Gary Held

About Gary Held

Strategic commercial leader with 20+ years of experience spanning quality, analytical development, customer-facing technical support, and business development across the oligonucleotide therapeutics ecosystem. I specialize in translating complex scientific, manufacturing, and regulatory challenges into clear commercial strategies that strengthen customer partnerships, drive adoption, and support scalable market growth.My background includes extensive work in amidite manufacturing, analytical development, GMP alignment, and technical troubleshooting across the oligo value chain. I contributed to the European Pharma Oligonucleotide Consortium (EPOC) as a co‑author of the 2021 white paper “Perspectives on the Designation of Oligonucleotide Starting Materials”—a cross‑industry effort to establish harmonized, risk‑based principles for oligonucleotide SM justification and impurity control. This work strengthened my ability to align manufacturing realities, quality expectations, and regulatory frameworks in support of customer programs. I’ve also delivered technical presentations at major industry conferences, including TIDES, helping customers and partners understand complex topics such as impurity control, amidite quality, and oligonucleotide manufacturing strategies.Today, in my business development and account leadership role, I bring this combined technical and commercial perspective to help organizations clarify their challenges, shape value messaging, and execute growth strategies anchored in deep process understanding. I’m passionate about building long‑term relationships, championing the voice of the customer, and enabling successful development and commercialization of oligonucleotide therapeutics.

Experience

1. Principal Field Applications Development Leader

   Entegris

   Jun 2025 — Present · US

   Lead commercial growth strategy for Entegris’ Life Sciences & Specialty Chemicals portfolio, with emphasis on supporting emerging and established oligonucleotide manufacturers-Develop and execute account plans focused on strengthening strategic partnerships, and identifying unmet customer needs-Translate technical and operational insights into commercial value propositions, influencing product strategy and customer engagement models-Conduct competitive analyses and market assessments to guide opportunity qualification, pipeline prioritization, and strategic decision-making-Partner closely with R&D, quality, and marketing to deliver differentiated technical-to-commercial messaging and customer success outcomes-Provide thought leadership across conference engagements, customer workshops, and internal training.

Education

• Concordia University-Wisconsin

  MBA, Management

  1999 — 2002

• University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh

  BS, Chemistry

  1991 — 1995