July 14, 2025 • 17 mins
Learn why culture and constant innovation are essential to developing life-changing biopharma treatments.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals focuses on “serial innovation” because this year’s billion-dollar blockbuster drug could become next year’s failure. How does this biopharmaceutical company recruit and onboard employees, and how does it create a culture where the best ideas thrive?
Join David Young and guest Reshma Kewalramani, president and CEO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals and a recipient of the 2025 CED Distinguished Leadership Awards. You’ll learn about Kewalramani’s career path, what the company learned from developing a hepatitis C drug, and why the company welcomes in students to experiment alongside employees.
The Leadership in Challenging Times discussions feature timely and insightful discussions with the outstanding CEOs who are recipients of CED’s Distinguished Leadership Awards. Business leader honorees discuss the unprecedented challenges facing the nation and how they are helping chart a path forward for both their companies and communities in which they operate.
For more from The Conference Board:
· CED Announces Recipients of Its 2025 Distinguished Leadership Awards
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Welcome to C-Suite Perspectives, asignature series by The Conference Board.
I'm David Young, the presidentat the Committee for Economic
Development, the public policycenter here at The Conference Board,
and guest host of today's episode.
In today's conversation, we will discussLeadership in Challenging Times, where
we feature the outstanding CEOs who arethe recipients of CED's Distinguished
(00:29):
Leadership Awards for corporatecitizenship and business stewardship.
Today, I have the distinct privilege ofspeaking with one of our 2025 honorees.
Reshma Kewalramani, the CEO andpresident at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Under Reshma's leadership, Vertex iscommitted to supporting biomedical
(00:51):
innovation, the next generation ofscientists, and, indeed, the community.
And just how they do all of thatis what we'll be discussing today.
Reshma, welcome.
An absolute delight tohave you here today.
Thank you so much, David.
It's really a pleasure to be here.
So Reshma, you were born in India.
(01:12):
You immigrated to the US whenyou were just 11 years old.
You received your medical degreehere in the US and went on to
complete your general managementprogram at Harvard Business School.
You began your career as a physician,served in a variety of roles at
Amgen for 12 years, and then youstarted at Vertex, I think in 2017.
(01:35):
And now you are the first female CEOof a top-tier US biotech company, a
role that you started in April of 2020.
And you've received numerous honorsand awards for your leadership,
including being named to the Time100 Most Influential List and one
(01:56):
of Fortune's Most Powerful Women.
You're a Changemaker by CNBC and a top CEOby Barron's and one of Business Insider's
top people transforming health care.
You have a remarkable storythat is inspiring, I know, to
me and to many, many others.
(02:16):
Tell us just about your career, your pathto leadership, and also some of the core
values that you believe are important andinstrumental to being a successful leader.
I appreciate the kind words.
I find it terribly embarrassing.
You know, we are interesting as a societybecause we tend to recognize individuals,
(02:41):
when the real truth is that all of thework that we do in Vertex and in many
other settings is due to the team at play.
It is 110% true aboutwhat's going on at Vertex.
It is this amazing groupof people and team.
I was indeed born and raised in India.
Coming from a good Indian family, ourparents told us that there were lots
of options for careers, namely three: engineering medicine or the priesthood. (03:02):
undefined
And insofar as engineeringand the priesthood did not
interest me, medicine, it was.
And genuinely what I wanted to dowith my life was be what is called
a triple threat (03:17):
Teach, see patients half a day a week, and run my lab.
And then I realized that idea of makingmedicines for patients, that execution
happens in the biopharmaceutical industry.
And so I moved from academia to Amgenand then to Vertex to pursue this
(03:38):
passion to make medicines for patients.
And I thought the pinnacleof that was to become a chief
medical officer, a head of R&D.
And that's what I aspired to.
Becoming CEO was not somethingthat I was thinking about.
It's not an idea that I hadrolling around in my mind.
(03:59):
It is what happened in my desireto make medicines for patients
Reshma, you mentioned it'smore than just one person.
It's a team.
You've built a very strong company cultureat Vertex that prioritizes innovation
and fostering a sense of belonging.
(04:20):
consistently receiving recognitionas one of the best places to work,
including by Science Magazine,the Boston Globe, and Fortune.
Why do you think a strongcompany culture and values are so
important for businesses today?
And when you look at it, and when youreflect on it, what are some of the keys
to nurturing a culture of innovationthat can respond rapidly to change?
(04:45):
Cause you certainly areworking in an industry that
requires rapid, rapid change.
Yeah.
You know, let me focus it on our industry,but this is applicable to industries
around the globe and in many, many othersectors, for profit and not-for-profit.
