Interview: Voyage of discovery

Maireadh Pedersen, Chief Executive of Quay Pharma, is not a typical CEO, and this is not just because she is a woman in a chiefly male-dominated industry. Not only does she not have an office, but she also doesn’t even have her own desk, preferring to ‘hot desk’ at Quay’s plant just outside Chester in North Wales, spending time in every department and maintaining a hands-on approach to all aspects of the business.

Nor does Pedersen have a background in pure science. Although she started off studying biochemistry, she switched subjects half way through the degree course. ‘I thought: “actually I don’t know if I like science any more”, so I moved over to finance. I was planning to finish my degree and become a tax inspector or something similarly exotic,’ she recalls.

However, chance led her to pick up a copy of New Scientist, and a tiny advert offering the opportunity to study for a PhD with a company engaged in tablet technology caught her eye. This allowed Pedersen to stay with science but to combine it with engineering. It was also her introduction to Mike Rubenstein, one of the owners of Quay, which ultimately led to her current position.

Five years at Manesty, which took Pedersen into technical sales, was followed by eight years at Colorcon, running the excipient and film coating business for Europe/Middle East/Africa, and two years at Teraview, a high tech company based in Cambridge that was looking to position its technology for the pharmaceutical industry.

Sixteen years of business development experience in an international marketing environment, dealing with the supply of analytical tools and equipment as well as formulation technologies for the pharmaceutical industries, made her an obvious choice when Rubenstein was looking for someone to take on a business development role at Quay four years ago. In 2012 she was asked to take on the day-to-day running of the company.