Give People an “A” – Julie Kim

In this episode in partnership with "A Dose of Inspiration Book from Jill Donahue", I interviewed Julie Kim, President U.S. Business Unit at Takeda, and discussed her inspiring career journey. Julie emphasizes her commitment to inclusive leadership, sharing personal experiences and insights. She highlights the importance of giving everyone a voice, building trust and fostering a growth mindset. Tune in to hear the worst advice she was ever given as she started her career. The conversation concludes with a call for collaboration among healthcare leaders to build sustainable and thriving healthcare ecosystems globally.

"Take the option that will stretch you more."

MEET OUR GUEST Julie Kim President, U.S. Business Unit at Takeda.

Julie Kim is President of the U.S. Business Unit, U.S. Country Head and member of Takeda’s Executive Team. The U.S. Business Unit portfolio encompasses gastroenterology, neuroscience, plasma-derived therapies and rare diseases.

She joined Takeda in 2019 through the acquisition of Shire, where she held several diverse roles with increasing responsibility. As part of Takeda, she became the President of the Plasma-Derived Therapies Business Unit, the position she occupied until April of 2022, when she became President of the U.S. Business Unit and U.S. Country Head.

Julie has 30 years of experience in health care, with leadership positions at global, regional, country and functional levels. In the biopharmaceutical industry, her experiences have spanned a variety of therapeutic areas, international market access, country and regional general management, marketing and emerging market development.

Julie is known for strong, collaborative and inclusive leadership that enables Takeda to meet the needs of the people the company serves while driving innovations that will improve patients’ lives. Her global outlook, a result of having worked in many countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America, as well as having lived in the U.K., Switzerland and the U.S., have helped her create teams that are diverse in multiple dimensions to enable inclusive decision-making that keeps the patient at the center.  

Julie serves on the boards of directors for PhRMA, an organization which represents the country’s leading innovative biopharmaceutical research companies, and Croda International, a company which leverages smart science to create high-performance ingredients and technologies that improve lives. She was named one of Boston’s 50 Most Influential Asian American Pacific Islanders in 2023, to The 2022 PharmaVoice 100 list and to Fierce Pharma’s list of 2020’s Fiercest Women in Life Sciences.

She earned an MBA from the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Dartmouth College. She resides with her family in the Boston area.

This episode is in partnership with Jill Donahue. Jill published her third book recently A Dose of Inspiration: 100 Purpose Stories From Pharma Leaders and we partnered together to bring to light those incredible stories. You can find here or wherever you podcast more episodes with some of those executives.

Download the ebook now for a free dose of inspiration here: excellerate.ca/freebook/