"A Successful Visionary"

Chris Baker, EVP, and Global Head, Parexel FSP, is a visionary strategist who leads her team towards growth and success. How does she do it? Her high EQ leadership skills coupled with her business acumen have led the FSP business to grow 83% over the past 3 years. She leads a business division of several thousand colleagues that span 18 time zones and 5 continents.

With more than 20 years of biopharmaceutical experience, Chris is an accomplished leader whose expertise spans from molecule to market in leadership roles across clinical research and development, global launches, and commercial roles in strategy, sales, marketing, and manufacturing. A hallmark of Chris’ award-winning leadership is her ability to engage, direct and inspire global, cross-functional,and remote teams to successfully achieve business results through times of change and uncertainty, including acquisitions, organizational restructurings, and most recently, the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Chris believes in developing her team and the leadership team around her. She outlines the vision, strategies, and goals and supports her team to grow and advance in their capabilities. Chris has been a keynote presenter to global audiences on the topic “Leading Global Teams” and has been interviewed and published in “Chicago Business Review”on the topic of “Effectively Managing Global Teams.” Additionally, she has been published in Industry Publications as a thought leader. She mentors and advises junior and mid-level colleagues and is a trusted advisor to - senior executives across the pharmaceutical, biotech, and healthcare industry.

As one of the world's leading global clinical research organizations (CRO), Parexel FSP provides the talented colleagues who seamlessly integrate into biopharmaceutical companies to support their clinical trials. These experts can be scaled up and down, based on program priorities, and have the highly valued expertise that biopharmaceutical companies need to successfully complete their clinical trials and provide life-saving new medicines for patients-. “Our 20,000 employees have a deep conviction in what we do, and by partnering to support our biopharmaceutical cleints, we are shaping the next generation of therapies, one patient at a time,” says Chris. “We work hard to provide a great place to work in all key attributes to attract, develop and retain great talent. We develop our colleagues through career tracks and development programs so they have a career here where they can thrive and grow over the years. We pay competitively and reward strong talent. And we do a lot to listen and engage our teams and ensure we are taking care of ALL of our colleagues in a welcoming and inclusive environment.”

It is pertinent to mention that the Parexel FSP division she led has won several awards. Two that are meaningful are being named one of the Top 3 FSP businesses in their industry for the first time, just one year after she took over the business. “Additionally, client awards are significant for being best at delivering value and partnering with them to support our clients achieving their goals to deliver clinical trials for patients,” adds Chris.

The business division she has led has grown 25-29% each year, so she wants to continue investing in the people and infrastructure to ensure they are scalable to succeed both now and in the future. “We are a people business. Our company is focused on supporting the delivery of clinical trials so that patients get the life-saving medicine they need. That is done through people and for people,” elucidates Chris. “So, we try hard to value, appreciate, support, and fully accept talent from diverse backgrounds. - An example that demonstrates how we value our employees is our strong efforts to support our Ukraine and Russia colleagues and their families. We have paid to relocate colleagues and their families from these areas to anywhere worldwide, and have supported their legal fees, visas and travel expenses.”

But great leaders are the ones who practice discipline and balance their health and wellness in order to support their professional and personal lives; Chris is working on the same, “I have twin sons who are 18, and like many parents, I have put their activities and wellness at front and center. Over the pandemic, I invested in working with a trainer doing strength training 3 session times a week to invest in my health, which has paid dividends.” Chris also wants to continue contributing to meaningful Board of Directors roles and to wrap up her book on Corporate Leadership principles applied to Family life. WL