PPD Recognized For Innovative Employee Development Programs That Deliver Results For Biopharmaceutical Clients

Outstanding Training Initiative Award spotlights successful training program for clinical trials

WILMINGTON, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC (PPD) today announced that Training magazine has named the company for the fifth consecutive year to its Top 125 list of businesses that excel in employee learning and development.

“Our learning and development initiatives empower our people to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations, as we work together to increase the efficiency of the drug development process and improve the health of patients worldwide.”

In addition, PPD’s training program for clinical research associates (CRAs), who play a critical role in conducting clinical trials that help deliver life-changing medicines, was singled out for recognition with an Outstanding Training Initiative Award.

PPD is committed to employee development and engagement in the company culture of excellence in the enterprise of improving health. By deploying innovative initiatives to recruit, retain and develop talented individuals and teams, PPD provides biopharmaceutical customers a deep talent base of scientific, medical and operational experts dedicated to driving success.

“The entire PPD organization places priority on employee learning and development to offer our clients an unrivaled level of expertise,” said Ed Murray, executive vice president and chief human resource officer for PPD. “Our learning and development initiatives empower our people to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations, as we work together to increase the efficiency of the drug development process and improve the health of patients worldwide.”

The Training Top 125 list honors companies that demonstrate measurable results from effective employee learning and development, tied to strategic goals. PPD ranked in the Top 50, moving up nearly 70 places since debuting on the list five years ago.

The Outstanding Training Initiative Award, determined by Training magazine editors and select prior-year honorees, known as the Top 10 Hall of Famers, recognizes innovative and successful learning and development programs and practices. PPD won the award for its Virtual Clinical Foundations Program 2.0, which prepares CRAs for success in monitoring clinical trials.

“The award for our clinical foundations program recognizes PPD’s commitment to providing enriching programs that position our employees at the leading edge of industry knowledge and best practice to deliver high-quality results for our customers,” said Mike Wilkinson, executive vice president and chief information officer for PPD. “Our innovative approaches to learning and development keep our professionals engaged and focused on building their skills.”

PPD employee learning and development initiatives span leadership and high-potential employee development, key talent programs, technical skills, job-specific training and individual contributor soft skills training, which are integrated and aligned with business goals and objectives. These initiatives are driven from the highest levels within PPD and supported by PPD’s global learning council, an enterprisewide, cross-functional group of leaders working to ensure that PPD is a high-performing learning organization.

PPD designs, develops and deploys a wide range of employee learning and performance programs to meet the specific needs of biopharmaceutical clients in advancing their clinical research programs. PPD offers ongoing training and development that engages employees for optimal performance, leverages technology, develops staff and measures outcomes. PPD’s culture of quality and process-centric focus includes a robust change management methodology that ensures learning and development programs have the desired impact.

PPD’s training programs develop knowledge, skills and expertise for employees across the entire span of clinical research. Through these well-rounded career and skill development programs that are the foundation of PPD employee success, opportunities for serving customers through both enhanced skill sets and leadership programs have been cornerstone of PPD’s success. For example, PPD’s process improvement training and leadership programs are designed to increase expertise and employ methodologies to ensure that PPD teams constantly strive to not only meet, but exceed, industry benchmarks for cycle times and delivery standards.

PPD accepted the award Feb. 15 during the Training 2016 Conference & Expo in Orlando.

PPD training manager Georgina Havers, who was named a 2015 Emerging Training Leader by Training magazine, received her award at a special ceremony at the conference in Orlando. The honor recognizes training professionals who have been in the industry for two to 10 years and have demonstrated exceptional leadership skills, business savvy and training instincts.

“PPD showed an exemplary commitment to and investment in training excellence, earning its spot on the 2016 Training Top 125,” said Lorri Freifeld, editor-in-chief of Training magazine. “In addition, PPD’s Outstanding Training Initiative submission, Virtual Clinical Foundations Program 2.0, was recognized with a 2016 Outstanding Training Initiative Award – one of only five such awards given out each year. This program includes an innovative virtual training and collaboration environment that led to significant cost savings and return on investment – key components the Training Top 10 Hall of Fame judges look for when reviewing the applications.”

Now in its 16^th year, the Training Top 125 rankings are based on benchmarking statistics, such as total training budget; percentage of payroll; number of training hours per employee program; goals, evaluation, measurement and workplace surveys; hours of training per employee annually and detailed formal programs.

About PPD

PPD is a leading global contract research organization providing comprehensive, integrated drug development, laboratory and lifecycle management services. Our clients and partners include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government organizations. With offices in 46 countries and more than 15,000 professionals worldwide, PPD applies innovative technologies, therapeutic expertise and a firm commitment to quality to help clients and partners bend the cost and time curve of drug development to deliver life-changing therapies that improve health. For more information, visit www.ppdi.com.

PPD Forward-Looking Statement

Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations and assumptions, including statements, expectations and assumptions about PPD’s award-winning learning and development programs, contained in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Although PPD attempts to be accurate in making these forward-looking statements, it is possible that future circumstances might differ from the assumptions on which such statements are based and could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward- looking statements. Other important factors that could cause future results to differ materially include the following: the ability to attract, integrate, retain and train key personnel; competition in the outsourcing industry; rapid technological advances that make our services or capabilities less competitive; compliance with drug development regulations; changes in the regulation of the drug development process; PPD’s ability to win new business; overall global economic conditions; economic conditions, research and development spending, and outsourcing trends in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and government-sponsored research sectors; consolidation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries; loss, delay or modification of large contracts; higher- than-expected cancellation rates; the rate of conversion of backlog into revenue; risks associated with and dependence on strategic relationships; actual operating performance; risks associated with acquisitions and investments; and the ability to control SG&A spending. PPD assumes no obligation and expressly disclaims any duty to update these forward-looking statements in the future, except as required by applicable law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing PPD’s estimates or views as of any date subsequent to the date hereof.