Feature
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Bringing a Fresh Perspective: Q&A with Miguel Fernandez Alcalde
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Key Takeaways
- Leadership is shaped by experiences, relationships, and a meritocratic mindset, emphasizing the best idea regardless of hierarchy.
- Alcalde's career at Merck KGaA involved roles in Spain, Finland, and Germany, enhancing his leadership skills and global expertise.
The EMD Serono president discusses his new role and goals for the company.
Miguel Fernandez Alcalde
President
EMD Serono
EMD Serono recently named Miguel Fernandez Alcalde as its new president. The new executive spoke with Pharmaceutical Executive about his role, how his previous experience is shaping his perspective, and how he plans to build the company’s business.
Pharmaceutical Executive: How does your age impact your perspective on leadership?
Miguel Fernandez Alcalde: To me, leadership is less about age, and more about the experiences, the reflection, and relationships you have built over the years. For me, it started early in childhood; I grew up surrounded by cousins and extended family, where you had to speak up and treat others fairly to get the things you wanted. Nothing was handed to you, and you earned everything you deserved. This mindset followed me into the professional world, where I am obsessed with bringing my best self to the table, stretching myself to do difficult things to ultimately deliver for patients.
And my childhood upbringings––paired with learnings from various mentors and leaders over my professional journey––built me into a leader that understands the limits of hierarchy. I like to believe that the best idea wins, regardless of who contributed it. We all bring important insights and experiences to the table, and we are all working toward the same mission. This is why I listen to my team, I take their feedback, and I try to create the ecosystem and atmosphere that lets them thrive (while making myself available to be as useful as possible to them). At the same time, I will challenge them with questions, requests, and insights, as I expect their very best each day. But I expect this of myself, too: stepping up your game and delivering your best effort is the only way to keep improving.
PE: You’ve been with the company for over a decade, can you discuss your experience climbing the ladder at the company?
Alcalde: I’ve been with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany––EMD Serono’s global parent company––since 2014. I started in Spain, working as a marketing manager across reproductive health, endocrinology, and general medicines franchises. I had already worked in sales and marketing across several other biopharmaceutical companies, so I had a strong base knowledge on what it takes to deliver on results. After a year and a half, I was asked to lead the Reproductive Health business unit. And my success in that role led to my next opportunity within the company: moving to Finland to take on the role of General Manager (GM) of the company within that country. This helped to evolve and improve my leadership skills, as the Nordic management style is quite different from the Spanish one.
Then the position of GM and Managing Director of Spain opened, and I thought to myself: “To lead one of the biggest countries in our company’s biggest Region (Europe) is a good career stretch”––and what a stretch it was! I began in January 2020, just months before the pandemic kickstarted and threw our lives into disarray. We went through all the challenges that one leader can only imagine: maintaining day-to-day business, acting as the face of the Company and spokesperson with authorities, and overseeing our “essential business” (as deemed by the Spanish authorities) including 1200 employees and two manufacturing sites that could not stop production. It was stressful, and yet I learned so much about myself as a leader, and the company and people at large.
As someone who is always looking to better myself and challenge myself, I knew in my next step I wanted to move to Germany––the company’s global HQ––in a role that would further build out my global expertise and acumen. As Vice President, Business Excellence & Innovation and Head of CEO Office Healthcare in Darmstadt, Germany, I was responsible for ensuring business excellence and evolving the Go to Market model across all franchises and regions of the healthcare business, while leading the Healthcare CEO Office and being part of the Healthcare Executive Team (HEC). It was a big role and next step, especially because working in the HQ of a global Company is quite different from working in smaller countries; you have to evolve your game and develop skills fast while you deliver results.
Yet the biggest and most complex Pharma market in the world was still something that I needed to learn and experience to be a true global leader. This led me to move my family to the U.S. to take on the role of Chief Operating Officer for EMD Serono. It was the perfect position to focus on the business: to dig deep in the nuances and details of the Healthcare ecosystem in the U.S., while getting to know the organization’s leadership and people––all of which paved the way to my current role as President of EMD Serono. And it quickly became very clear to me that there is no place like the U.S. when it comes to succeeding in the biopharma industry. Understanding and building a presence in this market is essential to driving growth and delivering for patients.
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