A League of Her Own:
Women and Pharmaceutical Leadership

Meeting Summary by Dr. Kim Bercovitz

[You can see Sheila’s slide presentation here.]

Sheila Frame has held numerous executive positions in both Canadian and US pharmaceutical companies; and yet, until being asked to speak on this topic, she said that she had rarely thought about the issue of women and corporate leadership. In a spirited and interactive discussion, she set out the objectives of the evening, to "better understand the current situation [and to] … leave feeling empowered and inspired—and even better, excited!"

Women’s Leadership Landscape

With a battery of the latest statistics, Ms. Frame showed that while women are increasingly populating middle management positions across all businesses (2.5% in 1977 versus 52% in 2007), women in executive leadership roles present a different picture. She cited Catalyst census data to show a different reality—that of a flattening or decline in women’s leadership on boards:

• In Canada, women now hold 13% of all board seats in FP500 companies (compared to 12% in 2005); and 4% are heads of companies.
• More than 40% of FP500 companies have no women directors and less than 33% have multiple women on their boards.
• A select few pharmaceutical companies (e.g. Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Merck Frosst Ltd.) have between one and four women on their Boards.

Sheila Frame

What was most disturbing was that women’s representation at the senior management level has declined between the late 1990s (28%) and 2004 (22%). While there has been a gradual increase in the number of women occupying senior management occupations from 2005 to the present, the percentage is still low (34% in 2008). Pay gaps between men and women in Canada have not changed over the past decade, with women on average earning 71% of what their male counterparts earn.

What is the significance of women in leadership positions? Fortune 500 companies with the highest proportion of female corporate officers boasted, on average, a 34% higher total return to shareholders than those with the lowest proportion of women.

Women in Pharma

Is there a special case for pharma? Sheila asked us to reflect on the following:

• Women now represent 51% of the Canadian population.
• According to Statistics Canada, 55% of doctors, dentists and other health professionals are women.
• Women make the majority of health care decisions for their families.
• Approximately 60% of medical school graduates in Canada are women.
• 60% of our employees are women.

According to Rx&D statistics, of the 18 companies reporting in Rx&D:

• 58% of industry employees are women, and
• Only 22% of senior executives are women.

We are beginning to witness and celebrate strident women serving as role models in the pharma industry. Effective November, 2008, Dawn Graham, President and CEO of Merck Frosst Canada and Co. became the first ever Chairperson of the Board for Rx&D. How did she get to be the Canadian CEO? A single mom with two children assumed 14 different jobs and made nine moves in 23 years to rise to the top. Her predecessor (male) assumed three jobs but two moves. Dawn is now leading a group of women across Merck to understand barriers to and opportunities for women’s leadership. Theresa Firestone, General Manager, Pfizer Austria is leading a similar initiative at Pfizer across Europe.

How Can Women Become Great Leaders?

Sheila’s recipe for leadership success is as follows:

• Networking (Sheila admitted that relative to their male counterparts, women neither have the time nor set aside time for networking).
• Mentoring (behind every successful leader is a mentor or coach).
• Talent development (including promoting and celebrating one another).
• Recognizing and rewarding success (and valuing diversity).
• Forgiving failures (and rewarding people for taking risks).

She provided a caveat that great leadership is about people (not just women) and that both men and women can make a difference. Great leaders such as Ronnie Miller, Gerry McDole and Mike Cloutier scout out talent, teach, role model, inspire and, most importantly, take risks.

Sheila concluded her talk with a special invitation for women in pharma to join the Women’s Executive Network (WXN), an organization headed by Pamela Jeffery and comprised of 10,000 members. WXN is dedicated to the advancement and recognition of executive-minded women in the workplace. This new and reasonably priced membership ($50) provides a unique networking, professional development, mentoring and recognition opportunity for women in pharma. Sheila declared that Rx&D has endorsed the WXN membership and is committed to helping overcome barriers to, and promoting the advancement of, women in executive pharmaceutical leadership roles.

About the Author:
Kim Bercovitz, Ph.D., is President of The Research Doctor Inc. and Assistant Professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Kim can be reached at kim@theresearchdoctor.com, or (905) 597-4581.