2011 pharma leaders

8/4/2019 2011 Pharma Leaders

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M

eet 2011s Emerging Pharma

LeadersCan these 30 trend-

setters build competitive scale

from scarcity?Pharm Execs 2011 roster of Emerg-

ing Leadersour fourth to dateis not

only a way to recognize a few individu-

als whove made a difference in their or-

ganizations. It also serves as a barometer

to track larger changes in the workplace:

how work is done; who does it; where,

and with what range of skills; and for

what outcome or objective. In acknowl-

edgment of our own 30th anniversary

as a publication, and with the support of

Pharm Execs Editorial Advisory Board

(EAB) and an aggressive Web-based rec-

ommendation process, weve selected

30 executives drawn from a range of

mission-critical functions, varied geog-

raphies, and diverse gender and cultural

characteristics. Such backgrounds were

unimaginable in the executive ranks

of the industry just a few years ago, a

fact that suggests Big Pharma today is

at least more reective of the broader

sociopolitical environment that has al-ways been crucial to its success.

The 30 proles written and com-

piled by our editorial team is reference

in itself to the trends and values that

will shape strategy in biopharmaceu-

ticals for the remainder of the decade.

That, in turn, will help determine the

ground rules for individual career

progress. Weve distilled some of the

more interesting insights as follows:

The real meaning of lean. As compa-

nies scale backthis years leaders are

aware that the pace of layoffs in Big

Pharma is exceeded only by the govern-

ment sectorthe response is not just to

do more with less. All agree that the

change is strategic, not temporary, and re-

lates squarely to the higher long-term risk

prole of the business. The optimal re-

sponse to the lean agenda is to contribute

to strengthening the efciency of business

practice and processes; sometimes this re-quires more resources, not less. Making

trust, engagement, and loyalty programs

really convincing to employees is another

necessary leadership attribute of a lean

organization, where the impact of a loss

of any productive worker is magnied.This is where overall corporate reputa-

tion can make a bottom-line difference.

Information is now borderless, posing

a signicant management challenge to

stronger employee engagement. Rapid

improvements in IT are forcing leaders to

be more transparent, but this requires in

turn a commitment to make information

veriable to employees and team mem-

bers. Tomorrows business leaders must

be able to certify and validate reams of

unsubstantiated information, and for this

role the prerequisite is to be seen as some-

one who is trusted.

The key emotional chord in todays

pharma workplace is to convey a sense

of urgency. Time and space for action

are compressing due to the impact of im-

provements in technology, accessibility of

information, the globalization of competi-

tion, and a changing demographic of themarket base. Complacency is a trait as-

sociated with older forms of organization

linked to hierarchical decision-making

and a command-and-control leadership

style, when the prudent response for

anyone with leadership aspirations was

to defer and deliberate. That old strategy

remains an optionold habits die hard,

particularly the bigger the organization

isbut fewer of those raised in the Inter-

net age of instant access to information

laced with opinion are likely to embrace it.

The talent pipeline is spouting in a dif-

ferent direction. Under previous gen-

erations, drug research and other good

ideas germinated in mature markets,

preferably the home ofce, with produc-

tion and secondary services devolved to

low-income countries. Looking forward,

that pattern may well be reversed, which

requires the ability to initiate, analyze,

and execute around a global approachthat can accommodate diverse cultures

and perspectives on doing business. Do

any of us realize that some Asian lan-

guages are lacking a denitive equivalent

to the simple word no?

The real driver of human resources is

the power of the personal connection.

The tendency in Big Pharma has been

to do precisely the opposite, turning the

HR function into an information pro-

cessing service that takes place mainly

online. Many of our 30 leaders urged

that management restore what is hu-

man about human resources, through

a renewed emphasis on counseling and

support for soft skills such as leader-

ship training, talent development, and

mentoring. One executive even noted

that his best source of ideas and talent

now comes from his own family, rather

than the work peer group. Companies

will have to foster new approaches to

ensure these connections are incentiv-

ized to foster creativity within the ranks.

Its preferable to all this collectiveand

capturableenergy being diverted to

networked outside communities, whose

numbers are multiplying and threatento make Big Pharma appear isolated,

lumbering, and irrelevantand certain-

ly not the place to take your new ideas.

The best innovations are often a conse-

quence of a workplace failure. A repeat-

ed theme in the interviews is that good

organizations impose no sanctions on

failure. Making mistakes is part of the

job, and what counts is a willingness

to reach beyond a presumed outcome

to try something new. Management willneed that approach to navigate through

changes that are becoming harder to ac-

count for in advance.

One thing has not changed: There are

few future leaders who cant citepassion

as a factor that got them to where they

are today. The lucrative pay in pharma is

one thing, but if you are not red up by

the potential that working in this space

has in improving the state of health for

millions of patients, then perhaps a careerin accounting is more appropriate.

William Looney, Editor-in-Chief

Emerging Pharma Leaders 2011SPONSORED BY



3/18

Doug DrysdaleCEO, Alvogen

Doug Drysdale knew from a young agethat hed end up in pharma. When

I rst left high school I worked in

a hospital lab. Then I went to university, he

says. Coming out of there, it was hard to see

sometimes how you would commercialize a

life sciences degree and how you could actu-

ally make a career out of itwhats interest-

ing academically is sometimes difcult to turn

into a career. But the pharma industry immedi-

ately struck me as a way to do that.

Drysdale moved up the ranks at small startups but also

places such as Forest Laboratories and DuPont Merck before

eventually becoming CEO at Alvogen. Drysdale recognizes that

industry has changed and downsized since he began his career,

with companies commonly doing more with less. Thats inter-

esting because in some ways I think my career has followed that

kind of path, he says. I started out in Big Pharma and ended

up moving into more entrepreneurial roles and into generics.

Part of that has followed the lifecycle of the pharmaceutical in-

dustry. When I rst started out, pharma had so much money to

spend on R&D. Now times are denitely leaner and every com-

pany is searching for ways to get more out of the R&D pipeline

while spending less.The best way to handle this new environment, says Drysdale,

is to focus specically on areas with the most potential value,

then make swift decisions. In the US generics space, Drysdale

says, Only generics that are more complex, more high-tech, and

have fewer competitors have the real value.

Outside the US, he says, the value lies in tar-

geting emerging markets.

Once Drysdale and his team knowwhat to focus on, the next step is to ap-

proach innovation from what he calls

a 10-80-10 philosophy. We spend 10

percent of our time planning, 80 percent

of our time executing, and 10 percent of

our time reecting on what we could have

done differently, he says, whereas a lot of

companies spend 80 percent of their time

planning and 20 percent executing. They

are thinking too much and too hard about

what needs to be done; they get paralyzed by difcult situations.

The key to the 10-80-10 method is to foster the kind of

environment where employees feel condent making swift de-

cisions and taking risks. By taking a different approach and

making sure that employees feel there are no repercussions for

making mistakes, I think people are far more motivated and far

more likely to bring their ideas forward, says Drysdale.

But the creativity to come up with a great idea and having em-

ployees with the power to execute it are not the only key factors,

says Drysdale. Lets be up front: If Ive thought of something or

my colleagues have thought of something, the chances are that

two or three of my competitors have thought of it also, he says.

I dont think we can claim to have a monopoly on good ideas.But we can execute those ideas much faster than our competitors.

Having a good idea is not good enough. Its taking a good idea

and turning it into an action that moves you forwardand that

comes from speed and decisiveness.

Kimberly SablichVice President, Vaccines,Commercial

Strategy, GlaxoSmithKline

Kimberly Sablich, vice president

for vaccines commercial strategy

at GlaxoSmithKline, ascended

quickly in her pharma career, and she

credits it to growing up in a household

with a single working mother. With my

mother as a role model, I never questioned

whether I was going to have a career and

I was always sure I wanted to be in the

business world, like Mom, says Sablich.

As a witness to the great healthcare

debate of the Clinton era, Sablich wasdrawn into healthcare and ultimately

pharmaceutical marketing. Today, she

continues to dene herself as a market-

ing strategist who is now able to apply

her passion for marketing strategy to

a broader set of products and coach a

larger team in this area.

