Emma Walmsley is one of the most influential women in London. The 47-year old is the CEO of the global pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC. When she was appointed chief executive of GSK in April 2017, Walmsley joined the club of only seven women that currently head FTSE 100 companies. She is also the first female CEO of a global heavyweight pharma business. Emma draws an annual base salary of £1,003,000 and is entitled to an annual bonus worth up to 100% of her salary.
But how did a Classics and Modern Languages MA graduate find her way to the top of an £81 billion worth pharma company?
Prior to joining GSK in 2011, Walmsley worked with the cosmetics company L’Oreal for 17 years where she held varied management roles in Paris, Shanghai, London and New York. A lover of Italian red wine and Bikram yoga, Walmsley is also a mother of four children.
Her journey in GSK began in 2010 in in Shanghai, China, after a networking lunch with Andrew Witty, who was then Chief Executive of GSK. At the time, Walmsley was heading the Chinese consumer business for L’Oreal. Witty offered her the position of President of GSK’s global consumer healthcare business —which operates in over 100 countries with £5 billion in sales–, but Walmsley had some doubts: she thought it was too risky and it would be disloyal to her former employer.
“I spent a week persuading myself I would be insane to do it,”
Walmsley told the Lean In Initiative.
The new job would also entail moving to London, uprooting the lives of her husband and their four children who were all aged under ten by then. But her husband urged her to take up the opportunity. She excelled in the position and was then promoted to CEO in April 2017.
“I know my kids are fine with us doing our best as parents. They’re proud of their Mum and although she’s on a plane a lot, she makes as many school plays, matches and parent evenings as she can,” says Walmsley.
Although switching from her previous role at L’Oreal to GSK “felt like a bungee jump,” Walmsley has no regrets.
“I’m starting to be convinced I have a right to be at the top table in business and am genuinely happy in [GSK] where I know I’m making a difference,” says the Oxford University graduate. “People regret far more what they don’t do rather than what they do”.
The fact that Walmsley did not spend too many years at GSK before being appointed CEO is now seen as an advantage. As an “outsider”, analysts believe Walmsley is able to bring fresh perspectives and ask pointed questions about areas where the company has performed dismally for several years.
Since coming into office earlier year, Walmsley is credited for kicking off the process of overhauling GSK into a leaner business with “more edge”. Described as having a “ruthless” streak, Walmsley used her first months in office to structure a £1bn cost-cutting programme that will involve GSK ditching 30 commercially unattractive drug development programmes. Her efforts to change the company’s Research and Development (R&D) priorities are geared towards taking GSK back to its glory days.
When the Financial Times asked Walmsley what young women need to do to get to the top of a FTSE 100 company, she had four words:
“Take courage . . . be unafraid.”
photo by gsk.com