SpenglerFox Names Global Head of Life Sciences Search Practice

SpenglerFox Lone Roervig Global Head Life Sciences Search Practice

December 4, 2017 – Executive search firm SpenglerFox has named Lone Roervig as global head of its life sciences practice group. In her new role, Ms. Roervig is responsible for leading the global life sciences practice where she coordinates the firm’s specialist consultants across the globe. Her work focuses on partnering with senior leaders in the life sciences industry and providing her clients strategic advice pertaining to talent requirements.

Ms. Roervig has spent more than 25 years within the life science market working in the pharmaceutical as well as the medical device industry. During that time, she has held senior roles dealing with sales, marketing and human resource management. She also has extensive experience in general management, including strategic management and developing and managing organizational change with a distinct customer orientation.

Experienced Leader

Ms. Roervig joined SpenglerFox in 2012 as a senior consultant. Previously, she worked in sales, marketing, HR development, team building and general management on the corporate side in the international life science business area. She worked with multinational pharma and medical device companies in Denmark and across the Middle East and Africa region, as well as in the Arabic business environment with a local Dubai-based distributor.

“In the past five years, Lone has successfully driven our growth in life sciences in the Middle East region and beyond,” said SpenglerFox CEO Jens Friedrich. “She is now returning to Denmark with her husband and will take the lead of the entire practice.”


Search Firms Help Life Science Leaders Navigate Changing Landscape
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“What should I say? Talent, found! The perfect appointment,” she said. “On behalf of SpenglerFox and our global affiliates, let me congratulate you to this appointment and wish you every success in your new role.”

SpenglerFox provides executive search and human resources consultancy services worldwide. The company also offers interim management in both mature and emerging markets, and a dedicated focus on board work for small to mid-sized companies.

Sector In Transition

According to Deloitte’s global sector outlook report on life sciences, persistent talent shortages and the need to develop and retain employees with critical business and technology skill-sets will continue to challenge global life sciences companies as they try to navigate a new world of work. This will require a dramatic change in strategies for leadership, talent and human resources.

Our sector has changed beyond anyone’s expectations over the last two decades,” said Bianca Coulter, CEO of life science focused executive search Coulter Partners. “We need to understand the appetites and needs of the major multinationals. This requires reach into all corners of the market. While our office network is growing, the key has been to have multilingual, multi-market experienced and connected researchers and consultants. Our team speaks many languages and has worked in all major bio-pharma markets and is organized as one P&L, to ensure collaborative information and experience sharing.”

The sector has recently enjoyed a healthy stream of consistent investment for the development of new therapies for unmet medical needs. “This spans the entire gamut of existing therapeutic areas from CNS, respiratory, immunology and inflammation to oncology, hematology, ophthalmology and rare diseases,” said Helga Long, a life sciences search specialist at ZRG Partners. She noted that there is a need and reliance on the biotech sector for innovation and early science, and this has led to a surge of investment in biotech start-ups. “All of these segments now require world class leadership,” said Ms. Long.

Search Firms Beefing Up

A handful of executive search firms have bulked up their respective life sciences practices in recent months. Here’s a look at a few from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

U.K.-headquartered Bailey Fisher Executive Search added Iain Hopper as director of digital health & life sciences. Mr. Hopper has developed a strong network throughout the U.K., Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. His most recent focus was pharmaceuticals and biotechnology; he worked with market leaders including Roche, Novartis and Gilead. 

Life sciences-focused recruitment firm GenSearch opened a new office in Basel, Switzerland and named Heiko Bruhn as managing director. He brings over two decades of experience in the life science industry with a strong focus on the biotech and pharma industries. Previously, Mr. Bruhn was managing director for the German-based life science boutique firm Mediatum.

Korn Ferry added Mark Broer as senior client partner in its global life sciences practice and managing director of pharmaceuticals where he co-leads the global pharmaceutical sector. Mr. Broer specializes in recruiting CEOs, C-level executives, board directors and chairmen in the healthcare sector, with a focus on senior-level international appointments. 

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Will Schatz, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media

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