Eileen Coveney
L.E.K. Consulting
Excellence in Leadership
Unlike a lot of Women Leaders in Consulting, Eileen Coveney ended up in consulting by design. She attended Harvard Business School to expand her knowledge beyond the financial services sector that she had worked in post-college. "I perceived consulting to be the best route to keep my learning going—and to pay off my student loans," she says.
Today, Coveney is a Senior Partner and Managing Director in L.E.K. Consulting's Global Life Sciences practice. She is also a member of L.E.K.'s Global Leadership Team and an active leader of the firm's Women's Network.
Coveney has over 25 years of experience providing strategic advice to leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Key areas of expertise include corporate strategy, franchise strategy, product opportunity assessment and business development strategy. Coveney's therapeutic area experience is comprehensive, with particular expertise in orphan drugs, oncology, gastrointestinal conditions, autoimmune diseases, women's health, men's health, infectious disease and vaccines.
"I truly enjoy helping clients—to bring the fact-base and our experiential perspectives to drive the best outcomes and help make clients successful," she says. "I have worked for many really impressive clients and being 'at the table' and providing perspectives for critical strategic decisions is very rewarding."
Second, she enjoys seeing talented and ambitious people who have joined the firm learn, grow and become leaders.
So, what advice would she give to a female consultant beginning her career? Coveney says she summarizes her guidance in what she calls her 4Cs.
"Competence—work hard and excel in all that you do; confidence—be confident in your abilities, views, and perspectives, and express your views purposefully and confidently; cognizance—be aware of your surroundings, clients, teams, etc., and use this self-awareness to guide your actions and interactions," she says. "And finally, connectivity—consciously build your network, internally at the firm and externally in your industry segment, and plan out who you want to know and who you want to know you."
Then there's this advice from Thomas Edison that she saw on a client's wall—Inspiration without action is hallucination. "It spoke to me about purposeful action," she says. "Great ideas are nothing if you cannot take action."
And take action is what she did. After 20 years at L.E.K. U.S. Coveney moved to Europe for three years to help build out the firm's Life Sciences practice there. "It was a critical time for our firm's business in Europe, and I was pleased to make a really important contribution," she says. "I am thankful for that challenge. And my results!
Q&A: What does winning the Women Leaders in Consulting award mean to you?
Coveney: "The recognition is really appreciated. As a consulting professional, my philosophy is to be the "coach behind the scenes." So, I do not expect to be singled out. This award is a huge honor—I am grateful and proud to be named a Woman Leader in Consulting. And I am very proud to have my husband Bob with me at the awards dinner, as well as my colleagues from L.E.K. who make the job so rewarding."
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