Since she began her

career in 1995, Sablich

admits that more has

changed in pharma than

has remained constant.

However, she would ad-

vocate that the basics of

solid marketing strategy

still hold. Now more

than ever, it is criticalto develop solid insights

about our market dy-

namics, customer needs, and competi-

tors, and to prioritize customer segments,

and develop an offering that meets or

exceeds customer expectations, says

Sablich, who believes that to prevail and

succeed in a new era

of competitive scarcity,

one must remember

that strategy develop-

ment also requires an

equal complement of

strong execution, exem-

plied by the removal

of barriers to efcient

decision-makingoneof which is having fewer

layers of management.

SPONSORED BY

Emerging Pharma Leaders 2011


4/18

Denny KraichelyAssociate Director, CMC Team Leader,

Portfolio Management & Technical

Integration, Johnson & Johnson

What appeals to me most

about the pharmaceuti-

cal industry is our focus

on the development of new medicines

to improve patients lives, says Den-

ny Kraichely, Johnson & Johnsons

associate director and CMC team

leader in portfolio management and

technical integration. It inspires me

that I am a part of a pharmaceutical

industry with so many examples ofchanging life-threatening diseases to

manageable chronic conditions.

At J&J, Kraichely is tasked with

leading multiple CMC teams spanning

from pre-new molecular entity (NME)

declaration through post-approval.

He serves as single point-of-contact

for all aspects of chemistry, manufac-

turing, and controls for several com-

pound development teams and sup-

ports the objectives of his companys

strategy to engage in multiple thera-

peutic areas. When he isnt reviewing

manuscripts for scientic journals and

trade publications, Kraichely is help-

ing to develop programs from scien-

tic conferences. I strongly feel that

sharing knowledge is a key enabler

that will allow our industry to con-

tinue to bring life-changing medicines

to the patients we serve.

Another guiding principle forKraichely is that a lean organization

depends heavily on communication,

pushing boundaries, and challeng-

ing the status quo while maintain-

ing a strong sense of condence and

self-awareness. The pharmaceutical

industry is perfectly positioned and

equipped with unprecedented tech-

nical knowledge to meet the needs

of patients around the world, adds

Kraichely. As an industry, we need

to continue to play an active role to

ensure that payer reimbursement chal-

lenges do not prevent patient access to

our life-changing medicines. Fighting

that battle internally to ensure good

science prevails is just as important as

dealing with outside vendors.

Leigh-Ann DurantAssociate General Counsel, Clinical Trials and Medical

Affairs, EMD Serono

Many of this years Emerging Pharma Leaders start-

ed out as physicians, sales reps, or pharmacists.

Leigh-Ann Durant took a different pathshe be-

came a lawyer. Durant debated between medical school and

law school for a while, and law school won. After becom-

ing involved in international law and relations during a year

abroad in Finland, and after clerking for the Chief Justice

of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, Durant says pharma

crept into her career. I was hired by a major law rm that

had a number of pharmaceutical clients, she recalls. It was

really the perfect opportunity for me to marry my interest in

law with my interest in medicine and science. And so I was a

trial attorney doing pharmaceutical work, with a particular

focus on FDA and regulatory issues.

Now, Durant is at EMD Serono, where she serves as lead at-

torney for medical and clinical activities and is involved in legal

aspects of all the clinical trials the organization runs in the US.

And its excellent mentoring experiences, especially through

the Womens Bar Association (WBA), that have brought her

here, she says. For me, mentoring has been incredibly helpful,

in terms of not only providing me professional advice but alsobusiness and personal growth advice. I really had the benet

of having a generation of women lawyers above me who were

willing to reach down,

pull up rising youngleaders, and help them.

Those mentoring rela-

tionships were some of

the key formative re-

lationships in my per-

sonal and professional

development.

Now, with a team

of lawyers, paralegals,

and support staff who

look to Durant every

day at EMD Serono,

shes focused on paying

it forward. I prom-

ised myself that when I

made it, when I became this successful woman lawyer, I would

turn around, reach down, and pull up the next generation of

women lawyers behind me, and help them in the same way

that the generation before me helped me, she says. I make

a conscious effort to create an inclusive work environment, to

tap into the strengths of my team members, and to focus on the

precise types of skills each of them needs in order to move for-

ward. The strengths might be different between and amongstthe team members, but were stronger collectively than we are

in our individual parts.



5/18

Heather BreschPresident, Mylan

Twenty years ago Heather Bresch accepted a dataentry position at Mylan, a small generics and spe-

cialty pharmaceutical producer headquartered in

Canonsburg, Pa. Today, she is president of the company.

As an advocate for access to affordable healthcare

and generics utilization, Bresch admits that her profes-

sional life has inuenced the causes that she cares about.

Mylans mission is to

provide the globes 7

billion people access

to high-quality, afford-

able medicine. Howev-

er, there are many parts

of the world where

universal access is far

from a reality, for in-

stance in sub-Saharan

Africa, she says. This

is in large part what is

behind Mylans drive

to develop generic anti-

retroviral medicines to

treat HIV/AIDS.

Bresch remembersa time when generic

utilization in the US

was at only around

35 percent; today it has more than doubled to over

75 percentand is still growing. She emphasizes the

importance of generics and their vital role in keeping

costs down and ensuring access to life-saving medicines.

While many of the changes to our industry have been

positive, as a company and as an industry we still have

to ght every day to retain our position and ensure that

consumers have access to low-cost, high-quality ge-

neric pharmaceuticals, says Bresch. This ght extends

across regulatory, legislative, and operational fronts. A

key focus of these efforts is achieving a healthy balance

between competition and innovation.

In a nutshell, Bresch believes that common sense,

good judgment, and a strong work ethic are required

of the next generation of leaders. However, she notes

that communication and mentoring talent are also

key qualities: I have placed an increasingly higher

value on communication as our company has glo-

balized, she says. Identifying and mentoring talent

is also very important to me. At Mylan, we have aunique and unconventional culture that requires peo-

ple to think differently and challenge the status quo.

Jennifer LeedsExecutive Director, Head of Antibacterial Discovery,

Novartis

Ialways really loved biology. But what probably got me

most interested in microbiology was my mom working

in a doctors ofce. I would just come in and watch the

urologists do all this testing, looking at pathogens. That was

my rst exposure to bacteria. I just really enjoy it.

Half a lifetime later, Jennifer Leeds, executive director and

head of antibacterial discovery, has put that passion to great

use over eight-and-a-half years at Novartis. Her current re-

sponsibilities place her in the lead of the entire antibacterial

discovery groupthe team responsible for everything from

target identication, to validations, screenings, lead discover-

ies, all the way up through writing INDs.

I think of myself as a gatherer, so I dont claim to be the

smartest person in every eld. I just like to bring people together.

Working for Big Pharma, she says, has its advantages, because

you have many resources available. Whats been successful for

me at Novartis, Leeds says about her leadership style, is main-

taining good relationships, treating people professionally, never

taking all the credit yourself, and being very transparent.

What is it about transparency that is so important when

being tasked with leading a diverse team of individuals? Id

rather have someone be very clear about what they know,

what they dont know, and how much they know about howto go about getting the information they dont have. I like to

see how people think critically about a project. And lastly, I

want to know of someones ability to work with others. They

need to be very team-oriented.

But leadership traits must be honed through years of experi-

ence; one doesnt simply acquire them, and one certainly never

stops trying to develop those skills. According to Leeds: Im

looking for mentors to

make sure Im able to do

my job successfully. Being

a mentor as well as having

mentors is equally impor-

tant. I dont think people

necessarily see how valu-

able that is unless theyre

in itbeing on both sides.

But everybody can learn,

everyones got different ex-

periences, and everyones

got something that they can

contribute to someone else.

Part of the path [of leader-

ship] is being willing to bethe mentor and nding the

mentors you need yourself.

SPONSORED BY



6/18

Craig LipsetHead of Clinical Innovation, Pfizer

As head of clinical innovation for Pzer Worldwide Re-search & Development, Craig Lipset runs a tight ship.

