Beth Ehrgott Archives - The Alexander Group

Developing Leadership Capability Across the C-Suite

(A Perspective from Beth Ehrgott, The Alexander Group)

In today’s world of constant disruption — shifting markets, rapid technological tides, uncertain economies — one enduring reality holds: the strength and trajectory of an organization ride on the shoulders of its leaders. For the modern C-suite, leadership development is no longer a checkbox exercise. It’s a strategic, evolving discipline.

Why It Matters

CEOs and the entire C-Suite are asked to operate on multiple planes: deliver positive financial results, build and sustain a growth culture, guide transformation, and anticipate the future. Leadership isn’t a static asset. It’s living, breathing, and must adapt with the same speed and intentionality that companies demand from the rest of the business.

At The Alexander Group, over four decades of working alongside boards and executive teams, we’ve observed that deliberate leadership capability building is the true differentiator of enduring companies. One of the most rewarding aspects of our work is helping clients define what leadership capability really means for their organization — not just for the next hire, but for the company they aspire to become. With preparation, clarity, and courage, these leaders become catalysts for growth and transformation.

The best companies see leadership capability as a long-term investment — cultivating leaders who adapt, innovate, inspire, and translate vision into impact.

Here’s a real-world moment that captures this:

Before beginning two pivotal C-suite searches for a publicly traded biotech client, the CEO and I invested time in reimagining what the leadership team would need two to five years out. Their science was world-class; their pipeline promising. But they lacked scaled commercial leadership globally and enterprise-level strategists who could lead the company through organizational metamorphosis. The CEO recognized that transformation starts with people — but also that leaders must be aligned in vision, drive a “we” culture, and carry both operational grit and strategic imagination. That groundwork shaped not only how we recruited but how the leadership narrative unfolded.

Seven Competencies You Must Cultivate at the Top

1. Strategic Capability

Turning vision into action is both an art and discipline.

Strategic capability means anticipating shifts, connecting the dots, and aligning people and priorities to long-term value. It’s where big-picture thinking meets purposeful execution.

2. Leadership & People EQ

When executives invest in leadership development, it signals that people matter. This isn’t about elevating a few individuals — it’s about shaping the collective DNA of an organization. Emotional intelligence, inclusion, and cultural stewardship turn leadership into a shared language that drives performance.

3. Operational & Cross-Functional Fluency

Complex organizations require leaders who think beyond their verticals. At scale, no function stands alone —appreciating how finance, technology, operations, commercial, and risk intersect leads to smarter decisions and deeper collaboration.

4. Digital & AI Aptitude

Technology has become another business differentiator. C-suite leaders don’t need to code, but they must know how to harness digital tools to unlock opportunity, mitigate risk, and make faster, data-driven decisions.

5. Change Resilience & Agility

Change isn’t an event. It’s constant. Agility helps leaders stay grounded while navigating uncertainty. The best leaders balance steadiness with speed — providing clarity and confidence when everything else feels in motion.

6. Governance & Board Readiness

Today’s executives often operate in the boardroom as well as the business. Understanding governance, fiduciary duty, and board dynamics strengthens stewardship and prepares leaders for broader influence.

7. Personal & Reflective Capacity

Great leadership begins with self-awareness. Reflective leaders pause, learn, and realign — they lead with clear, values-rooted decision-making. These are the quiet levers that help leaders remain authentic, ethical, and sustainable.

A Parting Thought

If leadership capability development is framed merely as a program or HR initiative, it will always fall short. Done right, it becomes part of the operating system — it’s how teams learn faster, collaborate more deeply, and stay one step ahead of disruption.

Over our more than 40 years at The Alexander Group, working with clients globally, we’ve seen how building intentional leadership capabilities not only elevates individual executives but also transforms the enterprise itself. And it’s an honor to partner with leaders who are willing to lean into that work — not just for today, but for what’s next.

We’re excited to introduce “Five Questions With Outstanding Leaders,” our new interview series that highlights the success of our executive search firm. We’ll interview change-makers, visionaries, and thought leaders across all industries and sectors to examine how they achieve professional success that benefits their communities. Today, we’re highlighting our expertise in executive search for life sciences, including senior leadership hiring in life sciences for key roles in the biotech and pharma industry.

