When a chair comes on board many things are assumed and therein often lies the problem. Your chair is (hopefully) the one person on your board without a fund to answer to – are you maximising that relationship?
Mark Altmeyer has a unique 35-year career in large pharma and high-growth European biotech. He will share his experience from both sides of the table, as the Founder, CEO and Board Member of Arvelle Therapeutics (sold for $1bn to Angelini) and now as an independent Board Chair: at AM Pharma, Calluna Pharma and ReproNovo, and board member at Alector and Merz Therapeutics.
A few things to reflect on pre-session regarding the CEO/Board Chair relationship:
The “contracting conversation” between the CEO and Chair is the core of a good working relationship.
What challenge looks like between you - said, not implied?
What do you want to be held to beyond the data and numbers?
What comes to the chair before the board and what can wait?
What happens when you disagree?
And succession planning - the chair who has never raised it with you will raise it at the worst moment.
Agreeing on operating rhythm is another best practice:
Is there a pre-board call, not to rehearse, but to say what is not on the agenda?
A jour-fixe one-to-one?
What does your chair do between meetings that you should know about: talking to your other directors, hearing what they will not say to you directly
When board interests are not aligned, there are things your chair can say in that room that you cannot.
The CEO always knows more than the board, your chair's job is to help you share the right amount and in the right way. That only works if the contracting conversation happened first.
A few things to consider:
Have you told your chair how you want to be challenged - or has that been left to assumption? Does your chair know what you want flagged, beyond the data and numbers? When the board was last misaligned, did your chair have enough context to be useful? Do you know what your chair is hearing from your other directors?
MARK ALTMEYER
Current Board Chair at AM Pharma, Calluna Pharma and ReproNovo, and board member at Alector and Merz Therapeutics.
Previously Mark was the founder, Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of Arvelle Therapeutics which he spun out of Axovant Sciences 2019 and then sold to Angelini in 2021 for $1 bn. He has 35+ years of experience leading successful drug commercialization efforts as a pharmaceutical executive across a number of therapeutic categories. He was previously President and Chief Commercial Officer at Axovant. Prior to that Mark was Chief Executive Officer and President of Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., where he led a team of 1,700 employees and helped grow the company’s revenue from $2.6 billion to over $7 billion. He led the launch of Abilify®, the top-selling CNS drug in history and the number-one selling drug in the United States in 2013. Earlier in his career, Mr. Altmeyer held a number of executive leadership roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb, including Senior Vice President, Global Commercialization, and Senior Vice President, Neuroscience Business Unit.
Mr. Altmeyer received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in economics from Middlebury College.