N
o coat. No tie.
No leather briefcase or power-grip handshake. Cooper Collins (BA ’02, MBA ’03) never thought of himself as the CEO type. And even though he has earned the title, he hasn’t adopted the stuffy characteristics that typically accompany it. As president and CEO of Pernix Therapeutics, Cooper does, of course, suit up for big boardroom meetings with investors and flashy presentations to partners. But on an average day, he’d rather pull on a polo shirt and slacks and discuss ideas at a roundtable, where his suggestions are just as likely to be shot down as those of his nearly 100 employees. Such a relaxed style and quick career rise could easily lead some people to underestimate the 32-year-old former Colonel quarterback, but he quickly disproves that notion. After all, when he joined Pernix (then known as Zyber) as an intern in 2003, the specialty pharmaceutical company was a mere startup in Gonzales. Within five years, Cooper was named CEO of the operation, now based in The Woodlands, Texas. Two years later, Cooper ceremoniously rang the Closing Bell at the New York Stock Exchange, signaling Pernix’s rise to a publicly traded company. And just a couple of months ago, Pernix reported that its net revenues increased 82 percent in the past year to reach $60.6 million. “What I’d like is to see how big we can really make this company,” Cooper says. “The best thing would be to build this company to a level where everybody knows it and recognizes it, so that people in the industry will say, ‘Oh, you were a part of the Pernix team?’ “The funny thing is that I never looked at myself as a salesperson. But after taking an e-commerce class at Nicholls, I saw the potential and got hooked on the idea of growing small businesses.”
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Cooper and his executive staff discuss how to keep the company values of teamwork and competitiveness intact. In four of the past five years, some sales representatives have earned a higher salary than Cooper himself due to Pernix’s sales incentives. “I don’t care who makes more money than me,” Cooper says. “I’m one of the biggest shareholders, so when the value of the company grows, I’m happy.”
Realizing his business acumen Although born in Slidell, Cooper moved a lot because of his father’s job in the oil industry. As he relocated to Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alaska and Abbeville, sports allowed him to easily make friends and fit in. As a result, when Cooper thought about his future, athletics were a very big part of his plans. Recruited by Nicholls with a full football scholarship, he played quarterback and majored in mass communication, hoping to work in sports broadcasting or public relations. Luckily for Cooper, the New Orleans Saints were holding their summer training camp at Nicholls, and he scored an internship with their media relations office. For several years, Cooper stuck with the organization, helping with player interviews, press conferences and game reports. But he was young and ambitious. Cooper considered pursuing a master’s in sports administration but didn’t want to be pigeonholed into a specific field. An MBA seemed like a better — albeit more difficult — choice. Unlike most of his cohorts in the Nicholls MBA program, he didn’t have a business undergraduate degree, so he spent his first few semesters taking prerequisites. Although some business professors initially pegged him as a goofy athlete, it didn’t take Cooper long
to prove his business potential. “His learning didn’t stop in the classroom,” says Dr. Chuck Viosca, associate professor of marketing. “He often stayed after class to talk with me and was the kind of person who was a pleasure to be around. He was very bright and capable — more so than he probably thought at the time.” It was in Viosca’s e-commerce class that Cooper began finding his niche. He devised an idea for a website that would provide exposure to high school athletes who hoped to play on the collegiate level. After finding two partners and getting encouragement from Viosca, he jumped into his first business venture. Cooper attributes his competitive edge to the entrepreneurial spirit of the Nicholls College of Business Administration, which actually helped direct him to Pernix in the first place. Dr. John Lajaunie, professor of finance, knew that Zyber Pharmaceuticals was looking for interns, and Cooper seemed to be a good fit. He had never taught Cooper, but the graduate student showed up on his radar one day and made an instant impression. “Some people have unique qualities that stand out,” Lajaunie says. “Some call it driven; other times you hear it called fire in the belly. Cooper learns very, very quickly from his errors. Others