While Adele Gulfo doesn’t consider herself a risk-taker, she does acknowledge that she’s more excited and energized when she steps outside of her comfort zone. Adele’s done that, a lot. Early in her career, Adele Gulfo went from using her analytical and critical thinking skills as a scientist and a biologist, to running the business side of developing and commercializing some of the most successful pharmaceutical drugs of all time.

“When I first talked to people about moving from research to the business side, I got a lot of blind stares like, ‘You’re not qualified. You don’t know anything about marketing. No one is going to take a scientist seriously as a business leader.’ I didn’t accept the premise that a scientist couldn’t be a good business leader. I saw there was a way you could commercialize products and discoveries and help millions of people, so I went back and got my MBA.” Since then, Adele Gulfo’s been translating the science behind some of the world’s most famous drugs into marketing plans doctors and patients can understand.

“I’M AN ACHIEVER, SO AT THE END OF THE DAY, I LIKE TO FEEL I’VE ACCOMPLISHED SOMETHING: MY BOSS WAS HAPPY; SOMEBODY SMILED. THAT’S MY MOTIVATION.”

At Astra-Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, Adele launched the cholesterol-lowering medicine, CRESTOR ®, growing it into a $2 Billion plus product. At Pfizer, Adele was instrumental in developing the medical and public education campaigns and the launch for LIPITOR®, the revolutionary statin, cholesterol-lowering agent. In terms of sales, LIPITOR® became the world’s most successful medicine. In 2012, under Adele Gulfo’s leadership, Pfizer’s Latin American business achieved more than $3 Billion in revenue.

Earlier this year, after 25 years with “big pharma,” Adele joined the executive leadership team at Mylan, one of the top, branded, generic pharmaceutical companies. In her current position at Mylan, Adele is focused on Latin America; globalizing Mylan’s EpiPen® franchise and working on their multi-dose, dry powder respiratory platform.

“Latin America is an emerging market, and healthcare is high on their agenda. They care about high-quality medicines. Sometimes I feel people in America just want the cheapest generic. They don’t want to know where it came from.”

Adele Gulfo is also on the board of The Committee of 200 (C200). “It’s the most powerful organization no one knows about, although we just celebrated our 38th anniversary. C200 has become a place where the world’s most successful women entrepreneurs and business leader can get together. It’s a safe place to share stories, learn from each other and in some cases, help one another financially. Our mission is ‘Success Shared.’ Women empowering and supporting one another is more important than ever.”

“I work in an industry that makes medicines to help people, but it’s also nice to have a mission. At Mylan, ours is to do good and do well, not just for our company and shareholders, but for people. It’s important for companies and organizations to have a purpose. People want to work for something more than just their salary.”