Top 5 Likable CEOs in Biotech and Pharma
May 25, 2017
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
NEW YORK – We’ve all seen “top five” ranking lists–favorite song, book or movie; top five actors and actresses, etc. ad nauseum. There are even lists that allow college students to rank their favorite professors. Now pharma has got its own top five list.
Owler, a California-based “business insights platform” came up with a list for the most congenial chief executive officers for 2017 in the pharmaceutical sector. The ranking system, first highlighted by FiercePharma, was apparently compiled by online data analysis as well as Owler’s own crowd-sourced likeability system that includes a smiley-face, a neutral face and a frowny-face. Other than that, very little was posted on the site about how Owler came up with its ranking system. There were no references to company culture or pay scale or opportunities for advancement listed either.
The most likeable CEO list is filled with representatives from the largest companies in the pharmaceutical sector, but there are some CEOs of smaller companies who made their way onto the list, including the boss at the top spot.
1. Sanjay Bhatia, Laborate
The most likeable CEO, according to Owler, is Sanjay Bhatia, managing director of Laborate Pharmaceuticals India Limited. Bhatia scored an impressive 99 percent likability rating. Laborate employs 5,180 people and manufactures more than 1,000 generic pharmaceuticals.
2. Severin Schwan, Roche
Number two on the Owler list is Severin Schwan, CEO of pharma giant Roche. Schwan scored a 92.9 percent rating on the Owler list.
3. Bill Anderson, Genentech
Coming in right behind Schwan was his colleague Bill Anderson, CEO of Roche subsidiary Genentech. Anderson snagged a likability rating of 87 percent.
4. Richard Gonzalez, AbbVie
The number four Owler spot is held by AbbVie’s Richard Gonzales. According to the Owler analysis, Gonzales has a likability score of 83.8 percent.
5. Flemming Ornskov, Shire
The fifth spot is held by Shire’s Fleming Ornskov. He earned a likability rating of 81.5 percent.
The remaining CEOs on the Owler top 10 list include Merck’s Ken Frazier with a rating of 77.8; AmerisourceBergen’s Steven Collis, who had a 77 percent rating; GlaxoSmithKline’s new CEO Emma Walmsley came in at the eight position with a likability score of 73.5 percent; Alex Gorsky of Johnson & Johnson holds the number nine spot with a score of 72.8 percent; and Bayer’s Werner Baumann come in at 10 with a likability score of 71.8 percent.
While the ranking is a bit of a popularity contest, FiercePharma noted that in comparison to other industries, biotech and pharma CEOs came in 13th place. An Owler spokesperson told FiercePharma that means that on the whole, pharma CEOs are “pretty average for likability.”