Shaun Grady
Senior Vice President, Business Development Operations at AstraZeneca, Cambridge, United Kingdom
I often say that being in Business Development is having the best job in AstraZeneca. The work is motivating, interesting and challenging. It gives me the opportunity to work with incredibly smart people from science and business within and outside the company on projects that really make a difference for our partners as well as for patients.
In my current role, I have global responsibility for Business Development Operations at AstraZeneca. This includes leading a brilliant team of colleagues who specialise in transaction execution, due diligence, and Alliance and Integration Management for our late-stage externalisation, licensing, partnering, M&A and divestments deals.
I originally joined ICI as a lawyer over thirty years ago now, holding positions in the pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, and legal departments. Following the transfer of the company’s pharmaceutical and bioscience businesses to Zeneca, I took on the role of Assistant General Counsel, Corporate for Zeneca Group plc.
Some of the major projects I have worked on include the merger of Astra and Zeneca, the creation of Syngenta through the merger of Zeneca Agrochemicals and Novartis Agribusiness, and the formation of the specialty chemical business Avecia. I also worked on AstraZeneca’s acquisitions of Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT), MedImmune and Amylin, as well as the buy-out of Bristol-Myers’ Squibb’s interest in the Diabetes Alliance and more recently our global oncology collaboration with Daichi Sankyo.
I spent a year in the US at the AstraZeneca Wilmington campus in Delaware, managing a legal group in the US business, and also completed a two-year secondment to HR, leading a global People Strategy change project.
I am a Fellow in Entrepreneurship at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School and a member of the Boards of Directors of Cambridge United Football Club, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Healx and the Prostate Cancer Research Centre.