Leadership is about putting people first, especially in biotech. But for first-time CEOs and other biotech executives, that vision can be challenging to achieve while also fulfilling the various other duties their jobs require. Indeed, these trailblazers are working to build a successful company and at the same time improve patients’ lives, often without specific training in how to launch and run a business.
At the Termeer Foundation, we, too, are committed to putting people first by empowering these biotech leaders — through values-driven leadership programs that provide skills competency growth, network-building activities, mentorship, and coaching — to enhance their leadership capacity so they can change the world and deliver lifesaving cures to patients.
This human-centered mission is guided by the life’s work of entrepreneur and biotech executive Henri Termeer, who believed deeply in the power of mentorship and nurtured dozens of leaders throughout his career. Shortly after Henri’s passing, a group of his colleagues sought a way to honor and continue his remarkable legacy. They decided to host a dinner and invited several people who had been mentored by Henri. They also invited a handful of first-time biotech CEOs. At the event, guests were asked to help these emerging leaders — offer support, pick up the phone, give advice. In short: Mentor them as Henri would have mentored them.
Nobody realized it then, but on that evening in May 2018, the Foundation’s flagship program was born, the Termeer Fellows Program, which now provides support for first-time biotech CEOs and entrepreneurs across the globe. While the current program looks quite different than it did in those early days — for example, this year will include 100 hours of values-driven programming — the core principles of mentorship and connection-building remain constant.
To date, 61 fellows have completed training through the Termeer Fellows Program. Last year’s class included 13 biotech leaders based in the U.S., Canada, England and the Netherlands; the incoming 2024 class — which stands at 15 — is the largest one yet. Fellows have found the program transformative and say it enabled them to become better CEOs. In addition to gaining skills and connections within the Termeer network, the fellows have discovered support and kinship with peers in their own fellowship cohort — valuable connections they can draw on as they continue on their entrepreneurial journey.
And it is precisely these entrepreneurial journeys that the Termeer Foundation seeks to influence. By increasing the pipeline of skilled, passionate, effective leaders in biotech, we can cultivate a landscape of companies primed for success and, in turn, create a world that is better for patients.