David Pyott is a product of Big Pharma. But you wouldn’t know it by looking at Allergan Inc.
Pyott has run the Irvine drug maker for the past eight years and has a lean executive team that prides itself on quick decision-making.
Allergan has “the infrastructure of a big company, but a very entrepreneurial mindset and one where decisions need to be made rapidly,” said Scott Whitcup, the drug maker’s executive vice president of research and development.
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Pyott: “My view is that everybody on the top is eminently employable” |
“If we’re not agile, we will meet a bad fate,” said F. Michael Ball, who became Allergan’s president in February and No. 2 to Pyott, who’s chief executive and chairman.
Ball has been with Allergan since 1995 and is one of the longest-serving executive committee members. He’s worked with Pyott for nearly nine years, reporting directly to the Scotsman in his previous position of North America president.
“I’m not in the day-to-day stuff anymore,” Pyott said. “My job is to really think intensely about the company strategy,what are the next big moves we are going to make.”
Ball describes Pyott as “coach of the team.”
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Ball: “If we’re not agile, we will meet a bad fate” |
Pyott “looks at each of his people in defined roles,” said Jim Mazzo, a former Allergan executive who runs Advanced Medical Optics Inc. of Santa Ana.
“He (uses) all his people,” said Mazzo, who spent 22 years with Allergan before leaving in 2002 to run Advanced Medical, which Allergan spun off.
When Pyott joined Allergan, “it would have been very easy for him to bring in his own people,” Mazzo said.
“Instead, he stayed with the existing team and let us know he believed in us,” Mazzo said. “He provides direction and allows you to continue to grow and learn from your strengths and your areas of improvement.”
Pyott, 53, is diplomatic when it comes to up-and-comers on Allergan’s executive committee, referred to internally as “e-com.”
“My view is that everybody on the top is eminently employable,” he said. “It would be terrible if they weren’t.”
Several members of Ball’s commercial group, including Robert Grant, president of the new Allergan Medical division that stems from the company’s $3.2 billion buy of Inamed Corp. earlier this year, have “tremendous potential,” Pyott said.
Ball calls Allergan’s executive committee “the strongest group I’ve been around.”
‘Number of Stars’
The committee has “a number of stars,” including Douglas Ingram, who last week was promoted to executive vice president, chief administrative officer, general counsel and secretary.
Others include Whitcup and Jeffrey Edwards, the company’s chief financial officer, according to Ball.
“You’ve got people who really know their functional areas but also have a collaborative and team-oriented approach to working with each other,” said Ball, whose own resum & #233; includes 12 years at Syntex Corp., now part of Switzerland’s Roche Holding Ltd.
“The whole secret of e-com is that we work very strongly as a team,” Ball said. “We’re not a yelling company. We are strong individuals playing a team game.”
The executive team gets passionate, debating without fighting, Ingram said.
Close Quarters
Camaraderie among executives comes from their proximity to each other at the drug maker’s campus.
“The fact that we can walk literally just a few steps and share information,often making a decision in a matter of minutes on important issues,is really a benefit,” Ingram said.
“I’m probably 10 feet away from Mike Ball,” Ingram said. “I’m perhaps 100 feet away from David, 30 feet away from Jeff’s office and 10 feet away from Scott Whitcup’s.”
“As questions come up, you get them answered within minutes,” Whitcup said.
The closeness, Pyott said, streamlines executive committee meetings.
“We’ve reached a point (where) we almost have no long presentations,” he said.
The executive committee has seen changes. Within the past two years, Lester Kaplan, Allergan’s longtime research and development chief, and Jacqueline Schiavo, who headed the drug maker’s manufacturing, retired.
And former chief financial officer Eric Brandt left last summer to be chief executive of Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc., a smaller drug maker that moved its corporate office from San Diego to Aliso Viejo earlier this year.
“What was great was that in all of those three cases,R & D;, CFO and manufacturing,we were able to promote from within,” Pyott said.
Raymond Diradoorian, executive vice president of global technical operations, now oversees manufacturing.
Inamed
Allergan’s executive committee played a big role in buying and integrating Santa Barbara’s Inamed.
