Louis P. Kassa III becomes president of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center
Kassa also is now chief executive officer of the PABC, Hepatitis B Foundation and Blumberg Institute.
Louis P. Kassa III, MPA, became president of the nonprofit Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC) on July 1, 2022. He also is now chief executive officer of the PABC, Hepatitis B Foundation and Baruch S. Blumberg Institute.
Kassa, who joined the organizations in 2014, succeeded Timothy M. Block, PhD, founding president of the PABC. Dr. Block has become executive chair of the Hepatitis B Foundation Board of Directors, which governs the PABC and Blumberg Institute.
“The Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center is in excellent hands with Lou Kassa at the helm,” Dr. Block said. “His hands are steady and his vision is far-sighted. With Lou as executive vice president for the past seven years, the PABC nearly doubled in programmatic size and economic impact.”
The PABC has grown dramatically in recent years and now has nearly 90 member companies, about 50 of which have operations on site, filling the center to capacity. Kassa co-founded the Hatch Biofund, which has raised more than $30 million to support startup companies.
Robert J. Harvie Jr., chair of the Bucks County Commissioners, said: “It is rare to find an organization like the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center, where there are so many leaders of exceptional quality. Tim Block has left enormous shoes to fill, but Lou Kassa has proven himself to be an extraordinarily dedicated and talented executive. There is no doubt that Lou has the vision and drive to keep the PABC on an upward trajectory.”
Loren Danzis, who chairs the PABC board and is a partner with Fox Rothschild LLP, said Kassa was the natural choice to succeed Dr. Block.
“Lou has taken the operation to a new level and he has the strategic leadership approach that will ensure the continued growth and evolution of the PABC,” Danzis said. “Lou inspires confidence among those who work for the organizations and our many partners, particularly the center’s member companies. The momentum that he has helped build is exciting and I’m eager to see what’s ahead for us.”
The PABC opened B+labs at Cira Centre, a partnership with Brandywine Realty Trust, at the beginning of this year. Now fully occupied by a variety of fast-growing biotech companies, B+labs is a 50,000 square-foot life science incubator in the Schuylkill Yards section of University City, Philadelphia.
Before joining the PABC and its sister organizations, Kassa previously was state director and chief operating officer of VisionQuest National Ltd., a behavioral health services provider. From 2015 to 2017, he worked part-time as the chief executive officer for Youth Services Agency, a non-profit social services agency. In 2017, Kassa co-founded Family Foundations Partnership and is currently its chief executive officer.
A resident of Perkasie, Kassa earned a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from Penn State University in 1993. He earned a Master of Public Administration from Villanova University in 2007.
The PABC, which is next to the Doylestown Airport in Buckingham Township (3805 Old Easton Road), completed a $20 million expansion project late last year. The PABC website provides details about PABC membership options and upcoming events, such as the annual Entrepreneur Spotlight, which includes a shark-tank-style session, set for July 21, and the PABC-Blumberg Institute’s annual life sciences industry conference, which will be held on Nov. 17.
More about the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC): The PABC is a nonprofit life sciences incubator-accelerator, offering state-of-the-art laboratory and office space to early stage biotech companies, as well as the Hepatitis B Foundation and Blumberg Institute. The PABC uses a highly successful services-based approach to nurture and guide its member companies to success, advancing biotechnology, maximizing synergies among nonprofit scientists and their commercial colleagues, and launching new ideas and discoveries that will make a difference. Managed by the Institute and led by a board appointed by the Foundation, PABC has more than 80 member companies, mostly small to mid-size science, research and pharmaceutical companies. Nearly 50 of those companies have operations on the Doylestown campus. In partnership with Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN), the PABC recently opened B+Labs at Cira Centre in Philadelphia’s University City.