Joan Russell: Senior Manager, Production Operations (IA Value Stream)
Located at Lismeehan, O’Callaghan’s Mills, Beckman Coulter employs more than 550 people, making it one of the largest employers in the region.
The site at Lismeehan was constructed in 1987, but for more than 80 years Beckman Coulter Diagnostics has been dedicated to advancing and optimizing the laboratory to move science and healthcare forward – Beckman Coulter is building a culture that celebrates backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of all our associates. This is a company that is invested in its people, providing opportunities to build a meaningful career, be creative, and try new things with the support they need to be successful.
Part of the Fortune 500 listed Danaher Corporation headquartered in California, it is a diagnostics company whose products are found in hospitals, laboratories and GP surgeries worldwide. The company’s vision is to relentlessly reimagine healthcare, one diagnosis at a time and it is very proud of its contribution to the Irish economy nationally, regionally and more locally in East Clare.
Joan Russell is a Senior Operations Manager, originally commencing with the company in 2007 as a Manufacturing Biochemist, Joan progressed through various roles in Manufacturing and Technical Operations before moving to her current role where she is responsible for the Immunoassay (IA) Value Stream in Clare.
Joan is passionate about people and enjoys working in an innovative business where people can come to work being their authentic selves. Having recently joined a Panel Discussion hosted onsite at Beckman Coulter, Joan shared her favourite quote from Henry Ford “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right,”.
“It’s all about mindset. Having a positive outlook determines how your day goes. If you get out of bed thinking it’s not going to be a good day, it won’t be and vice versa, if you get up thinking it’s going to be a great day, it will be. We are so fortunate to have so many positive minded people working in my team and in the broader Beckman Coulter family” said Joan.
Beckman Coulter has a vibrant DE&I Committee onsite, who recently hosted Seachtain na Gaeilge celebrating all things Irish through music, dance and song. The company is fortunate to have many talented musicians and stepping up to provide entertainment were Mike Minihan, Claire Murray, Noretta Clifford, Anne Marie Cahir, Rachael McNamara, Lourda Killeen and Marguerite Deignan stepped up the mark performing. No doubt they were spirited on by enthusiastic DE&I Committee members Amelia Molloy, Bushra Ali and Keith Lynch. As part of the celebrations, over €1,700 was raised through employee donations for Jersey Day in aid of the Irish Motor Neurone Association, a charity near and dear to employees’ hearts.
The company recently announced a new policy to support staff undergoing fertility treatment. The measure, which extends to staff whose partners are undergoing fertility treatment, is available to all employees (male and female) and provides up to five days paid leave a year.
Tom Finnegan is Senior Manager, Engineering with responsibility for Engineering, Facilities and EHS. As part of Tom’s remit, he has an ongoing focus on sustainability. With a vision to advance healthcare for everyone, Beckman Coulter’s commitment to ‘Cohabiting with the environment’ with a four-pronged initiative centred on, water optimisation, renewable energy, Co2 emission reduction, and environmental practices, saw it stand out to win the Sustainable Medtech Company of the Year Award at the Irish Medtech Association’s Awards in 2022. The Company was also name with the Best Talent Strategy in Medtech.
Tom Finnegan is very proud of hist team’s commitment to supporting sustainability initiatives onsite, “We are fortunate to have a really unique site, situated on an 80-hectare farm. We have many sustainable initiatives embedded over the years such as woodchip burners supplying heat to the building, sourced from our own forestry, a wormery for waste water & effluent treatment, bee-hives located adjacent to sycamore and horse chestnut trees for spring pollen and a wild flower meadow which is currently being re-planted”.
In the same year, Beckman Coulter won the Most Effective Employee Engagement Strategy at the HR and Leadership Awards 2022 at Clontarf Castle.
David O’Sullivan, Senior Director and Site Lead said: “We have a hugely talented, diverse and highly engaged team here in Clare. The ongoing investment in the site is a great endorsement from Danaher in what we are doing here. We are driven to relentlessly reimagine healthcare through development and launch of innovative technologies and diagnostic R&D and manufacture, an example of this is the work we are doing on our Blood Virus Project where we are launching an initial panel of 12 assays. These initiatives require our employees to have a high degree of skill and experience to actively contribute to the development process, problem solving and lead in all aspects of their projects.
The focus is now very firmly on the future and consolidating the company’s position as a key employer in the Mid-West region, with the offer of great career progression opportunities.
There are currently open opportunities for Science, IT, Manufacturing and Operations, Supply Chain and Logistics, Quality and Regulatory Affairs.
Visit the Danaher website https://jobs.danaher.com/ to search for jobs available in Ireland with Beckman Coulter Diagnostics.
