PHOENIX CONSULTING
Portfolio and Program Management · Business Process Design · Operations Development
Medical Devices, Pharma, HealthTech, and Life Sciences R&D
SERVICES
Portfolio Management
We build structured portfolio management frameworks aligned to your organization's strategic objectives, helping leadership make confident, data-driven investment decisions.
- Prioritization: Establish clear ranking criteria and scoring models to evaluate and sequence your portfolio against business value and capacity
- Resource Management: Track resource allocation across the portfolio and realign capacity as priorities shift
- Scenario Analysis: Model trade-offs and alternative portfolio configurations to support executive decision-making and long-range planning
Program Management
We lead complex, cross-functional programs from planning through execution, keeping scope, timelines, and stakeholders aligned in regulated and fast-moving environments.
- Planning: Build integrated program schedules with dependencies, constraints, risk registers, and resource estimates that reflect operational reality
- Cross-functional Coordination: Align functional leads on scope, deliverables, and accountability, and keep communication flowing across teams throughout execution
- Regulatory Alignment: Partner with Regulatory and Quality to define submission requirements, compliance milestones, and quality gates early in the program lifecycle
- Execution: Drive day-to-day program momentum by tracking progress, surfacing issues, and coordinating responses to risks and changes as they arise
Business Process Design
We design practical, right-sized business processes that fit how your organization actually works, and build the tools and documentation to make them stick.
- Process Design: Map and redesign workflows for program governance, decision-making, change management, and cross-functional handoffs
- AI Tool Implementation: Deploy AI tools, including Microsoft Copilot and customized software solutions, to streamline daily workflows, accelerate decision-making, improve documentation quality, and enhance stakeholder visibility and cross-functional collaboration
- Tools & Dashboards: Build purpose-built trackers, dashboards, and decision support tools that make process execution simple and auditable
- Documentation: Author standard operating procedures and process guides that translate new workflows into clear, enforceable standards
- Training: Deliver hands-on training to ensure teams adopt new processes with confidence and consistency
Operations Development
We build and scale the operational infrastructure your programs need to move from development into reliable, production-ready execution.
- Laboratory Systems: Design and deploy laboratory workflows, automation strategies, and LIMS platforms that support end-to-end operational processes
- Scale-up: Plan and execute operational readiness for scaling complex programs from development into commercial or clinical production
- Process Improvement: Identify and implement targeted improvements in cost, quality, and throughput across operational functions using structured methodologies
- Regulated Environments: Drive operational readiness in FDA-regulated settings including Design Controls (21 CFR Part 820 / ISO 13485), CLIA/CAP accreditation, validation strategy, and quality systems implementation
TRACK RECORD
Early-stage lung cancer LDT
Directed full lifecycle development of a novel early-stage lung cancer laboratory developed test, leading multidisciplinary work from product ideation and assay design through validation and first commercial testing in a CLIA environment.
CLIA/CAP commercial laboratory readiness
Led cross-functional efforts to achieve CLIA and CAP accreditation readiness, implementing validated quality systems and operational processes required to support commercial diagnostic operations.
Laboratory systems & workflow infrastructure
Built operational infrastructure for a mass spectrometry and automation laboratory and led deployment of a customized LIMS platform supporting sample accessioning, assay data ingestion, ML workflow execution, and clinical results reporting.
2,513-subject multi-omics study
Orchestrated planning and execution of a large-scale multi-omics observational study, coordinating laboratory operations, data generation, and publication support across a large cross-functional program.
Commercial lab scale-up at GRAIL
Supported launch readiness for Galleri and led system integration efforts for a high-throughput commercial laboratory designed to process more than 1 million patient samples annually.
Process & cost improvements
$850K in annual kit cost reduction at GRAIL · 75% fewer final QA inspection failures at Abbott · 60% material cost reduction at Applied Medical.
TEAM
Zachary Yanagihara
Owner & Principal Consultant, Phoenix Consulting
I'm Zachary Yanagihara, the owner of Phoenix Consulting and a biotech program leader with a career built at the intersection of science, operations, quality, and execution. I founded Phoenix Consulting to bring the same rigor and momentum I've applied at leading life sciences companies directly to teams that need it most.
My background spans diagnostics, medical devices, and laboratory operations at PrognomiQ, GRAIL, Abbott, and Applied Medical. I studied biomedical engineering at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which gave me an early foundation in applying engineering discipline to complex medical and biological problems, and it's shaped how I approach every engagement: break down ambiguity, align stakeholders, and build practical paths from concept to implementation.
My approach to program management is grounded in a simple principle: good process should make work easier, not harder. I build easy-to-use tools and automations into common sense processes that eliminate operational friction, so teams can stop managing the work and start doing it. The goal is always to free up time and attention for the high-impact, value-generating work that actually moves programs forward.
When you work with Phoenix Consulting, you work directly with me. I bring structured execution, deep cross-functional experience, and a genuine commitment to helping your team move meaningful programs forward, whether that means standing up a PMO, designing operational processes, or scaling a laboratory from development into production.
I'm based in the Bellevue, Washington area and available for both on-site and remote consulting engagements.
Ready to bring structure to your programs?
Reach out to discuss how Phoenix Consulting can support your team.
Get in Touch