The glass ceiling is shattered, and barriers to women's participation in the biotech industry have fallen at every level, including the highest.

That is the happy testimony of four leading women in biotech slated to present at next week's BIO International Convention in Chicago.

It is no longer uncommon to find women in executive positions in the biotech industry, and overt sexism is rare to unheard of. BioWorld Today interviewed four dynamic women in top positions in research, business management, venture capital and BIO leadership to take the measure of this year's convention when it comes to female participation and visibility.

Rachel K. King

Rachel King is a co-founder of GlycoMimetics Inc., with a background in venture capital and a CV peppered with leadership roles at companies like Novartis and Genetic Therapy Inc. King also has been vice chair of the board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) for two years and is on the executive committee and a former chair of the Emerging Companies Governing Body.

"I can only speak anecdotally," King told BioWorld Today, "But I believe more women are moving into biotechnology. I think it's a great field for women and men. I hope that we continue to have not just gender diversity, but all kinds of diversity within the industry."

King graduated from Dartmouth College and attended Harvard business school for her MBA. She said the greatest challenge on her career path has been learning enough science to manage companies with a scientific mission. Her solution was a lot of extra homework. "I'm not trained as a scientist. . . . I had to spend a lot of time with scientists who have been willing to talk me through it," King said.

According to King, biotech is not "just another business," but a way to make a meaningful difference in people's lives.

"Being involved with BIO is a chance to influence policy debate around issues I think are really important. I also enjoy the chance to engage with my peers in the industry."

Leslie Williams

Leslie Williams, president and CEO of ImmusanT Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., has the unique experience of moving from a female-dominated profession at the beginning of her career to the heavily male-dominated world of biotech industry executive leadership. She started her career as a critical care nurse in university hospitals, including Duke University and the University of Iowa. "I enjoyed caring for patients and it allowed me to understand firsthand many things, including the dynamics of a hospital. I often think about the positive impact this had on my career and how important that was to where I am today," Williams told BioWorld Today.

A critical care nurse needs to have an understanding of patients, administering drugs and treatments, coupled with the ability to work within the hospital system and coordinate a multidisciplinary team. Williams, however, decided to expand her knowledge and responsibilities and moved toward medical school, stopping along the way to work with physicians on research sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline plc. During that time, she work worked nights as a nurse while in school and preparing for MCATs.

"I got the bug for understanding the business side of medicine," Williams said of her time working on a sponsored research project. In the end, after much soul searching, she made a break from medicine to focus on the business side of industry. While obtaining an MBA from Washington University, she worked on her first start-up.

Williams served as director of sales and marketing for INO Therapeutics Inc., and later became president and CEO of Ventaira Pharmaceuticals. She also has experience on the venture capital side, where she was a venture partner at BattelleVentures, sourcing deals and assisting early stage companies with strategy and business development.

Speaking of her experience at INO Therapeutics, where she was heavily involved in many aspects of commercial development, including lobbying for reimbursement for the company's product, inhaled nitric oxide, a treatment for persistent pulmonary hypertension in newborns, Williams said, "it was very exciting. I was passionate about making a difference.

"In the early days, I would travel to help ICUs set up the equipment and deliver the drug to newborns. We were saving lives and I was extremely passionate about what I was doing."

Williams has not been held back by discrimination. "I think opportunities are there if you seize them and are willing to sacrifice," she said. "Many women are taking leadership roles. I think we still have a ways to go but the walls are coming down."

Jessica Flechtner

For Jessica Flechtner, her current role as vice president of research at Genocea Biosciences Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., is a "perfect fit that fell into my lap." Flechtner's former co-workers from Antigenics Inc. introduced her to "these two guys with a transformational technology from Harvard," who were starting up Genocea. "It was a no-brainer for me to join the company," Flechtner told BioWorld Today.

She's been with Genocea for the past six years, but it was not the path she planned at the beginning of her career. Flechtner majored in animal science at Cornell with the intention of going to veterinary school. But vet school was not in the cards for her, as she was repeatedly not admitted to Cornell's highly elite program.

Finally, after she had completed her PhD in cellular immunology, and she was once again not admitted, she had to start looking for other opportunities.

"Opportunities come up all the time if you keep your eyes open. Once I learned to keep my eyes open and look outside my original plan, it ended up paying off a bit better for me."

Flechtner said she has not seen overt sexism in her experience in the biotech industry, but noted that boardrooms are still pretty much all men. She was happy that Genocea has added an independent board member who is female.

"The one thing I wish I'd learned that I don't think women get coached on is negotiation," Flechtner said. "It seems like men always negotiate, and always land with a little bit more because they ask for it."

Women tend not to negotiate. "Hiring managers expect you to negotiate. I didn't learn that, and I still have a hard time with it," she said. Now that Flechtner is in a position to hire, and if she can't meet the salary request of the candidate, will offer something else, like extra vacation days.

Denise Pollard-Knight

"I think one of the greatest challenges is to find a job that you love doing and want to do for the rest of your career. It can be really difficult to get to that job without personal networks and the courage to link through those connections," said Denise Pollard-Knight, a managing partner with Phase4 Ventures, a London-based venture capital firm.

Pollard-Knight earned a PhD in biochemistry at Birmingham University in the UK, then completed postdoctoral work at the University of California Berkeley as a Fulbright Scholar. She disappointed her professors by breaking for applied sciences in a commercial setting, rather than pursuing an academic career. She moved into management positions in R&D and from there into strategic consulting. She was soon promoted to board member, then made a difficult decision to begin a venture capital career as an investment manager in the Biosciences Unit of Rothschild Asset Management.

From there she moved to Nomura International until finally landing at Phase4. Although she has faced many challenges in her career, Pollard-Knight calls them "gender-neutral."

"What I've found over the past 30 years is that people in the life science industry and in the investment community respect you for who you are and what you've done. Knowledge, judgment, decision-making ability, fairness, experience, leadership skills – these are things people are looking for, and if you have them, you'll be successful," she said.