Fast 25: Process Alliance LLC

Revenue growth FY 2020 to 2022: 253%
2022 revenue: $15.14 million

Fast growth: This is Process Alliance’s second consecutive year among the Fast 25, and President Darren Thompson said he is proud—and surprised—that his company has reached $15 million in revenue in only five years. “It’s pretty cool what our team has been able to do to help our life science clients,” he said. 

Clients: Process Alliance works with life sciences, bio-ag and consumer products companies locally (Eli Lilly and Co., Elanco Animal Health, Exelead Biopharma), nationally (Emergent Biosolutions in Maryland, Tolmar in Colorado) and internationally (Lonza Bioscience in Switzerland) to design chemical processes, oversee construction, manage startups and solve problems in manufacturing facilities.

Thanks to Lilly: Thompson attributes much of Process Alliance’s growth to expansion at Lilly. “They continue to invest a lot of capital,” he said. But beyond that, “we have extended our regional list and reach and extended our client base to encompass other growing life science organizations. We have been intentional about making sure we’re looking not just external to Lilly but external to Indiana in terms of fueling that growth.”

Getting younger: Initially, Process Alliance was almost entirely composed of semiretired engineers like Thompson. He said the company has made a “strategic journey from being just a bunch of old guys to a more diverse workforce.” “We believe
that part of our mission is to help train the next generation of pharmaceutical engineers and scientists.
Our secret sauce is that we’ve been very intentional about making sure those young engineers we hire get exposure to our seasoned engineers for mentoring.”

Future: Thompson said those inside the company frequently talk about headwinds and tailwinds across the business. Right now, “because of the amount of capital being spent on the life sciences,” he said, “it looks very strong for us for the foreseeable future.”•

Check out more of IBJ’s ranking of Indy’s fastest-growing companies.