He works with senior scientists to dene the future for

clinical trials and ensure that the companys R&D initiatives are

connected and can leverage one another. As a large and decen-

tralized organization, Pzer runs the risk of having too many

projects linked to process and tactics, while ignoring a long-

term vision that can inuence the commercial rate of return.

According to Lipset, We are seeking to share and institution-

alize our work and the learnings. At the same time, we are

working at a local and a corporate level to ensure we have a

culture that supports and encourages innovation rather than

more bureaucracy.

Lipset admits he has seen no shortage of organizational

changes in the pharmaceutical industry; today, the R&D

function at Pzer is based on the premise that there are no

sacred cows. He disagrees with those who believe the in-

dustry is complacent, noting

to Pharm Exec that there is

a sense of urgency as never

before and a basic consen-sus in the C-suite that the

old ways of doing business

must change. Those that are

unwilling or unable to adapt

to this need for change may

want to explore opportunities

elsewhere, he says. Now is

the time for innovation.

Moreover, in his newly

created position, he has ob-

served a renewed appreciation for the role of the patient as

a participant in clinical research. I believe this is an exten-

sion of the new role of the patient as an engaged participant

in managing their overall health and wellness, says Lipset.

This is a time to stay focused on our companys vision to

improve health and well-being around the world.

Jane BrandmanInternational Marketing Leader,Merck

Mercks Jane Brandman was

working on the issue of man-

aged markets and reimburse-

ment before it was industrys cause cl-

bre. Not so long ago, reimbursement in

oncology, for example, wasnt even an

issueif it was approved, it was reim-

bursed, says Brandman.

While pursuing a pharmacy degreein Canada, Brandman says she became

interested in drug development, and was

selected for an internship at Ciba-Geigy

(now Novartis). After graduating, she

went back to Ciba to work as a pharma-

cist in the companys medical informa-tion department, and thats when she

started to recognize that pharmacoeco-

nomics and market access were going to

be key determinants in where the indus-

try headed.

A Rhone-Poulenc Rorer-sponsored

fellowship landed Brandman south of the

Canadian border at the University of Ari-

zona, picking up a Masters degree, and

then went to Pzer, working in a group

tasked with building outcomes research

tools for managed care organizations,

for use in evaluating drug portfolios and

assessing patient management. That job

led to a position working on Pzers in-

line products within its womens health

division, and later on Pzers arthritis di-

vision, both in the US and globally.

Things were sailing along, and then

several of Brandmans family members

got cancer. That instigated a change in

direction, and a new focus on oncol-

ogy. For me, this particular space wasso unique because if you were able to re-

ally work with key opinion leaders and

see the science through, you had a phe-

nomenal impact on patients lives, says

Brandman. Novartis oncology made an

offer, and Brandman came in to givethem some guidance on how to think

about market access and reimburse-

ment and pricing. With Gleevec near-

ing FDA approval, Brandman was able

to contribute to the franchise by making

sure the right information was being col-

lected to address the issue of reimburse-

ment. Finding herself in a marketing role

at Novartis was unexpected, but Brand-

mans background in science was crucial

to marketing efforts, where the science

level is so high, you really have to be onyour game, she says.

After rising to associate director at

Novartis, Brandman left for Merck to

drive lifecycle management for Zolinza,

an oncology drug (shes currently inter-

national marketing leader). She describes

her management style as collaborative:

I dont like micromanaging, she says.

I dont want to be in there telling people

how do things, or to do things my way.

It doesnt matter how things get done, solong as they get done, and get rewarded

when its deserved, she says.



7/18

Vatche BartekianPresident and Founder,

Vantage BioTrials

For Vatche Bartekian, pharmaceu-

tical work is all in the family, and

has been for years. I had many

uncles, aunts, and cousins who were doc-

tors, pharmacists, and pharma profession-

als, including my own brothers, he says.

The pharmaceutical and health industry

has always appealed to me. Which is why,

in 2007, when Bartekian became presi-

dent and founder of his own Canadian

CROVantage BioTrialsthose trusted

family connections were one of the main

ingredients in the recipe for success. His

brother Viken is the companys VP of

business development, and his brother

Vahe is VP of clinical and compliance.

More than 13 years of industry ex-

perience, from an analyst position

in a clinical research lab to a role

in Big Pharma with Pzer Canada,

helped prepare Bartekian for leading

his own organization. He has also

worked in more than 15 therapeuticareas, including oncology, cardio-

vascular, ophthalmology, infectious

disease, and CNS. Bartekian says

that this diverse background has led

to relationships and networking op-

portunities that are the backbone of

Vantage BioTrials success. I have

been very fortunate to work with

highly skilled and talented individu-

als who have become good friends

and colleagues, he says. Most of

the business that Vantage BioTrials

currently acquires is through word-

of-mouth referrals. It is this kind of

relationship-building and engender-

ing the trust of our clients that has

seen us through the toughest eco-

nomic downturns in our industry.

Bartekian reects on the changes

he has seen in the industry: I start-

ed my career in 1998, when pharma

and the North American economy

was in the middle of signicant growth.

There were new regulations, mergers

and acquisitions, and a dramatic in-

crease in the use of CROs for clinicaldevelopment and basic R&D activities.

From 1997 to 2007, our industry expe-

rienced the biggest growth in the num-

ber of blockbuster drugs hitting the

market, he recalls. Fast-forward to

now and we have much more stringent

regulations, more scrutiny by regula-

tors, and a drastic change in industrys

outlook as generic competition has

forced Big Pharma to refocus on prod-

uct and process innovation, as patents

on the aforementioned blockbuster

drugs will soon be ending.

What do these changes mean for

Bartekians leadership skills and busi-

ness strategies? As the president of a

small, privately-owned CRO which

came into existence in 2007right

before the 2008 global economic crisis

hitmy team and I have been forced

to re-evaluate our game plan in orderto remain competitive, and refocus our

business to not only serve the traditional

Big Pharma and biotech sector, but also

diversify our client portfolio, he says.

Vantage BioTrials has done this, accord-

ing to Bartekian, by investing heavily in

obtaining and retaining highly quali-

ed and experienced team members.

Plus, he says, Our main competitive

edge has been our ability to offer all this

quality and experience at a signicantly

lower cost. In other words, smallness

counts as a differentiating factor in the

overall service proposition.

As a leader, Bartekian recognizes

that keeping a team engaged and moti-

vated during challenging times requires

a proactive approach. I achieve this

by encouraging innovation from the

team, he explains. I believe that

there is an entrepreneur in everyone

and I always encourage identica-

tion and improvement of processes inorder to re-energize an individuals

sense of contribution to the team.

Finally, Bartekian uses the high

standards the company sets in its re-

lationships with clients as a model

for relationships with his own em-

ployees. I strive to always exceed

my clients expectations and I ex-

pect no less from our employees by

asking them how they can improve

study timelines, increase all stake-

holders cooperation, and achievebetter cost savings by increasing

project efciencies.

It also helps that our business

is based on strong family-oriented

values, he adds. Working with

your own brothers helps you learn

how to treat each other with respect

and clearly communicate ideas to

move forward and progress together

through challenges.

SPONSORED BY



8/18

David RedfernChief Strategy Officer,

GlaxoSmithKline

At 44, David Redfern is already

something of a pharma industry

veteran. With 17 years experience

behind him, he now leads GlaxoSmith-

Klines M&A and corporate development

activities, has responsibility for its global

dermatology business, and is chairman

of ViiV Healthcarean HIV/AIDS joint

venture with Pzer that he was instru-

mental in establishing.

Redferns upward trajectory since

joining the industry has been impressive

from the outset. Qualifying initially as

a chartered accountant, he began his

career at PricewaterhouseCoopers (for-

merly Coopers & Lybrand, as it was

known then), working in Europe and

Africa. Back in London, while on sec-

ondment at Glaxo (a Coopers client), he

was bitten by the pharma bug; he took

a permanent post with the drugmaker

in 1994 and hasnt looked back.

