“This note is sent in strong support of Ariella Haber and her company as a provider of senior level executive search for the biopharmaceutical industry. I give her my highest recommendation, without reservation. I am a recently retired senior executive (2011), formerly SVP of Discovery Research at Amgen.
“Throughout my career at Amgen, which began in 1994, I was charged with building teams to execute both within and across functions in the area of early drug discovery and development. It was in this capacity that I first became acquainted with Ariella in the mid-1990’s. During this era of rapid growth at Amgen we needed to identify and recruit scientifically outstanding talent whose interpersonal skills, personality, and leadership skills/styles could meld effectively with the Amgen culture to efficiently drive our teams to the next level of performance. Ariella was and is particularly adroit in this realm and helped us to locate key talent that assisted us in achieving key organizational objectives. It was during this time that we developed denosumab and created a strong internal pipeline of both small and large molecules. The talent to accomplish this was in part recruited through the help of Ariella.
“On a personal note, I find that Ariella is an extremely good ‘reader’ of people and organizations and can quickly determine whether a fit exists between a candidate and the organization. In my view, this is perhaps the most important attribute for a search firm to provide as it lessens the burdens on internal resources and allows for the most effective sifting of candidate pools. Also, the disruption and costs that a failed recruit can inflict on an organization can be substantial. Additionally, the way that Ariella conducts searches will at times help internal hiring managers realize things that he/she should consider above and beyond what they already have.
“In conclusion, I strongly support Ariella for your senior level search activities and think that you will be more than highly satisfied should you elect to retain her.”
David L. Lacey, MD
Former SVP of Discovery Research at Amgen
Member of the Board of Directors of various biotechnology companies
“It is my privilege to write a professional recommendation for Community Recruiting Leadership Consultants. When recruiting for mission critical executives, I knew I wanted a partner who was going actively get involved in the process from the point of view of understanding our culture and strategy and capable of identifying executives with a track record of deliverables, who could fit into the organization and would see KYTHERA as an exciting career proposition. The hires we have successfully made with Community Recruiting have been crucial as we built out our executive team. After having worked with firms such as Korn Ferry, Egon Zehnder and Spencer Stuart with a previous employer, I wanted to work with someone that I would actually discuss the project with versus working with a large firm’s partner who would then hand the search off to their associate recruiter while the partner simply presented the candidates and ‘managed’ me as a client.
“With such a tall order to fill, I was so fortunate to have been ‘re-connected’ to Community Recruiting, specifically Denise Clements. Denise truly has become an important partner to KYTHERA. In a start-up environment and a highly leveraged outsourced workforce model, Denise has become an extension of the KYTHERA team. Together, we have hired some amazing individuals, including our VP, Medical Affairs; VP, Clinical Operations; Medical Director; and Senior Director, Regulatory; all of them in key positions as we execute Phase III Clinical trials for our lead program.
“I am thrilled that Ariella Haber has joined forces with Community Recruiting. An important characteristic for successful KYTHERA partners is their ability to align their best interests with KYTHERA’s corporate objectives. I have past history with Denise and Ariella, both working at separate firms (and could have been labeled as competitors). I was the Sr. Director of Staffing at a Fortune 100 Biotech firm. We had a staffing project sponsored by the Chief Medical Officer and the active attention of the CEO. Both Denise and Ariella came together and proposed to co-lead the staffing initiative! Their presentation, project results, and work ethic left an indelible mark in my memory.
“Again, I am so fortunate our paths crossed again… each of us with different firms but the same work ethos!! Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions regarding our ongoing relationship with Community Recruiting.”
Susan Lundeen
Chief People Officer at Allogene Therapeutics
Former VP of Human Resources at KYTHERA Biopharmaceuticals
“I’ve known Ariella Haber for 15 years. I was a student at Caltech when she nearly recruited me to Amgen. I didn’t go to Amgen, but instead started Xencor and immediately hired Ariella to build our team. Her personal engagement, honesty, and hard work had impressed me, and she immediately put those qualities to work hiring Xencor’s first scientific team. It was very valuable to have someone with her knowledge of the pharma/biotech industry to help a fledgling company. Since then, I’ve continued to benefit from Ariella’s contacts with leaders in the industry and her advice in building our organization. She has a keen understanding of how important finding the right people is to our success.”
Bassil Dahiyat, CEO of Xencor
Note: Testimonials have been edited for clarity.