2nd QUARTER 2014
17
as Regeneron’s CFO for 19 of its 25 years
in business. He became senior vice
president of administration last year to
make way for Landry, and now, as
Goldberg prepares for his retirement at
the end of 2014, provides guidance.
Goldberg maintained a lean,
cost-conscious, organization over the
bear years and that’s a focus Landry
intends to continue.
“Murray is the one who managed
Regeneron when cash-burn really
mattered — whether they would have
enough funds to survive the following
year,” says Landry.
Focus on Facts
Regeneron, a company of 2,400 people,
offers some distinct advantages for a
self-proclaimed “facts-based guy,” com-
pared to the 78,000-person giant Pfizer,
where as treasurer, in 2013, Landry had
very little connection to R&D.
This much smaller organizationmeans
Landry has more direct contact with every
part of the business. Executive meetings are
muchmore likely to include scientific dis-
cussions of how things are going in the lab
and clinic as compared to how the financial
performance is doing versus the budget.
“It allows you to get to the ground floor
quicker, understand things quicker,
eliminate a lot of bureaucracy,” says
Landry. “With a lot fewer layers, you can
speak to the subject matter experts and
make decisions a lot quicker, without a lot
of passing it along the daisy chain.”
This appreciation for the value of data
was shaped by one experience in particu-
lar at Wyeth. In 2007, shortly after being
named treasurer of that company, certain
securities in its investment portfolio
purchased prior to Landry’s tenure —
AAA-rated subprime mortgage securities
purchased by some of Wyeth’s external
money managers — began showing
unrealized losses.
“For the next 18 months, my team and
I spent an inordinate amount of time
familiarizing ourselves with every aspect
of these securities in an attempt to
maximize their market value and
minimize impairments,” says Landry.
“This included understanding the
paydown structure of the securities and
which specific tranche of the security
Wyeth owned, which impacted when or if
we would be paid and the default rates. As
you could expect, there were numerous
updates to the Audit Committee, CFO,
and external auditors.”
This experience taught Landry many
things beyond the nuances of subprime
mortgage securities.
“My two most significant learnings
were: 1) always trust, but verify, by asking
lots of questions, and 2) don’t enter into
transactions unless you have a complete
understanding of what could go wrong,”
says Landry. They are lessons that are
quite easy to apply at a company as lean
and transparent as Regeneron.
They are also lessons that Landry be-
lieves to be vital to the biopharmaceutical
sector, more generally. The industry
has been enjoying a period of fast
growth and easy access to funding, with
investors seemingly insatiable for new
IPOs and follow-ups. But Landry knows
this is the time for a CFO to move wisely
and ensure the organization remains well
positioned.
Landry is confident that by
applying what he has previously learned
at major biopharma companies, while
ensuring Regeneron’s innovators have
the resources they need to build on the
company’s enormous success so far,
the organization will be positioned for
continued growth.
C
Moving Into
the C-suite
“
The most exciting
part of being a CFO
is being on the inside of
all C-suite discussions,
whether they are board
related, strategy related,
or simply reviewing the
monthly and quarterly
results,” says Robert
Landry, six months into
his role as chief financial
officer of Regeneron
Pharmaceuticals Inc.
“I am very fortunate to
work at one of the most
innovative companies in
the world. Couple that
with a company that
has grown exponentially
over the last 18 months
in a very energetic
and evolving industry,
biopharmaceuticals, and
you have the recipe for
daily excitement.”
Of course, moving into
the C-suite is not all fun
and excitement. With the
new role comes much
greater responsibility,
with Landry now the
ultimate decision maker
on the organization’s
most crucial finance
questions.
At his previous
companies, including
Pfizer and Wyeth, Landry
would provide research
and recommendations
to the CFOs to help them
decide the best direction.
At Regeneron, for all
financial issues, the buck
stops at Landry.
“Now that I am CFO,
the decision-making role
is reversed, whereby I
receive the facts of the
case and am expected to
make the decision,” he
says. “It’s strange being
on the other side of the
table, and it certainly
carries more burden and
stress.”
But it’s a burden he’s
eager to accept each
day to help the company
meet its potential.
“IT’S
STRANGE
BEING ON
THE OTHER
SIDE OF THE
TABLE.”
Get published in CFO Studio magazine, find out more at
+
