CEO's end of year message 2012

Earlier this year Dr Andy Vinter, founder of Cresset, shared in our blog that he chose the company name because “Cressets bring light to a dark world and herald new events. Field technology sheds new light on the way we think about molecules binding and ‘Cresset’ is a good name for a company that wants to share these ideas.”

Cresset is as good a name now as it was a decade ago, and it signals our continuing goal to illuminate discovery research through the application of robust science. Our methods are constantly being developed and I’m pleased to say that they are endorsed by our enthusiastic customers and I would like to thank you for the real partnership that we have with you.

2012 has been a time of consolidation and growth for Cresset. Our developers, headed by Mark Mackey and Tim Cheeseright, have worked tirelessly to shape our software into a comprehensive range of tools that fits into the work flow of our customers. I am delighted with the new products and their fiery new names. Torch, Forge, Spark and Blaze are thoroughly professional tools that offer Cresset’s excellent technology in highly productive software environments.

Meanwhile, the consulting side of the business has been thriving. Martin Slater’s current blog about consulting services highlights the reasons why people choose to outsource their computational chemistry to Cresset. He gives examples of the great synergies that have come about through the application of our expertise to the many and varied research challenges that our customers bring us.

It was great to meet old and new faces at our US and EU User Group Meetings this year. People tell me how encouraging they find these events and how much they enjoy the chance to share ideas and discuss how Cresset software is informing their research. A particular highlight for me was hearing how Peter Ertl of Novartis is using Cresset tools embedded within a workflow to create new active molecules. I’m looking forward to meeting many more of you at our 2013 meetings in the summer: “Field Based Chemistry North America 2013“, Cambridge, MA on 14th May and “Field Based Chemistry Europe 2013“, Cambridge, UK on 20th to 21st June. Further details will follow in our January newsletter. I hope you will book the dates in your diary now!

This summer we welcomed David Bardsley on board as our new Sales Director. I know that he has already been in touch with many of you to find out how we can best meet your computational needs. David is based in the UK and, together with Rae Lawrence and Carlton Squires in the US, is always keen to hear from new and existing customers.

This year we’ve taken the environmentally friendly decision to refrain from sending festive greeting cards. We’ve donated the money saved to the AICR to fund research into the causes of cancer.

As we look forward to 2013 I would like to wish all of our customers and partners every success. We sincerely hope that as we seek ever better understandings of molecular interactions Cresset will continue to make a real difference to your research.

Dr Robert Scoffin
CEO