– LEGAL NEWS PHOTO BY CYNTHIA PRICE
By Cynthia Price
Legal News
In a characteristically West Michigan way, Todd Kingma mixes a kind, caring and ethical sensibility with sharp business savvy and top-notch skills.
The same could be said of the company where he is Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, the Allegan-based Perrigo.
Perhaps that is why pharmaceutical company Perrigo has experienced astronomical growth over the past decades, resulting in an international presence and rapidly expanding sales figures.
And it is certainly why Corporate Secretary Magazine recognized Perrigo for Best Overall Governance Compliance and Ethics, and Kingma as Governance Professional of the Year, in the magazine’s large-cap (large market capitalization) category.
As Kingma points out, for Perrigo it is doubly rewarding: “The previous year I was nominated in the small-to-mid-cap category,” he says. “It was an honor just to be re-nominated, but to have the company go from the mid-cap to the large-cap reflected our significant growth over that time, and... to be in a category with people like Verizon and GE — I’m just very honored.”
Perrigo develops, manufactures and distributes over-the-counter and generic prescription pharmaceuticals, infant formulas, nutritional products, animal health products, dietary supplements, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and medical diagnostic products, with an emphasis on quality and affordability for the consumer.
The company has been around since 1887, when Luther Perrigo started packaging and distributing patent medicines to country stores. After continued growth, Perrigo hit on the idea of adding the store’s own name to the product label on products general stores sold, and in the mid-1930s started doing the “private-label” process on products of its own manufacture, distributing under contract to larger companies as the retail markets changed. The next phase of growth involved acquiring healthcare product firms in Mexico, the U.K., Israel and India.
In 2013, Perrigo acquired Elan Corporation and moved its headquarters to Dublin, Ireland, and as of late this year, has entered into an agreement to purchase Belgium’s Omega Pharma, which will greatly expand its capabilities and sales.
Perrigo has been recognized as the Best of the Best of West Michigan 101 Best and Brightest Companies to work for, and in 2010 was ranked 55th on the list of “100 Fastest Growing Companies” by Fortune Magazine.
Yet through all that growth, Kingma says, “We really emphasize having high values across the whole corporation; we don’t necessarily talk in terms of ethics but in terms of corporate values. People all over the world are going to understand what lying, stealing, and cheating are, so we work hard to make sure there’s a shared corporate value system whether in Michigan or the UK or India.cop
“Compliance is not just a buzzword,” he continues, “it’s part of our conscience and culture – I assume that had a large part in our getting the award.”
All the corporate compliance departments globally report to Kingma himself, though he stresses that that’s just the way Perrigo is organized and is not necessarily because he is an attorney.
He has a broad background in the pharmaceutical industry, having worked for Pharmacia from 1991 through 2003. He rose to Vice President and Associate General Counsel there, working and living in New Jersey, but says, “When Pfizer acquired Pharmacia in 2003, I had the option of staying in New Jersey, but would have had to commute to New York City — I loved it there, but I opted to look around at different opportunities. And then Perrigo called and I met with the people here. With their vision of growing the company, and their values being similar to mine, I felt it was the right place to be.”
In addition, it meant coming back home for Kingma, whose parents and later brother and cousin owned Kingma’s Market in Grand Rapids until a short time ago.
He graduated from Calvin College with a major in biology and chemistry before getting his J.D. from Notre Dame Law School. After a brief time in private practice, he went in-house at the Upjohn Company, which eventually became Pharmacia.
“I’ve been married for over 30 years and have three lovely children,” he says, “of whom two are married and one is a senior at the University of Michigan.” His wife teaches third grade in the Mattawan Schools.
Kingma feels the essence of West Michigan never left him. “I did grow up in West Michigan, and I was raised with the idea of an entrepreneurial spirit by people who taught you how to act as a professional business person but make sure you have the right values. I think that’s as important as anything. From my own personal experience that foundation is a faith-based one, though I know there are a lot of people with good values who don’t have that faith base.
“There are a lot of very good people, even the CEOs, at companies that lose their moral compass — look at Enron. If you don’t have that values foundation and believe completely in always doing the right thing, there are a million ways to cut corners. But at Perrigo it starts at the board level and with the executives, and filters down to everybody who works here. The buy-in I think is unique at Perrigo.”
He adds that the company has a strong Corporate Social Responsibility component and a good record in philanthropic giving, as well as following sound environmental practices like recycling and resource use minimization.
The Corporate Secretary Governance Awards, given since 2007, recognize “the level of understanding and integration of good governance principles... and a truly non-silo approach to achieving an ethical governance environment.” Kingma comments, “I believe the judges must have thought, it’s clear that this organization gets it.”
Kingma’s personal award is for “exceptional performance in advancing governance and compliance activities,” including “shareholder communications, regulatory filing, annual reports, and all other areas of the company’s governance operations.”
Kingma says, “I was fortunate to receive this award, but it really reflects the contributions of our employees throughout the world who actually put these values in practice on a daily basis.”
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