between Minnesota, Nebraska, Cameroon, and Senegal.
Where did you grow up and how did you get to where you are now?
I grew up all over the place. I want to say that we moved to 8 different cities (between 1st and 12th grade) which meant, 8 different schools. My parents did missionary work during my childhood and we went back and forth between Minnesota, Nebraska, Cameroon, and Senegal–and I spent a year in the Ivory Coast at a boarding school.
I graduated from high school in Lincoln, Nebraska then spent a little over 4 years in the Navy learning about computer mainframes (Novell and PC’s). With that knowledge, I started my career in IT as a LAN Administrator in College Station, Texas while studying undergrad. In 1997, I moved to the Twin Cities and have been here ever since.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
My dad told me, “When you dry yourself, start from the top.”
Tell us about your role.
I was hired into the role of IT Manager, which covered all aspects of Kindeva IT, including end-user management and compute, network, server infrastructure, Azure Cloud and O365 (Exchange online, SharePoint, Teams, One Drive, etc). I have recently transitioned to manage more IT Architecture and Engineering.
What is the biggest challenge that your team is working through?
Currently, it is ensuring that we are working securely as a company and that our infrastructure is properly monitored and managed.
What do you love about your job?
I love finding solutions to IT issues and problems. I like that Kindeva’s technology stack is mostly new and cloud-focused.
What is a hobby of yours?
Mountain biking is probably what I do most outside of work. I think I am finally pretty happy with my 3 bikes–they cover road, gravel, mountain, and winter bike riding. Many years ago, a couple friends and I decided that motorized dirt bikes were too hard to haul around and decided to try mountain biking and it stuck.
Favorite city you have visited? Mazatlán, Mexico
It’s brunch! What’s on your plate? Biscuits and gravy
Book or podcast? Audio books because I live 20 miles from HQ
Quarantine hobbies? Trying to figure out how to manage long hair
Favorite local business? Heather’s Restaurant in Minneapolis
GRAHAM BECK
R&D Lab Services Manager since 1992
Loughborough, UK
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What is worth remembering though, is that some of those "plans" will take years to come to fruition–a tree does not grow overnight.
Where did you grow up and how did you get here?
I grew up in Cottingham, a village just outside of Hull, in East Yorkshire. I was always interested in a science career throughout school, so as I was going through the 6th form (~grade 12) I began applying for roles in that industry. This was in the mid 80’s and, at the time, unemployment was quite high so getting to interview was quite an achievement! Fortunately, I was offered 2 different roles: 1 to work in the lab for BP on an oil rig in the North Sea and 1 (that I accepted) to work for LGC in London.
I was 17 at the time that I relocated to London. LGC was a UK government entity, so I became a Civil Servant and was required to sign the Official Secrets Act. I also signed up for the equivalent of an apprenticeship, whereby I did furthered my collegiate studies whilst working in the lab. The experience was invaluable and enjoyable–it was during my time there, that my interest in analytical chemistry and instrumentation grew. Understanding how the equipment we used actually worked was fundamental to being able to get the best from it, regardless of its complexity!
I spent 6 years at LGC before relocating to the Midlands, where I started work for 3M Health Care as an L4 Technician and I’ve been with the company ever since. First, I worked in the analytical department, developing and building on the skills I’d acquired along the way. Latterly, the role developed into R&D and then Lab Services. I have been fortunate enough to have worked and formed strong relationships with many folks from all over the company.
What is the best advice you’ve been given?
“Nothing is impossible with vision and energy.” With a vision of where you want to get to, and the energy to do it, you can and will get there. I look back over my time, personally and professionally, and can find so many examples of this. What is worth remembering though, is that some of those “plans” will take years to come to fruition–a tree does not grow overnight.
Favorite local business?
There’s a fantastic little café up the road from me that serves wonderful comfort food – panini’s and the like. There is nothing like a bacon and brie panini on a cold morning!
Tell us about your role?
My role is to support the R&D organization in both the UK and US, by overseeing the key “behind the scenes” systems–software, physical and facilities–that are used. This is to ensure that the R&D specialists can do their job effectively, safely, and compliantly while using equipment and systems that they can rely on. We also support the physical premises by ensuring that they are maintained to a suitable standard, and remain compliant and operational. Compliance is a big aspect of what we do and covers all of our regulatory obligations.
I am privileged to lead a fantastic team of individuals who do great work every day. Often they are sorting things out before you even know there is a need!
What has been your proudest moment with Kindeva?
My proudest Kindeva moment, so far, has been working with the people behind the Foundation and Elevation of our company. The amount of work, dedication, and desire for positive outcome cannot be overstated.
What do you love about Kindeva?
I am a firm believer in the principle that you can achieve so much more, and more quickly, when you talk to people either in person or via video. Kindeva has many great people and by harnessing that energy, we will really make a positive difference.
What’s your guilty pleasure?
Probably “Twiglets”. Those that know me, will know that I don’t really have a sweet tooth. Twiglets are glorious little crunchy ‘biscuits’ flavoured with “Marmite”–a true taste sensation. Equally, I have been known to have chocolate in my desk drawer which has gone out of date (by 2 years) before I have got around to it!
Tell us about a hobby of yours.
I am a leader in my local Boys Brigade company. Similar to the scouts, it is a Christian uniformed organization open to both boys and girls (despite the name) of any, or no faith, from ages 5 to 18. I’ve been doing this for about the 20 years or so, and was a member as a child as well. It’s quite challenging working with the younger ones, but equally fulfilling as well.
JAMES "TICKER" WHITTAKER
Toolmaker & Automation Technician since 2019
Clitheroe, UK
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Totaling 15 laps, 120 miles and 24,000 feet of elevation, and burning off more than 13,000 calories definitely makes this the toughest race I’ve done.
Fun Facts
What’s on your bucket list? Flying in a spitfire or racing a 24-hour mountain bike race in America
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? An English breakfast
Tell us about your role at Kindeva.
I’ve been a Transfer Press Toolmaker for 24 years, working on all different types of presses. My role here is to work with the team of toolmakers to solve problems, develop tooling, make improvements and put it into practice.
James (Ticker) competed in The Chiller 24 in October of 2021.
The Chiller 24 is a 24-hour off road mountain bike race located within Kielder forest on the boarder of England and Scotland. The aim of the race is to complete as many laps as you can within 24 hours. The rider that completes the most laps wins!
“Rattling down the final tree root decent into the main arena was a great feeling and I came over the finish line in 8th place overall and 3rd place in my age category–my first podium in a 24-hour race! I am very proud and happy because it was a strong field of pro riders! Totaling 15 laps, 120 miles and 24,000 feet of elevation, and burning off more than 13,000 calories definitely makes this the toughest race I’ve done.”