Robert W. Duggan, CEO and chairman of the board, Pharmacyclics Inc.

Robert W. Duggan, CEO and chairman of the board, Pharmacyclics Inc.

LIFE SCIENCES, FINALIST
Robert W. Duggan is always thinking about his customers and how they will benefit from the products and services his company provides. When he seeks new employees to work at Pharmacyclics Inc., he looks for the same commitment and dedication.
It’s those two factors that have helped Pharmacyclics make such a difference in the treatment of cancer and immune-mediated diseases. But when Duggan took over the business, it was fraught with problems. Clinical trials were failing and the company was suffering from a lack of leadership at the top. Duggan had to work hard to convince everyone that the company needed to move off a project that wasn’t working and try something different. It was asking people to scrap enormous amounts of time and effort that had been invested and was now being discarded, but Duggan felt it was a necessary step to allow the company to move forward.
Duggan proceeded to build a management team that is surrounded with people who are bright, anxious and experienced in their fields. He works to bring out the best in them and seeks to put them in the best position to experience success.
When Duggan, Pharmacyclics’ chairman and CEO, speaks, it is done with great thought. He studies words and looks for their deeper meaning to better explain himself to his people.
But foremost in his thoughts at all times are his customers, the patients who depend on the research done at Pharmacyclics to make their lives better and even save their lives. He’s not afraid to accept failure on one project and move on to the next because he always believes that next project will be the one that really makes a difference.
HOW TO REACH: Pharmacyclics Inc., www.pharmacyclics.com