Redferns progress at GSK leapt for-ward signicantly, however, with the

appointment of Andrew Witty as CEO

in November 2007. Quickly identifying

Redfern as a strong allyRedferns lean

Six Sigma thinking was in line with his

own ideas for reshaping the way GSKoperatedWitty appointed him chief

strategy ofcer when he reformulated

the management team in the months

leading up to his arrival in early 2008.

He is proud of the enormous prog-

ress the company has made since it

started to run its business a lot more

tightly following Wittys arrival. I

think today people would agree that

that vision was rightGSK is further

down the track than most in transform-

ing itself, he says. A lot of companies

are just going into their major patent

expiries. We are largely through the

major headwinds on that; were in a

slightly different place.

But he is quick to highlight that his

involvement in turning GSK around

if thats not too strong a phrasehas

been very much as part of a team, and,

not least, down to the good fortune of

having a boss he believes in. Pushed for

pearls of wisdom on what it takes to bea successful leader, Redfern afrms: I

put a lot of emphasis on the ability to

articulate a clear vision, to take people

on the journey with you, to map out

where youre going and make sure ev-

eryone knows why. The ability to com-

municate widely is really important.

For all his modesty, Redferns career

in pharma clearly remains a glittering

one. Going forward, according to his

GSK colleague, Claire Thomas (herself a

Pharm Exec Emerging Pharma Leader of

2010), the role of chief nancial ofcer is

very much in his grasp, and beyond that,she suggests, a future CEO position is a

distinct possibility.

Amar SethiVice President, Science & Technology,

Pacific Biomarkers

A

n academic background in clinical chem-

istry combined with a solid understanding

of a key therapeutic segmentlipid control

medicationsset the foundation for Pacic Bio-

markers vice president for science and technology

Dr. Amar Sethis career as a pathnder in drug de-

velopment. He cites his exposure to patients as a

hospital physician in the cardiology eld, which

adds considerably to his ability to understand how

progress from simple proof of concept to nal

market authorization will shape the experience of

patients in responding to a new treatmentnot to

mention the willingness of payers to consider it as

a real therapeutic advance.

Sethi speaks highly of personal connectionsand credits his career progression for it: A good

connection can mean that the right job nds you

instead of you having to seek the right job, he

says. Many of the best jobs are not even adver-

tised. Knowing people professionally, especially

connections of my more experienced counterparts,

helped move my career forward.

Sethi says his transition into pharma has oc-

curred in an era of limits and shortages accentu-

ated by recession and deep cuts in public spending

on drugs and healthcare in general. Ive observed

increasing M&A activity (large and small) with

the supposed aim of creating stronger nancial

institutions and to reduce the risk of nancial

default. Portfolios have been increased to hope-

fully average any risk associated with drug fail-

ure. Young leaders today will need to work with

more outside partners on functions that used to

be conducted entirely in-house. Awareness of the

external environment and the ability to sensitivelyassess the qualities of a potential partner are going

to be key skills for the industry in the future.

SPONSORED BY



9/18

Philippe SzaparySenior Director, Immunology,

Centocor

Inever thought Id end up in the

pharmaceutical industry, says

Philippe Szapary. Like many of

my peers in R&D, I was in academic

medicine. I was on the faculty at the

University of Pennsylvania in internal

medicine. I was taking care of patients,

teaching medical students and resi-

dents, and engaging in clinical research

and epidemiology. Then, says Szapary,

One thing led to another and I ended

up in R&D using many of the skills I

had developed in academia, now on a

much broader scale, and thus impacting

a lot more lives and people.

Now that hes on the industry side of

things, Szapary recognizes how much has

changed over the years, and how his lead-

ership philosophy has had to change ac-

cordingly. Ive had to focus much more

on the differences between must-haves

and nice-to-haves, he says. We have a

lot of work on our plates, and were really

faced with the issue of prioritization.

I nd prioritizing one of the biggest

challenges in industry, continues Sza-

pary. In medicine, they dont teach you

that. In the US healthcare system, every

patient gets the maximum amount of

care every time. So now, coming into this

resource-strained environment, you have

real tradeoffs to consider. We have fewer

and fewer dollars in the R&D budgets,

and we want to develop a certain amount

of potential products. I think those

who will be successful in the future are

those who will be able to prioritize and

manage these types of issues.Also important, says Szapary, is a co-

hesive team. Building and maintaining

high-functioning teams and recognizing

them for their effort is key to meeting our

goals. You need to listen to team mem-

bers and value their input and perspec-

tive while also focusing on their career

development. By not doing these things,

you run the risk of losing cohesion and

focus, and of diffusing the mission.

Optimism in the face of adversity

can be the secret to success in pharma,

says Szapary. When I was rst con-

templating going into medicine, physi-

cians tried to discourage me from en-

tering the eld because it had changed

so much. And if I had listened to the

naysayers then, I would not be where

I am today. I think there are still lots

of opportunities in the pharmaceutical

industry. Its a very rewarding industry

on a lot of levels. Youve just got to be

willing to adapt.

David SternEVP, Endocrinology, EMD Serono

Being responsible for all commercial operations in the US

for EMD Seronos endocrinology therapeutic areas

HIV, growth deciency, and infertilityhas taught Da-

vid Stern two things: 1) That failure is the rst step towards

success; and 2) When

the success comes, its

truly worth the effort.

Despite the leaner

mantra of the indus-

try, Stern says, This

is a great time to be in

pharma, because these

changes present op-

portunities. We cant

sit back and do things

the way we used to.

We as leaders have tobe willing to let people

try new things, make

mistakes, and failbecause failure breeds innovation.

This may sound like a risky leadership strategy, especially

when money is tight. But Stern has seen it work, from the per-

spective of a leader and of a rookie just getting his feet wet.

When I was a fairly junior marketer, I made a mistake. I ended

up spending a signicant amount of moneyabout a $1 mil-

lionon something that didnt work, he recalls. And rather

than yell at me, my boss at the time said, We just made an in-

vestment in you. A million-dollar investment. What did you do

wrong, why did you make the decision you did, and what did

you learn from it?

Once the success comes, says Stern, the rewards more

than pay for the trial-and-error method that got you there.

One of our products is an infertility drug. We help people

become parents. And when you get the letters from them,

when you see the pictures of their successes, that just serves

to energize me and my team.

The responsibility of emerging pharma leaders, says Stern,

is to change the publics perception of pharma and biotech

companies. And if we make decisions based on the needsof the patient and not the needs of Wall Street, I think our

industry will do a lot better.

SPONSORED BY



10/18

Alana

ClemensProduct Training Manager,

Diabetes,

Boehringer Ingelheim

For Alana Clemens, dia-

betes is more than just

something she focuses

on from nine to ve. As the

woman who trains the sales

team that focuses on Boeh-

ringer Ingelheims diabetes ini-tiatives, she admittedly knows

a great deal about the disease.

But shes also a patient. And

an advocate. I have a person-

al connection and passion for

the area of diabetes. I am ac-

tive in the diabetes community,

and that certainly contributes

to how I perform my job func-

tions, she says.

This year I participated

in the American Diabetes

Associations Step out to

Fight Diabetes walk with

my family. This is a cause

I am very passionate about

and would pursue even if I

didnt work in the diabetes

space, she continues. I

believe I am an example of

what can be accomplished

when work ethic is coupled

with personal passion.

Clemens aims to bring

this passion to her role as

a leader within her organi-

zation, and to pass it on toher team. A change agent

is someone who goes be-

yond embracing changeto

someone who is creating and

driving change, she says.

Our industry is appropri-

ately risk-averse. Change

agents are not always wel-

comeoften, change in-

creases conict. But when I

am successful, I feel reward-

ed by the outcome.

To foster positive change

in a challenging industry cli-

mate, Clemens is embracing

new technology. The way

people exchange informa-

tion is rapidly changing. I

knew that in order to train

people in a way that was ef-

fective, we would need to

raise the bar and explore

new methods of interacting

with technology, she says.

Which is why, as Boehringer

Ingelheim was preparing to

launch the rst in a franchiseof diabetes molecules, Clem-

ens created an online reposi-

tory of information that can

be exchanged and shared

among colleagues. Im very

proud of how our Diabetes

Portal has become a cross-

functional resource for our

sales organization, she says.