Beth Ehrgott, Executive Search Firm Managing Director

Beth Ehrgott, the Managing Director and Head of the Global Life Sciences Practice for the Alexander Group, a global executive search firm for life sciences and other sectors with offices in Houston, New York, San Francisco, Park City, San Diego, and Washington, D.C., conducted this interview.

She has performed an executive search for life sciences across various disciplines, including research and development, finance, corporate development, and technical operations. Her expertise extends to legal, corporate affairs, investor relations, IT, compliance, HR, and DEI. This breadth of experience makes her a trusted partner for life sciences leadership recruitment, ensuring that companies have the right leaders to drive innovation and growth. She has also worked with Fortune 500 companies and private equity and venture capital-backed clients in consumer goods, manufacturing, non-profits, retail, financial, and professional services.

Beth sits down with multi-hyphenate Luke Timmerman to discuss purpose-driven leadership, aligning resources with the mission, team dynamics, and more.

Life Science Cares: Combating Poverty with Life Science Industry Support

c level executive search firm interview group photo

Earlier this year, I was privileged to join the National Advisory Board for Life Science Cares.

Life Science Cares provides a platform for life science companies and their employees to make a difference in eradicating poverty. It raises money to award grants to community nonprofits that implement research-based survival, education, and economic sustainability solutions, supercharging these grants with volunteer hours, donated goods, strategic support, and advocacy.

To date, Life Science Cares has awarded more than $9.5 million in grants and donated 30,000 volunteer hours to the communities of Boston, San Diego, New York, Philadelphia, and the Bay Area.

Within the Life Science Cares community, many heroes raise money and donate their time in a myriad of ways. Because there is magic in the telling and some who are waiting for philanthropic inspiration, I am delighted to highlight Luke Timmerman, an extremely inspirational member of the Life Science Cares community and fellow national advisory board member.

About Luke Timmerman

Luke is a biotech journalist, author, entrepreneur, founder of Timmerman Report, a leading biotech industry newsletter, and author of “Hood: Trailblazer of the Genomics Age,” a biography of automated DNA sequencing pioneer Leroy Hood. Luke was named one of the 100 most influential people in biotech in 2015 by Scientific American.

Since 2017, Luke’s Timmerman Traverse Mountain Climbing Campaigns have catalyzed the biotech community to give back more than $10 million to fight cancer, poverty, and sickle cell disease. During his most recent climb in the North Cascades of Washington State, he and a team of biotech executives and investors gained between 6,000 and 8,000 feet of elevation, covering 20 miles of land. The Timmerman Traverse team hit its goal of raising $1 million for Life Science Cares!

Executive Search for Life Sciences interviewee, Luke Timmerman — Tracy, Geneva, and Luke

Five Questions from an Executive Search for Life Sciences Firm

Luke graciously answered my five questions below:

1. When and how did the idea of climbing for charity come to you?

I started thinking about climbing for charity in the summer of 2017. I was at a point in my career when I established the Timmerman Report as a successful subscription-based publication for biotech industry professionals. Around the same time, I had gotten to a point in 15 years of mountaineering where I could seriously consider climbing Mt. Everest, the highest peak in the world. I thought that if I could push myself to climb Everest, that act would inspire the biotech community to give back to a charity that I care about.

2. How did you pick your first beneficiary?

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center had a pre-existing partnership with Alpine Ascents International. That was the guide service I knew I would climb Everest with. The partnership made perfect sense. As a journalist, I knew Fred Hutch scientists and their excellent work. Cancer research was at a moment of great possibility. I thought the biotech community could rally behind the climb of Everest and this excellent beneficiary organization.

3. You have climbed Mount Everest, which is known to be extremely difficult and demanding, and imagine it requires significant training to be in proper shape to take this on. Are there long-term physical effects from the effort?

I had some cold sensitivity in my feet for a while afterward but no long-term physical effects. The experience was more important mentally. I came away believing I was capable of much more than I had ever previously thought possible. The sky was the limit.

4. What are the most important qualities to have in team members when making such challenging climbs?

Missionary drive. The people who are most successful on these campaigns are willing to put in the hard work it takes to be successful. That comes from a passionate belief in the cause, the feeling that what they are doing is worthwhile service for others.

