CARY, NC (February 4, 2022) – Amgen and Chief Executive Officer Robert A. Bradway, former Glaxo Wellcome CEO Robert A. Ingram, and B&C Associates Inc. Founder and CEO Robert J. Brown were recognized today for their leadership and collaboration to fight cancer through innovative research and health and well-being programs.
The CEO Roundtable on Cancer recognized Bradway and Ingram with the 2021 Dr. Charles A. Sanders Award for collaborative scientific research in cancer. The group awarded Brown the first Spirit of Health Award for extraordinary and tireless work to elevate communities of health.
“Bob Brown is a champion in any setting he puts himself in, whether it be in the board room, whether it be by a friend’s side,” said Robert A. Ingram in presenting the Spirit of Health Award. “I’ve watched him overcome life’s challenges and I’ve watched him inspire a whole legion of young men to achieve better things for themselves and better things for their whole community.”
“I know ensuring diversity and health equity is no longer just a matter of social justice,” Brown said. “In the 21st century, those organizations that refuse to embrace this will be at a competitive disadvantage. Health equity is an absolute evolution that is critical right now in all of our lives. We must embrace this together, we can, and we will. Lives depend on us.”
Bradway accepted the Sanders Award saying, “On behalf of my colleagues at Amgen, I’m pleased to accept this award honoring our company for its innovative work in developing new cancer treatments. I’m also humbled that the CEO Roundtable on Cancer has recognized me personally. We are delighted to be partnering with the Roundtable in working toward our shared goal of eliminating cancer.”
“I’m so proud of what the Roundtable has become but I’m equally proud of where it’s going,” Ingram said as he accepted the Sanders Award. “As leaders, one of our most important roles is to support the lives of our employees and their families by the policies and benefits we put in place. I am humbled and honored to have had the opportunity through the Roundtable to help accelerate better health outcomes for so many people.”
The Spirit of Health Award
The Spirit of Health Award was created in 2021 to focus attention on the health of those disproportionately affected by cancer and the difference that one person can make through their leadership, vision, passion, and pure drive to connect people and institutions to eliminate disparities.
The Award will recognize individuals who have worked in extraordinary and tireless ways to elevate communities of health, accelerate Health Equity, bridge the gap of the cancer burden, expand cancer prevention and health education, ensure access to care, and in doing so they have changed the course of lives.
Robert J. Brown
Brown was recognized in part for his advocacy as an ambassador for the Going for Gold initiative launched by the CEO Roundtable to partner with member corporations, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) to elevate the health of those disproportionately affected by cancer.
But Brown’s life reflects work to serve others. In his corporate role, Brown is CEO & Founder of B&C Associates Inc., a global business management consulting firm headquartered in High Point, NC. He also founded the International BookSmart Foundation, a nonprofit that to date has shipped over 5 million books, countless teachers’ supplies and opened over 300 libraries on the continent of Africa.
A pioneer in crisis management, multi-cultural communication and race relations, Dr. Brown advised, traveled with, and raised money for the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; was a member of the corporate plans board of Carl Byoir & Associates (the largest public relations firm in the world at the time), and was a close friend and confidant to the Mandela family. Early in his PR career he was contracted by F.W. Woolworth Corporation, A&P Supermarkets, Wrangler, Sara Lee, SC Johnson, and Kimberly-Clark, to handle corporate communications and race relations during pivotal moments of the civil rights movement.
Proclaimed by The Washington Post as a “World Class Power Broker”, Dr. Brown has a long legacy of service and counsel to corporate, educational, and civic organizations. In 1964, he assisted in the election of Robert F. Kennedy into the United States Senate and also assisted in his presidential bid. In 1968, he took a leave of absence from B&C Associates to serve as Special Assistant to President Richard Nixon and his responsibilities included community relations, civil rights, emergency preparedness, small towns, and day care. Dr. Brown has been credited with starting and developing the U. S. Minority Enterprise Program and initiating the U. S. Government Black College Program through Executive Order by President Richard Nixon.
The Sanders Award
The Sanders Award was established in 2013 in honor of Dr. Charles A. Sanders, former Chairman of Glaxo, and Chairman of the Foundation of the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Sanders himself has been the force behind many innovations that prolong and improve life. He also helped shape health education and medical research through his work as chief executive of Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University.
Dr. Sanders represents the kind of leadership, innovation, collaboration, and patient-centered commitment that the CEO Roundtable on Cancer advocates and seeks to replicate.
Amgen and CEO Robert A. Bradway
Robert Bradway is Immediate Past Chair of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer Board and is Amgen’s chairman and chief executive officer. Bradway was elected Roundtable Chairman in December 2015 and he served in that capacity until early 2021.
He became Amgen’s chairman in January 2013 and chief executive officer in May 2012. Bradway served as the company’s president and chief operating officer from May 2010 to May 2012 and was appointed to the Amgen board of directors in October 2011. He joined the company in 2006 as Vice President of Operations Strategy and served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from April 2007 to May 2010.
Prior to joining Amgen, he was a managing director at Morgan Stanley in London, where, beginning in 2001, he had responsibility for the firm’s banking department and corporate finance activities in Europe. Bradway joined Morgan Stanley in New York as a health care industry investment banker in 1985 and moved to London in 1990.
He is a member of the board of directors of The Boeing Company and serves on the board of trustees of the University of Southern California and on the advisory board of the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at that university. He is a member of the American Heart Association and a member of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) board of directors.
Amgen has been a member of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer since 2014, the same year the company earned Gold Standard Accreditation in the US. Amgen earned Gold Standard accreditation in China in 2017. The company also has been a data contributor to Project Data Sphere since 2015.
Robert A. Ingram
Robert Ingram formed and chaired the CEO Roundtable on Cancer at the request of President George H.W. Bush in 2001. He remains on the Board for the Roundtable and is an active advocate for its initiatives, most recently as an Ambassador for the Going for Gold initiative with HBCUs and HSIs.
Ingram is a General Partner at Hatteras Venture Partners, a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage life science companies. He was appointed by President George W. Bush to the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Advisory Board in 2006 and in 2014, he received the North Carolina Award for Public Service, the highest civilian honor the state can bestow on an individual.
Prior to joining Hatteras, Mr. Ingram was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Glaxo/Wellcome. He co-led the merger and integration that formed GlaxoSmithKline. Upon reaching mandatory retirement age of 60, Mr. Ingram served as the Vice Chairman, Pharmaceuticals at GSK before becoming Strategic Advisor to the CEO of GlaxoSmithKline Plc.
Mr. Ingram is Chairman of the boards of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Novan, a late-stage pharmaceutical company focused on dermatology, and Viamet Pharmaceuticals, a private company focused on anti-infective research. He also serves as the Lead Director on the board of Cree. In 2013, Mr. Ingram received the NACD B. Kenneth West Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Mr. Ingram serves on the board of the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina, the Research Triangle Institute, and is Chairman of the GlaxoSmithKline Foundation. He also is a member of numerous other civic and professional organizations, including the Boards for the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy, and the Advisory Council of the Congressional Task Force on Biomedical Research and Innovation.