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Vice President of Program Management and Alliances, ArsenalBio听

While the rest of us were preparing for virtual work at the onset of the pandemic, Jennifer Bixler was welcoming everyone else aboard.听

Jennifer has been working remotely for more than a decade, but being an early adopter has helped her to better understand and appreciate the value of human connections at work.

鈥淐OVID actually made things a little easier for me, because suddenly, everyone else knew what it was like to do that,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd the technology advances have helped a lot, also.鈥澨�

Of course, if you鈥檙e a Colorado native who equally loves the outdoors and the biotech industry, you鈥檙e going to have to make some compromises. Jennifer鈥檚 is virtual work: She鈥檚 built her leadership career remotely; for the past two years, she鈥檚 worked at ArsenalBio, in the Bay Area, and has also worked in remote roles for biotech companies in the Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., areas.

But when it came time to get her MBA, she balked at studying fully online. A major standout of the Executive MBA at Leeds was the offsite residency program, where students meet for extended periods at locations in the Colorado mountains and beyond. Jennifer felt a lockstep cohort program would give her the motivation to see her degree through, 鈥渁nd that personal connection with the other students is part of where the value is for me,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how I鈥檝e learned to work, as someone who is remote. I work with people, I work with individuals, and being able to build those personal connections outside of the classroom鈥攖hrough networking events, through everybody sitting in the hotel lobby in the evening working on case studies together鈥攖hat builds a level of connection that I just didn't find in the other programs.鈥�

A broader view of business

She also said taking classes alongside leaders in different disciplines has given her new perspectives on how to approach challenges and opportunities in her own work.

鈥淏iotech is kind of its own world, and I very much value having that outside input and perspective from people in different fields鈥攈ow they think about things, how they apply what they鈥檙e learning,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t has really added breadth to my education to have this level of connection with the other students.鈥�

At ArsenalBio, Jennifer leans on her big-picture, strategic view of the world to work with internal teams and external partnerships to transform innovative ideas into clinical breakthroughs, specifically in the realm of programmable cell therapies designed to battle cancer.听

鈥淲hile we have our own pipeline of products, drug development is a very long, expensive process, and for any startup to fund that itself is next to impossible,鈥� she said. 鈥淏eing able to form those strategic partnerships with larger companies is a make or break, and we need to be able make good progress as a larger team coming from different company backgrounds, and being able to navigate those relationships.鈥�

Her Leeds experience is helping her further refine her talent for keeping teams aligned on long-term strategic goals.听

鈥淲hen I was involved in the business discussions, I would often think, there鈥檚 got to be a better way of doing this, but I don't know what it is. That鈥檚 partly why I joined Leeds,鈥� Jennifer said. 鈥淲hat has been interesting is the MBA has actually validated that I knew a lot of these answers, but I didn鈥檛 know that I knew them. Leeds is giving me the language and the confidence to be able to share my perspectives, which has been a huge benefit.鈥澨�

When she鈥檚 not sharing her perspectives at work or spending time with her teenage kids, she鈥檚 either at the gym or on a mountain. 听Whether hiking, skiing, or participating in group fitness classes, Jennifer said physical fitness is an important part of her life: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have a lot of free time, but exercise is key to overall physical and mental health. It helps me find balance.鈥�

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