A leader for Lawrence’s new biotech darling has been found.

Serologicals Corp. has hired a longtime manufacturing executive from the medical device industry to oversee its biotech plant under construction in the East Hills Business Park.

Michael Litscher began work earlier this month as director of operations for the Lawrence plant, which will produce a chemical component used by a variety of pharmaceutical companies in their drug development processes.

Litscher, 57, said he had been interested in working in the Lawrence area since his daughter graduated from Kansas University in the 1990s. He said the Serologicals job interested him because of how well it tied in with the area’s larger bioscience movement.

“I think this company is just a perfect fit with the Kansas City Life Sciences Initiative and all the research that is going on at KU,” Litscher said.

He will be the top official at the $28 million Lawrence facility, which is expected to employ 40 people at an average wage of $47,000 a year.

In addition to Litscher, Serologicals has filled three other upper-management positions for the plant — manager of quality and compliance, manager of engineering and maintenance, and manager of production.

Robert Gowin, director of project management at Serologicals corporate headquarters in Atlanta, said the company gradually would hire for other positions between now and the second quarter of the year, when the plant is expected to begin its validation process.

Construction work at Serologicals Corp.'s Lawrence plant is on schedule to be completed by the middle of the year. Adam Fenimore, left, manager of production, and Michael Litscher, director of operations, inspected the plant Thursday. Litscher is the company's top Lawrence executive.

The plant must go through the process before it can begin producing its product for sale.

Depending on the length of the validation process, Gowin said hiring should be completed sometime in 2005. Other positions the plant will employ include warehouse workers, production workers, production supervisors, quality assurance analysts, clerical positions, human resources professional, safety director and financial/accounting manager.

“Everything is still right on track and on schedule,” Gowin said.

Litscher lives in Shawnee, where he previously operated a consulting company that served the medical device manufacturing industry. Prior to that he was a vice president for Orlando-based LaserSight, a manufacturer of equipment used in laser eye surgery procedures.

Litscher has a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering from the University of Arizona and a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin.