Leadership Development at Pfizer: What Happens After Class

Cal Founder and Chairman of Fort Hill Company, is a nationally-recognized consultant,
educator and researcher on improving the performance of managers and organizations. Named "Thought Leader of the Year" by ISI (The Association of Learning Providers) in 2006, Cal is co author of the highly-acclaimed Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning: How to Turn Training and Development into Business Results (Pfeiffer, 2006).

Cal has spent the last 25 years studying how managers develop and businesses learn and apply new capabilities. His previous book, The Learning Edge: How Smart Managers and Smart Companies Stay Ahead (McGraw-Hill) is an in-depth study of how companies can make learning a competitive advantage.

Cal recognized that the finish line for learning and development programs is no longer the last day of class, but rather months later when improved personal and business outcomes can be measured. This new finish line is becoming the standard of the learning industry. His research led to the concept of Follow-Through Management® and the development of web-based Follow-Through Tools® that improve results by increasing learning transfer and application.

The tools that Cal developed have been used by more than 35,000 leaders in companies from Pfizer and Hewlett Packard to The Home Depot as well as leading business schools and training organizations. In 2005, the Center for Creative Leadership adopted Fort Hill’s Friday5s® as a core part of their flagship Leadership Development Program (LDP)®.

Cal earned a Masters of Science degree as an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow at MIT's Sloan School of Management. He graduated as a Rockefeller Fellow from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

Stephen Kontra is Director, Senior Leader Development in the Worldwide Talent and Organization Capability group for Pfizer Inc and works closely with the Vice President, Leader Capability & Learning and Pfizer’s Chief Talent Officer to develop the leadership capabilities and potential of Pfizer’s senior executives and executive teams.

After briefly working for Travelers Insurance in the late 1970’s, Steve began his Pfizer career in 1979, and has held various sales, sales management, training, learning, OD and headquarters management positions, including National Sales Director, Professional Sales in Pfizer’s Consumer HealthCare Division.

Steve joined the Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals Corporate Management and Leadership Development organization in 2002 and assumed his current responsibilities in 2008. Steve’s Pfizer experience includes service and leadership positions on several panels and boards, including the Consumer Healthcare Talent Development Board, IT Advisory Panel, Division Innovation Task Force, and participation on or leading merger integration teams during the Warner-Lambert, Pharmacia and Wyeth acquisitions.

He currently oversees the Senior Leader – Talent Advisory Committee and is responsible for the enterprise Senior Leader Development Strategy and architecture. Steve holds a B.S. in Management from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and an MBA from St. Mary's College in Moraga, California. He also holds a certificate from Columbia University in the Principles and Practices of Organizational Development.

Steve is a member of American Society of Training & Development (ASTD) and The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Steve and his wife Tanya reside in Easton, Connecticut with their three children.