Berwick Partners Launches Life Sciences Practice
November 12, 2019 – Birmingham, England-based Berwick Partners, a division of Odgers Berndtson, has launched a life sciences practice dedicated to recruiting senior executives into pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical devices and service provider companies, nationally and internationally. Recruited to support the new practice are senior consultants Caroline Hunt and Katy Wallace.
“Sustainable success for life sciences organizations is highly dependent upon their ability to attract intellectually agile, technically excellent and highly commercial people,” said Richard Love, managing director of Berwick Partners. “The value that search firms add in identifying first class talent in a highly competitive market is more profound than ever.”
Ms. Hunt joins the firm’s Manchester office, and will specialize in CRO biotechnology and pharmaceutical appointments. Prior to Berwick Partners, she was an international executive search consultant with HW Global Talent Partner. Before that, she worked both as a senior associate and associate for Korn Ferry. She began her career as a virologist at Unilever. A graduate of the University of Warwick, with a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and virology, Ms. Hunt also holds an master’s degree in medical microbiology from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
A Time of Disruption
“This is a time of enormous disruption in the life sciences sector,” said Ms. Hunt. “The generation of novel IP and new entrants from the technology industry are accelerating the dawn of personalized medicine. With a near constant stream of capital and emerging technologies, biotech start-ups have proliferated, investors and Big Pharma are chasing innovations, and drug approvals have hit record levels globally. Talent acquisition has become a key indicator of future success, with well-funded early stage companies and global pharma companies competing on an increasingly level playing field.”
Ms. Wallace, based in London, will focus on senior appointments for the medical devices and medical technology sectors. Before joining Berwick Partners, she was with Purcon, where she served as senior partner, executive search-operations, supply chain and procurement and head of practice-supply chain and procurement, EMEA. Before that, she was practice manager, procurement and sourcing, EMEA with Chapman Black and senior temporaries consultant for Reed Specialist Recruitment. She studied at the University of Roehampton.
“Alongside the increase in competition for talent, the patient community our clients are serving is changing,” said Ms. Wallace. “An aging population, consistent discovery of new, rare diseases, growing expectations from patients on speed of delivery and care, combined with the technological revolution occurring in the sector, puts the commercial functions under huge pressure.”
Closing the Deal with Candidates in the Life Sciences Sector
The competitive landscape of the life sciences industry is transforming recruiting. “Growing pressure to rapidly advance scientific discovery and expand market share is making the competition to attract top talent as fierce as ever,” according to a report by Dan Strauss, head of the pharmacovigilance and risk management practice at Klein Hersh International.
“Our clients rely on working with a trusted, dedicated partner to help them identify and attract emerging leaders, allowing them to focus on innovation and growth,” said Ms. Wallace. “It’s for this reason I am delighted to be joining the team at Berwick Partners. The firm has a great reputation and I’m looking forward to the chance to work with professional, established and experienced consultants who are passionate about what they do.”
Uniquely Placed
By leveraging the success of the Odgers Berndtson life sciences practice, Berwick Partners is uniquely placed to address client’s needs for senior leadership roles across the life sciences sector, and ideally placed to work with these companies to ensure they have the right leaders for the future, said Mr. Love.
“Through a close linkage with our healthcare practice, which works with both public and private health providers as well as regulatory agencies, our team has a unique insight on changing purchaser needs and market access issues,” he said. “As a group, our expertise spans across businesses of all sizes from start-ups and SMEs, to blue-chip multinationals. Applying quality and rigor we tailor our process to our clients’ needs, also sharing market intelligence and competitor insight.”
Berwick Partner focuses on senior management search and selection, with offices across the U.K. and Dubai. Its private sector clients range from multinational and listed organizations to regional and privately held SMEs and start-ups. In the public and not-for-profit sectors, the firm works with the largest central government departments down through regional NHS Trusts, educational institutions and small charities and trade associations.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
