Distinguished alumnus 2015 Sten Scheibye

‘Diligence is the mother of good fortune.’

The 2015 distinguished alumnus started his career as a promising junior chemistry researcher at Aarhus University. And yet he never doubted that his future lay in industry. Today Sten Scheibye, chair of the board of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, is one of the most prominent figures in the Danish pharmaceutical industry.

By: Camilla Schrøder, cams@au.dk

63-year-old Sten Scheibye is a man who has achieved more during his long career than most. Based on his CV, you might expect him to be an impatient man with his eyes always set on the horizon. But when you meet him, nothing could be farther from the truth. Although he naturally has a secretary at his disposal, Sten Scheibye coordinates the interview and photo session himself. And the interview that was scheduled to last half an hour ended up lasting twice as long. Scheibye took the time to describe the  the milestones in his impressive career unhurriedly - and with humility.

Scheibye is probably best known for his thirteen years a CEO of the Danish company Coloplast, a global market leader in health products and services. After his exit from Coloplast in 2008, he has played a less visible but equally crucial role as chairman of the boards of some of Denmark’s largest companies, including Novo A/S and the Novo Nordisk Foundation. But despite his star status, he describes the path that led him to his current position as chair on no less than seven boards with a certain modesty.

“Back in 2003, I had the good fortune to join the board of Novo Nordisk, where I knew Mads Øvlisen, who was chair at the time.  We had some friendly competition about who was best at CSR and the triple bottom line, and our values at corporate level were very similar,” explains Scheibye, who was CEO of Coloplast at that time.

But his career actually began in a completely different sphere: when he failed astronomy at Aarhus University.

Failing was a shock
“I was reading maths and physics, and I suffered the indignity of failing astronomy. I couldn’t do the maths, which was highly theoretical. It was a huge shock that there was something I couldn’t do. I switched to physics and chemistry, and I’ve never regretted ending up there,” he says.

Thanks to a powerful mix of curiosity and diligence, Scheibye spent nine good years working in a field he describes as “wildly fascinating”. During his time as a PhD student, he worked on synthesising and describing new compounds.

“I was caught up in the fascination of making something no one had ever made before and being on the extreme cutting edge of innovation. Oddly enough, we were never particularly interested in practical applications, and we never gave patients a thought. Producing something new, publishing the results and making them available for others was enough in itself,” he explains.

His experience as a researcher has since come to his aid as an executive in a research-intensive sector. He understands and respects the importance of free development and the curiosity that can lead to new breakthroughs - and of accepting that innovation takes time.

“I suppose I have more patience than most when it comes to innovation. People need to immerse themselves, and it can take time for the right solution to emerge,” explains Scheibye.

This philosophy helped Coloplast develop a major source of profit: after a long, challenging development process, the company successfully launched a new type of catheter with a revolutionary new coating.

Hard-working and ambitious
But Schiebye explored many different paths before reaching the position of CEO of Coloplast. And although he’s convinced that it’s taken a healthy dose of luck to reach the goals he’s achieved, his mantra expresses the opposite: ‘Diligence is the mother of good fortune’.

Earning a PhD degree was not enough for him. In fact, Steibye is convinced that he would have embarked on a career in industry immediately after taking his MSc if it hadn’t been for his supervisor.

“Today, I’m very grateful that my supervisor convinced me to do a PhD. But I was also sure that I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my working life in a lab - it was too monotonous for me. In general, I was very aware of the importance of not painting myself into a corner in terms of my career,” explains Scheibye, who saw himself in industry rather than research, where he had an opportunity to combine technology with commerce and innovation.

So when he left Aarhus University in 1981 with a PhD in chemistry, he had also already completed a graduate certificate in business administration. Scheibye admits that this was “a bit ambitious”, but it opened the door to LEO Pharma (formerly Løvens Kemiske Fabrik) and what he describes as a colossal new educational expedition.

For while he was completing the business administration diploma course in Copenhagen, a new world was revealing itself in the regulatory affairs department of LEO Pharma, where Scheibye was learning about all aspects of the pharmaceutical industry

“And then I asked to work in sales. And when they needed a management trainee with responsibility for Canada and South Africa, I got the job.”

This opportunity involved combining posting in England with the responsibilities of fatherhood at a time when his daughter was just three months and his son two-and-a-half years. An experience he defines as a milestone in his career. And although he still speaks of oxygen atoms and sulphur compounds with authority, this career move put a definitives stop to practical involvement with chemistry. Sales, innovation and management have remained his dominant interests even during his decade-long honorary professorship in applied chemistry at Aarhus University.

Fighting spirit
After just two years as a member of the executive management of Coloplast, Sten Schiebye was selected as acting CEO when the former CEO retired. Thirteen years later - after Coloplast had increased its turnover by 600%, its profits by 700% and its share price by 800% - the board suddenly asked Sten Scheibye to step down and make room for new leadership.

It’s hard to say precisely what gave him the strength to pull himself up and move on with his integrity intact: the fighting spirit of the youngest of five siblings, the support of a strong and dedicated wife, his experience as a major in the reserves or simply a level head. Scheibye himself comments:

“I think that my calm temperament was an advantage, so that I could get the necessary distance intellectually and create the foundation for something new.”

And something new and fruitful has emerged in Sten Scheibye’s career over the past six years. Scheibye has built a new career as a professional board member and has held directorships on the boards of the Technical University of Denmark, Ramboll Group and the Trade Council, among others, as well as the chairmanship of the Danish Business Authority’s committee on corporate governance (Komitéen for god selskabsledelse). Currently, Schiebye is serving directorships on the boards of the Danish Industry Foundation (which he chairs), Knud Højgaards Fond and associated real estate companies, as well as the perforation company RMIG A/S and the corporate fund Rich. Müller Fonden. Today, he describes this career as a privilege.

“I’ve had an opportunity to broaden my horizons and get involved in a lot of different things. And at the same time, I no longer have a hectic working life where I’m on the go 24/7,” explains Scheibye, who now ‘only’ works about forty hours a week and who enjoys having more time with his wife and their two adult children and for his hobbies golf and hunting.