Ex-legislator to lead biotech council

The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council yesterday chose as its new president a former state legislator with limited experience on Beacon Hill and in the life sciences sector.

Robert K. Coughlin, 38, is undersecretary of business development in the Patrick administration, a job he has held since January. He is a former state representative from Dedham who worked for an environmental cleanup firm and at an investment firm overseeing start-ups.

Coughlin was selected yesterday in a unanimous vote of the group's directors. He replaces Thomas Finneran, the former biotech council chief and former speaker of the Massachusetts House, who resigned in January after pleading guilty to one count of obstruction of justice over his role in a legislative redistricting plan. Finneran earned $416,000 a year in base salary as head of the council. The council did not disclose what Coughlin's salary would be.

"In my role as undersecretary for business development, I have worked closely with the biotechnology and life sciences industry," said Coughlin in a statement. "This community is dedicated to developing new therapies and serves as a great economic engine for the state and nation."

Coughlin, who is legally prohibited from lobbying legislators until January, will start in October. Yesterday, he was vacationing at a "remote ranch" in Colorado and could not be reached to comment, biotech council members said.

"We were particularly impressed by his dynamism and energy," said Michael D. Webb, chairman of the biotech council who said he thought Coughlin played a role shaping Governor Deval L. Patrick's proposal to invest $1 billion in the state's biotechnology industry.

Coughlin earned a bachelor's degree in marine engineering at Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay and started his career at Clean Harbors Inc., the environmental remediation firm, as a field chemist testing polluted samples. Over eight years, he worked his way up to regional sales and marketing manager for Clean Harbor's New England region. He then worked briefly as business development director for an engineering firm.

In August 2000, Coughlin cofounded a company providing technology to the licensed sports apparel industry, which was sold within a year. According to his resume, that deal gave Coughlin a connection with Nicholas A. Lopardo, former chief executive of State Street Global Advisors. Coughlin joined Susquehanna Capital Management Group, Lopardo's boutique investment firm in North Reading. At Susquehanna, Coughlin managed five start-up companies and screened business plans for potential investments.

Coughlin had been active in Dedham town politics, and in the fall of 2002, he was elected state representative from the town. At the State House, Coughlin did not generate headlines and left little record of his accomplishments, but served as vice chairman of the Joint Committee on Revenue, which works on bills involving the tax code and business development.

Coughlin had been identified as a candidate for the biotechnology council position by Levin & Co., an executive search firm with offices in Boston and the West Coast. The other finalist, state Senator Jack Hart, Democrat of Boston, withdrew his name from consideration last week.

Choosing Coughlin fulfilled the wish of many biotech council members that the group hire another political insider. "To have someone who had a lot of knowledge and experience in Massachusetts politics . . . that's probably what we'll be focusing on" in the search, Webb told The Boston Globe in January.

But the council's experience with Finneran wasn't always positive. While the former speaker didn't have any experience in the life sciences industry, he was a powerful force on Beacon Hill.

At the time he was hired in fall 2004, however, Finneran was already under federal investigation for his alleged role in obstructing justice in a case involving the state Legislature's redistricting plan.

He was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in June 2005. After long maintaining his innocence, he pleaded guilty Jan. 5 to a single count of obstruction of justice, and the perjury charges were dropped.

Finneran resigned from the biotechnology council a few days later and is now a morning talk show host on WRKO-AM radio.

Jeffrey Krasner can be reached at krasner@globe.com.