There are some crucial

tactics for succeeding in

the industry going forward,

says Clemens, both for her

team and for herself and

other industry leaders. The

most important factors, she

says, are clear, concise di-

rection; demonstrating con-

dence in your decisions;

being an excellent listener;

and fostering an environ-

ment which encourages cre-

ativity and collaboration.

Andreas JekleSenior Research Scientist,

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals

After pursuing a post-doctorate

degree in San Francisco, Dr. An-

dreas Jekle found the road chal-

lenging for a foreign-born scientist try-

ing to enter the pharmaceutical world.

Luckily, a fellow German helped him

land his rst job at Roche in 2003. Now,

as senior research scientist at NovaBay

Pharmaceuticals, Jekle is getting the

chance to combine drug development

work with my passion for basic science.

For a long time, I thought I would

pursue a career in academia. I didnt

have any exposure to pharma before I

joined Roche. However, I never regret-

ted the switch to industry. Research and

science are as good in industry as theyare in academiajust with different

goals. Flexibility is key; being able to

adapt quickly to other elds will go a

long way toward meeting your goals.

A good project leader listens to the

advice of his team and knows to build

consensus, says Jekle. And heres where

exibility comes in: Make clear early

on what your success criteria are and re-

visit them regularly. Project teams have

a tendency to drift off target. Dont stick

to your initial criteria if the environ-

ment changes, he adds.

Three critical assets to getting the

most out of a teamespecially in this

era of lean pharmaare being able to

listen, empowering your subordinates,

and being realistic. A lean organiza-

tion for me specically means hav-

ing to work with CROs. That requires

working with new people with different

backgrounds on a daily basis. If youhave to rely more and more on other

service providers, you have to make

sure that they live up to your expecta-

tions, says Jekle. This speaks to the era

of globalization all industries, not just

pharma, are in.

But whether working with your in-

house team or with outside partners,

it all comes down to setting goals. Ac-

cording to Jekle: When you set your

goals, have a good mixture of those

within reach and others that will be a

challenge. Same thing with your expec-

tations from your group; if youre not

realistic and expect unreasonable re-

sults, you lose trust and your group will

no longer work for you.

So how does Dr. Jekle handle the

challenges that come with the chang-

ing times? Embrace it, he says. You

cant stop it. But you can learn from it.

Experience is invaluable, especially if itis combined with an open mind to new

approaches.

SPONSORED BY



11/18

Lynn ShatkusInternational Marketing Training

Director, Abbott Laboratories

Lynn Shatkus is fortunate. Her cur-

rent role as international marketing

training director at Abbott Labo-

ratories seemed predetermined. I come

from a long line of training; my parents

were both teachers, Shatkus says. And

so I think it was sort of fate that Id end

up working in a training role.

Shatkus began her career in mar-

keting communications in the energyindustry and eventually migrated into

training roles with Blue Cross/Blue

Shield. After seven years there, the ex-

perience carried her to Abbott, where

she says the challenges now lie in the

globalized economy as well as the new

stakeholders continually coming to the

table. She perseveres by remaining resil-

ient through whatever comes her way.

The global economy is denitely

challenging everyone to innovate and

reinvent executions to meet new needs

for the healthcare industry. But training

is also going through a metamorphosis

as a result of globalization, so as a train-

ing professional that means executing

faster, in new ways, while still trying to

maintain the integrity of learning.

Coming on board at Abbott, Shatkus

knew from her previous experience that

leaning on your team members, as they

would lean on you, is integral. I have

high expectations of my team, she says.

Its my leadership style. I wouldnt ask

them to do anything I wouldnt do my-self. And coming through the ranks of

training, most of these positions I have

done myself, so I do have the perspec-

tive of having been in their shoes. So I

do feel that is helpful for any leader to

have that understanding of what [the

team members] are going through.

Shatkus has spent over seven years

at Abbott, including a stretch in Madrid,

Spain, which, she says, presented anoth-

er opportunity to develop her leader-

ship style. Culturally, being able to see

different perspectives, and being able to

immerse myself in that was a fantastic

personal experience. For me, with

this organization being exible and

open and guring out exactly what each

person needs in order to be successful

in their rolethats where I tie that in

with leadership. You cant do a one-

size-ts-all.

John StuartNational Sales Director, Genentech

Heck no, says John Stuart, when

asked if he always knew he would

work in healthcare or pharma. I

went to school knowing I would be a salesperson,

but never really articulated in my own mind what

kind of sales I wanted to be involved in. In fact,

when I interviewed with Genentech, I had no clue

who they were at the time.

Not exactly the path to destiny, true. But

once Stuart got his start as a sales rep for Abbot and was

promoted to senior sales rep within 18 months, the founda-

tion was in place. Of his time at Abbot, Stuart says, It gave

me the introduction to pharma and the industry, and it gave

me a clear perspective of what I did and didnt like. Stuart

was then able to take his newfound pharma knowledge into

a sales position at Genentech, and has now been with the

company 18 years in various positions.

Watching the industry change over that timebecoming

more regulated and more cost-conscious day by daycauses

Stuart to pause and reect. For many years Genentech was im-mune to some of these things for awhile we were insulated,

because we were delivering on the innovation, on breakthrough

drugs and technology, he recalls. Many salespeo-

ple, myself included, took things for grantedthat

this was a job that was stable, where I would earn a

great living and be able to provide for my family. And

then all of a sudden that gets shattered.

But Stuart isnt disheartened by the new, learn-

er industry. On one hand I think its a really

good thing. I dont think any of us are entitled to

anything. Every day weve got to go to work, and

weve got to have an impact, and weve got to have

value for the customer or patient, he says. What

weve seen by downsizing is that weve actually created more

engagement. It really forced us as a management team to ask

the critical question: What do we want to look like when

we grow up?

Spurred by downsizing, Stuart and his team at Genentech

have had to consciously foster an environment in which his

employees canand want tosucceed. Its not just em-

powering employees to own their territory and the decisions

they makethey also need to have responsibility, he says.

In 2008 I read an article about jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie.

He said that what makes a good jazz musician is that theyhave one foot in the past and one in the future. I believe the

same is true for pharma.

SPONSORED BY



12/18

Evan LippmanExecutive Director, Crestor,

AstraZeneca

For Evan Lippman, previously the

commercial leader for Nexium

and now leader of the Crestor

brand at AstraZeneca, the shifting tides

of pharma dont change the goals of his

team. Leadership is about solving com-

plex problems and delivering on busi-

ness objectives, he says. I cant think

of any other industry that enables you

to do that in a way that benets people

like pharma does. I dont know why you

wouldnt want to be a part of that.

The benets of being part of the in-

dustry werent innately apparent to

Lippman, however. He started his ca-

reer as an investment banker, serving

biotechnology and biopharmaceutical

companies. Challenges such as those

facing pharma today havent dissuaded

Lippman from jumping inin fact, its

just these sort of high-pressure situations

that drew him to the industry. Pharma

is very fast-changing, its dynamic, and it

presents a lot of complex problems that

dont always have one clear answer, heexplains. So youve got to be comfort-

able taking risks Pharma is about tak-

ing inordinate risk in order to benet a

large group of people. And the impact

you can have is tremendous.

Despite new challenges to pharma,

Lippman believes there are certain

leadership skills and obligations that

remain constant. Its about making

relevant and timely decisions, creat-

ing common purpose and intent, fo-

cusing on clarity, and creating space

for your team to excel, he says. The

basic foundation of our industry has

not changed. Innovative, novel medi-

cations that continue to impact patient

health are necessary. Its the tools that

we have at our disposal that are chang-

ing, as is the pace of information.

Going forward, says Lippman, its

less important for pharma to change,

and more important to be receptive

toand to embracechange.

I lead by trying to create a sense of

ownership, an entrepreneurial spirit

that helps people own their segment,

and that can lead to accountability in

decision making, says Lippman. And

when you have that, you can continue

to deploy very efcientlyI wont say

regardless of budgetbut even within

certain constraints. Because you can

still be innovative.

