Chris Miskel, CEO of Versiti Blood Centers

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Photo by Tom Jenz

Chris Miskel

Chris Miskel

In the field of medicine, the future lies in blood research. At the Versiti Blood Research Institute in Milwaukee, investigators are experts in the fields of transfusion medicine, immunobiology, thrombosis, hemostasis and vascular biology, and also stem cell biology and hematopoiesis. The nonprofit Versiti is rated as the best blood research institute in the United States. Soon, Versiti will be expanding by adding a new building. 

To find out more, I met with 49-year-old Chris Miskel, Versiti’s CEO, at their headquarters on Wisconsin Avenue near Marquette University. I found him soft spoken but confident. Born in Ohio, Miskel lived there until he was 14, but attended high school in Bloomington, Ind. His mother and dad had started out in Milwaukee, and his dad worked his way up at Sears. Miskel graduated with an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2000.

You became a high school basketball star in Bloomington. During your high school years, did you have an idea what you wanted to do as a future career?

Bloomington is known for basketball as is Indiana, and I had a really good coach and program. I liked my accounting teacher. He was kind of a mentor. My dad was a business guy, and I knew I wanted to be in business. Dad encouraged me to pursue a corporate career.

So where did you go to college?

I got recruited to play basketball at Butler University, a division one college, and I majored in accounting, the hardest major there.

What was your first job out of college?

I worked for Eli Lilly in Indianapolis. My sister was Type 1 diabetic. Before every meal, I watched her grab the insulin shot from the refrigerator and inject herself. Eli Lilly was producing that insulin. Altogether, I worked for Eli Lilly for 17 years, half the years in Indianapolis.

I understand you held various jobs at Eli Lilly, right?

I was on a leadership track. I started in finance, went to sales, sales leadership, marketing, and strategy. For my last job, I was the general manager of Australia and New Zealand. I lived in Sydney, Australia. That was a fantastic experience. After Eli Lilly, I worked for four years at Baxter Labs in Deerfield, Ill.  Baxter is big in healthcare. I was in their Rare Disease Division that focused on hemophilia, which is all things blood. Wonderful company. But when Baxter was sold, the Versiti CEO job in Milwaukee became available. With the help of a mentor, I got the job. Through my career, I’ve had the help of mentors. I loved that Versiti is focused on science and medicine. That was in 2017, and my family moved to Milwaukee. 

Why did you pursue a career in healthcare and why Versiti?

It was all about my sister and her diabetes disease. That is partly why I took my first job at Eli Lilly. It was a very strong midwestern culture at Lilly. 

What are your job responsibilities as CEO of Versiti?

As a nonprofit organization, our first responsibility is to serve the community, particularly for patient outcomes. I take that very seriously. We have five service lines—research, physicians,

collecting and processing, organ tissue and distributing blood. We have a diagnostic lab for specialized testing for customers across the United States. This means there is a patient waiting on the other end of all our service lines. My primary job is to grow the impact of our mission so that we serve more patients and get them well. And also, that we grow our talent. We have a culture here where employees can have a viable career where they can grow, be professional, and also be themselves. 

I found this quote from you: “My personal expectations for performance are very high. I’m extremely competitive by nature.” How does your competitiveness apply to your job as CEO at Versiti?  

You know, I’m lucky to be in this role. My job is to carry on this Versiti legacy. Milwaukee should be proud of this organization and what it has meant for the city since its founding in 1947.

This is the fourth largest blood center in America and the best blood research institute. I owe it to those leaders that came before me to make sure we are expanding, driving innovation, and taking care of patients. 

Versiti has a presence in five states, I believe.

Yes, we cover five midwestern states—Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. We have about 2,300 employees across these states. The biggest operation is our blood collection operation. We have about 40 blood donor centers all over these five states. The blood samples go through us and end up at a hospital where it can save a patient’s life. Versiti is a conduit, selfless donors on one side, patients in need of blood on the other, with Versiti in the middle. We are one of 50 to 55 blood centers in America that can collect, process and distribute that blood. We also run mobile blood drives.

Do you store the collected blood samples in your facilities?

