UPS boosts healthcare presence in board of directors
UPS has boosted its expertise in the increasingly important healthcare sector with the appointment of a biopharmaceutical industry expert to its board of directors. Effective immediately, Dr Candace Kendle expands the UPS board to 12 members.
Dr Kendle, 64, is co-founder and former chairman of global clinical research agency Kendle International, Inc..
Her appointment to UPS comes in the month after Cincinnati-based Kendle was acquired by North Carolina company INC Research for $232m.
Well known throughout the global clinical research industry, Dr Kendle is a founding member and past chairperson of the Association of Clinical Research Organisations, and has previously held senior faculty positions at a number of US colleges and medical schools.
For more than 10 years, she has served on the board of directors at HJ Heinz.
She will stand for election to a regular one-year term at the UPS annual shareholders meeting in May 2012, the company said.
In a statement, UPS said: “Dr. Kendle joins the Board at a time when UPS has made healthcare logistics one of its most important strategic priorities.”
Strategic priority
The Atlanta-based company said healthcare executives are particularly focused on investing in their supply chains at the moment as the industry faces growing competition and penetration into new global markets.
Bill Hook, vice president of global strategy for UPS Healthcare Logistics, said the healthcare sector was also facing increased regulatory pressures around the world.
“Companies have to find new ways to innovate and adapt to rapid market changes and this is where the supply chain plays a pivotal role,” said Hook. “UPS helps healthcare companies leverage logistics to do things such as expand into new markets faster, implement greater supply chain efficiencies and improve the customer experience, leading to competitive advantages.”
UPS added new facilities facilities earlier this year in Singapore, the Netherlands, Canada, Latin America and the US to boost its healthcare capabilities. It now operates 30 global healthcare facilities in strategic locations around the globe with more than 4 million square feet of dedicated healthcare distribution space.
The company sees the US, China, India, Japan and Brazil as the top markets for growth in the healthcare industry, with companies in Asia particularly primed for international growth.
