Special Feature: The Power Of Networks

Where can more than 2,000 people in the pharma and healthcare advertising industry be found on the first Thursday in May? In New York, at the Healthcare Businesswomen Association’s Woman of the Year luncheon. For 25 years, HBA has been honoring women leaders in the industry. The organization itself was established 35 years ago by five women and remains the industry’s premier organization committed to the advancement of women in healthcare worldwide.

Since its founding, the HBA’s mission has been to further the impact and advancement of women in healthcare worldwide, and its vision has been to empower more women a business and thought leaders in healthcare. The organization has more than 7,000 individual members and 100 corporate partners. In 2000, the first HBA chapter was launched in Atlanta, followed by the San Francisco/Bay Area and Boston Chapters in 2001. In 2004, the Metro Chapter and three affiliates – Chicago, Indiana and Mid-Atlantic – were inaugurated as chapters. Today there are also chapters in Europe, Florida, Greater Philadelphia, Ohio, Research Triangle Park, Southern California, St. Louis, and Texas.

On the East Coast, Pfizer remains one of HBA’s longtime corporate supporters.

According to Megan Montgomery, district business manager at Pfizer and HBA’s Metro Chapter president for 2014, the company has been officially involved since its founding, with one of the original members being from Pfizer. “We have almost 500 colleagues who are members of HBA, and on top of that we have a lot of colleagues who attend events and programs and who haven’t crossed the line into membership yet, but feel are greatly benefiting from that partnership,” Montgomery says. Events have been hosted in various sites in the United States and Europe..

Involvement in the HBA at Pfizer starts in the top levels of the organization, Montgomery says. “We have five members of our executive leadership team who sponsor a relationship with the HBA, and they all play an active role in it,” she says.

This includes Chief Medical Officer Freda Lewis-Hall, M.D. Dr. Lewis Hall was HBA’s Woman of the Year in 2011. “Her support has been tremendous,” Montgomery says. “Her support for the HBA definitely played a role in her becoming Woman of the Year, but the support she has shown has not only been for the HBA, but for developing diverse colleagues.”

Other members of the leadership team are involved as well and have sponsored various programs at times, Montgomery says.

Pfizer has a Global Women’s Council that oversees all of the women’s initiatives in the organization. The council is doing a virtual, online e-congress platform in which the HBA will be involved, with CEO Laurie Cooke doing a broadcast and the HBA having a “virtual booth.”

HBA programs at Pfizer headquarters in New York have included one that was held in May, featuring external speakers as well as in-house speakers. The program focused on developing and demonstrating resilience in the toughest of circumstances and included a female veteran on the panel who had lost her eyesight and leg, believed to be due to chemical exposure while stationed in Bosnia. The program involved Pfizer’s colleague veterans and disability resource groups.

Montgomery says Pfizer takes the opportunity to tie in the programs with HBA to initiatives that the company is working on. “It benefits everybody,” she said.

HBA has also worked directly worked with Pfizer in developing a leadership in practice program based on Dr. Lewis-Hall’s theme of equanimity under duress. “Pfizer took advantage of this HBA program and we were able to enroll colleagues from 35 countries,” Montgomery says. The program included an online component that allowed participants to share what they learned along the journey.

HBA has provided an opportunity for Pfizer to recognize colleagues, through the Rising Stars program as well as through other means, Montgomery says. “We’ve seen some great career progression from women named Rising Stars,” Montgomery remarks.

Montgomery became an HBA member four years ago. “I received an e-mail from a colleague, saying Pfizer was sponsoring an event on social media at our headquarters, if I wanted to check it out,” she says.

Attending the event, she met the then-president of the HBA’s Metro Chapter, who was a Pfizer colleague at that time. Montgomery met with her afterwards, and Montgomery’s own background in event planning prompted her to volunteer her services for any philanthropic events the Metro Chapter was planning to do. “Little did I know that they just had a board meeting and had decided to make the charity golf outing director position a board spot, so a week later I found myself on the board of this organization I had just found out about,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery believes that her career would not have proceeded as it has without HBA. Her involvement with the organization has helped build her network with colleagues across the country. “The opportunities that the HBA has given me have been tremendous,” she says. “It has been worth every moment of my time.”

On the West Coast, Carol Wells, senior director of training and development at Genentech, says the company has been working with HBA for about 15 years. The San Francisco/Bay Area Chapter of HBA was launched in 2001 and Genentech has been the largest corporate sponsors in the Bay Area. The chapter has 10 corporate partners but about 60 percent of the members of the chapter are from Genentech, Wells says – and not all of them are women.

“The parternship has been really positive,” Well notes, adding that the relationship has been synergistic with Genentech’s own efforts to increase and promote diversity and inclusion.

“It’s been part of the commercial strategy within Genentech for quite some time,” Wells says. The company has been intent on developing a pipeline of women leaders and having visible leaders at the senior level, with a goal of 50 percent of its leadership being women.

“The company wants to develop women, they’re very supportive of our participation in the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association,” she says.

And Genentech has used HBA’s Edge study to support its needs for diversity and inform the company about how to develop its women and men to create a more inclusive environment, Wells comments. For example, Genentech has used the data provided from HBA’s EDGE in Leadership Benchmarking Study to tackle subjects such as sponsorship versus mentorship, and work with its male leaders about how to coach women more effectively.

“That’s part of the EDGE study, that women don’t get the kind of really good critical coaching that their male counterparts do,” she says.

