Key Takeaways from Aileen Fernandes, Chief Business Officer, Arcellx
- Professional Services Build Strategic Influence Skills
Early roles at Morgan Stanley and Deloitte equipped Fernandes with a foundation in executive communication, data-driven storytelling, and leadership presence—skills essential for navigating biotech boardrooms and leading cross-functional teams. - Culture Fit Is Crucial for C-Suite Success
Fernandes emphasizes aligning personal values, like a genuine commitment to diversity, with organizational culture. She advises MBA candidates to ask tough questions in interviews to ensure long-term alignment and sustainability in executive roles. - Strategic Networking in Healthcare Pays Dividends
Building industry connections early, particularly in high-impact roles like Chief of Staff, can shape future leadership opportunities. Fernandes credits her network and following trusted mentors with advancing her path to the biotech C-suite.
Aileen Fernandes is the Chief Business Officer at Arcellx, a biotechnology company focused on innovative immunotherapies and cell therapy. She has played a key leadership role, including overseeing the company’s IPO and establishing a major partnership with Kite, a Gilead Company, to co-develop and co-commercialize Arcellx’s late-stage clinical asset, anito-cel, for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.
Before joining Arcellx, Ms. Fernandes held several leadership positions at Nevro Corporation as well as at professional services firms including Deloitte Consulting and Morgan Stanley. Fernandes earned her MBA and a BA in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Q. How did your professional services’ roles at Morgan Stanley and Deloitte Consulting prepare you for a journey to the biotechnology C-suite?
A. Fernandes: The professional services’ vertical provided three invaluable steps on my C-suite journey which your current MBA students and recent graduates should consider. First, being exposed to C-suite executives and carefully observing how they strategically influenced others, who did not report into them, were teachable moments.
The key takeaway was that regardless of where another person sits on an entity’s hierarchy, one needs to know what is driving that person’s behavior and agenda so that an effective collaborative approach can be adapted. Second, both of these firms provided an apprenticeship to quickly learn how to create spreadsheets and slideware, which conveyed valued insights to my target audiences.
Finally, these firms provided an environment to build my own authentic leadership style. When you’re starting your post-MBA careers at leading firms like Morgan Stanley and Deloitte Consulting, it can be intimidating to defend your ideas, first in front of your teammates and then eventually with clients. Still, remember you are the expert since it is very unlikely that even your Project Manager will know the details as well as you.
Remember to build a simple but compelling narrative that your target audiences will enjoy and keep you on that billable assignment. If you do a great job, managing partners could promote you in the short term and key clients might try to poach you away in the medium term. These types of rotations can then position you for longer-term C-suite opportunities.
Q. With so many potential pathways on the journey to a C-suite role, what are your top three recommendations for students to pursue in order to achieve their corner-office aspirations?
A. Fernandes: First, recognize how an MBA program actually lets one step back and reflect and pause. As many Ivy League and other top schools’ undergraduates pursue elite consulting and finance roles for the reasons I mentioned earlier, it can become a blur when students are starting out their careers. But by investing time to tap into various resources including professors, classes, and extracurricular programs while getting my MBA, it enabled me to determine what my interests are, what my strengths are, and what roles might be a good fit. As I determined that I loved having broad exposure across a firm’s functional areas as well as being part of key strategic decisions, these insights enabled me to pivot to the healthcare vertical for growth companies.
Second, determine what culture best fits you. Listen carefully to your own heart about what elements truly are important to you versus the noise, even well-intentioned comments can sometimes cloud one’s judgement. And then ask hard questions during your interviews with prospective employers. For instance, commitment to diversity is a major element for me to join a firm. And so, if I don’t hear, as well as see a commitment to diversity when I’m engaging with an organization, that will be a deal breaker for me. C-suite roles are hard to secure and even harder to retain. If one doesn’t fit within an organization’s culture, it will be challenging to show up every day and perform well.
Finally, start to build and retain your healthcare connections early in your career. When I served as a Chief of Staff at Nevro, a medical equipment provider, it was one of the most challenging impactful roles that I ever had. These roles are frequently where the pressure is, acting as the right hand to the CEO and managing sensitive, high-stakes issues.
Despite this role being notorious for high stress and burnout as the Harvard Business Review mentioned,1 the culture of the organization and the leadership of the CEO allowed me to thrive. Even after the role, I was in frequent contact with this executive and eventually followed this leader to my current employer, Arcellx. Investing time today can help support your long-term corner-office aspirations.
About the Author
Michael Wong is a Part-time Lecturer for the Wharton Communication Program at the University of Pennsylvania. As an Emeritus Co-President and board member of the Harvard Business School Healthcare Alumni Association as well as a Contributing Writer for the MIT Sloan Career Development Office, Michael’s ideas have been shared in the Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review.
Reference
1. Ciampa, Dan, The Case for a Chief of Staff, Harvard Business Review, May-June 2020
