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Integrity matters, says Amgen CEO
(Providence Journal, The (RI) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Mar. 3--BOSTON -- The Enron fraud and conspiracy trial in Texas makes Kevin Sharer "sick" and causes the top executive of the world's largest biotechnology company to lose sleep.
Enron's former leader, Kenneth Lay, who is on trial for fraud, said he was unaware of the accounting fraud that triggered one of the largest bankruptcies in U.S. history. To Sharer, chief executive officer of Amgen Inc., that excuse is not acceptable. CEOs must know what is going on inside their companies and act as role models, Sharer said.
They need to have "integrity in every possible way, and I mean profound personal integrity," said Sharer, speaking to a packed house yesterday at The Boston College Chief Executives' Club at the Boston Harbor Hotel.
"If you don't, the people who work for you will find out and it will become a cancer in the organization," Sharer said. "Your integrity resonates a lot further than you might think."
The 400-member club, which is made up of top executives from the Greater Boston area and is affiliated with Boston College, regularly asks CEOs to speak about the challenges facing corporate managers. Sharer, whose company has 1,300 employees at two drug manufacturing plants in West Greenwich and about 100 people in a research facility in Cambridge, Mass., chose to speak about the CEOs he admires and the attributes they need to have to be successful and to stay employed.
As the 285 attendees ate creme brulee, Sharer spoke about the courage and integrity that top U.S. CEOs exhibit. He added that the best are "hands on" and no matter how serious their business is, they don't take themselves too seriously.
"You'd got to have a sense of humor," Sharer said.
He said he approves of the intense scrutiny the executives of public companies are under, and added that the 15 publicly traded companies that have had major public scandals over the past five years is too many. However, he said that he thinks many people don't understand or appreciate how complex a CEO's job really is when they are evaluating executive performance.
"This is not easy," he said.
Sharer highlighted five CEOs he sees as the best in business: Alan G. Lafley, of Procter & Gamble; Stan O'Neal, of Merrill Lynch; Carlos Ghosn, of Renault; W. James McNerney Jr., of The Boeing Co.; and Steve Jobs, of Apple Computer.
Sharer, who is friendly with all but Ghosn, said they are all bold leaders with clarity and the ability to deliver.
Although Sharer didn't put himself on his list, his run as top executive at Amgen is considered impressive. Appointed in 2000, he successfully purchased Immunex -- maker of the rheumatoid arthritis drug Enbrel -- and poured more than $1 billion into two Enbrel manufacturing plants in West Greenwich. Sharer boosted Amgen's market value to $94 billion. And Enbrel, with 376,000 users worldwide, has become a blockbuster drug, as has Amgen's cancer and anemia drugs. The company's stock closed at $76.05 a share yesterday, up 57 cents.
Amgen has found a bright spot in Rhode Island's manufacturing sector and the company plans to continue expanding in New England, Sharer said. It expects to add about 300 people in Cambridge over the next few years and increase employment in Rhode Island as the second Enbrel plant comes on line, he added.
Sharer said that the company plans to grow in part by acquisition, but he did not point to specific companies Amgen is targeting.
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