In biopharma, which is the industryin which I work, failure is the norm.
(05:11):
Ninety percent of projects thatwe start in our labs will not
ever make it to being a medicine.
That's how tough it is for what we do.
And that kind of hard challengeis what most people face in the
work that they do day to day.
And when you are doing that kind ofhard work, what is absolutely key is
(05:35):
great people, values that everybodyunderstands, and a great culture.
And it's important becauseinnovation at its core means no
one else has ever done it before.
You're doing something for the first time.
That's going to require an abilityto accept failure and move on
and do better the next time.
(05:56):
It's going to require the absolutebest ideas brought to the
table, and it's going to requirethat the best talent is there.
And that is all about values andculture, and I think it's particularly
poignant in our industry because ourindustry is just that much harder.
We are trying to tackle human health, andbiology is a very difficult nut to crack.
(06:22):
So what we do here in terms of ourculture to ensure that we have this kind
of vibrancy where ideas are debated,hard problems are run towards, not run
away from, is we talk about our history.
We talk about our culture.
(06:42):
We tell a lot of stories.
We openly discuss our failures.
I'll give you one real importantexample, circa 2010 or so.
Vertex made a medicine that wasvery, very important in a disease
called hepatitis C, and it was oneof the best medicines available.
Vertex revenues went from zeroto $1 billion in one year.
(07:04):
That represents a blockbuster medicine.
The very next year it wentfrom $1 billion to zero.
So it was the fastest medicine from zeroto a billion of its time, and the fastest
from a billion to zero of its time.
And what we really learned from thatis this need to serially innovate, this
(07:25):
need to not ever be complacent, theneed to make sure that our strategy was
sound and that our culture was sound.
And we talk about that experience andwhat went wrong there to every new
Vertexian that comes to our company.
And I think culture is assimple as storytelling.
(07:49):
You just have to do it clearly andfrequently, and it has to be with
all of the company—in our case,all Vertexians—it's not one person
doing it in HR or the CEO doing it.
This is genuinely aboutall people at the company.
I love that saying where you say,culture is as simple as storytelling.
(08:13):
We're going to be right back aftera short break with my conversation
today with Reshma Kewalramani.
Welcome back to C-Suite Perspectives.
I'm your host, David Young, thepresident of the Committee for
Economic Development, the public policycenter here at The Conference Board.
I'm joined today by ReshmaKewalramani, the CEO and president
(08:36):
of Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Welcome back.
Reshma, we've talked a bitalready about Vertex's culture.
It's clearly something that you arepassionate about and you realize the
importance of, but we know culture, as yousaid earlier, isn't just about one person.
Can you tell us a little bit moreabout how Vertex goes about supporting
(09:00):
its employees around the world?
So for us, it starts even beforeyou are an employee of Vertex.
We have a very serious way inwhich we recruit and interview.
We are painfully honest about who we are.
We are a group of people who arerelentless in our pursuit of excellence.
(09:23):
We are 110% about our patients.
We want to make medicines thateither transform, if not cure,
patients from their disease.
And we do so with this debate-orientedculture where it's a "best idea" kind
of place, not a "my idea" kind of place.
(09:43):
And we, therefore, recruit folkswho want to work in that kind of
environment when it comes to onboarding.
We are very clear about our history,where we've come from and where we're
going, and it's a lot about makingsure that we tell our institutional
stories to our new starters.
We do simple things like lemonadeand pretzels where we literally
(10:05):
eat pretzels and drink lemonade.
Between 30 and 60 people come tolemonade and pretzels, and I spend an
hour every four to eight weeks withanother group of 40 to 60 people, and
we talk about what's important to them.
And, in a small-group session, talkabout the company and where we're going.
And we do bigger things, like trainingfor aspiring managers, those who
(10:29):
are in mid-management positions,and those who are at the VP and
above level, the senior-most people.
All of us can continueto learn and develop.
The last thing I'll give you asan example: I'm a very big fan of
continuing to learn and continuingeducation, formally and informally.
And we have a program here that we startedabout three years ago, where individuals
(10:53):
from across disciplines can start to takeclasses at a local university, and those
classes can even be translated into afull-on MBA, if that's what they wish to
do, with full support from the company.
Wow.
The next question touches a littlebit, you've kind of elaborated on it
already, but it looks at innovation andhow you go about supporting innovation.
(11:16):
At Vertex, you develop innovativemedicines for some of the most
serious diseases across multiplemodalities, from small molecules to gene
therapies, to cell therapies, and more.
Each of the diseases you work on isunique and complex and, obviously,
incredibly difficult to solve.