In particular, HBA provides women from Genentech with a place outside the company to grow their skills, from volunteering on committees to having leadership and board positions. “It’s helpful to get outside of your organization when you’re in mentoring circles or hearing speakers and leaders from other organizations,” Wells says. “HBA has developed our women from that perspective.”

Wells has been a member of HBA for about eight years. When it comes to setting goals for her own career and the resources that she can draw upon from HBA, Wells says the organization has been invaluable to her.

“When I joined HBA, it was kind of a case of paying it forward,” Well says. “I feel I have been very fortunate to have great sponsors and mentors in my career, and I’m passionate about women getting an opportunity to contribute, and all the unique things that they bring to the table.”

A colleague recommended that she join HBA and Wells became co-program director, drawing upon her experience in training and development. “I wanted to contribute where I felt I had expertise,” Wells remarks. For the past two years, she has been president of the Bay Area Chapter and is on the executive board of the chapter.

Additionally, Genentech has been able to hire new people through its HBA networks. “I think I personally have hired seven people out of the HBA into my department.” Wells also believes she has been exposed to other leaders, female and male, because of her involvement with HBA.

“It’s broadened my sphere outside of Genentech,” she says.

Wells is part of Genentech’s Women Professionals group, the company’s women’s organization. HBA and the WPG mutually lever each other’s resources, she says. “When we have HBA programs in the area, we announce them through GWP,” Wells says. “We’ve also, because we have the support of this organization. We’ve had some really wonderful speakers from Genentech that we’ve been able to bring over.” These include CEO Ian Clark. HBA has helped Wells network and be a leader in Genentech, she says, reaching out beyond her specific area of responsibility.

For Nancy Di Dia, U.S. head of Diversity, Inclusion & Engagement, chief diversity officer at BoehringerIngelheim, the company became a corporate partner because several people at the company were members of HBA and reached out to the Office of Diversity.

“I looked into the group, and I said, ‘Oh, how can we not be part of this?’” Di Dia says. “There really isn’t another organization that has fanned not only topics within our industry overall, but the professional and leadership development of women.”

BoehringerIngelheim initially became involved in the Woman of the Year luncheon, and became involved with HBA Metro Chapter. At the time, the chapter was mostly focused on New Jersey, and because of BoehringerIngelheim’s involvement there have been an increase in the events occurring in the Connecticut and Westchester County, N.Y., areas.

The company has hosted several events on its campus, such as a session on personalized medicine and an executive women’s breakfast.

“We have been actively engaged in the past seven years,” Di Dia says. The company has sent four to five women to the annual leadership conference and typically sends about 20 women to the Woman of the Year luncheon.

The content offered by HBA’s programs “is really relevant and personal and pertinent to what is going on in the industry, and what’s going on in executive development and leadership development,” Di Dia says.

She has been a member for seven years. “I’ve got to walk the talk,” Di Dia says. “As the chief diversity officer, I have to be part of this as well.”

And she has derived value personally from her membership by being able to build her network, Di Dia maintains. Like Wells and Montgomery, Di Dia has been able to use HBA connections to scout talent for her company.

Di Dia observes that while the emphasis at HBA is on women’s development, the organization also is inclusve of men, recognizing them as honorable mentors for their roles in developing women leaders.

About 50 to 60 of the company’s U.S. employees are HBA members, Di Dia notes. In Europe, a small number of BI employees in Frankfurt have recently joined the HBA Europe chapter and Di Dia says the group is just getting started.

BoehringerIngelheim, like Genentech and Pfizer, has its own women’s network, but Di Dia says HBA has played a role in that network’s success. “We have done well being members with them, and we will continue for as long as it makes sense for our company based on their offerings and their services and we continue to see them step up in their packaging and what they offer to corporate members, that continues to make it worthwhile for us,” she says. “

Novartis is another corporate partner of HBA, and Kevin Rigby, VP of public affairs, was HBA’s Honorable Mentor in 2013. The honorable mentor is a person who has spent their career mentoring women and encouraging their advancement as a leader.

“As a senior leader, I believe it is important that I foster an environment where women of all levels can advance and that I actively take part in efforts to develop and promote women,” Rigby says. “I have had the pleasure of mentoring several women who have been my peers on the Executive Committee. Currently the longest serving member of the Executive Committee, I have a unique opportunity to welcome new executives and to help them succeed in their leadership roles.”

As a mentor, Rigby says he helps his peers understand the challenges and opportunities they will face and have a positive impact on others. He introduces them to his internal network, and has regular one-on-one meetings where he serves as a sounding board and provide open and honest feedback, as well as helping them navigate the complex Novartis organization.

Rigby believes there are certain things that he has to do that are critical in all mentoring relationships. These are: give honest feedback; build a relationship of trust; meet with mentees in person on a regular basis; and respect the time his mentees.

It’s also important to listen to what others are saying. “Listen to what’s on their minds,” he says, “The best way to influence someone is actually by listening to and hearing what really matters to them. Listening to someone is an important way to begin understanding the best steps forward in almost any situation.

To those he mentors, Rigby says one of the most important things that they can do is believe in themselves. “Someone once told me, ‘You really don’t know how good you can be!’” he says. “I try to highlight the strengths I see in my mentees, strengths that they may not see in themselves. A mentor who inspires self-confidence can help another achieve heights that they never dreamed possible.

“A very special mentor taught me that it’s not the titles, promotions or accolades that matter in the long run. Of far greater meaning is the impact we can have on others.”