Early last year, Inamed was set to be bought by Scottsdale’s Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. before Allergan swooped in with a better offer.
“I lead a number of people who are crucial in the process of integrating Inamed,” Ingram said.
A lot of Ingram’s personal reputation is at stake with Inamed as he was a champion of the deal, he said.
Whitcup played a key role evaluating Inamed’s R & D; before the buy, including on the prospects for Juv & #269;derm, a below-the-eye wrinkle remover that’s billed as the first product of the combined Allergan and Inamed.
The executive committee isn’t big on retreats.
“David is Scottish and in that regard, very frugal, which is good news for shareholders,” Ball said.
The team did have a recent croquet match after a strategic planning session. Ball contends he won.
Pyott had a different recollection: “None of us are very good it was a day that we had an unpleasant experience with the Tazoral and the FDA, so the croquet and a glass of wine were really called for.”
Two years ago, a Food and Drug Administration panel voted against recommending Allergan’s Tazoral drug to treat psoriasis, saying the drug’s benefits didn’t outweigh possible birth defect and bone loss risks.
The executives keep busy outside the office.
Ball, a Canadian, spends time with his wife and two teen sons at a cottage north of Toronto during the summer.
“I get out there as much as I can,” he said. “It’s a great retreat. It’s on a lake, in the woods.”
Whitcup plays tennis, tries to run, plays the piano and composes music,”mostly classical, a little bit of pop and jazz.”
“Most of my playing now is between about 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.,” he said.
Whitcup said he also aspires to write fiction. Most of his writing now is for scientific textbooks.
Ingram also runs when he’s not spending time with his pre-teen kids. He’s done 18 marathons, including three Boston Marathons, and plans to bring his total to 20 in a couple of months.
Key executives extend beyond the executive committee.
One is Grant, only 36 and corporate vice president and president of the newly forged Allergan Medical.
Allergan Medical includes flagship wrinkle reducer Botox Cosmetic and skin fillers, breast implants and a stomach reduction device from Inamed.
The company is looking to build Allergan Medical “into an aesthetic powerhouse in the industry,” Ball said.
THE TEAM
& #711; F. Michael Ball:
51, president, Allergan. Assumed role in February after serving as executive vice president and president of pharmaceuticals since 2003. Joined Allergan in 1995. Prior Allergan posts of corporate vice president and president of North America and global eye drug business. Spent 12 years at Syntex Corp. before Allergan.
& #711; Jeffrey Edwards:
46, executive vice president, finance and business development; chief financial officer. Replaced Eric Brandt, now chief executive of Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc., in 2005. Joined Allergan in 1993. Previous posts included serving as corporate vice president, corporate development.
& #711; Douglas Ingram:
44, executive vice president, chief administrative officer, general counsel and secretary. Newly expanded role includes duties formerly held by departing Roy Wilson, executive vice president, human resources and information technology. Joined Allergan in 1996 from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Previous Allergan posts included corporate vice president, general counsel and secretary, along with associate general counsel.
& #711; Scott Whitcup:
47, executive vice president, research and development. Assumed current position in 2004 after the retirement of longtime Allergan R & D; chief Lester Kaplan. Joined Allergan in 2000 as vice president, ophthalmology. Spent seven years prior to that as clinical director at National Eye Institute at National Institutes of Health.
& #711; Raymond Diradoorian:
49, executive vice president, global technical operations. Assumed current position in February, succeeded veteran Allergan global operations boss Jacqueline Schiavo, who retired last year. Previously was senior vice president, global technical operations and vice president, global engineering and technology. Has been with Allergan since 1981. Previously worked with American Hospital Supply, a precursor to Advanced Medical Optics Inc., and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
& #711; Robert Grant:
36, corporate vice president and president, Allergan Medical. Came to Allergan in June from BioLase Technology Inc., Irvine maker of dental lasers. Running operations from Inamed, which Allergan bought for $3.2 billion this spring. Earlier in career, served as executive vice president and general manager of the medical business of Lumenis Ltd., Israeli device maker with operations in Santa Clara.