(11:38):
How on earth is Vertex able to continueto push the envelope in terms of
innovation in so many different areas?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I am extremely proud of the workthat we've done, the medicines
we've invented, and the patientswho have benefited from this work.
(12:00):
At a high level, in three words, thedrivers for this are our strategy,
our culture, and our people.
If I go a little bit beneath thathigh level, it's about our expectation
that we are going to be innovatorsand, at that, serial innovators.
(12:24):
And the expectation is very clearthat this does not extend to just R&D.
This is about innovation in manufacturing.
It's about innovation in access.
It's innovation across the board.
We like to say internally, we expectourselves to make the impossible
possible, because patients are waiting.
(12:47):
Wow.
To make the impossible possible.
It's very, very ambitious andbold, and pretty inspiring.
Now, beyond patients, you servethe broader community, as well,
and you are big believers in this.
In fact, you've been includedon the Civic 50 which recognizes
the 50 most community-mindedcompanies in the nation each year.
(13:10):
What are some of your key initiativeswith regards to the community,
and how do you look at settingyour philanthropic priorities for
the initiatives that you support?
Vertex has been the kind ofcompany that is very proud of the
places in which we live and work.
(13:32):
And part of that pride hasto do with giving back.
And welcoming the community intowhat we do and being part of
the community and supporting it.
And my predecessor, Jeff Leiden, who'salso a physician scientist, set the
stage for this and set the priorities.
We are very interested in STEM—science,technology, engineering, math.
(13:55):
And we do a lot, therefore, in STEMeducation for the youth in our community,
as well as making sure that there isa vibrant ecosystem of others who want
to participate in this, whether atthe high school level or beyond that.
(14:16):
At our company here in Boston, and notso far from where you are in our Oxford
research sites, as well as in our researchsite in San Diego, as an example, we bring
in students from the public school system.
And they come here, andthey work alongside our
scientists doing experiments.
I think genuinely hands-on experimentationbrings topics like chemistry and
(14:39):
biology, that may not seem asthrilling as it is to me, to life,
and I think brings a real passion.
So this idea of working in STEM,bringing students in from the community,
and bringing our community in generalis something that we do because our
employees really enjoy it, and we thinkwe're going to get great scientists and
(15:02):
future Vertexians from these activities.
In many ways, it's quite selfish.
Well, Reshma, thank you somuch for joining us today.
Your insights, your reflections, andalso just sharing your inspirational
story is deeply appreciated.
So thank you, and we look forwardto celebrating you and the Vertex
(15:24):
team at CED's DistinguishedLeadership Awards later this
year in October in New York City.
So Reshma, thank you so muchfor sharing with us today.
And thanks to all of you forlistening to C-Suite Perspectives.
I'm David Young, and this series has beenbrought to you by The Conference Board.
Welcome to C-Suite Perspectives, asignature series by The Conference Board.
I'm David Young, the presidentat the Committee for Economic
Development, the public policycenter here at The Conference Board,
and guest host of today's episode.
In today's conversation, we will discussLeadership in Challenging Times, where
we feature the outstanding CEOs who arethe recipients of CED's Distinguished
(00:29):
Leadership Awards for corporatecitizenship and business stewardship.
Today, I have the distinct privilege ofspeaking with one of our 2025 honorees.
Reshma Kewalramani, the CEO andpresident at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Under Reshma's leadership, Vertex iscommitted to supporting biomedical
(00:51):
innovation, the next generation ofscientists, and, indeed, the community.
And just how they do all of thatis what we'll be discussing today.
Reshma, welcome.
An absolute delight tohave you here today.
Thank you so much, David.
It's really a pleasure to be here.
So Reshma, you were born in India.
(01:12):
You immigrated to the US whenyou were just 11 years old.
You received your medical degreehere in the US and went on to
complete your general managementprogram at Harvard Business School.
You began your career as a physician,served in a variety of roles at
Amgen for 12 years, and then youstarted at Vertex, I think in 2017.
(01:35):
And now you are the first female CEOof a top-tier US biotech company, a
role that you started in April of 2020.
And you've received numerous honorsand awards for your leadership,
including being named to the Time100 Most Influential List and one
(01:56):
of Fortune's Most Powerful Women.
You're a Changemaker by CNBC and a top CEOby Barron's and one of Business Insider's
top people transforming health care.
You have a remarkable storythat is inspiring, I know, to
me and to many, many others.
(02:16):
Tell us just about your career, your pathto leadership, and also some of the core
values that you believe are important andinstrumental to being a successful leader.
I appreciate the kind words.
I find it terribly embarrassing.
