CICP exec discusses retirement, goals

Central Indiana Corporate Partnership President and Chief Executive Officer David Johnson says there are still things he wants to accomplish before he retires in December to further strengthen the state’s key economic drivers, such as the life sciences and agbioscience sectors. Johnson announced last week he will step down after ten years at the helm of CICP. Before leading the business alliance, Johnson served as president and CEO of BioCrossroads, the state’s life sciences initiative.

In an interview on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick, Johnson reflected on the state’s life sciences sector just twenty years ago.

“There all these life sciences companies that were here. I knew their leaders and they knew each other socially but no one had ever thought about what we could do together,” said Johnson. “That’s how about BioCrossroads got started yet does go back to 2001.”

CICP is an alliance of Indiana business and research university leaders that work collectively to bolster the state’s economy and “foster long-term prosperity.” The organization has grown from 30 to 113 people under Johnson’s leadership. It also added two of its six talent and industry sector initiatives – AgriNovus Indiana and Ascend Indiana.

“I have been privileged to lead this organization over an important decade in the growth of our region and state. I will miss day-to-day engagement with executive leaders and colleagues but look forward to continuing to make some sort of productive contribution to the significant work of advancing regional prosperity,” said Johnson in a news release, announcing his retirement.

While Indiana was home to Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY), Roche Diagnostics, Cook Medical and Zimmer Biomet (NYSE: ZBH), as well as leading research institutions Indiana University and Purdue University, Johnson said the state was missing an opportunity for the organizations to position themselves in the industry collectively.

“When it got organized, there was a lot more growth that was possible. There was more development. And you still see that happening today,” said Johnson. “What BioCrossroads did was to make Indiana a credible place for life sciences companies.”

With Johnson’s departure at the end of 2022, CICP is reorganizing leadership structure. The roles of president and CEO will be divided into two.

Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Latoya Botteron will assume the role of president, pending board approval in August. She’ll retain her role as CFO.

CICP has hired an executive consulting firm to lead the search for the next CEO.