Hollister-Stier leader is quitting

Tony Bonanzino, the head of Hollister-Stier Laboratories for 18 years, has resigned effective May 30.

Bonanzino, 56, said Thursday he began thinking about stepping down early this year, when the contract pharmaceutical maker closed out a record calendar year. A record for the January-March quarter – the fourth in the fiscal year of parent Jubilant Organosys Ltd. – reinforced his inclination.

Jubilant purchased Hollister-Stier last May 31 from a private ownership group that included Bonanzino.

The price was $122.5 million.

Bonanzino said the timing of his resignation is coincidental.

“I just wanted to be sure the transition went along smoothly,” he said. “I just felt ‘OK, now’s the right time.’ “

He said he discussed his plans, and the future of Hollister-Stier, with jubilant executives last week in Delhi, India.

“They’ve been very supportive of me,” he said.

Hollister-Stier generated $24 million in first-quarter revenue, about 14 percent of the total $172 million Jubilant reported.

The company employs 516 at its North Regal plant, which has undergone almost continuous expansion in recent years.

Bonanzino said he is most proud of the culture of respect and support Hollister-Stier management and workers have created.

Many employees date to ownership under Bayer Corp., which dispatched Bonanzino from Connecticut to take over the plant in January 1990.

Despite its high productivity and strong position in the allergens market, the German chemical and drug giant decided to spin off the company to private investors in 1999.

Bonanzino said employees hung on through a long period of uncertainty, which in 1997 included U.S. Food and Drug Administration criticism of company quality assurance.

“We created just a phenomenal organization,” he said.

Informing employees of his resignation Thursday morning was a bittersweet moment, Bonanzino said – sweet because he looks forward to other opportunities, sad because he has been with the company and his co-workers for so long.

“It’s tremendously difficult to leave all the relationships we have here,” he said.

Bonanzino said he will continue his work in the community, which has included one year as president of the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce, since merged into Greater Spokane Inc.

He is a member of the Gonzaga University Board of Regents, Northeast Community Center board of directors, and the Washington State Economic Development Commission.

He will also help his son Tony with his document management and storage business, Century Archives Northwest.

“It’s a father’s dream to be able to spend time with my son,” Bonanzino said.

He said Jubilant will organize a team, probably local, to run Hollister-Stier until a new chief executive is named.

Hollister-Stier was founded in Spokane in 1920.