The granddaughter of an Appalachian coal miner, Patti Breedlove was the first in her family to go to college. Humble roots support the tallest success stories — Breedlove would lead a pioneering bio-business incubator to international acclaim and manage a program of startup companies that would go on to attract more than $1.3 billion in funding activity.
Before all that, she earned a bachelor’s in political science from UC Santa Barbara and a master’s in health science from the University of Utah. Her early interest in increasing accessibility to health care led her to pursue a career at Planned Parenthood, where she worked for 25 years across four states.
Love brought her to Gainesville.
A trailing spouse, Breedlove secured a junior position at the University of Florida’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator (SMBI), while her husband at the same time jumped into building a startup company.
September 30, 1998, was her first day at work. Strangely enough, the exact date is vividly stamped into her memory. A portent of good things to come?
Everything’s clear in retrospect. But at the time, Alachua had more hay bales than microscopes.
The grand Progress Corporate Park consisted of just five small buildings. The paint was barely dry at the incubator, which had opened its doors just three years prior. One of the very first biobusiness incubators in the country, SMBI was still trying to figure out the whole translating-science-to-revenue process.
“There was an excitement in the air — kind of a naive energy. Lots of professors moonlighting out there with no business experience but psyched to make an impact on people’s lives,” Breedlove said of the early days.
She commends UF Assistant Vice President and Director of the Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) David Day with shaking things up.
“I have to credit Dr. Win Phillips for bringing him on,” she said. “David made it possible for us to be successful. He shaped OTL into the engine it is today, wooed investors from out of town, and changed the composition of the incubator’s advisory board from professors to investors.”
Breedlove was one in a handful of pioneers bold enough to step up and launch a rural highway dream into shiny prosperity.
She helped with the park’s first website hosting, and built its first directory and signage. A casual BBQ on the incubator’s back patio morphed into what is now the state’s secondlargest annual biotechnology industry event, with more than 650 participants.
Tiny SMBI startups made astounding scientific discoveries, developed lifechanging products and matured into multimillion-dollar companies. Some notable successes include Pasteuria Bioscience (acquired by Syngenta for $113 million), AxoGen (listed on the NASDAQ) and Nanotherapeutics (won an up to $358 million defense contract and is currently building a 180,000-square-foot manufacturing facility adjacent to Progress Park).
You can’t accuse Breedlove of just thinking in the North Central Florida box, either. With no initial funding, she worked with researcher Michael Schmitt, M.D., to build a statewide biotechnology company directory and industry assessment tool known as the Florida BioDatabase. When the free database was established seven years ago, there were only 136 biotechnology companies in the state. The industry has grown 92 percent since then – Florida is now home to 262 companies.
With Breedlove at the helm as director, the incubator won four highly competitive international awards, including the National Business Incubator Association’s highest award for overall excellence. SMBI topped incubators more than twice its size (such as the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation) when it won the NBIA’s Randall M. Whaley Incubator of the Year award in 2013.
Today, Progress Park is a high-tech business park with 25 buildings, 30 companies and approximately 1,200 employees.
Breedlove’s recent advocacy for local biotech companies contributed to UF Foundation efforts that led to inking a 14-acre land development deal with Hawley & Taylor Real Estate Group and Concept Construction of North Florida to build up to 248,000 square feet of labs and commercial space for expanding biotechnology companies.
SMBI graduate Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (AGTC) will be the first tenant to move into the development, which is adjacent to Santa Fe College’s Perry Center for Emerging Technologies and across the street from Progress Park.
THE PERSONALITY BEHIND THE POWERHOUSE
For a self-described introvert, Breedlove sure is social.
She has served on more than 14 boards and organization committees including Enterprise Florida, Dance Alive, Alachua Lions Club, Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention, Alachua/ Bradford Workforce Board, and the Florida Network of Research Parks.
The incubator culture she’s worked to foster is refreshingly welcoming. She makes time to talk to the veteran CEO and the gangly new intern alike. A Dr. Seuss quote is prominently featured on her webpage. The lobby’s limitless free coffee lures weary scientists out of their labs and into bright conversation.
“Innovation has to be porous,” Breedlove said. “People have to interact and be challenged. Incubator success has a lot to do with community and a willingness to help one another. And, we wouldn’t be winning these awards without such a great team of people. Merrie, Bryan, Lynda, Orlando, Barbara and Christine make it look easy — but it’s not.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Thankfully, Breedlove will stick with her adopted hometown of Gainesville when she retires in December 2015. It’s not about stopping; it’s about starting new things, she said.
“I’m kind of geeky with a creative side. I want to spend more time with that side when I retire,” she said.
In her golden years, Breedlove plans to travel, volunteer with local causes, and spend time with her five grandsons, stepdaughter and three children (two of which are entrepreneurs).
She’s already started getting out from behind her desk, listening to more podcasts, and indulging in Man Booker Prize-winning contemporary fiction. NPR is her favorite radio station. If she had her pick of dinner partners, she’d dine with either Hull House co-founder Jane Addams or the publisher of The Economist.
Breedlove recently won one of only two BioFlorida Lifetime Achievement awards ever awarded for her lasting contributions to statewide biotechnology industry growth. Down to earth and unassuming, she is notorious for brushing off recognition. If it were up to her, she’d skip all of the retirement hoopla.
“I don’t think a lot about legacy,” she said. “I never set out to be conventionally ambitious. Doing things that matter and making a difference is enough satisfaction for me.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Nathalie first met Patti when she interviewed her for a story as a Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce student intern. A few months later, Nathalie had the privilege of working for her at the UF SMBI. It seemed fitting to come full-circle and for her to write this piece recognizing a truly amazing community pioneer.