She began her career at the public accounting firm David Berdon & Co. at a time when women accountants were relatiively rare.
"I didn't mind the hours, which were intense," says Zausner. "During tax season we worked seven days a week for three months
straight. But when you're 22, you have the energy. You can go out on Saturday night, go home, take a shower, and go back to
work."
Past HBA Woman of the Year Recipients
|
But Zausner didn't want to go on like that forever. She wanted to see the world. So after she got her CPA in 1981, she called
her old boss from those summers at the recruiting firm, who placed her at Colgate Palmolive as an internal auditor.
It was an eye-opening experience. "I was in South Africa at the height of apartheid," says Zausner. "I was in Colombia. I
got picked up at the airport by armed guards. They were kidnapping American executives all over the place. They said, 'You
could fit in. You look Hispanic. Just don't let them hear you speak.'"
Conversations over laundry detergent aside, Colgate was a good place for women to grow. "[CEO] Ruben Mark was a proponent
of diversity and inclusion before the words were ever spoken out of anyone's mouth," says Zausner. She recalls him announcing
that if a qualified man and a qualified woman applied for a job, the woman was to get it. "This was in the 1980s, and there
was an uproar in the organization. But within 15 months, it wasn't an issue anymore."
One employee told Meryl she was uncomfortable being the only one to wear a sari to a company gala. So Meryl donned one—and
others followed, from left: Meryl Zausner, Michele Galen (communications), Carrie Kifner (HR). human resources, Gerber, a
Novartis company).
|
In 1986, as part of a wider move, the company formed a small venture company to reinvent mature products—like turning HandiWipes
into claw-proof cat-box liner. Zausner was controller. "We had our own little portfolio," she says. "We went out and set up
our own brokerage network and our own warehousing system. It was so much fun."
The fun ended in 1987, when Colgate acquired Softsoap and other brands from Minnetonka, and restructured Meryl's co-workers
right out of jobs. "It was a horrible period," remembers Zausner.
The recruiter friend came through again with a position at the over-the-counter business of Sandoz. "The company was so different
then," says Zausner. "The pharma business and the consumer products businesses were completely integrated. They didn't even
have separate financial statements."
Zausner grew with the company. By 1996, when Sandoz merged with Ciba-Geigy to form Novartis, she was responsible for pharma
and OTC business unit support and oversaw budgets of $1.8 billion.
Taking Oncology Global
Past HBA Woman of the Year Recipients
|
Zausner's next career move was in an unexpected direction. The US oncology group at Novartis had been lobbying to create a
global business unit, looking for a management structure that was intimately familiar with the emerging science of targeted
therapies, and where oncology projects wouldn't get lost in the list of top priorities.
|
PharmExec Blog
Follow Us
RSS
Bookstore
