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When Angela Sim came to Gilead Sciences eleven years ago, she didn’t know it would be a pivotal shift in her career. Sim was tasked with centralizing benefits management at an organization where the responsibility for benefits was decentralized across HR, finance, and total rewards teams around the world. Sim would need to design and deliver benefit programs in new countries as Gilead expanded rapidly, growing into twelve new countries in her first few years alone.
But that’s not what Sim talks about when the senior director of global benefits and wellbeing talks about a shift in her career. It was much more holistic, much more fundamental.
“Coming to Gilead was a wonderful career development opportunity for me, but it was also beneficial for my family,” Sim explains. “We moved from the east coast of Canada to the Bay Area. It was a significant move for my husband and my children, but none of us has ever regretted it.”
Sim says she fairly quickly recognized a significant difference at Gilead compared to other roles she’d held in the past. In 2020, the company rolled out leadership commitments that the senior director thinks about every day, such as “I care” and “I am bold.” The leadership commitments may be relatively new, but they form the bedrock of Gilead’s culture, where every employee is seen as a leader, and people leaders are held accountable for fostering inclusion, empowering teams, and developing talent.
Gilead says its purpose is to make the world a healthier place for all people. In previous roles, Sim says she saw a different kind of value alignment that didn’t resonate with her. There was limited investment in driving a positive impact on population health outcomes or on enhancing the employee experience. It’s been the exact opposite at Gilead.
Lasting Connections
Angela Sim is very serious about maintaining the connections she’s made with both internal and external colleagues over the years. At the time of speaking, a direct report who had left Gilead in 2020 had just visited, bringing her now seven-year-old daughter to visit with Sim.
“I still maintain so many of the relationships I’ve made over the last twenty-five years,” Sim explains. “I spend time with people I worked with more than a decade ago. They are my dear friends and will always mean a lot to me.”
Cindy Gentry, now retired, was a longtime professional partner of Sim at financial services company Mercer. The client executive became a great friend of Sim over the years, acting as a mentor for Sim professionally and personally.
“Angela is determined and she is steadfast in her approach to everything she does,” Gentry wrote of her longtime colleague and friend. “She does not see obstacles. She sees a problem or an issue, studies and analyzes the alternatives, and then proceeds to make a decision based on a balance of data analysis, internal reflection, and gut-level grit. She has an intrinsic internal core strength.”
Sim recently presented at the Conference Board’s annual Employee Health Care Conference and discussed population health and Gilead’s commitment to cancer care, including the 2023 launch of a cancer care support benefit for US employees and their families. The program, offered in partnership with AccessHope, connects individuals with oncology professionals who provide up-to-date treatment information and emotional support for employees going through one of the most traumatic experiences of their lives.
Gilead’s partnership with AccessHope drew such attention that representatives from the Gilead Benefits team were invited to the White House to share best practices on ways employers can raise employees’ awareness of the importance of regular cancer screenings and early detection.
This is what investing in long-term employee health looks like. It’s been an evolution that Sim has seen in her industry over the past twenty-five years, one she says is better late than never.
“There has been a huge shift in healthcare, from treating people when they’re sick to focusing on prevention, early identification of risk, and holistic wellbeing,” the senior director explains. “It’s about empowering people to make informed decisions about their health.”
Sim says Gilead is committed to supporting employees through life’s major moments, be it family planning, reproductive health and longevity, a medical diagnosis, caregiving, financial wellness, or survivorship. That means comprehensive programs and empathetic leadership are critical.
The senior director understands the power of early identification. Genetic testing and high-risk screening helped Sim make the incredibly difficult decision to undergo two prophylactic surgeries, including a prophylactic double-mastectomy in 2024, as she is BRCA2+ at a high risk for developing ovarian and breast cancer. It’s a story Sim isn’t afraid to share, because she knows the value it can hold for others, whether it’s friends and family, employees at Gilead, or other benefits leaders building comprehensive programs in their own organizations.
Sim also knows the power of, well, power. The HR professional is a CrossFit enthusiast and powerlifter. Her longtime colleague and friend Cindy Gentry says it best.
“Powerlifting for her is a metaphor for life. It is a journey of overcoming challenges and striving for personal growth,” Gentry writes of her friend.
What’s clear is that Sim doesn’t see her role as heavy weights to bear. She’s helped transform Gilead’s Benefits team, all the while holding onto the curiosity and inquisitiveness that keeps every day fresh. When you hear someone like Sim talk about the value they see in what they’re able to do for employees, it reminds one of how much can be accomplished when ideals and values align.
Sim was the exact right person for Gilead at exactly the right moment.
Expertise Spotlight
“At Gilead, purpose drives progress—and Angela ensures that purpose begins with people. With courage, clarity, and a creative spirit, she helps shape a culture where employees feel valued, supported, and ready to do their best work. Her pragmatic leadership and deep commitment to ensure that benefits are not only aligned to the mission but also sustained by it, creates meaningful impact and serves as a model for others.”
–Dr. Lorna Friedman, Senior Partner and Global Lead Health Transformation, Mercer
