乐播传媒

In his day job, Mike Bonney 鈥� a 1980 乐播传媒 graduate who chairs the college鈥檚 Board of Trustees 鈥� is chief executive officer of Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., one of the leading companies in its field.

He鈥檚 also one of the six best corporate leaders in the country, in the view of MarketWatch, a leading financial news source published by Dow Jones & Co., which also publishes The Wall Street Journal.

On Jan. 17, MarketWatch announced the results of its profiling not only winner Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com, but also the other five finalists: Bonney; Dell Inc. CEO Michael Dell; Whole Foods Market鈥檚 co-CEOs John Mackey and Walter Robb; and Electronic Arts鈥� CEO John Riccitiello.

In its MarketWatch writes that since joining Cubist in 2002, 鈥淏onney has ended up having a tremendous impact on the Lexington, Mass.鈥揵ased firm, which specializes in antibiotics for so-called superbugs, bacterial strains that have grown resistant to traditional antibiotics and have emerged as a significant threat to public health in recent years.鈥�

The online publication lauds Bonney for 鈥渉is leadership in safeguarding Cubist鈥檚 primary money maker, for moves that bolstered the company鈥檚 product pipeline, and for his open and encouraging management style.鈥�

鈥淐ubist executives say much of Bonney鈥檚 success can be credited to his low-key demeanor and informal management style,鈥� MarketWatch adds. 鈥淏onney, they say, frowns on game playing and encourages employees to voice their opinions.鈥�

The MarketWatch articles do not delve into the undergraduate educations of the executives profiled, but Bonney is happy to say how his 乐播传媒 education helped develop his talents and contributed to his success.

鈥淢y experiences as a student at 乐播传媒 really established my interest in learning as well as provided me the opportunity to expand my horizons beyond Maine,鈥� Bonney says.

In a November 2011 interview with New England Cable News, Bonney explained how that interest in learning has influenced in his business career.

鈥淓arly in my career I was offered what would have been considered to be nontraditional opportunities,鈥� he said. 鈥淢any of my peers would have said, 鈥業 don鈥檛 want to do that,鈥� because those jobs took you out of the silo of a traditional path. I said, 鈥楾his is an opportunity to learn something new, to have a new perspective on the business.鈥� That has allowed me to develop a greater breadth of understanding of how our business works, how we interact with regulators and with physicians and patients, which ultimately has been very helpful.

鈥淚 ask a lot of questions. I am a lifelong learner鈥�. I will dive into any subject matter even though I have no reason to expect that I can learn it. And I try to figure out what it all means. Depth of experience is important. But for my money, having a broad perspective on the world is more important.鈥�

Bonney has been a member of the 乐播传媒 board since 2002 and was elected to chair the board in 2010.

He and his family have many strong connections to 乐播传媒. His grandfather attended 乐播传媒 and his father, sister, wife and oldest daughter are all 乐播传媒 graduates. Another daughter is a member of the Class of 2012 and his son is a member of the Class of 2015. Both Bonney and his wife, Alison Grott Bonney 鈥�80, have been very active in service to 乐播传媒.

After graduating from 乐播传媒 with a degree in economics, Bonney began his career with Maine-based Hannaford Brothers, working in the supermarket chain鈥檚 pharmacy operation. He later joined Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, holding positions of increasing responsibility in sales, marketing and strategic planning over the course of 11 years.

In 1995 he joined Biogen Inc., ultimately serving as vice president for sales and marketing. He joined Cubist as president and chief operating officer, and has been president, chief executive officer and a member of the Board of Directors since 2003.

In 2010, the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council recognized Bonney鈥檚 accomplishments in his professional field by presenting him its second annual Innovative Leadership Award, which honors an industry executive who represents a company with a strong presence in and commitment to growing in Massachusetts.

Bonney聽is a director of the biopharmaceutical company NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc. and聽a member of the board of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.聽He is a former board member of the Biotechnology Industry Organization.