Rob EtheringtonSenior VP, Commercial, Actelion Pharmaceuticals

Rob Etherington has been with Actelion for 11 years,

and has seen the company grow from ve employees

to more than 300 in the US alone, and around 2,500

worldwide, in that time. In the past decade, revenues at Acte-

lion have grown from zero to nearly $1 billion in annual sales.

And Etherington has been there through it all.

But as a company grows, so does the responsibility of its

leaders. When Etherington joined Actelion

in 2000, he was its fth employee. The

leadership has had to evolve immensely,

he says. This has been a test in resilien-

cy. We didnt even know at the beginning

where our next dollar was coming from.

As Etherington marvels at how far his

career and his company have come, he

acknowledges the value of the path that

led him here. Though he had an MBA,

his rst taste of industry was as a sales

rep at Parke-Davis. Many of my fellowalumni were saying You went to busi-

ness school to be a rep? he recalls.

But Etherington maintains that the insight he gained as a

rep is the foundation for his success. Regardless of how you

come into this business, if you dont have a eld-based op-

portunity, youll have great difculty really understanding

how to drive success in pharma.

Having been part of Actelion from the ground up, Ether-

ington knows a thing or two about successand difculty.

In the past six months alone, FDA has changed all of our

labels, weve been embroiled in a court case with another

pharma company, and weve been dealing with an activist

shareholder who wants to shake up Acte-

lion in unfortunate ways.

Despite such challenges, Etherington

believes that good leadership means a con-

tagiously optimistic viewpoint and innova-

tive problem-solving skills. The people

you lead need to understand the vision of

whats possible. They need to believe that

by working together as a team, well be able

to conquer whatever challenges are in front

of us. And they need to know that leader-

ship has their back, will support them, andwill be there alongside them, helping them

solve the problem.



13/18

Salvador GraussoExecutive Director, Global Pricing,

Merck

If you work on a team with Sal

Grausso, youve probably heard

the following phrase: Strategy

without execution is not strategic. As

executive director, global pricing, at

Merck, Grausso likes to keep himself

at the tip of the spear with respect to

market access and reimbursement; the

difcult and politically ticklish issue

of drug pricing requires not only good

ideas, but also implementation. Global

pricing demands transparency, being

objective, making rapid decisionsand

putting out lots of res, and that takes

an executive with the ability to pitch

consistently in the strike zone, he says.

Grausso started out as a pitcher, and

went to the University of Maryland to

play baseball. In high school, Grausso

was a star; after the rst practice at

the University of Maryland, however,

Grausso came home and cried in my

room, because I realized that I wasnot good at this game. It was a hum-

bling experience. Grausso recovered

of course, and as it happened, Johnson

& Johnson was offering an internship,

and even though it was advertised as

a full-time commitment, J&J worked

around Graussos baseball schedule, let-

ting him work 20 hours a week. During

the internship, which turned into a full-

time job with J&J Health Care Systems,

Grausso fell in love with the industry,

and he hasnt looked back. He worked

for Janssen as a sales rep for a year, andthen, while working on a Masters de-

gree in accounting, worked for two years

at Ernst & Young. Grausso says his ac-

counting background helps him to spot

the lines connecting different elements ofthe business together.

After Ernst & Young, Grausso went

to Pharmacia, and left that company

after it merged with Pzer. He joined

Schering-Plough after Pharmacia, and

stayed on with the company after its

merger with Merck. Grausso says the

Merck/Schering-Plough integration is

moving a little slower than hed like,

but theres a lot at stake. You have two

different processes, and a large group

of products, and in the world of pric-

ing, its very important to stabilize the

situation in terms of governance around

pricing, and the processes to approve

pricing. Aside from working on a doc-

torate in health technology assessments,

Grausso is excited to be at the forefront

of a changing industry, where govern-

ments and payers and patients are at the

center of the discussion. As the indus-

try evolves, says Grausso, market ac-

cess has to become a more mainstreampart of commercial operations.

As vice president of cardiorenal and met-

abolic marketing at Takeda Pharmaceu-

ticals North America, Nicole Mowad-

Nassar is responsible for the companys key

brandsActos, Uloric, and Edarbias well

as its diabetes pipeline and partnerships with

Orexigen and Affymax in the areas of obesity

and renal care, respectively. Diabetes, hyper-

tension, and obesity are conditions almost ev-

ery person can relate to in some way. Either

they are a patient themselves or have a loved

one or friend who is impacted, says Mowad-

Nassar, who is attracted to her sector of work

for these reasons. Marketing in this space

presents daily opportunities to educate and im-

prove healthcare in meaningful ways, not only

patient by patient, but with the potential tochange society overall.

For Mowad-Nassar, a lean organiza-

tion isnt a new concept, but its never been

more important to pharma. As an example,

she notes how Takedas entire organization

shared stories about their experiences as

employees and the company created a uni-

ed statement of culture that everyone could

embrace. We all share a common vision

to transform into a new Takeda, through

purposeful innovation powered by a for-

ward-looking culture to achieve sustainable

growth, she says. To do this will require

new thinking, an ability to anticipate, and

perhaps most critically, a contingency plan.

Meanwhile, what does this Emerging

Pharma Leader attribute to personal motiva-

tion? Her family. It is in my two sons that

I derive my source of pride and accomplish-

ment, Mowad-Nassar admits. The great-

est job title I ever got was Mom. I work hardto make sure they know they are my rst

priority. I learned that from my parents.

Nicole Mowad-NassarVP, Cardiorenal & Metabolic Marketing, Takeda Pharmaceuticals

SPONSORED BY



14/18

Byran LittonSenior Director of Sales,

Oncology Business Unit, Eli Lilly

Modern leadership is about a

couple of things: Its as sim-

ple as trust and lending a

vision to people; to have that singular vi-

sion that can really give people

the lens by which they look at

everything that comes to them.

To me thats a calming force

thats absolutely necessary.

In over 11 years, Byran

Litton, senior director of

sales, oncology business unit

at Eli Lilly, has relied on di-

verse experiences to shape

his leadership style. You can

only learn so much from

books, as he puts it. He calls

his current role a people

role. Its an awful lot of fun to make an

impact on an individual level, he says.

The backbone of good leadership is

that trust. Previously, we may have

been more focused on motivating and

inspiring, which is almost episodic. Its

delivered as a quick-burning fuel, butthen it burns out. But if theres real

trust in the organization then to me,

thats a more long-burning thing.

With all the regulatory and envi-

ronmental changes affect-

ing the industry, how does

Litton manage through the

chaos? Anyone that sits in

a position where theyre in-

uencing signicant parts of

an organization has to be a

change agent. I think thats

a prerequisite.

But one cannot do it all

by himself; he must rely on

the skill sets and experi-

ences of others. I think I

learned early on that some-

thing can be done, and done well, and

be nothing like I would have done it.

And that, for a lot of folks in leader-

ship positions, can be difcult, but for

me it works. I enjoy that work, when

you build the right group, he says. To

Litton, hiring individuals with varyingexperiences and skill sets that balance

one another is integral.

And so after over a decade at Lilly,

predominantly in the oncology space,

even if its been something closer to

a calling, as he puts it, how does Lit-

ton keep his own motivation going, let

alone his teams? I have been like a kid

in a candy shop with all the things that

have been given to me by the oncology

business unit at Lilly. Its been incred-

ibly fun. But the piece that I want to

have touched in some way is advancing

the care of patients, the elimination of

disease. Thats my anchor. As we say:

If youre not in oncology youre try-

ing to get in; and if youre already in

oncology, youre trying to get bigger.

For me, its something thats really un-

der my skin and I wouldnt have it any

other way.

Lars MerkDirector, CNS Marketing, Johnson & Johnson

According to Lars Merk, director of CNS marketing for

Johnson & Johnson, there are two separate effects of

the convergence of digital technologies and healthcare.

The rst is an explosion of newly available interactions that

leverage digital technologies. The second is the realization

that healthcare delivery is changing and technology is a cata-

lyst for greater efciency. What I enjoy most about my cur-

rent role is that my contributions can make an impact across

the organization and in some ways help shape the way our

entire industry effectuates meaningful change in healthcare,

says Merk. Our reality in this country, and in fact across the

globe, is that there are just not enough resources to deliver the

amount of healthcare that the citizens of the world demand.

