After nearly 40 years in the pharmaceuticals industry, Kornowski is enjoying life in a new city and choosing her projects carefully.
- By
- April 24, 2026
- Healthcare
Sophie Kornowski, MBA ’90, on Staying Grounded in Data
Throughout her career, Sophie P. Kornowski, MBA ’90, has sought patient-focused work, even when she was handling billions of dollars in sales and managing thousands of employees. She earned a doctorate in pharmacy from Paris Descartes University in 1986 before starting her career at Abbott Diagnostics in Paris. She returned to Abbott through a rotational program, first in Chicago and then in New York, after completing her MBA. Then came a move to Sanofi Winthrop, and eventually another to Merck & Co., where she worked for a decade.
In 2007, Kornowski became CEO of Roche France. As she had at Merck, she found a home at Roche, along with the patient-focused philosophy she values. She remained at the company for more than a decade, eventually becoming executive vice president of Roche Partnering and a member of the enlarged corporate executive committee.
She brought a seasoned approach to Boston-based private equity firm Gurnet Point Capital when she joined the firm in 2018. Eventually she became the CEO of a portfolio company, Boston Pharmaceuticals. After seven intense years, she shepherded the company’s lead asset, a potential medicine for liver disease, through a $2 billion sale to GSK.
Kornowski has now relocated to Basel, Switzerland, and launched SophieKor Insights, a consulting and advisory firm. She is also busy running a family foundation, spending time with her son and her friends, and traveling—all part of enjoying the fruits of her labor.
As a child, I taste-tested medicinal syrups for my pharmacist father. It felt magical to design a product with a good taste. I felt like I was participating in success. That was the beginning of my love for chemistry, and it had an impact on my decision to go into pharmaceutical marketing and sales. I’ve always been happy I chose the field.
Before I went for an MBA, I thought the business world was easy. I felt I was at the top of my game. (Ignorance is a blessing!) At Booth, I met amazing, brilliant students and came to understand that economics and finance are a lot more complex than I thought. Business is not unlike pharmaceuticals in that it’s grounded in data and scientific rules—with an added layer of human factors, which can change everything all at once. The rules for predicting and driving success in both fields are immensely complex. Expertise and grounded decisions are critical.
Being near to the people who use the products informed my career. When I was a pharmaceutical-sales rep for Abbott in New York, I called on psychiatric hospitals. Doctors and patients needed support information. I felt useful. I explained the science to doctors who were managing epilepsy and complicated psychiatric diseases. It was structured, evidence-based information, exchanges, and scientific debates—the best approach to marketing. From then on, I made it a point to stay close to customers in my career and be grounded in evidence supported by data.
I got my chance to run the unit of a company—to be responsible for people, medicines, and sales—when I returned to Paris to run the neuroscience business unit for Sanofi. It was unusual for a French executive to have worked in the United States, where initiatives are encouraged, boundaries are pushed, and success through teamwork is rewarded. It was a turning point in my career: I became a leader.
“I turn stones over. I check my assumptions. I’m pretty obsessed about that.”
— Sophie P. Kornowski
My next move was risky, but all exciting endeavors are risky. Three years later, I joined Merck and established its first business operation in Israel. It was high-level energy, because I was tasked with first establishing the affiliate and then leading it. I underestimated what a personal adventure it would be. I learned to do more with less, to be creative and entrepreneurial, and to be humble among team members who were facing significant challenges because the country was so unstable.
When you don’t do well, you can pinpoint what went wrong. A few years later, I was in charge of a class of products, anti-inflammatories, that were taken off the market due to safety concerns. It was a true public-affairs challenge. There was enormous focus from the company because of high expectations. Running that business was an adventure, but overall not a success and certainly not gratifying. Nevertheless, challenges are the best way to grow and learn. I have often thought back to that time and applied what I learned as I faced other situations that were challenging.
I work tirelessly. I turn stones over. I check my assumptions. I’m pretty obsessed about that. At the same time, I am someone who enjoys leisure. I enjoy art, music, travel. Friends and family are a big deal to me, and I make room for them in my life. People expect women to please. I can please, but this is not my main driver: Being relevant, building longlasting projects, and developing people are what get me excited.
Three people were instrumental in my career. They were mentors and partners and gave me all I needed to develop. Severin Schwan, now chair of Roche; Pascal Soriot, then COO of Roche’s pharmaceutical division, now CEO of AstraZeneca; and Ernesto Bertarelli, an investor in Gurnet Point Capital and Boston Pharmaceuticals and previous owner of Serono.
To me, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 is like heaven all around you. By 2018, I was in Boston. It was a new city to me. I went to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and at first I thought, “Wow, this is a lot of noise!” But I kept going, and I truly fell in love: The Symphony was my companion for the seven years I was there.
I was trained to be a truth seeker throughout my career. At Boston Pharmaceuticals, we applied that mindset of seeking the truth. It served us well in completing the sale of our main asset to GSK. Hope and prayers won’t get you to the finish line. You must be analytical from start to end with clear milestones—and if you’re not, go to Plan B. We’re not into hope; we’re into data.
My new house is lofty but cozy. It maintains the spirit of a previous owner, the art collector and writer Carl Laszlo, whom I honor as I renovate. The gardens are especially attractive. I’m savoring my new life back in Europe and looking forward to a future rich with science, culture, and ideas.
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