You know, we are interesting as a societybecause we tend to recognize individuals,
(02:41):
when the real truth is that all of thework that we do in Vertex and in many
other settings is due to the team at play.
It is 110% true aboutwhat's going on at Vertex.
It is this amazing groupof people and team.
I was indeed born and raised in India.
Coming from a good Indian family, ourparents told us that there were lots
of options for careers, namely three: engineering medicine or the priesthood. (03:02):
undefined
And insofar as engineeringand the priesthood did not
interest me, medicine, it was.
And genuinely what I wanted to dowith my life was be what is called
a triple threat (03:17):
Teach, see patients half a day a week, and run my lab.
And then I realized that idea of makingmedicines for patients, that execution
happens in the biopharmaceutical industry.
And so I moved from academia to Amgenand then to Vertex to pursue this
(03:38):
passion to make medicines for patients.
And I thought the pinnacleof that was to become a chief
medical officer, a head of R&D.
And that's what I aspired to.
Becoming CEO was not somethingthat I was thinking about.
It's not an idea that I hadrolling around in my mind.
(03:59):
It is what happened in my desireto make medicines for patients
Reshma, you mentioned it'smore than just one person.
It's a team.
You've built a very strong company cultureat Vertex that prioritizes innovation
and fostering a sense of belonging.
(04:20):
consistently receiving recognitionas one of the best places to work,
including by Science Magazine,the Boston Globe, and Fortune.
Why do you think a strongcompany culture and values are so
important for businesses today?
And when you look at it, and when youreflect on it, what are some of the keys
to nurturing a culture of innovationthat can respond rapidly to change?
(04:45):
Cause you certainly areworking in an industry that
requires rapid, rapid change.
Yeah.
You know, let me focus it on our industry,but this is applicable to industries
around the globe and in many, many othersectors, for profit and not-for-profit.
In biopharma, which is the industryin which I work, failure is the norm.
(05:11):
Ninety percent of projects thatwe start in our labs will not
ever make it to being a medicine.
That's how tough it is for what we do.
And that kind of hard challengeis what most people face in the
work that they do day to day.
And when you are doing that kind ofhard work, what is absolutely key is
(05:35):
great people, values that everybodyunderstands, and a great culture.
And it's important becauseinnovation at its core means no
one else has ever done it before.
You're doing something for the first time.
That's going to require an abilityto accept failure and move on
and do better the next time.
(05:56):
It's going to require the absolutebest ideas brought to the
table, and it's going to requirethat the best talent is there.
And that is all about values andculture, and I think it's particularly
poignant in our industry because ourindustry is just that much harder.
We are trying to tackle human health, andbiology is a very difficult nut to crack.
(06:22):
So what we do here in terms of ourculture to ensure that we have this kind
of vibrancy where ideas are debated,hard problems are run towards, not run
away from, is we talk about our history.
We talk about our culture.
(06:42):
We tell a lot of stories.
We openly discuss our failures.
I'll give you one real importantexample, circa 2010 or so.
Vertex made a medicine that wasvery, very important in a disease
called hepatitis C, and it was oneof the best medicines available.
Vertex revenues went from zeroto $1 billion in one year.
(07:04):
That represents a blockbuster medicine.
The very next year it wentfrom $1 billion to zero.
So it was the fastest medicine from zeroto a billion of its time, and the fastest
from a billion to zero of its time.
And what we really learned from thatis this need to serially innovate, this
(07:25):
need to not ever be complacent, theneed to make sure that our strategy was
sound and that our culture was sound.
And we talk about that experience andwhat went wrong there to every new
Vertexian that comes to our company.
And I think culture is assimple as storytelling.
(07:49):
You just have to do it clearly andfrequently, and it has to be with
all of the company—in our case,all Vertexians—it's not one person
doing it in HR or the CEO doing it.
This is genuinely aboutall people at the company.
I love that saying where you say,culture is as simple as storytelling.
(08:13):
We're going to be right back aftera short break with my conversation
today with Reshma Kewalramani.
Welcome back to C-Suite Perspectives.
I'm your host, David Young, thepresident of the Committee for
Economic Development, the public policycenter here at The Conference Board.
I'm joined today by ReshmaKewalramani, the CEO and president
(08:36):
of Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Welcome back.
Reshma, we've talked a bitalready about Vertex's culture.
It's clearly something that you arepassionate about and you realize the
importance of, but we know culture, as yousaid earlier, isn't just about one person.
Can you tell us a little bit moreabout how Vertex goes about supporting
(09:00):
its employees around the world?
So for us, it starts even beforeyou are an employee of Vertex.
