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THE ENTREPRENEUR
Alltech is a global private US$500m business that employs more than 1,900 people
in 113 countries. Founder and CEO, Irishman Dr Pearse Lyons (BSc 67), tells us
education and brand have been key drivers of its success
Lyonsandtigers
I
T was only last year that it really struck home for UCD When brewing lost its fizz he made the switch to Irish
alumnus Dr Pearse Lyons, founder and president of Distillers, becoming responsible for amalgamating three dis-
Alltech, just how far he has come. “I was in the O’Reilly tillers,includingJamesonandMiddleton.Therefollowedamove
HallreceivingmyUCDFoundationDayMedal,surrounded toBiocon,ajobthateventuallyledhimtobourbonwhiskeyand
bythegreatandthegood,whenitstruckme–Alltechhad Lexington,Kentucky,acityhehasresidedinfromthatday.
arrived.”
Andarrivedithas.Today,AlltechisaprivateUS$500mbusi- Birth of a business
ness that employs more than 1,900 people in 113 countries WithinthreeyearsLyonsdecidedtomakethejumptoworking
around the world. Lyons believes brand-building is one of the forhimself.“Istartedoutconsultingbutquicklyknewitwasnot
central drivers of success, and this is demonstrated by Alltech’s for me and began developing products, starting out working
US$10msponsorshipoftheWorldEquestrianGamesthisyear, weekends with a friend filling 100g bags of ingredients for
despiteleanertimes–thecompanylogoisoneverybillboardin industry,andAlltechwasborn.”
theKentuckyarea,whileahugeclockcountsdownthetimeleft The idea then and now was to use technology to implement
intheAlltechoffices. fastsolutions–nofourorfive-yeardevelopmentplanshere.The
Educationisanotherkeydriverhesays.HisownbeganatUCD focustobeginwithwasonethanolandonanimalproduction–a
backinthedayswhenyoucouldchooseyourcourseonarrival.“I cow,asLyonsdrylyobserves,isa“walkingfermentor”.
lookedatmedicine,decideditwastoolong,artswasnotforme, “We had and indeed still have a poor understanding of the
soIwentintoscience.”Atthisstagehehadneverevenseenthe gastrointestinal tract in animals. We began using yeast prod-
periodictable.“Itwasarealbaptismoffirebuttherewerelotsof ucts to eradicate diarrhoea.” Soon the range of animal health
people who helped me.” After a couple of years he found his productsgrewtosuchanextentthatAlltechsoldoffthealco-
passion–biochemistry.“IhadgreatteachersbutIwasveryprac- holbusiness.
tical,waytoopracticaltoeverbearesearcher.”
Graduating in the mid-Sixties, he landed a job with Harp Natural evolution
Lager, a company where he had worked as a teenager, before Now the company is going through its next natural evolution,
movingtoGuinness.Returningtoeducation,hebecamethefirst says Lyons, and in the next three or so years Alltech
Irishmantoevergetaformaldegreeinbrewing,undertakinga Pharmaceutical will be born. “Some of our animal drugs have
master’s followed by a PhD in Birmingham, which in typical amazingimplicationsforallsortsofhumandiseases,fromHIV
fashionhemanagedtocompletein18months. to cancer. Alltech Pharmaceutical will, however, be public. We
26 UCD BUSINESS CONNECTIONS
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