5. For others reading this who want to make a difference, what advice would you give them?

Find something you care about passionately in your bones. Think about what it is you have to offer in [terms of] skills and attributes that might contribute toward that cause. With so much instability in our world, it is important to reflect on the goodness of those trying to have an impact.

Luke, thank you for your time, inspiring leadership, and contagious efforts to support Life Science Cares!

The Alexander Group: Providing Global Executive Search for Life Sciences Companies

The Alexander Group is a leading executive search firm for life sciences, specializing in C-level talent acquisition. With over 40 years of experience as a biotech and pharma executive search agency, we prioritize building strong relationships and understanding your unique needs to align talent with your organizational culture.

Our executive search consultants for life sciences provide C-suite recruitment, advisory support, and consulting. We are committed to diversity, ensuring leadership teams with broad perspectives to drive success. Beyond placements, we assist with board composition, management assessments, and succession planning, making us a comprehensive senior executive recruiting firm for your needs.

For more information about our C-level executive search firm, visit our website.

Lykos Therapeutics appoints Allison Rosenthal to lead the commercialization of its transformative mental health treatment platform.

Client: Lykos Therapeutics | Role: Chief Commercial Officer | Candidate: Allison Rosenthal

Recruiter: Beth Ehrgott, Managing Director

Overview

Lykos Therapeutics, a purpose-driven biopharmaceutical company pioneering novel mental health treatments, partnered with The Alexander Group, a global executive search firm, to recruit a Chief Commercial Officer. As Lykos prepared for a groundbreaking commercial launch, the company sought a strategic commercial leader with deep experience in CNS, global commercialization, and patient-centric go-to-market planning.

Key Leadership Need

Lykos’ Chief Commercial Officer would need to `build and scale the organization’s commercial operations, including marketing, market access, sales, distribution, and patient support. The ideal candidate would combine enterprise-level experience with a founder’s mindset—capable of translating science into market impact while navigating a fast-moving regulatory and cultural landscape.

The Alexander Group’s Approach

Managing Director Beth Ehrgott led a targeted search across global biotech and pharmaceutical leadership. The search focused on executives who have built successful commercialization strategies in CNS, neuropsychiatry, or similarly complex therapeutic areas.

Search priorities include:

Experience leading commercialization in regulated and emerging markets.
Proven ability to scale commercial teams and infrastructure from early stage to launch.
Deep knowledge of the U.S. healthcare system, market access, and patient engagement strategy.

Allison Rosenthal emerges as the ideal fit with decades of experience at companies like Otsuka and Bristol-Myers Squibb, where she leads large-scale CNS commercial teams and advises executive leadership on launch strategy, brand positioning, and revenue growth.

Successful Placement and Impact

Allison Rosenthal joins Lykos Therapeutics as Chief Commercial Officer. She oversees commercialization strategy for the company’s groundbreaking therapeutic platform, working closely with the CEO, COO, and Board to bring a new mental health treatment model to market.

Immediate Impact:

Leads go-to-market strategy across sales, access, marketing, and patient support.
Builds commercial infrastructure to support rapid and sustainable growth.
Partners with executive leadership on launch planning, stakeholder alignment, and scalability.
Positions Lykos as a category-defining force in modern mental health care.

Insights from the Recruiter

“Allison has tremendous commercial leadership experience in psychiatry and mental health, and is the perfect cultural fit for the Lykos team with her warmth and contagious enthusiasm to bring psychedelic-assisted therapy across the finish line to those suffering [from] PTSD. She is and will continue to be an inspiring champion for all who struggle with mental health issues.”

– Beth Ehrgott, Managing Director, The Alexander Group

About Lykos Therapeutics

Lykos Therapeutics is a public benefit corporation dedicated to transforming mental health care through science-backed innovation. With a focus on developing breakthrough therapies in neuropsychiatry, Lykos combines rigorous research, ethical leadership, and patient-first commercialization.

About The Alexander Group

The Alexander Group is a global executive search firm based in Houston. With expertise spanning biotech, life sciences, healthcare, and mission-driven organizations, the firm helps high-growth companies recruit the transformative leaders who move science from bench to bedside.Bringing innovation to market starts with the right leadership. The Alexander Group helps build the teams that drive breakthrough science forward.