Meet & Greet: Chris Baker, Executive Vice President and Global Head, Parexel

In this week's Meet & Greet interview, myGwork member and Parexel’s Executive Vice President and Global Head, Chris Baker, shares what she looks for in new recruits and why she wants hardworking and diverse talent to be able to bring their entire selves to work. She also provides a glimpse into her work and home life.

myGwork: Can you tell us a bit about your career journey to date? 

Chris: I began my career in Pharmaceutical Sales. I earned a number of top sales awards, and was promoted to management and fell in love with managing people. From there, I earned my MBA from University of Chicago in the area of General Management and Strategy. I knew I wanted to lead and manage global teams. After business school, I worked in global marketing and then took the Senior Leader role in South Africa, running the business there. I returned to New York City and was promoted to VP of Leadership working for the CEO of Pfizer, and was able to hone my strategic abilities and global thinking for the next 3 years working with the senior leaders of Pfizer. I returned to VP of Sales role for the next 6 years after my children were born. 

I left Pfizer in 2009 and took a role as a President of a manufacturing company, responsible for turning it around via sorting out their supply chain issues and refining a new growth strategy. That was such a fun and interesting role. I then shifted to the CRO side through a VP job at IQVIA/IMS. For that role, I moved my family from the East Coast to Los Angeles, California. I stayed at IQVIA for 5 years and then ultimately shifted to Parexel in 2018. I currently hold the role of EVP and Global Head of our FSP business, and love leading and working with our talented team of thousands of colleagues across the USA, Latin America, Europe, Canada, South Africa, India and Asia. 

Over the past 3 years, we have grown organically and have doubled in size. We are in the people business, and our FSP Business division provides the talent for our biopharmaceutical clients that seamlessly sits within their businesses, and helps deliver clinical trials to provide lifesaving medicines for patients globally.

myGwork: What's the most challenging aspect of managing people right now? 

Chris: Ensuring we have our fingers on the pulse of how to best engage and develop top talent for our clients is essential, and also challenging. Attracting, developing and retaining great talent is key, providing development opportunities and career pathways for our talent. We have wonderful opportunities for advancement and development at Parexel. There has never been a better time to stand out, and get ahead. We work hard to focus on rewarding, engaging and incentivizing our talent. 

myGwork: What attributes do you look for in new recruits and why? 

Chris: We look for attitude, work ethic, character and potential to learn and grow. Our company’s north star is making a difference in patients’ lives. We want the very best talent around the globe to partner with us to make a difference and positively impact patients’ lives.

myGwork: How important is LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace for you personally? 

Chris: LGBTQ+ including is very important to me personally, and an important area of focus of Parexel. Personally, my son is gay and identifies as non-binary. He is incredibly bright, talented and hard-working and any company would be lucky to have him work for them (when he graduates college in a few years). Why would I think differently about the talent that we have at Parexel? We want the very best talent, and thankfully talent comes in all different shapes, sizes, skin colors, identities and perspectives. I want talented and hard-working people who bring their entire self to work and know they are valued, respected, liked and accepted for the wonderful people they are.

myGwork: What was the last book you read (fiction/non-fiction)? Any interesting take-aways and would you recommend it to fellow leaders? 

Chris: I am a big reader. Currently I am reading The Slight Edge, by Jeff Olson. It is a great little book on the power of simple daily disciplines that add up to leverage large positive results in both personal and professional areas.

myGwork: What was your last holiday destination and where do you plan to visit next? 

Chris: My husband, twin 18-year-old sons and I went to Italy for 2 weeks in April of this year (during their high school senior year spring break). We had the best vacation ever. We spent time in Rome, Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Bellissima! 

myGwork: What do you do to relax at the end of a hard-working day? 

Chris: To relax I have dinner with our family, do strength training exercise, call a close friend while going for a walk, or I love reading a good book. 

You can find more about Chris and connect with her here.

Check out some of myGwork's other recent Meet & Greet interviews, including:

• Booth-Laird Investment Partnership’s CEO Jonathan Booth shares why there are so few ‘out’ CEOs and leaders in the corporate world. 
• Business Disability Forum’s CEO Diane Lightfoot shares the importance of being able to work in an environment where everyone is able to bring their whole selves to work, without having to conceal any aspect of who they are. 
• Parexel's LGBTQ+ ally and Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion Aida Sabo shares her career journey on how she made it to the top in engineering as a Latina woman.
• CTS Group CEO Tom Ray shares why the LGBTQ+ community is "very important" to his company, and how he is promoting inclusion to ensure that all staff are “welcome, feel safe and can be themselves” at work. 
• London-based DJ, radio host, filmmaker, social influencer and CBK CEO Krystal Lake explains why organizations need to take homophobic remarks and labels seriously, and do more to promote LGBTQ+ inclusion. 
• Criteo's SVP of Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Rachel Scheel on how and why she supports diversity and LGBTQ+ inclusion as an ally, as well as workplace wellbeing.
• The Galaxy Trust’s CEO Garry Ratcliffe shares how being an 'out' leader with a collaborative and inclusive leadership style helps to promote equality, belonging and a blame-free culture. 
• RS Components’ Group Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement Jessica Chu highlights the 'huge' importance of LGBTQ+ inclusion at work and shares why being an LGBTQ+ ally is really important to her.
• Swapi CEO Pete Howroyd who talks about workplace equality and LGBTQ+ inclusion, and the importance of ensuring that every voice is heard. 
• Unilever’s HR Vice President Richard Sharp shares why leadership has a duty to ensure that the LGBTQ+ community feels supported and included in the workplace.
• Greenhouse Software CEO Daniel Chait shares why belonging is one of the company’s core values, as well as a powerful business strategy. 
• Burberry's Global Diversity & Inclusion Manager Safia Ann Kukaswadia highlights how she is addressing key challenges facing minority communities to gain fair representation within fashion and why the industry needs more LGBTQ+ role model leaders. 
• Dish Dash Deets’ Founder Sunni Patel shares why he founded his holistic wellbeing business, specialising in gut health and eating addictions, which he started after coming out.
• Protiviti’s Director Belton Flournoy talks about the importance of Pride Month, LGBTQ+ inclusion, and the power of being 'out' at work. 
• CEO of Vexed Gaming Sonny Waheed shares how his empowering and inclusive leadership style helps him to run a successful company.
• CEO of Wonder Industries Vlady Vyshnevetskiy shares how he is helping to make the fashion world more sustainable and inclusive. 
• Oracle's Sara Morley talks about her roles as Account Director and UK Lead for the company’s LGBTQ+ OPEN ERG network.
• Hearst UK’s Chief Commercial Operations Director Gianluca Ena shares the importance of LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace, and maintaining a work-life balance.
• HSBC’s Senior Group Inclusion Advisor Jack Guest shares some of the challenges of being an openly gay professional in Asia.