The CEO driving change at Curia

Phil Macnabb has over 25 years of working with private equity, and more than a decade in healthcare. Today he is steering Curia, a billion plus revenue CDMO, through some tough but necessary changes.

When I sat down with Phil, I walked away with three big lessons:

What I Learnt

Principles of market leadership matter. Phil boils leadership down to clarity of purpose, customer intimacy, and sustaining value. Simple, but hard to live by.

Trust your people. Employees often know the answer before leadership does if you are willing to listen.

CDMOs sell trust. It is not just about making molecules. Reputation and reliability are the service.

What I Liked

Phil struck me as really smart and understated, but also willing to listen and learn. He is not afraid to make hard decisions and stick to a strategy, even when that means change at scale. I especially liked the way he framed Curia’s role around trust and intimacy. It shows he gets the human side of this business.

Reflection

What resonated with me most was Phil’s discipline around strategy. In a sector where shiny new opportunities pop up daily, the courage to focus and to keep steering even through a COVID cliff is leadership in action.

I also appreciated his perspective on private equity. For Phil, PE is ultimately about building sustainable value. It often does not feel like that when you are inside a PE backed company, but it is a solid north star to work toward. His take on common organisational threads, that employees usually know the answer and that customers know why they buy from you, reflects a leader who asks questions first and listens hard.

And finally, his view on the future: small batch sizes, personalised medicines, and a sharper biotech focus. Bold bets, but rooted in conviction. That mix of listening, learning, and committing is what makes Phil such an impressive leader.

🎧 Hear the full episode here: Apple | Spotify

Big thanks to our amazing sponsors Bora Pharmaceuticals, Charles River Laboratories, and Lead Candidate for supporting the pod 🙌