Pioneer of Allergan legacy honoured in Westport

Pioneer of Allergan legacy honoured by people of Westport


Gavin Herbert Jnr describes Westport as a ‘highlight’ of his business career

Neill O'Neill

IT was without doubt the most defining moment in the recent history of Westport, a big and bold step into a vast unknown, by an organisation that few, if any in the area, had heard of at the time. While life trundled on in sleepy Westport in the mid-seventies, unbeknownst to most here, there were intense negotiations, natural hesitation and displays of shrewd business acumen ongoing between various parties, both in Ireland and thousands of miles away on the Pacific coast of California.
There were doubters, on both sides of the Atlantic, and the outcome could easily have been so much different, but in the end a decision, and with it a huge leap of faith, was sanctioned by one man - and 35 years later, with 900 employees, a multi-billion dollar annual turnover from their Westport site and construction well under way on a new $350 million facility that will guarantee the next generation of the Allergan story has Westport among its central themes - Gavin Herbert Jnr, arguably the single most influential figure in the 65 year history of Allergan Inc, was made a freeman of the town he helped shape considerably over recent decades, when he signed the dotted line that would create Allergan Ireland in 1976.
As the company’s first true CEO, in the modern sense of the word, Gavin Herbert Jnr had the ultimate say on where the Allergan’s European manufacturing operation would be headquartered. Though the organisation’s global growth in intervening years has been staggering, it is the multiple implications of his decision to locate in Westport in the late seventies - and with it the immeasurable spin off for the town (easily exceeding a billion dollars by now) that has since been invested locally - through wages, the creation of a vast multitude of spin-off industries, and associated and specialist trades, the attraction of a vibrant, educated, multi-cultural and talented workforce, the near constant development and expansion at the Allergan facility itself and the enhancements to local infrastructure - that were recognised last week.
That exports from an industrial facility in Westport can be proportioned as a per cent of Irish national GDP speaks of the vision and ambition of Gavin Herbert’s entrepreneurial spirit. His leap of faith in Westport has not only reaped huge rewards for the company, which was started by his late father (Gavin Herbert Snr - died 1977) in his Los Angeles pharmacy in the 1940’s, and of which he became President and leader at the tender ago of 25, but also for the town of Westport and, directly or indirectly, almost every single person living or operating a business there.
By around 1957 Allergan was facing the difficulties associated with any start-up business, and   Gavin Herbert Snr was becoming increasingly disillusioned with the prospects for his fledgling company, preferring to revert his attention to his chain of pharmacies. Gavin Jnr, who had been drafted into the US Navy at the time, kept the faith, convinced his father not to sell Allergan for $50,000 and assumed full control of the operation. Allergan had approximately $100,000 in sales at the time, and Gavin Jnr was determined a bright future lay ahead. He would prove his instincts correct, and remarkably, during his near four decades in charge, he led Allergan’s growth, from a small room behind his father’s chemist shop, to become a global pharmaceutical institution, with operations in over 100 countries, billions of dollars in sales, a listing on the New York Stock Exchange and 10,000 employees.
At last week’s Civic Reception, also attended by several members of Gavin’s family and Allergan’s management team from Westport and local dignitaries, he described the Westport operation as ‘one of the highlights of my business career’.
Current MD and Vice-President of Allergan Ireland, Pat O’Donnell, compared the Westport and Allergan of 1977 to that of the present, detailing how the company had global revenue then of $62 million, whereas now it is $6 billion - 50 per cent of which comes from the Westport facility in the form of exports to 80 countries. There were 84 employees in the rapidly expanding operation in Westport on New Year’s Eve 1977, today there are over 900, and that number is expected to grow.
“Our success is all down to our people,” he said, “and as we see from Gavin’s example, and the fact that we have only had three CEO’s, we have longevity of service amongst our employees, from the top down.”
Thanking Gavin for all he had achieved for Allergan and Westport, Pat motioned out towards the site of the new development - one of the largest in Ireland at present - and sounded a positive note.
“The future is bright, we are no longer just a manufacturing facility and have new opportunities and products coming our way, and we will keep the passion of people like Gavin alive,” he said.
Earlier, Leas-Cathaoirleach of Westport Town Council, Cllr Myles Staunton, whose late father Myles had played a pivotal role in attracting Allergan to Westport, spoke of the contribution Allergan had made to the town, which he said was continuing and most welcome. He conjured images of Gavin Jnr mixing formulas in his father’s drugstore in 1945, and highlighted the juxtaposition between that and the enormous Allergan facility and new construction site that are now in situ in Westport.
After passing on a message of congratulations and thanks from Minister Michael Ring, Cllr Staunton lauded Gavin’s entrepreneurial spirit and thanked his entire family for making another visit to Westport, while also praising Allergan’s local employees, and their key management personnel over the last 36 years.
Allergan and Westport have grown in tandem, one benefiting the other, a healthy marriage, now in its fourth decade.
The Board of Directors of Allergan Inc will visit Westport in September.