Charlotte Sibley is an independent director on public, private, and advisory boards, serving on Remuneration, Compensation, Nominating/Governance, and Special Committees. She is an NACD Board Governance and Leadership Fellow. Before joining boards, she built integrated commercial analytics and insights teams at four major biopharma companies.  At Shire plc, she was SVP, Talent Management Development.

Charlotte was the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) 2008 Woman of the Year, recognizing her leadership and mentoring. She holds an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business and an AB in French from Middlebury College cum laude.

How did you become an executive in the health care industry? Have you always been interested in health care?

I always loved science, but majored in languages, intending to get my Ph.D. at Yale and become a university professor of French literature. A summer job on Wall Street led me instead to business school. I interviewed with banking and consulting firms, but when I was offered a job at Pfizer – the first MBA hired in market research – I accepted readily, and I was hooked!

At what stage in your career did you decide to pursue board service as a professional goal? What were your first steps toward finding a seat?

I started serving on organizational boards while still mid-career: HBA, Pharmaceutical Research Group, and Market Research Institute International. I loved the opportunity to learn new skills, like leading via influence; understanding how organizational governance works – or doesn’t; getting validation during challenging merger times; networking; and real leadership when I ended up as President! As I approached the end of my corporate career, for-profit board service seemed like a natural evolution.

With your experience serving on the Advicenne Board of Directors in mind, what advice would you give to someone joining a board as its first independent director?

NACD (National Association of Corporate Directors) says it best: NIFO: Nose In, Fingers Out! We are not there to run the business. We are there for strategic oversight, fiduciary and governance compliance, risk mitigation, M&A, and of course, hiring, evaluation, and if necessary, firing of the CEO.

It’s also important to remember that we need to represent ALL stakeholders, not just the shareholders and not just the largest shareholders, and to make sure that we delineate what is the BOD’s responsibility and what is management’s responsibility. All of this means, speaking up when you need to!

As an expert in global pharma and biotech, what is one international standard or process you believe would improve the U.S. healthcare industry if implemented today?

While a single-payer system would not solve all the issues, we would likely have a more integrated system, rather than the fragmented, siloed, transactional system we have now, with many middlemen making very large profits.

Personally or professionally, what might the WBL network be surprised to know about you?

I’ve been involved in music all my life. For many years in NYC, I sang with The Cecilia Chorus performing frequently in Carnegie Hall. I don’t sing anymore, so now I am Chair of the Board of Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia, the second oldest chorus in the US, and a frequent performer with the Fabulous Philadelphia Orchestra.  It’s a passion – and I couldn’t pass the audition!