Muriel O’Byrne, Regeneron. Image: © Connor McKenna/SiliconRepublic.com
The second episode of The Leaders’ Room’s season two features Regeneron Ireland lead, Muriel O’Byrne. This series is created in partnership with IDA Ireland.
Season two of The Leaders’ Room podcast sees host Ann O’Dea get up close and personal with the Irish-based leaders of some of the world’s most influential technology, health-tech, software and engineering companies with operations in Ireland.
As well as getting their insights on the nature of good leadership and the strategies that define success in some of the world’s most influential companies, the series also gets their expert views on the big trends that are shaping their sectors.
In this episode, we speak to Muriel O’Byrne, Ireland lead for Regeneron, a leading biotechnology company that invents, develops and commercialises medicines for people with serious diseases.
O’Byrne is senior VP and head of international regulatory affairs at Regeneron. She shared her perspectives on leadership in the biotech sector, as well as on the importance of supporting the next generation of scientists.
One of the key takeaways from the conversation was that the skills you learn as a scientist lend themselves extremely well to leadership roles. O’Byrne has had a fascinating career journey from studying biochemistry to neuroscience to academic research and then into industry, where today she leads regulatory affairs at Regeneron and heads up the Dublin office.
She displays a scientist’s excitement around the sheer possibilities presented by gene therapy in our futures. O’Byrne is the ultimate example of a scientist who, while not working as a bench scientist, brings those skills to bear on her day job, from data crunching to analytical thinking.
And she has a steely determination when it comes to opening up those opportunities to the next generation coming up, particularly young women. Science will be central to how we tackle the big societal challenges, says O’Byrne, so we need a cohort of passionate and talented individuals coming through.
Her admiration for our younger generation already in the workplace today shines through in this interview, in particular the fact that they won’t respond to any “corporate BS”. It clearly lends itself well to her own leadership style, and her belief in authenticity.
It’s a theme that also arose in season one of The Leaders’ Room. The nature of leadership really is changing, as the next generation seek purpose and humanity in their jobs, and clearly leaders are having to change too.
We’re extremely grateful to all our interviewees for taking the time to come into the studio and share their insights and their intelligence again for season two of the podcast. And big thanks as ever to our partners IDA Ireland who have made this series possible.
The Leaders’ Room podcast is released fortnightly and can be found by searching for ‘The Leaders’ Room’ wherever you get your podcasts. For those who prefer their audio with visuals, filmed versions of the podcast interviews are all available here on SiliconRepublic.com.
Check out The Leaders’ Room podcast for in-depth insights from some of Ireland’s top leaders. Listen now on Spotify, on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
