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IMAGE Smurfit Scholar Lucy Chadwick shares how an MBA is setting her up to make real change in the animal pharmaceutical industry
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Global Partnerships Manager at Forte Healthcare and current IMAGE Smurfit Scholar, Lucy Chadwick, shares how the Executive MBA is preparing her to make further strides in her already impressive career.
For the last 16 years, IMAGE Media has been proud to partner with UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School to offer one female candidate a 100% scholarship to join the Full-Time MBA or Executive MBA.
This year’s scholar is Lucy Chadwick, who is undertaking the Executive MBA. Currently Global Partnerships Manager at Forte Healthcare, an Irish-owned animal health SME, she initially qualified and worked as a veterinary surgeon, but realised she wanted a role that would have a wider impact.
Having qualified from UCD in 2009, she initially worked in the UK as the recession meant jobs were hard to find. “I was considering what the options might be outside clinical practice for someone with a vet degree,” Lucy explains, “and really wanted to have a bigger impact on the overall animal health picture.”
Her next steps were inspired by a chance encounter she had whilst at veterinary school. “I undertook two summers of research projects whilst a student, but it wasn’t for me – I like people too much and found the lab a little lonely! I was fortunate that one of my summer projects was sponsored by MSD Animal Health and through this I met Dr Ciara Reid – a veterinary advisor with MSD. Over the course of lunch she told me what her job entailed – and quite frankly that conversation changed the trajectory of my career. She very kindly let me spend a week shadowing her at MSD and after that I was hooked – I knew the veterinary pharmaceutical industry was where I wanted to be!”
Remembering this crucial experience, Lucy moved into the non-clinical side of the industry, working first for the e-commerce division of a large corporate veterinary group, before moving to Boehringer Ingelheim, to take up a role as a Brand Veterinary Advisor.
She spent four years in this role in the UK, but was delighted to be offered a role back in Ireland, as Head of Technical Services & Marketing with Forte Healthcare Ltd, an Irish-owned Animal Health SME.
“I’ve now been there nearly seven years, and in this time the business has continued to grow and change rapidly. I am extremely proud to have been responsible for launching Reconcile (the first ever veterinary licensed fluoxetine for dogs) to the European market, helping to change the lives of thousands of dogs suffering from separation-related anxiety, which is at an all time high following the COVID-19 pandemic,” Lucy says.
She recently transitioned within the organisation to the newly created role of Global Partnerships Manager, which involves managing relationships with export partners, spanning pharmaceutical and non-medicinal animal health products across large animal, small animal and equine species. “This is an amazing opportunity for me to develop my commercial skills and directly use many of the things I am learning during my EMBA,” she explains. “I also work with the R&D pipeline in the business, which is an exciting area. A particular focus for us currently is looking at animal health solutions that enable a reduction in the use of antibiotics. This is an industry wide goal and is essential for the future of both animal and human health.”
Lucy’s experience is certainly impressive, working at the forefront of innovations in the animal health space, and she explains that she had wanted to do an MBA for a while to further hone her business skills. She initially planned to begin one in 2020, but chose to hold off because of the pandemic. “I didn’t want to miss out on the holistic student experience, from the in-person interaction in a classroom setting, to the networking opportunities, and of course the study trips abroad, which are an exciting part of the programme.”
As a UCD alumnus, she says there was never any question of where she would go for her MBA. “The school’s reputation, the global focus and the active diversity and inclusion programme really appealed to me,” she says. “I also had many acquaintances who were alumni of the Smurfit MBA program, so following deep discussions with them and attending MBA open days on campus, I was extremely clear it was my school of choice.”
It has surpassed even my highest expectations. My classmates are such an inspirational bunch, bringing experience from a very diverse range of professions and industries.
She chose the Executive MBA course, as being part-time over two years, it allows her to continue in her current role, and allows her to directly and immediately apply any learnings from the course into her job day-to-day. “It means I’m able to conduct assignments and projects on real-life business challenges in real time. As well as this, being a reasonable time into my career I knew the cohort in the Executive MBA tend to have more years of professional experience. As such a key part of the course is peer-to-peer learning, this was a better fit for me.”
Although balancing the course with work is intense, Lucy says she has felt very supported, from course leaders and her employer. Living in Dublin 7 with her husband and two beloved border terriers, she has also made the most of attending in-person classes and events, all while still finding time to sing with her chamber choir.
Her choice has certainly paid off so far. The course, she says, has “surpassed even my highest expectations”. “My classmates are such an inspirational bunch, bringing experience from a very diverse range of professions and industries. It is definitely an intense course but with the fantastic support from faculty and the course leads we are really set up for success.
The learning environment is so interactive, and quite a new way of teaching for me. I’ve really enjoyed the in-class discussions and case-based learning model. It has been amazing to already be utilising concepts learnt in class to my day-to-day work, and I have found the curriculum to be extremely focused on the realities of the business environment today.”
She has also made the most of the optional in-person workshops on offer, on topics such as collaborative writing and storytelling for networking. “I’m extremely grateful to my employer for being so accommodating and flexible in enabling me to undertake this course.” Lucy was also elected to be a Class Ambassador, so has been bringing the cohort together for social events and networking.
Receiving this scholarship, Lucy says, meant a lot. “I was unbelievably over the moon when I got the phone call to say I had got it. I was actually on a Dublin bus, and I squealed. It was quite embarrassing, because the entire bus turned to look at me! To follow in the footsteps of inspirational previous recipients such as last year’s IMAGE scholar, Sharon McManus, is an honour and a privilege, and has been an immense confidence boost.”
At UCD Smurfit School, you’ll get more than a Business Masters or MBA. You’ll gain a transformative learning experience designed for your success. Start exploring your options at their Masters and MBA Open Evening on Wednesday November 13, with programmes suitable for business and non-business graduates. Register at events.smurfitschool.ie.
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