Shire’s SVP, leadership development, Charlotte Sibley, has been named as the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association’s (HBA) 2008 “Woman of the Year” (WOTY).

Sibley will be honored at the HBA’s 19th annual WOTY luncheon on Thursday, May 8, at the New York Hilton. 

“Having devoted the majority of my career to cultivating and mentoring professional talent for several of the industry’s leading companies, this is the most gratifying honor I could hope to receive,” Sibley said in a statement.

Sibley joined Shire in 2005 and has served as SVP global business research and intelligence, where her duties included market research, competitive intelligence, new product commercial assessment and strategic forecasting.

Sibley has spent over 25 years in the healthcare industry.

Prior to joining Shire, she served as VP, global commercial research and health outcomes for Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Earlier, she was VP, global business research for Pharmacia. Sibley has also worked at Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb. She is a past president of the HBA and a member of the HBA Advisory Board, past president of the Pharmaceutical Business Research & Intelligence Group and an adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

In 2007, she worked with HBA to spearhead the E.D.G.E (Empowerment, Diversity, Growth, Excellence) in leadership study, a research initiative to provide actionable recommendations on best
practices for the recruitment, retention and advancement of women to the most senior roles within their corporate areas.

According to the study, released inNovember, the average percentage of top positions at life sciencescompanies occupied by women has been stuck at a paltry 17% for the pastfive years.

HBA also named Genentech’s Len Kanavy as its Mentor of the Year. Kanavy, who is VP, commercial operations at Genentech, won plaudits for promoting women to senior leadership positions and putting the success of his reports ahead of his own. Of Kanavy’s seven direct reports, all directors or senior directors, six are women.