Choices have to be made and that in turn gives the industry

an opportunity to move the needle forward in terms of im-

proving health outcomes from pharmaceuticals.

Personal connections are highly valued by Merk, who be-

lieves that they are really about shared workplace experienc-

es. In fact, he nds that of the people he connects most oftenwith, one attribute is most evidentthey all put their socks

on the same way he

does: To be truthful,

I have never asked any-

one how they put their

socks on, but these

people who I connect

with are, above all

else, peoplepeople

with ideas, with hopes

and dreams, who have

interests that are as

varied as the inhab-

itants in this world.

Connecting these as-

pirations and focusing

all that energy around

a clear business objective is a key characteristic of good lead-

ership. Passion is indeed a vocational asset.

Merk believes that leaders must embrace accountability

at every level of their organization. This accountability

is not implemented for liability, but rather to induce pride

among teams, he says. It creates action when things arenot right and creates celebration when they are.

SPONSORED BY



15/18

Steven BlumDirector, Health Economics,

Forest Laboratories

For Steven Blum, director of health eco-

nomics for Forest Laboratories, being

aware of budget impacts is fundamen-

tal to the job. Our role is to help support

and communicate the products value propo-

sition, he explains. Blum and his team do

this by keeping track of data and performing

various studies throughout a products life-

cycle, including retrospective studies, elec-

tronic medical records analyses, surveys, and

prospective studies looking at data alongside

clinical trials.

Though Blum now spends his time charting the prospec-

tive value of new drugs, three years ago he wore a different

hatsales and marketing. Transitioning over to the scien-

tic side and not having a scientic background, there was a

learning curve, Blum says.

Throughout his career, Blum says wearing many different

hats gave him the skills and perspective he needed to become

a successful leader. One of the things Ive always appreciated

was the fact that Ive had a variety of differ-

ent roles and have been exposed to different

parts of the business, all within one company.

And he believes that such opportunities are in-valuable to emerging leaders who are just now

putting down roots in the industry. Ive seen

others who have been reluctant to allow staff

to change roles, but thats counterintuitive, he

says. As a manager, Ive always felt that my

success is dependent upon the success of other

people. If they have certain career aspirations,

why would I want to impede them? Why not

nd a way thats a win-win for the organiza-

tion and the individual? In the end, that ben-

ets the corporation, because [a professionally

fullled] person can bring more to the table.

Blum also advocates mentoring as a key mark of good

leadership. In that spirit, what would Blum say to the new

leaders in the industry, who are inheriting such a politically

and nancially different world? Somehow pharma always

winds up being the bad guy. Health reform [and cost control]

is like squeezing a balloonyou squeeze in one area and it

expands in another. What you need to do is nd a way to let

some air out of the balloon, he explains.

Jessica MonroeDirector, State Government Affairs &

Policy, Johnson & Johnson

Jessica Monroe recalls a former boss

who would always ask, What is a

leader? He would then answer that

a leader says, I have a plan. Follow me.

Director of state government affairs and

policy for Johnson & Johnson, Monroe

tries to integrate this approach into her

own goals and objectives as she works

with governments, operating companies,

and other healthcare and pharmaceuti-

cal interests on a daily basis.

Monroe followed the road less trav-

eled by most of her pharma peers, when

she started a career in government and

then transitioned to pharmaceutical sales.

Her atypical journey led her from work

as a legislative aide for the Louisiana Sen-

ate all the way to Washington as a Con-

gressional staff assistant and then back toLouisiana to work in the ofce of Gover-

nor. Her start at Johnson & Johnson came

as an ofce-based representative in its op-

erating unit, Janssen Pharmaceuticals. In

2002, she arrived at her

current position. In the

years I have worked in

government affairs, I

have learned that many

voices are stronger than

one, and my interac-

tions with advocacy

groups and government

ofcials have shown me

that disparate groups

can share similar aspi-

rations of helping pa-

tients and their families,

says Monroe, who was

involved in the health-

care rebuild after hurricane Katrina.

In an environment of change, Monroe

believes it is important to maintain a posi-

tive outlook, think about how to have an

inuence, see what the obstacles at handmay be, and work around them. Those

of us in the industry must be prepared

to face the implications of policies that

impact our businesses. Everything from

marketing reform in

some states, to overall

healthcare reform has

led toand will con-

tinue tocreate chang-

es in how we all do

business, she says. I

have learned that even

within a lean organiza-

tion, there are still sig-nicant opportunities

to grow our businesses.

Being able to show an

ROI from traditionally

soft functions such as

public and government

affairs is also important. With the impact

of government on the industry destined

to grow in the future, demonstrating this

is likely to be less difcultand emerging

leaders of tomorrow will need to embraceawareness of the external environment as

a key skill.

SPONSORED BY



16/18

Charlotte ChuiHead of Strategic Planning, Business

Development and Licensing, Greater

China, Novartis

Iwas rather nave and thought that

science could solve anything, says

Charlotte Chui of her early years

studying the discipline (her undergradu-

ate major at Harvard was biochemical

sciences). When I realized that wasnt

the case, I took a bit of a detour.

Fortunately for scienceand phar-

ma, in particularthat detour (into the

nance industry) wasnt permanent. In

2007, Chui joined Novartiss global

strategy team in Basel, Switzerland. A

great move, she calls it. It gave me a

chance to really understand top man-agement, to look at what they consider

when they make a decision. The ob-

servational approach paid off: just over

a year ago Chui was appointed No-

vartis head of strategic planning and

business development and licensing forGreater China.

Once in China, Chui quickly became

an integral part of the team, relishing

the opportunities and challenges of this

dynamic, growing market. She took a

leading role in realigning the companys

operation from a fairly centralized model

to a more exible, decentralized one,

coordinating projects that addressed re-

gionalization, key account management,

novel product launch mechanisms, and

new channel development.

Before the realignment, Chui says

that Novartis China was hearing a lot

of complaints from the front line. The

organization had clearly outgrown the

way it had been working before in the

country. She worked to push decision-

making to the front line and make the

organization more customer-centric.

The process was complicated, involv-

ing the revamping of a lot of our gov-

ernance, a lot of our systems. But thebenets are now visible: Were much

more aware of what the customers are

thinking, we have much better feedback

from the market, we have much faster

decision-making, and we can identify

opportunities and act much faster.

Also crucial to Novartis recent

strategy in China has been Chuis tire-

less support and development of new

talent. Working with colleagues from

all divisions, she has sought to develop

leaders by helping them think morestrategically and communicate their

knowledge in a more impactful way. I

see a lot of very energetic talent here

that is probably younger than in other

countries, and theres a huge opportu-

nity to develop it, says Chui. But its

very easy for staff to get distracted

theres a million other opportunities in

Chinaso its important to keep the

information lines very open.

Effective delegation is key to Chuisleadership style. What I see in a lot of

managers, new managers especially, is a

feeling that, I can do things better and

faster if I do it myself. I think thats re-

ally a mistake, she says. For me, if you

can establish rapport and trust, then itsa great opportunity to let go a little bit,

to let someone else take ownership and

develop their skills. Of course, you also

have to follow up, support them, and

give them feedback.

For all its buoyancy, Chui adds,

however, that the Chinese market isnt

all about the rapid growing of talent

and resources. Some people think that

somehow the sales magically happen,

she says. Indeed, theres as much a need

for lean in China as there is in the

West. Characteristically, though, Chui

has her own views on what lean should

mean. I dont think its just about the

bottom line, she says. To see lean

simply as a way to improve the mar-

gins is very short-sighted. For Chui,

the most important objective is always

customer satisfaction. If that is failing,

it doesnt matter how much you watch

the bottom line, youre dead in the wa-

ter, she says. Lean is about changingthe mentality, changing the way we

work, being very innovative, and be-

ing open to ideas from the front line.

This may not be as easy to measure as,

say, procurement savings, but it really

makes a difference.

