Title:
President and CEO
Education:
Studied pharmacy and obtained a doctorate in medicinal chemistry from the University of Bonn, Germany
Birthplace:
Trier, Germany
Residence:
Carmel Valley
Hobbies:
Spending days at the beach with his wife, Danielle, and son, Anton
Joining Local Biotech Was a Natural Step for Native German Tony Schuh
At age 7, Tony Schuh recalls late summer nights awaiting the return of his father’s tractor from steep vineyard hills.
His native village of Trier, Germany, was filled with joy during those nights in the idyllic wine country near the Luxemburg border.
“Growing up on a winery was luxury,” recalls the 38-year-old biotechnology president and CEO of Sequenom, Inc. in Sorrento Valley.
“When I was 5 or 7 years old and had summer break, we would deliver a large truckload of wine to a customer in Cologne driving along the Rhine (River) is very romantic; you see all the castles,” Schuh recalls.
The trained pharmacist and doctor in medicinal chemistry says his interest in biotechnology was a natural progression.
“My family has been making wine for more than 800 years,” he says. “I ended up in biotechnology because the fundamental technologies that the first-generation biotechnology companies use , whether it’s liquid-handling, their tanks, their filtering technique , all come from the beverage industry.”
The other thing, he says jokingly, is that California is also wine country.
Although one could argue fate played a role. Until recently, Schuh spent 80 percent of his time at Sequenom’s offices in Hamburg, Germany, where the company was founded by Hubert Koester in 1994.
Schuh joined Sequenom in 1995 as vice president of business development and marketing and took the helm as president last May.
Schuh was running slightly late for an 8:30 a.m. interview. He apologized, noting that his 18-month-old “alarm clock” , namely his son Anton ,slept in that morning.
He then proceeds to tell his story.
Harvested Grapes
Born Antonius Schuh on May 22, 1963, the youngest of two sons in a long line of winemakers, Schuh grew up in the picturesque Mosel region of Germany.
Like most people there, Schuh spent his childhood growing and harvesting grapes, driving tractors and playing soccer.
And being from a Catholic region, Schuh attended the Catholic high school nearby.
Thanks to its humanistic founder, the school emphasized languages , Latin, French and English , as well as philosophy and history, all of which Schuh enjoyed.
One of his fondest memories however, was graduation day.
Schuh invited his classmates to the winery to celebrate the event. But it was also a time to say goodbye to his childhood friends , many of whom (like Schuh’s brother) would carry on the tradition. Others, like Schuh, would pursue their dreams elsewhere.
Schuh still recalls how a friend dug out a prized wine from the cellar, then proceeded to pour it into a 250-year-old crystal glass.
As he was about to make a toast, Schuh’s father emerged.
Another parent may have gotten angry. But Schuh said his father completely understood that the boy merely took the fine wine and glass to celebrate the momentous occasion.
In a matter of weeks, Schuh was off to Bonn’s university to study pharmacy. A typical student, Schuh had numerous roommates through the years.
“It’s not like you are carrying a lot of stuff around; you can move in two hours,” he says.
The old German capital and popular student town had much too offer in terms of entertainment. But Schuh said the students also created their own entertainment.
He said the “pharma parties” were especially popular, because so many girls studied pharmacy, he says.
Degree And A Doctorate
Schuh graduated in 1986 with a pharmacy degree; then stayed on to gain a doctorate in medicinal chemistry.
After graduating in 1989, Schuh did not look forward to Germany’s compulsory military service. But he quickly realized pharmacists and doctors got an easy ride.
Having a university education lifted him to officer status, although he had no previous military training, he says. The year 1989 was also the year of Germany’s reunification and along with it, the east and west military merger.
The west inherited a state-of-the-art hospital reserved for party members of the old East German Communist elite. In the basement was a storage facility with donated blood in case of emergencies. Schuh’s assignment was to get rid of the flasks, which as it turned out, the East Germans had sealed improperly.
“When you would thaw these bottles there was too much gas released and the bottles would explode so it was a major operation to get rid of these stupid steel flasks with the blood of the former Communistic elite.”
In 1991, Schuh landed his first job in medical and regulatory affairs at Fisons Pharmaceuticals, a mid-sized English drug maker. During his two years at Fisons, Schuh was taught all aspects of running a drug company, from R & D; to manufacturing.
In 1993, Schuh joined Helm AG, a Hamburg-based business-to-business chemicals/pharmaceuticals firm, which was also a great learning experience.
Schuh says he was stunned by the diversity of the health industry.
“I learned that in India there are 19,000 producers of pharmaceutical active ingredients and that there are 500 pharmaceutical firms selling products to end users in Germany alone.”
At Helm, Schuh also learned how to write business plans for start-ups and helped them raise money.
Helmut Schuehsler (now Sequenom’s chairman), a partner at the Munich-based venture capital firm TVM, was one of Germany’s forerunners in life science funding.
At a meeting, Schuehsler sold Schuh on his latest venture, a small start-up in Hamburg named Sequenom.
Schuh says he immediately realized that Sequenom’s genotyping technology would become invaluable for drug development.
So, he joined Schuehsler’s efforts to get the firm off the ground.
In 1995, Sequenom had $5 million in seed funding. Schuh helped raise an additional $17 million in a private round of financing, enough cash to start the planned U.S. operations in Sorrento Valley.
A Chance Meeting
Schuh still recalls his last investor meeting in San Diego. Jet-lagged and exhausted from a trip to Germany, Schuh agreed to meet with American investors to seal a deal.
The scientist, who was called in to sanction the science part of the deal, was running late.
Schuh and the investors decided to grab a bite to eat at a Carmel Valley restaurant.
Schuh recalled how his eyes wandered to a nearby table.
He was distracted by a young lady. But with the investors at this table, it was hardly the time to pursue his personal interests.
But thanks to the friend of the attractive lady, Schuh got a chance to meet her after all.
The friend slipped him a business card via the waitress.
He followed up with a phone call, and three months later he and Danielle were on a romantic trip up Highway 101 to San Francisco.
Within five hours he decided he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Danielle.
They were married a short time later at a Las Vegas wedding chapel.
“Marrying my wife was the simplest decision and best decision I ever made in my life,” he says.
They agreed early on that Danielle, a former office manager, would be a stay-at-home mom.
These days, Schuh is busier than ever. In May, Sequenom announced a $238 million buyout of London-based Gemini Genomics Plc. to expand its genomics service and product offerings.
Schuh, who will head the combined firm, says it will have 350 employees.
There will no layoffs at Sequenom’s headquarters. But 50 jobs will be lost by the end of the year from planned consolidations in Boston and Europe, he says.
Schuh will stay on as president and CEO of the combined firm. Although, he says the high-flying job is not exactly family-friendly.
“When you grow up on a winery, it’s complete luxury compared to what you see today,” he says. Growing up in San Diego as opposed to Trier means sacrificing the freedom of letting one’s children roam around town with other children and sharing life and work experiences, he says.
