Gender inclusivity in the pharmaceutical industry: An interview with Kanako Kikuchi, president of UCB Japan

Asia Pacific

Gender inclusivity in the pharmaceutical industry: An interview with Kanako Kikuchi, president of UCB Japan

Kanako Kikuchi, president of UCB Japan, discusses her career journey and offers advice to young female leaders on advancing their careers.
Heidrick & Struggles

Kanako Kikuchi

Kanako Kikuchi imageKanako has over 20 years of leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry. She has held business and strategic leadership positions at multiple multinational pharmaceutical companies in Japan and the United States. In May 2018, she assumed the position of representative director and president of UCB Japan. Throughout her career, she has been involved in organizational strength, corporate governance, and cultural transformation, and as a senior female leader, she has been promoting DE&I inside and outside the company.

In this next installment of Heidrick & Struggles’ Leadership Perspectives video series, Heidrick & Struggles speaks to Kanako Kikuchi, president of UCB Japan. Kanako shares some of the challenges she faced as a woman throughout her career journey and talks about how she has worked to promote DE&I along the way, focusing particularly on inclusion and COVID-19’s effect on DE&I progress overall. She also shares her thoughts on what is the most difficult challenge for female leaders in Japan, and offers advice to young female leaders, advocating for the importance of agility, resilience, and not being hesitant when presented with new challenges and opportunities.

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