August 1, 2016 (Cambridge, Massachusetts) – MassBio and executive recruiting company Liftstream today announced a partnership to conduct an extensive study of the human capital diversity within the life sciences sector in Massachusetts.
The survey will engage organizations involved in the life sciences to anonymously provide information about their leadership talent pipelines, while also surveying individual professionals who are employed, unemployed or have even left the sector to understand the factors determining career advancement.
The survey and resulting analysis is one piece of a new MassBio Gender Diversity Initiative launching this fall, which aims to meaningfully impact gender diversity within the industry, growing women’s participation on corporate boards, at the executive leadership levels and throughout our member companies’ employee bodies.
“Our industry is growing like never before, adding jobs and making leaps in scientific discovery,” said Robert K. Coughlin, President & CEO of MassBio, which represents more than 750 member organizations. “In order to ensure we have the pool of talent that will be required to continue to fuel that growth and scientific advancement, we must ensure we are recruiting, retaining and promoting as diverse a community as possible. We need to make a concerted effort to identify the barriers to diversity and work as a community and as individual organizations to knock those barriers down.”
Founder & CEO of Liftstream, Karl Simpson said, “We are exceptionally pleased to partner with MassBio on this study and apply our expertise to examine the unique challenges that the life sciences sector is facing when developing a diverse pipeline of executive leaders.” He added, “Despite the gender diversity entering the industry, this diversity is not reflected at the top of the companies which means the sector is not fully utilizing its human capital resources, and our study aims to find out why.”
The survey can be taken at http://www.liftstream.com/pipelinesurvey.
Employers involved in research, development and commercialization of products from across life sciences are asked to provide detailed data about their organizations. Individuals in the sector, either employed or unemployed, are also invited to participate in the survey.
The anonymized data will be collated and presented in the fall. Respondents will also have the option to volunteer their involvement in a longitudinal study which will run subsequent to this.
Simpson said, “We really believe that employers from across the Massachusetts life sciences sector will respond to the call for richer data on the leadership pipeline and that those same employers will encourage their employees to take the individual survey too. It is in our collective interests to have a more sustainable leadership talent pool.”
The interim results of the study will be presented at Finding Our Next Generation Leaders, a MassBio Signature Event on September 16th which has been developed by MassBio to launch their commitment to increase the participation of women in the life sciences sector within Massachusetts.
“We are excited to convene the industry and harness the collective effort to truly impact diversity throughout life sciences,” Coughlin said.
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About MassBio
MassBio is a not-for-profit trade association founded in 1985 and committed to advancing Massachusetts' leadership in the life sciences to grow the industry, add value to the healthcare system and improve patient lives. Representing more than 750 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, disease foundations and other organizations involved in life sciences and healthcare, MassBio leverages its network of innovative companies and industry thought leaders to advance policy and promote education, while providing member programs, events, industry information, and services. Learn more at www.MassBio.org.
About Liftstream
Liftstream is an executive search recruitment practice focused exclusively on the global life sciences sector. Our clients benefit from the advanced sector knowledge we possess and the exceptional people we’re able to recruit for them into positions of leadership. Since 2003, Liftstream has been recruiting outstanding people to the unique and complex challenges of life sciences and who have contributed to innovative new treatments improving global health. Our client partnerships always focus on strengthening our clients’ teams. We achieve this through comprehensive searches and rigorous candidate assessments to identify and appoint the person most suited to our clients. Liftstream is committed to equal opportunities, diversity and inclusion. For more information about Liftstream, please visit www.liftstream.com.