Jerry Jendusa’s entrepreneurial spirit was sparked by watching his father run his own pharmacy for 33 years. He’d later go on to found the globally recognized aerospace company EMTEQ that he would own and operate for 18 years before selling.
“We learned a lot along the way to try to teach, develop, train and organize what I would call a systematic approach to entrepreneurialism. And scaling businesses is something that’s always been really intriguing for me.”
Now as Xiogenix (formerly Biocut Systems) chief executive officer, he’s using that spirit to set the pace and vision for this company geared towards creating innovative technologies that aid in human recovery.
“As the role of CEO, it’s really helping other people be able to better organize, better manage and do not only their own jobs, but support other people that are coming in,” said Jendusa. “Then a big part of it is just kind of after you set that pace, getting out of the way, sharing the vision, where we want to go and then allowing other people to run with things to make the organization great.”
Since purchasing Xiogenix in 2017, Jendusa’s company BreakthrU Advising & Investing has worked to expand
BreakthrU: Interview with Jerry Jendusa
Xiogenix beyond dies and presses into new ventures such as being a provider of tissue banking and gene and cell therapy automation solutions.
“Rebranding the organization doing business as Xiogenix and why that rebrand happened is to try to transcend. So, people don’t know us only for being this tool and die company. They’ll know us more as Xiogenix in what we’re doing, cell & gene therapy, what we’re doing for biopharma. I think there’s a thoughtful approach that goes on with most things as we’re growing transcending organizations.”
This approach to evolve into a leader in the biotech industry may have been birthed out of one tissue banking partner relationship, but tissue processing is now just the tip of the iceberg if you ask Jendusa.
“Aiding in human recovery has been a defined mission of ours, which plays heavily into that vision. And we’re now trying to connect what happens on the human side with the animal or the pet side. And it becomes a little bit more overarching and not just human development.”
When Jendusa isn’t leading Xiogenix, he is a mogul on the Milwaukee CBS affiliate’s show “Project Pitch It!” which offers a “Shark Tank” feel for Wisconsin entrepreneurs looking to achieve their business dreams.
“We want to inspire individuals that are starting up businesses and individuals that have already done it, or they’re thinking about doing it that ‘Yes, you can do this’ and anybody can be an entrepreneur.”
The show gives an inside look on the thought process entrepreneurs deal with when working to expand. For Jendusa, the work being done at Xiogenix is a perfect example of a company that can and will be growing.
“It’s individual contributors that roll up to the teams that roll into these different market sectors that we’re involved with that lead to growth,” said Jendusa. “Certain personalities like to grow things. And I think that’s probably part of my personality.”