As well as remaining committed to

her work with Novartisthe company

has very big ambitions here; in the next

few years I would love to see us as the

leader in ChinaChuis role is also

meaningful on a personal level. As aChinese-American, she grew up in the

US, but her parents worked hard to keep

Chinese culture alive in the household.

My mother would cook Chinese food at

home, we would speak Mandarin, and

my parents would read poems to me in

Chinese, she says. None of that I really

appreciated when I was growing up, but

when I started working here it all helped

me integrate much faster and much bet-

ter. So, if coming to work in China wasnot exactly coming home, it certainly

doesnt feel too far away.



17/18

Soma GuptaSenior Director & Commercial Team

Leader, Oncology, Pfizer

As senior director and team leader

in commercial development for

Pzer Oncology, Soma Gupta

handles commercial oversight of Pzer

Oncologys newly emerging hemato-

logical malignancy assets and its early

development portfolio. As a Pharm.D

by training, Gupta says she thrives on

the challenge of working in specialty

categories where the unmet medical

need is exceptionally high and the prod-

ucts delivered have a meaningful impact.

Working on the commercial perspective

for early and launch assets in oncology,

where the science and treatment para-

digm move so quickly, is particularly

interesting since identifying the mean-

ingful improvements early can make a

world of difference in the therapy you

ultimately deliver, notes Gupta.

To succeed as a leader,

Gupta believes that techni-

cal prociency is absolute-

ly necessary. According tothe pharma veteran, you

must know the nuts and

bolts of your eld to earn

the respect of a team and

you must also know people.

Knowledge helps establish

credibility, but its emo-

tional intelligence that will

allow you to motivate and

drive for results in large,

cross-functional teams, she says.

In order to adapt to tough times,

Gupta stresses that leaders need to

know what is most essential, and what

is not. They need to embrace a not-one-

size-ts-all style of leadership. In the

simplest terms, the goal should remain

to understand what motivates people

and to leverage that to drive each in-

dividuals aspirations in line with the

business need, says Gupta. In an era

where teams are increasingly virtual,

getting the most out of every face-time

opportunity remains critical to making

sure leaders keep the people compo-

nent of people management front and

center. Not everything motivates the en-

tire team in the same precise way; now

more than ever, we need to spend the

time to recognize that.

Steve ErtelSenior Vice President, Corporate Development,

Acceleron Pharmaceuticals

When Steve Ertel graduated from Duke University

with a degree in biomedical engineering, he was

one of only a handful of graduates in his major that

decided to forgo medical or graduate school. Instead, he was

ready to take his education

and training to market.

The rst job Ertel landed

out of college was with a ven-

ture capital rm, which rep-

resented a combination of in-

terestsnance and business,

applied to biology and medi-

cineand supplied him with

a rsthand look at how inves-

tors fund biotech startups, and

what they look for. A couple of

years later, Ertel went to work

at Vivus, a biopharma focused

at the time on erectile dysfunc-tion drugs. When I was hired

[at Vivus], I was employee

number 17, says Ertel. Working for a small company means

wearing lots of hats, and gaining the kind of broad experience

that is crucial in making good decisions, he says. At a smaller

company, individuals can play a different role in affecting the

strategic outcome of a company, since company SOPs arent

yet written in stone, and new ideas are readily pursued. At small

companies, you can feel your contributions and see them over

time, and they have a really lasting directional impact on where

your company is going. I nd that very rewarding, he adds.

Today, Ertel is senior vice president, corporate develop-

ment for Acceleron Pharma, a relatively small biotherapeutics

company. Ive worked my way back now, after a number of

years at top-tier biotechs, to try to take all of the experience

and learnings from those larger companies, and apply them to

earlier stage biotech companies, he says.

In dening his management style, Ertel emphasizes the im-

portance of a broad understanding of the issues at play, prior

to forming an opinion. Once you have an understanding of

all the issues, you can focus on one or two key issues that ulti-

mately drive the decision. Like most everything in biotech and

drug development, the complexity and multifactorial nature of

the issues can sometimes be confounding. If you can pair downthe complexity to one or two issues, then you have a scope of

the challenge you face thats manageable, says Ertel.

SPONSORED BY



18/18

Mark IwikiCEO, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals

In the short time that elapsed fromreceiving Mark Iwickis Emerging

Pharma Leader nomination to speak-

ing with the man himself, he had been

promoted from COO of Sunovion Phar-

maceuticals (Marlborough, Mass.) to the

companys CEO (effective late June).

The speed with which this career hike

took place is in keeping with Iwickis

progress at Sunovion (formerly Sepracor).

Joining the CNS and respiratory treat-

ment company as executive vice president

and chief commercial ofcer in 2007, he

quickly revamped its commercial model

and masterminded a move to single-

territory ownership. The success of this

strategy caught the attention of Dainip-

pon Sumitomo Pharma (DSP), a Japanese

company seeking to expand its presence

in the US. DSP acquired Sepracor in Octo-

ber 2009 and Iwicki became its president

and chief operating ofcer in early 2010.

By late 2010, he was successfully leading

the integration of the two companies.His recent rise may have been mete-

oric, but Iwicki is no ash in the pan. At

45, he has 22 years industry experience,

starting out as a

rep with Merck

Sharp & Dohme

in 1989. Fromthere he went on

to the edgling

Astra Merck

where he helped

to establish the

health econom-

ics department and also worked alongside

future AstraZeneca CEO David Bren-

nanand then to Novartis, where he led

the cardiovascular business unit.

Being a sales rep was probably the

greatest starting place, Iwicki says.

You learn so much about customer

contact and what our business is really

all about. And the early roles I had at

management level really helped me get

a broad perspective of the industry and

how an organization works.

Indeed, Iwicki credits the variety of

his early experiences with shaping his

current management style, which col-

leagues say is open, warm, encouraging,

and personal. Im a real walk-aroundkind of manager, he explains. Each

morning you can nd me on the differ-

ent oors talking to people, sometimes

just listening, sometimes rolling up my

sleeves to work on a problem with them.

I want the workplace to be a learning en-

vironment, very open, very collaborative.Being prepared to learn continuously is

the most important attribute for a leader,

Iwicki believes. Its easy to get compla-

cent as you become more senior, thinking

that youve seen it all and know it all. Its

important to have an open mind, to real-

ize that the real power of any organization

comes from a group of people.

Fostering a sense of inclusiveness and

encouragement is important to Iwicki

outside the ofce too. Helping and inspir-

ing children, for example, is high on his

personal agenda. A father of four, he cur-

rently helps to coach his childrens soccer

and hockey teams, as well as serves as

the assistant coach of three more youth

teams. I feel like I need to give back to

the community, he says. I see if I can

lend a hand, if I can be a role model for

the community in one way or another.

He adds: It may sound a little bit

corny, but I love making a difference. I

love this industry; its one of the few in-dustries where you can do goodgood

for patients, good for doctors, good for so-

ciety, and for yourself and for your family.

Stuart SowderVice President, External Medical Communications, Pfizer

With three advanced degrees under his belt, Dr. Stuart

Sowder, PharmD., JD, MBA, credits mother neces-

sity as a major role in his drive for obtaining the tool

set that he needed to succeed. After spending eight years working

in healthcare (retail and hospital pharmacy) and obtaining his

law degree, Sowder, who is vice president, external medical com-

munications at Pzer, decided that entering the pharmaceutical

industry provided many exciting options for a lifelong career.

For the past ve years, he has been leading Pzers exter-

nal medical communications team, which includes functions

that work with healthcare providers and patients every day.

As part of his dening role, Sowder manages global medical

information and publications to Pzers transparency efforts

such as clinical trial disclosure and transparency in grants.These days, he notes that pharma is focused on doing

more with less to keep pace with the complex nature of in

dustrys work. Responsibility is being pushed further down

in the organization. And leaders must take notice: I think

that today, more than ever, we must have a highly empowered

organization to be suc-

cessful, says Sowder.

We must have talent-

ed people within that

organization, who are

accountable for deliv-

ering results in their re-

spective areas with lit-

tle practical oversight

and guidance. Leaders

must trust that people

in their organization

have the capacity andintegrity to deliver re-

sults appropriately


2011 pharma leaders

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