David Dodd knew something would have to change.

When he became President and CEO of Atlanta-based Serologicals Corporation in 2000, the firm’s original business—supplying plasma products used in the development of therapeutic immune globulin agents—generated 70 per cent of its revenues. Yet the company wanted to be a much stronger competitor in its newer core mission—providing biological products and patented technologies to manufacturers of new drugs and universities, government agencies and subcontractors involved in research and development of therapies, vaccines and diagnostic tests.

It wasn’t a difficult business decision; plasma revenues and earnings were prone to volatile fluctuations. But the timing had to be right for a sale or dissolution. There were intangible factors to consider. “The challenge comes when you have to deal with emotional and historical parameters,” Dodd explains. “Those are much more difficult to cope with and you have to work through them – as a CEO, as a Board of Directors and as a company.”

Serologicals had to create “a sustainable, growth-oriented program” for its bioscience product-and- technologies base. And it had to start from scratch. “We had to build an entire presence in the research products marketplace,” says Dodd. “Now, it accounts for a third of our business, vs. zero three years ago.”

Dodd decided to put special emphasis on growing Serologicals’ cell culture, research reagent and diagnostic antibodies businesses; these had the most growth potential and had generated the strongest demand. But Serologicals couldn’t let its plasma segment lapse, so it made exceptionally heavy investments in that area during the last two years.

“The plasma business had a strong reputation for quality and performance, so we made the necessary investments to give it greater value in the exit process,” says Dodd.

Operating in this way required circumspection. “If you send out signals about selling the plasma business you’re going to lose people and you’re going to have customers shy away from you,” Dodd observes. “So you have to keep people motivated, and stay focused and competitive.”

Last April, Serologicals acquired Chemicon International, a provider of products closely linked to Serologicals’ own life-sciences business lines. It was almost time to make the sale: in July, the company disclosed its intent to leave the plasma business, and Dodd initiated a series of canny measures to reassure Serologicals’ plasma employees and clients.

The Board of Directors was meeting at Chemicon’s California headquarters in California on the day it approved a plan for an exit strategy.

“The next day I flew back here to do two things,” tells Dodd. “We issued the public press release the moment the market closed at 4 p.m. Then, at 4:02 p.m., we held a teleconference for all of our employees around the world to tell them why we were doing this and that we’d do our best to ensure their continued employment.”

Subsequently, Dodd assembled a core leadership team of five people drawn from several functional areas of the plasma business. They met with prospective buyers and kept their fellow employees abreast of what was going on.

Serologicals’ intranet service, known as Serinet, featured an electronic map where workers could view detailed and updated information on the sale process and submit questions about it to Dodd.

The company promptly told plasma employees what severance packages would be available and offered them retention bonuses to stay with Serologicals during this transitional period. “We tried to maintain ongoing communication to answer the number one question everybody had: what’s going to happen to me?” relates Dodd.

From the start, plasma clients also knew where they stood. “We outlined every contract we had and assured every customer that we would honor all of them,” Dodd says.

In mid-January, Serologicals closed the deal to sell its plasma assets to Gradipore Limited, of Sydney, Australia. Keeping affected workers aware and motivated paid off: Gradipore retained the vast majority of Serologicals’ 200-plus plasma employees.

Dodd envisions a brave, new future for Serologicals, with business growth goals of “over 15 percent a year top line [revenues] and 20 per cent bottom line [net income].” And, he’s confident that Serologicals’ revamped business structure “will let us take limited resources and focus them into a higher-growth market with higher margins and less volatility.”