Jenny Reid-Young

What happened after you left Bridgnorth Endowed School?

I left BES after completing my GCSEs in 1999, when my family relocated to Hagley. I went on to complete my A Levels at Haybridge Sixth Form and then my degree in Biological Sciences at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol.

As part of my degree, I spent a year working at a hospital in Oswestry where I was in orthopaedic clinical trials and research work.

Realising my passion was engaging and helping people, I took a graduate role providing medical information services to healthcare professionals, patients and members of the public.

I progressed through management and senior management roles and was asked to expand our business operations to the Asia-Pacific region. I relocated to Melbourne, where I set up our Australian business and established an operational office.

I returned to the UK in 2012 and became more involved with the business and contractual side of the organisation. Since then, I have been responsible for our Client Services teams; this is a department that has overall responsibility for managing and maintain our business and relationships with our clients.

When I returned from Australia in 2012, I met my now-husband and we got married in 2014.

I like to challenge myself both inside and outside work. Most memorably, I completed a 270km trek through the Artic with my own sled of dogs, camping each night in temperatures of around −30 °C. It took five days and I managed to raise over £5000 for the Alzheimer’s Society.

What does your current job involve?

My role is very diverse as I work for a global organisation and I have teams supporting clients all over the world. This means a lot of travel and adapting to cultural expectations, business approaches and communication styles. Sadly, my language capabilities are still lacking!

Most of my time is spent liaising with clients to understand the needs and expectations around the services we provide and then ensuring that the business can deliver these in the most cost-effective and compliant way, at all times ensuring that patient safety is paramount.

This involves complex and often challenging discussions around needs, expectations and costs. However, the partnerships with our clients are extremely rewarding, especially when you see the incredible impact their products have on patients’ lives.

I also sit on our global management and operating committees, contributing to the overall strategy and direction of the organisation.

What achievement are you most proud of?

I think my secondment to Australia is probably the achievement I am most proud of (next to my Arctic trek). Being selected by the organisation to establish our business operations in a completely different continent, recruiting staff and growing our client base was a huge accomplishment for me personally. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity.

A word to the wise

Being humble and kind does not mean that you are weak. In fact, it takes an incredibly strong person to have these qualities and achieve their goals in life without needing to flaunt it in front of others.
I have always had a strong work ethic and I think this is incredibly important.

You shouldn’t expect life to be easy – it’s a lot more satisfying to know what you have had to do to achieve what you want. But you must never forget to have fun along the way!