President and CEO, Mississippi Blood Services

When David Allen took the reins as president and CEO of Mississippi Blood Services (MBS) in 1988, he had been a board member for the not-for-profit organization for several years when it approved the establishment of Blood Centers of America (BCA), a for-profit cooperative jointly owned with three other blood centers in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin.

Primarily created to leverage buying power for medical plastic products, such as blood bags and apheresis kits, each entity invested $25,000. At the time, MBS—created from a merger between Family Blood Assurance Program and Mississippi Regional Blood Center in 1978—was managing 40,000 units annually. All four blood centers collectively were managing 300,000 units annually. Today, Providence, RI-based BCA, which Allen chairs, has grown to $400 million with 16 owners; another 23 blood centers use their services.

"It's not only enhanced our buying power, but impacts every discipline within the blood center operations," he said. "From recruitment and hospital services to compliance and quality, each has its own networking conferences annually to share Best Practices and discuss improvements and industry issues."

BCA is a prime example of the forward-thinking mindset of the leaders of MBS, who have grown MBS from a small operation located in a former A&P grocery store on Lakeland Drive (now the Rainbow Food Cooperative), to a nearly 200-person staff pushing $30 million in annual revenues in the former Ethan Allen furniture store located on the Hinds County side of the Pearl River. In early 2011, MBS will move into a new 52,000-square-foot facility located on the Rankin County side of the river on Lakeland Drive that Allen proudly reports "is designed specifically for our needs."

"When we move into it, we'll be occupying the whole space," he said, explaining how the company has operated from 21,500 square feet in adjacent locations for "far too long." Space has become a premium. "We have closets in our current building that we now call 'offices.' We've also incorporated a good bit of technology to better position ourselves to continue to grow and to increase the head count to meet the needs of patients in the hospitals we serve."

Early on, to facilitate growth, Allen engineered several proactive moves. Following in the success of BCA, a group of blood center executives gathered to discuss the volatility of professional liability premiums. Commercial insurance companies concerned about the advent of HIV/AIDs in the late 1980s had begun boosting premiums erratically. "We understand our business a lot better than a conventional insurance carrier," said Allen.

As a result, Blood Centers' Exchange (BCx), a risk retention group, was formed. "We've done phenomenally well," said Allen. "Other insurance companies' rates have fluctuated while ours have remained very stable. All of the blood center owners work together well to make BCx a success."

During Mississippi's litigation heyday in the early 2000s, when MBS, along with many other companies, were getting pummeled with lawsuits, Allen stepped up as vice-chairman of Mississippians for Economic Progress (MFEP), the grass-roots organization chaired by Lex Taylor of Louisville that fights for tort reform.

"I'm very proud of what we've accomplished at MFEP over the years," said Allen, "but there's still work to be done."

As a result of a technology problem debated in 2005, another MBS company was established. Allen and six blood center executives had been using the same operating system software for several years and were trying to figure out ways to improve its effectiveness. Together, they created I.T. Synergistics LLC, better known as "ITSy." Last December, the group saw immediate, significant cost-savings after acquiring and enhancing the software. "Instead of vendors telling us what will be in the next release," said Allen, who serves as chairman, "we make decisions about what we need."

ITSy recently began selling the software outside their circle. "There are only 100 or so blood centers across the country, and four software vendors," he said. "We're the only one owned by blood centers, so there's been a lot of interest. We like our prospects for future growth."

Tackling another industry challenge, MBS and two blood centers in Wisconsin and Texas are establishing a company devoted to RFID (radio frequency identification) technology as a more efficient and safer way to keep up with the blood supply in blood centers and hospitals.

"We've been working on this project for several years, and we're excited about the possibilities," said Allen. "The Blood Center of Wisconsin is taking the lead on this, and within the next couple of years, we hope to have a product to start offering to other blood centers and hospitals."

A former drill sergeant for the Army Reserves, Allen joined MBS after working with Milliken & Company in South Carolina, one of America's leading textile companies, as a plant superintendent in the fashion fabrics side of the business when double-knit leisure suits were popular, and Frito-Lay, as controller for the plant in Jackson, Miss.

"The discipline I learned from my military service has proven very valuable," he said. "The management skills needed to run any company are the same whether it's textiles, food, healthcare, or any other business. And because I came from a for-profit background, that's how I run this business. We're not the typical not-for-profit. If we were a private corporation, we'd probably be ranked among Mississippi's top 60 in volume."

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