Jeffrey Boily’s career has taken him from Canada to Europe and now to Philadelphia, where he’s president and CEO of Centaur Animal Health. | Photo courtesy of Jeffrey O. Boily
And business, he says, is expanding.
“Over the past three years there’s been tremendous growing interest — in the venture capital world, and the private equity world — in investing in the animal health industry,” says Boily, whose graduate studies at Concordia’s John Molson School of Business (JMSB) helped prepare him for his work in global markets.
The Ottawa native started out in the life-sciences industry after earning a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of Ottawa in 1978. “I began as a sales rep, selling pharmaceuticals in the Ottawa-Hull region,” he says of a career path that would lead him halfway around the world and back.
Boily joined the Concordia community in 1989 while corporate vice-president of sales and marketing for Ayerst Laboratories in Montreal — later Wyeth-Ayerst Canada, now part of Pfizer. “You need a scorecard to keep all the acquisitions straight,” he quips while recounting the various mergers.
Ayerst sponsored Boily’s studies at the John Molson Executive MBA program, where he was one of several professionals in their 30s pursuing graduate degrees while holding down full-time jobs.
“We were a very focused group. I made some lifelong friends, but what stands out is that I really learned the value of time management,” he recalls.
“I was still a corporate executive; I had to do my job every day and grad school full time. In that situation you have to become very good at time management. Procrastination is out of the question.”
His thesis, The Measurement of Job Satisfaction at Ayerst Laboratories, was a win-win situation for both Boily and his employers: he got the source material he needed, and the company benefited from a study that would have cost much more if commissioned from a research firm.
“It required a lot of discipline; I had to balance my research with a job and family life,” he says. “It was a difficult experience — but a rewarding one.”
After receiving his MBA, Boily was promoted to corporate headquarters in Pennsylvania, but soon moved with his wife and daughter to Europe. He worked for Wyeth in England and Germany before joining Scotia Pharmaceuticals in Scotland.
“We moved three times in 15 months,” he says of the itinerant lifestyle common in the corporate world.
Today, Boily fondly recalls his grad-school days as he steers Centaur Animal Health into 2016 by focusing on growth opportunities through both financial investments and developing new technologies.
“Concordia had the MBA program down pat. It was really well structured and well organized,” he says. “We had great professors, and I learned a lot from them.
He adds with a laugh, “But I also learned a lot about sleep deprivation!”
The John Molson Executive MBA is celebrating 30 years of enriching futures on April 16, 2016. For more information, contact Sharon Nelson, assistant director, at sharon.nelson@concordia.ca or 514-848-2424, ext. 3697, or visit concordia.ca/emba.