We have a very serious way inwhich we recruit and interview.
We are painfully honest about who we are.
We are a group of people who arerelentless in our pursuit of excellence.
(09:23):
We are 110% about our patients.
We want to make medicines thateither transform, if not cure,
patients from their disease.
And we do so with this debate-orientedculture where it's a "best idea" kind
of place, not a "my idea" kind of place.
(09:43):
And we, therefore, recruit folkswho want to work in that kind of
environment when it comes to onboarding.
We are very clear about our history,where we've come from and where we're
going, and it's a lot about makingsure that we tell our institutional
stories to our new starters.
We do simple things like lemonadeand pretzels where we literally
(10:05):
eat pretzels and drink lemonade.
Between 30 and 60 people come tolemonade and pretzels, and I spend an
hour every four to eight weeks withanother group of 40 to 60 people, and
we talk about what's important to them.
And, in a small-group session, talkabout the company and where we're going.
And we do bigger things, like trainingfor aspiring managers, those who
(10:29):
are in mid-management positions,and those who are at the VP and
above level, the senior-most people.
All of us can continueto learn and develop.
The last thing I'll give you asan example: I'm a very big fan of
continuing to learn and continuingeducation, formally and informally.
And we have a program here that we startedabout three years ago, where individuals
(10:53):
from across disciplines can start to takeclasses at a local university, and those
classes can even be translated into afull-on MBA, if that's what they wish to
do, with full support from the company.
Wow.
The next question touches a littlebit, you've kind of elaborated on it
already, but it looks at innovation andhow you go about supporting innovation.
(11:16):
At Vertex, you develop innovativemedicines for some of the most
serious diseases across multiplemodalities, from small molecules to gene
therapies, to cell therapies, and more.
Each of the diseases you work on isunique and complex and, obviously,
incredibly difficult to solve.
(11:38):
How on earth is Vertex able to continueto push the envelope in terms of
innovation in so many different areas?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I am extremely proud of the workthat we've done, the medicines
we've invented, and the patientswho have benefited from this work.
(12:00):
At a high level, in three words, thedrivers for this are our strategy,
our culture, and our people.
If I go a little bit beneath thathigh level, it's about our expectation
that we are going to be innovatorsand, at that, serial innovators.
(12:24):
And the expectation is very clearthat this does not extend to just R&D.
This is about innovation in manufacturing.
It's about innovation in access.
It's innovation across the board.
We like to say internally, we expectourselves to make the impossible
possible, because patients are waiting.
(12:47):
Wow.
To make the impossible possible.
It's very, very ambitious andbold, and pretty inspiring.
Now, beyond patients, you servethe broader community, as well,
and you are big believers in this.
In fact, you've been includedon the Civic 50 which recognizes
the 50 most community-mindedcompanies in the nation each year.
(13:10):
What are some of your key initiativeswith regards to the community,
and how do you look at settingyour philanthropic priorities for
the initiatives that you support?
Vertex has been the kind ofcompany that is very proud of the
places in which we live and work.
(13:32):
And part of that pride hasto do with giving back.
And welcoming the community intowhat we do and being part of
the community and supporting it.
And my predecessor, Jeff Leiden, who'salso a physician scientist, set the
stage for this and set the priorities.
We are very interested in STEM—science,technology, engineering, math.
(13:55):
And we do a lot, therefore, in STEMeducation for the youth in our community,
as well as making sure that there isa vibrant ecosystem of others who want
to participate in this, whether atthe high school level or beyond that.
(14:16):
At our company here in Boston, and notso far from where you are in our Oxford
research sites, as well as in our researchsite in San Diego, as an example, we bring
in students from the public school system.
And they come here, andthey work alongside our
scientists doing experiments.
I think genuinely hands-on experimentationbrings topics like chemistry and
(14:39):
biology, that may not seem asthrilling as it is to me, to life,
and I think brings a real passion.
So this idea of working in STEM,bringing students in from the community,
and bringing our community in generalis something that we do because our
employees really enjoy it, and we thinkwe're going to get great scientists and
(15:02):
future Vertexians from these activities.
In many ways, it's quite selfish.
Well, Reshma, thank you somuch for joining us today.
Your insights, your reflections, andalso just sharing your inspirational
story is deeply appreciated.
So thank you, and we look forwardto celebrating you and the Vertex
(15:24):
team at CED's DistinguishedLeadership Awards later this
year in October in New York City.
So Reshma, thank you so muchfor sharing with us today.
And thanks to all of you forlistening to C-Suite Perspectives.
I'm David Young, and this series has beenbrought to you by The Conference Board.
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