Novavax Advances Vaccine Research While Empowering Employees

Stevie-winner Novavax is a biotechnology company dedicated to protecting global health through the discovery, development, and commercialization of innovative vaccines.

Since 1987, Novavax scientists have been refining the company’s protein-based platform, gaining valuable research experience on diseases like Ebola, Influenza, and RSV. Utilizing recombinant nanoparticle vaccine technology, they aim to revolutionize vaccine development by producing highly immunogenic and efficacious vaccines with an excellent safety profile. The company's pipeline includes candidates targeting a diverse array of infectious diseases, with several products progressing through clinical trials.

In 2020, Novavax announced positive Phase 3 results for its influenza vaccine candidate. When the pandemic began, Novavax quickly shifted resources to develop a vaccine. In 2022, Novavax received authorization for its protein-based COVID-19 vaccine, offering a more traditional option, similar to well-known vaccines for flu, hepatitis, and shingles. The vaccine is approved in over 40 countries and has been granted WHO Emergency Use Listing.

In early 2023, Novavax welcomed new CEO John Jacobs, who aligned the organization around three priorities: delivering an updated COVID vaccine for the upcoming vaccination season, ensuring the company is operating in line with the transition to endemic, and leveraging the drug pipeline and technology to deliver long-term growth and protect global health.

"SuperNova" Novavax Employees
Despite rapid growth, Novavax has never wavered from its focus on its employees, internally referred to as "Supernovas." As the company navigated growth amid intense COVID-19 timelines, Novavax bolstered leadership and employee communications. Novavax created several global initiatives to increase senior leader engagement and develop teams, with a specific focus on:

• Continued growth informed and motivated through leader-led Global Forums covering company-wide business topics, and smaller “SuperNova Sessions” focused on function-level topics.
• Providing opportunities for employees to stay connected with senior leaders, such as regular small group listening sessions called “Jam with John” with the new CEO, John Jacobs, to get to know employees on a personal level, understand their day-to-day experiences, and gather feedback on operations.
• Supporting ongoing leadership development through Leading@Novavax, a new leadership competency model to support the “every SuperNova is a leader” philosophy, providing access for every employee to work with a certified executive coach and an Executive Development program for the next generation of senior leaders.
• Facilitating career growth, professional development, well-being, and relationship building through quarterly SuperNova Learning Series workshops, a Leadership Book Club, and multiple coaching and leadership development programs to prepare and promote a diverse set of leaders into higher levels of leadership at the company.

Through partnerships and ongoing research efforts, Novavax is dedicated to contributing to the prevention and control of infectious diseases on a global scale.

Novavax won a Silver Stevie Award for Pharmaceuticals Employer of the Year in the 2023 Stevie® Awards for Great Employers.

Interested in entering the 2024 edition?