In part three of our four-part Women CEO & Founder Series, Proclinical Executive Senior Partner, Claire Perry, is in discussion with another great leader, Bonnie Anderson, Co-founder and Executive Chairwoman at Veracyte. Bonnie shares her journey of taking her start-up genomic diagnostics business through to a successful IPO, and her insights on transitioning from a private to public company. She also gives her thoughts on what executive-level women in the workplace can do to support the next generation of female leaders, how women can secure their first board role, and much more.
Bonnie H. Anderson is Co-founder and Executive Chairwoman of Veracyte, a global diagnostics company that aims to transform outcomes for patients all over the world at every step of their journey in cancer and other diseases. Ms. Anderson’s career spans over 40 years in regulated diagnostics and life science markets. She co-founded Veracyte in 2008 and served as Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board until June 1, 2021, when she assumed the role of Executive Chairwoman. Ms. Anderson led Veracyte’s initial public offering in 2013, spearheaded commercialization of its market-leading products and was the architect of the company’s vision to become a global enterprise, with a growing menu of advanced genomic diagnostics tests and its own distributed instrument platform.
Prior to Veracyte, Ms. Anderson provided strategic consulting services to venture capital firms and early-stage businesses following 18 years in leadership positions at Beckman Coulter. She serves on the boards of Bruker Corporation, DNA Script, and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), and is a trustee emeritus of the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences. Additionally, Ms. Anderson is President of the Coalition for 21st Century Medicine and previously served on the board of Castle Biosciences. She has received numerous awards for her industry leadership, including: the Wallace H. Coulter Award for Healthcare Innovation (2017); “Fiercest Women in Life Sciences” (FiercePharma, 2017); “100 Most Creative People in Business” (Fast Company, 2015); “Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business” and “Bay Area’s Most Admired CEOs” (San Francisco Business Times, 2013 and 2014); and “Women of Influence” (Silicon Valley Business Journal, 2013). Under Ms. Anderson’s leadership, Veracyte has been named a “Top Workplace” by the Bay Area News Group, based solely on employee feedback, for seven consecutive years (2014-2020). Ms. Anderson graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Medical Technology and in 2012 was honored with a “Distinguished Alumni” award.
Topics covered:
- Establishing a company in an economic crisis
- Challenges of starting a business
- When is the right time to IPO
- How running a public company differs from running a private company
- Valuable lessons in running a successful profitable business
- Advice for securing your first board position
- Supporting the next generation of female leaders
Contact the host and guest:
Get in touch with Claire Perry:
Email: c.perry@proclinical.com
Connect with Claire on LinkedIn
Connect with Bonnie H. Anderson on LinkedIn
More information:
At Proclinical, our global workforce solutions help individuals, teams and whole organizations grow in the life sciences industry. For more information about how Proclinical Executive can support your board level and leadership hires, visit proclinical.com/executive
