The primary responsibility of this position is to directly support the mission of Mayo Clinic Business Development. In addition to performing as an individual contributor as needed, the Director will also lead multiple projects, activities, deals, opportunities and other work of the department, from inception to execution. The role will help organize opportunities as they arise into appropriate work teams and will help with assigning staff to work teams. The Director is a main position of accountability for assigned projects and is considered a key driver for completion and success. The Director will communicate/ report project status to department leadership and may represent the department with other Mayo Clinic department or organizational leadership, and with external entities, as warranted. Based on the needs of the department, the Director may be assigned directly reporting staff, and if so, will be accountable for managerial and human resources duties, including performance reviews, goal-setting, mentoring/coaching, and career development. Beyond focus on their own assigned Work Unit and Work Teams, the Director is expected to successfully prioritize and balance project work and staff assignments to achieve optimal success for the overall department. As a leadership level role, the Director will model the values, policies and goals of the department and of Mayo Clinic.
The department is organized into three functional Work Units, with positions assigned within one of these three areas and with responsibilities as described for each area:
- Partnerships – Source, evaluate, analyze and develop new business opportunities for Mayo Clinic, including but not limited to partnerships, joint ventures, new company spin-offs, investments, mergers and acquisitions. Work with areas throughout Mayo Clinic and the marketplace to identify new business opportunities, including the ability to connect these activities with existing Mayo Clinic operational units, in alignment with the Mayo Clinic strategic plan, prioritized market opportunities, and competitive activity. Contribute to the development of a network of industry, entrepreneurial and investor contacts to serve as a resource for business development and/or commercialization activities.
- Commercialization – Evaluate the commercial potential of a variety of medical inventions and discoveries coming from Mayo's clinical and research activities, developing and implementing technology sales and marketing plans, managing the patent process, identifying potential commercial partners, negotiating license agreements and other commercialization arrangements, managing relationships with industry and advising Mayo physicians and scientists regarding protection of intellectual property and technology-based business matters.
- Technology Development – Evaluate invention disclosures coming from Mayo's research and clinical activities and assistance in processing these disclosures and any resulting patent applications: a) assist in identifying potentially patentable inventions; b) provide background materials, such as prior art searches; c) assist in drafting patent applications; d) assist in evaluating all patent correspondence, including the review of cited art with investigators; e) assist in right to use searches by identifying and evaluating third party intellectual property requirements; (f) assist in preliminary analysis of patent threats related to current Mayo products; and g) assist in educating Mayo Clinic staff regarding patent issues. Where such activities will become part of legal analysis or legal risk assessments, such work is performed at the direction and oversight of Mayo internal counsel and/or external legal counsel delegated to that role by Mayo.
Based on the needs of the department, positions will also be primarily assigned to one or more Work Teams, each focusing in a specific area: Biopharmaceuticals, Medical Devices, Diagnostics, Health Information Technology/AI, Health Services & Robotics, or Investments. Projects/ opportunities are categorized within one of these six areas, and staff are attached to each project accordingly.
Thus each team member is initially placed into one Work Unit, with their work focusing on projects and opportunities categorized as within one or more Work Teams. Typically, each team member will be placed into two Work Teams.