We keep blood inventory here, while hospitals and clinics also keep smaller inventory. We have a system in place as to when we need to restock our clients’ shelves. 

I understand Versiti is a blood services provider but is also involved in transfusion medicine and blood products. Tell me more about your products and services. 

Through our five service lines, Versiti is focused on eradicating blood disease. With our Blood Services, we have about 385 hospitals that we supply blood to across our five-state footprint. In our diagnostic blood testing lab, we analyze special cases brought to us by doctors across the country, and we also support clinical trials. Another service is organ and tissue, meaning if patients are waiting for an organ transplant, we can help facilitate that process. Then, there is our Medical Sciences Institute. We run the Comprehensive Center for Bleeding Disorder in southeast Wisconsin. If someone has a bleeding disorder or a blood disease, our physicians provide clinical care. We can even provide social workers if needed.

I did not realize you provide all those services. You have a big responsibility and a big job.

It’s really cool. When people ask me, “Why Versiti?” I say it’s the research, the legacy that goes back to when we started in 1947. We have a super international reputation in blood research and clinical care. We employ some of the best researchers, and they are right here in Milwaukee. They publish their findings in the most reputable medical journals.

Here is a quote from you, “Renowned for our innovative and leading research and extensive knowledge of bleeding and clotting disorders, we are now broadening our focus to

include blood cancers and immune system diseases.” Can you expand on your focus goals?

Blood flows through the entire body. It affects cancers, heart attacks, and diabetes, for instance. Blood tends to be implicated in in so many different diseases of the body. We want to eradicate blood disease. With science, critical mass matters, the ideal being numerous scientists working on the same problem. For instance, we are starting to do more research in the blood cancers like leukemia and immunology. We have a variety of researchers working on cancers, and this approach allows them to bounce ideas off one another. Ideally, we’d like to have eight to 12 researchers in each of our key areas.

Let me quote you again, “What value are we uniquely situated to provide? If not us, then who? We are grounded in the purpose of ‘Saving the Lives You Love.’” Can you further explain what you mean?

“Saving the lives you love” is a mantra for us. It means: in that moment that no one wants to be in, that sick moment, someone has to be there and be prepared. But you have to prepare before that moment happens. Everybody in this organization is thinking about blood. We have the largest concentration of blood researchers under one roof in America, and they are sharing ideas together. I heard one researcher say, “I can impact tens of thousands of lives if we get this right.”

Versiti is a nonprofit company. Where does the funding come from?

For the Versiti Blood Research Institute, we rely on grant funding through research ideas. Our researchers and scientists receive government grants from NIH funding, the National Institutes of Health. Another source of our funding comes from philanthropy. We also have an endowment that helps. And we receive income from the clients we serve such as hospitals and clinics. We are a nonprofit 501(c)(3) and are reimbursed for the cost of the work we do plus our administrative costs. 

Versiti will be expanding soon with a new building. I am reading from the press release, “It will be a 79,000 square-foot addition that will nearly double Versiti’s research capacity, add approximately 100 new jobs and generate an estimated $19 million in additional tax revenue for the state of Wisconsin over 30 years. Versiti is nearing capacity and plans to expand its current team of 31 principal scientists to approximately 50 in the next 5-7 years.” The building expansion is now underway. Is that right? And when will the expansion be complete?

Groundbreaking for the new building will happen later this year in Wauwatosa near the Medical College of Wisconsin, who will also be building a new cancer wing. Presently, the Versiti Blood Research Institute and Blood Center of Wisconsin is located on that property. Through an above ground skyway, our new building will be connected to the new Medical College of Wisconsin cancer research facility. We are hoping both new buildings will be open in 2026. 

I just thought of something. You’ve had a highly successful basketball career in high school and at Butler University. As a business leader, do you see parallels in terms of management philosophy between a sports team and your job here?

Some of the lessons from that sports experience still guide my leadership style. The Butler basketball philosophy consisted of five principles, and they still drive me today: passion, unity, servanthood, humility, and thankfulness.  

For how and where to donate blood, visit the Versiti Blood Center of Wisconsin website: versiti.org.