Born in New York City
Resident in Switzerland
Also lived in Moldova, Romania and the Netherlands
Part of PTC since 2018
Over the past 25 years, our mission to extend life’s moments for people living with rare diseases has led us to establish operations in diverse markets, serve diverse patient communities and leverage diverse talents and ideas to champion innovation and health equality for patients. Diversity and inclusion, one of our six “PTC Expectations” has been part of our culture since inception and contributes to our success in delivering on our mission, along with building a resilient and innovation-driven culture.
Fostering inclusive environments is also critical as our teams are based across 16 countries in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, managing operations in nearly 50 markets. PTC’s presence has been rooted in the EMEA region for more than ten years. As PTC celebrates EU Diversity Month this May, we took the opportunity to speak with Jesse Sibarium, Senior Vice President, EMEA. Jesse leads a diverse group of PTC employees and teams. Here, he shares how an “inclusive leadership” style in this multi-ethnic region supports PTC’s mission and business success.
Tell us about the PTC’s diverse operating environment.
The EMEA region is comprised of many diverse layers including cultures, traditions, religions, race, values and beliefs, environments, languages, experiences and many more. These characteristics influence our company in many positive ways. Over the past decade, we have gained and continue to gain valuable insights and learnings that enable us to adapt, thrive and grow. Each market is unique in approach, business requirements and need, which encourages our creativity, innovation and capabilities. There are also varied social, economic and political differences that shape each of our markets. Being sensitive, responsive and proactive to the dynamics in each region is critical to successfully managing our diverse operations.
A benefit of working in diverse markets is access to diverse talent pools, ideas and experiences. With teams spread across 16 countries, we can tap into different skills and experiences, solutions, creativity, resources and knowledge that the teams possess which, in turn, help us deliver for our patients.
Fostering diverse and inclusive environments is key for PTC!
What are some valuable traits that have helped you in your leadership and to foster equity, diversity and inclusion?
To be a respected and high-performing leader, it’s important for me personally to feel included in an organization. That is why an important trait for me is to generate a sense of inclusive leadership and encourage my peers and teams to interact the same way. A successful manager and leader of diverse groups of people must be open-minded, actively listen, model inclusive behavior and communication while displaying empathy, and have self-awareness and an ability to challenge/address bias and curiosity. By doing these things we empower our teams to leverage their unique strengths and differences, which leads to a more equitable, diverse and inclusive environment for all.
Continuous self-awareness and learning and development have supported me in my journey to reflect and enact on inclusivity. At PTC, we have a number of programs and resources that have helped me and all of our leaders on this front. We also have employee programs and resources such as GlobeSmart, a cross-cultural learning platform, which helps promote global inclusion and collaboration. Volunteers also lead Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and Business Resource Groups (BRGs) that provide an opportunity for everyone at PTC to advocate for diverse and inclusive workplaces. I am personally immersed in our EMEA ERG and find it extremely valuable for my personal and professional growth.
Jesse Sibarium Senior Vice President, EMEAWe find many commonalities across geographies but also unique differences. What works in one country may not in another and vice versa. It is important to cultivate it appropriately in and across all parts of our operations. ED&I is everyone’s responsibility.
How has inclusive leadership benefited you as a leader and PTC as an organization?
Inclusive leadership helps me and our teams to thrive and grow in areas that are usually unthinkable for a company of our size.
The diversity of the patients we serve and the people we employ continues to enrich our PTC culture. Being inclusive of different perspectives and experiences from a wide range of peers and communities has provided us with learnings and knowledge, enhanced our collaborations and encouraged our creativity and capabilities. These advances have given us leverage to support our patients and drive health equality, support underrepresented people and communities, create opportunities for diverse talent, and drive innovation and business growth.
What are some notable achievements and outcomes you are passionate about?
Global expansion naturally leads to more diversity. In early 2023, we established a PTC affiliate in Kazakhstan with Kazakh and Russian staff. We’ll end this year with the opening our first affiliate in the Middle East, employing multiethnic people from across the Arab world.
We also recently reorganized our EMEA region. This provided an opportunity to elevate a number of our female leaders into expanded management roles across the Baltics, Central Europe and Spain.
Finally, we are experimenting with inclusive leadership talent-exchanges or talent deployments across the EMEA region. While still early days, the goal is to leverage internal expertise from one country/region across others. Some examples so far have been initiatives in North Africa between our French, Spanish and Middle East teams and new approaches in Germany that leverage our Türkiye-focused teams.