Samsung Biologics’ newly appointed chief executive officer John Rim vowed in his inaugural address on Wednesday to put the company in the front of the race in contract research, development and manufacturing.

Samsung Biologics will continue to make preemptive investments in the contract manufacturing organization (CMO) business, in order to maintain its position as having the world’s largest biologics manufacturing facility.

As for the relatively new businesses of contract development (CDO) and research (CRO), Samsung Biologics will focus on securing capacity and superior technology, Rim said.

With the will to innovate and the spirit to challenge, Samsung Biologics will rise to rank highest among the top-tier global peers within the next 10 years, across all CMO, CDO and CRO businesses, the executive said.

Rim, having joined Samsung Biologics in September 2018, had supervised the company’s third and so-far the biggest biologics plant.

He has a Master’s degree in chemical engineering from Stanford University and a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University.

Prior to Samsung Biologics, Rim was chief financial officer at Roche and Genentech.

He is credited for the stable and even expanded orders the Samsung Group company received from global clients during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)