I’ll mention a couple of things.. First, in that industry, people like this guy are promoted and put into such positions quickly. I’m in a parallel industry to this one and can attest to certain socio-ethnic groups getting preference regardless of their qualifications, experience, etc. The industry I work in is tied TIGHTLY to big pharma. There are companies called CRO’s (clinical research organizations). They are independent of the pharma companies and they don’t design, create or promote anything. The CRO’s clients ARE big pharma.. people like Pfizer. Their job is to carry out clinical trials for these companies. Big pharma uses them as sort of an independant resource as well as a way of saying that their drug was independently tested. Now, before anybody REEEEE’s! me.. I’m a tech guy and way far removed from that part of the business. You could uproot me and shove me into any other industry, but I can promise you, these types of companies are VERY liberal and I can 100% believe this guy was a director at that company. Also, Director level at these companies does not equal executive.. it’s actually about 2 levels below executive. There are few execs.. lots of VPs and hundreds and hundreds of directors. He’s not a decision maker, but certainly someone that gives input and ideas that those above him make decisions upon.
“lots of VPs”
A coworker who once worked at a big medical device company said they had so many VPs they could very well have a VP of Pencil Sharpening.
You’ve hit the nail on the head. Great post.