The HBA ACE Award:
Honoring Leadership Programs that Perform
Internal corporate initiatives that support women are no longer just a nice to have – they are a must to realize business performance results, including innovation and retention.
That’s why the WLI program from Bayer Healthcare won the HBA ACE Award in 2011. The annual HBA ACE Award honors internal leadership programs that perform.
WLI – or Women’s Leadership Initiative – strengthens the “Advancement, Commitment and Engagement” of women in the healthcare industry. Indeed, the company’s submission demonstrated tangible business results, effectively making the ACE case for supporting diversity.
Enter a Submission for Your Performing Program
HBA encourages companies – large and small – to enter submissions for the ACE Award. As long as you are helping women in healthcare to advance careers, you can submit. Submissions are due June 1, 2012. The winner is announced in August.
Your company’s program does not need to win to gain invaluable benefits. Every company that enters a submission receives feedback from the panel of ACE judges. Judges are leading industry executives, academics and accomplished healthcare executives whose direct experience with leadership programs will be applied to enhance your initiative.
Selection Criteria and Application
The ACE Award winner is selected via a rigorous and independent screening process against five criteria:
- Measurable results and impact on target population
- Degree to which it supports the overall business
- Stewardship, or depth of commitment to the program
- Effectiveness of the execution; and
- Built-in sustainability
The application fee is $500, which is waived for corporate partners of the HBA. For more information, contact Marianne Fray at mfray@hbanet.org or call 973-575-0606. Application process found in the ACE brochure.
We thank our 2011 judges for the ACE Award:
- Tamar Howson, partner at JSP Partners and 1999 HBA Woman of the Year
- William S. Sheldon, former president and COO of Eisai Inc., current member, board of trustees, Lakeland College, Sheboygan, Wisconsin and the HBA’s first Honorable Mentor
- Lynn Gaudioso, president at Ivanhoe Strategies and 1996 HBA Woman of the Year
- Carolyn Buck-Luce, global pharmaceutical sector leader, Ernst & Young and 3BC co-chair
- Laurie Cooke, RPh CAE, HBA CEO
Previous ACE Award Winners
2011: Bayer Healthcare’s Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI)
The WLI was established and grew organically as a grassroots effort to foster women’s leadership at Bayer. It was not a company mandate or directive, rather it is an initiative that took hold as a result of a significant amount of time, energy and resources put forth by a small number of leaders. Today, the values of the WLI are becoming an integrated way of doing business for the organization—helping to shape organizational “thinking” with tangible and highly supported programs.
Bayer HealthCare’s WLI has a clear mission to “ignite the power of diversity by cultivating successful women leaders to strengthen business results.” The program provides networking opportunities, educational and mentoring programs, tools and other resources for female managers within the company. Its objectives are to identify talent within current organization while attracting top female talent; foster the advancement of women through targeted personal career plans, leadership skill building programs and support networks; and cultivate an environment and build competencies to ensure that high performing women have compelling reasons to stay and grow with the company.
The initiative has grown significantly throughout the past two years to become a value added resource for women within the company and is demonstrating clear success and business value in assisting women to move into more senior leadership positions within the company.
2010: The WISE program from sanofi-aventis US
The WISE program from sanofi-aventis US won the HBA ACE Award in 2010. WISE -- Women Inspiring Sanofi-Aventis Excellence -- strengthens the “Advancement, Commitment and Engagement” of women inside the company. This internal women’s network with over 1000 members fosters the personal and professional leadership development of women working for the company. WISE - sponsored programs target a wide audience across different functions, locations, gender and levels within the company. sanofi-aventis US learned from HBA’s E.D.G.E. (Empowerment, Diversity, Growth, Excellence) Leadership study conducted in 2007 and directly linked them to the WISE Program: raising awareness about career advancement across the company; providing educational opportunities to develop skills; fostering mentoring and networking relationships; and leveraging internal and external resources for relevant skills building. Indeed, the success of the WISE program makes the business case for supporting leadership and diversity.
2009: Abbott’s Women Leaders in Action (WLA) Employee Network
In 2009 Abbott’s Women Leaders in Action (WLA) employee network was honored with the HBA ACE Award. Abbott's WLA has nearly 5,000 members from across the organization, and is led by an executive committee comprised of executive sponsors across all areas and functions of Abbott. This includes six corporate officers, the highest-ranking executive level at Abbott. The Abbott Executive Inclusion Council, chaired by company chairman and CEO, Miles D. White, also works in conjunction with the WLA executive committee, further demonstrating Abbott’s senior commitment. By focusing on career development, mentoring and informal networking, WLA and other Abbott employee groups expand opportunities for all employees to develop critical leadership skills.
2008: Novartis Pharmaceuticals Women’s Initiatives – EWIN/WIL
In 2008 Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NPC) was honored with the HBA Ace Award for the depth, breadth and global reach of its women's leadership programs — headquarters-based Empowering Women to Impact Novartis (EWIN) and its field force counterpart, Women in Leadership (WIL). EWIN, marking its fifth anniversary, and WIL, looking ahead to its 10th, began as grass roots initiatives, gaining the support of executive management and becoming part of the corporate culture as they grew. The judges saw the involvement of top-level executives and the accompanying commitment of funding, time and executive resources as critical to success. A key factor in the award was the incorporation of diversity benchmarks into the NPC performance management system.
2007: Johnson & Johnson Women’s Leadership Initiative
Johnson & Johnson's Women's Leadership Initiative (WLI) was named as the first winner of the HBA's ACE Award. The WLI is a grassroots employee organization with 47 chapters worldwide and membership in all business segments of the company. Since the launch of the WLI in 1995, Johnson & Johnson has tracked significant increases in the numbers and percentages of women on the executive committee, among company presidents and managing directors outside the US, corporate officers, company group chairs, executive and director level women and those with both line and staff management positions.
For more information, contact Marianne Fray at mfray@hbanet.org or call 973-575-0606.
2011 HBA ACE Award Brochure
To assist you in applying for the ACE award for your company’s initiative we have prepared three audio files of ACE submission tips from ACE winners. Click on the link to listen to:
Ellen Browne, executive director of global IT at Novartis (MP3)
Arisa Batista Cunningham, VP of global diversity at Johnson & Johnson (MP3)
Debbie McCollough, senior director of business innovation at sanofi-aventis (MP3)