Peli BioThermal is celebrating a standout night at the 2026 Pharma Industry Awards UK, where Vice President of Engineering Karen Adams won the Women in Pharma Award.
The company also earned two finalist placements: Vēro One™ in the Innovation of the Year – Medium category, and its “Solving the Unsolvable” initiative in the Sustainability Initiative of the Year category. Together, the three nominations recognize Peli BioThermal’s work across engineering leadership, cold chain innovation, and sustainability.
A Career Built on Curiosity and Engineering
For Karen Adams, engineering has always been about understanding how things work and finding ways to make them work better.
That curiosity started early. At around 10 years old, Karen built a short-wave radio kit and still remembers the satisfaction of getting it to work. It sparked an interest in engineering and problem-solving that has shaped her entire career.
Today, Karen has nearly 21 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including just over 18 years with Peli BioThermal. Before that, she worked across food and FMCG high-speed manufacturing, metal processing, and pharmaceutical clinical trials manufacturing.
Moving into pharma gave her work a different sense of purpose. Karen describes it as “that strong feeling of helping in a way that connects with real people for a real reason.”
That purpose carried her through a difficult chapter. After experiencing a whole-site closure and redundancy, Karen joined Peli BioThermal in 2008, when the company was still known as Cool Logistics.
Finding Purpose in the Pharmaceutical Cold Chain
Joining Peli BioThermal brought Karen into a specialized part of the pharmaceutical supply chain. Over the years, she has seen the company grow significantly and move through changes in ownership, while its focus on protecting critical therapies has stayed constant.
That focus is captured in the company’s mission, “Our Priority, Saving Lives.” Peli BioThermal’s temperature-controlled packaging and cold chain solutions help protect vaccines, biologics, and other life-saving therapies on their journey to patients.
For Karen, though, the company’s purpose is just as much about its people.
“Having worked in other companies, and industries, there is something unique here,” she says.
She points to a shared commitment across the organization to doing the right thing and meeting customer needs. That culture is a big part of why she has stayed for more than 18 years. It also reflects the company’s broader vision: “We innovate for the innovators, ensuring that as therapies evolve, so do the solutions that protect them.”
Leading Engineering at Peli BioThermal
As Vice President of Engineering, Karen has helped shape how Peli BioThermal designs and develops the solutions its customers rely on.
One of her standout achievements is leading Peli BioThermal’s laboratories to ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, a first in the industry. Karen shaped the strategy and saw it through to completion, strengthening confidence in the testing behind the company’s solutions.
Karen also led the development of Crēdo™ Cargo, Peli BioThermal’s first bulk reusable pallet shipper, and its successor, Crēdo™ Vault, which built on those lessons with a sharper focus on customers and sustainability.
Beyond projects and products, Karen takes real pride in growing talent. Engineers she has mentored have gone on to take up leadership positions across the business.
Yet for all she has accomplished, Karen is quick to point out that no career achievement happens alone. She credits the talented colleagues she has worked alongside and learned from throughout her time at Peli BioThermal.
That view reflects how cold chain innovation actually works. Developing solutions for pharmaceutical and life sciences supply chains draws on engineering, product development, operations, quality, commercial, and customer support teams, all working from a clear understanding of real-world shipping requirements.
Finalist Recognition for Vēro One and Sustainability
Karen’s win was one of three nominations for Peli BioThermal at this year’s awards, with two further finalist placements highlighting the company’s product innovation and sustainability work.
Vēro One: Innovation of the Year – Medium
Vēro One™ was named a finalist in the Innovation of the Year – Medium category. It is Peli BioThermal’s single-use dry ice shipping solution for deep-frozen pharmaceutical and biotech shipments.
Vēro One was designed around the practical demands of dry ice shipping, including loading, storage, transportation, and end-of-life considerations. It is available in configurations for different shipping durations, giving teams flexibility when shipments require deep-frozen conditions.
“Solving the Unsolvable”: Sustainability Initiative of the Year
Peli BioThermal was also named a finalist in the Sustainability Initiative of the Year category for “Solving the Unsolvable,” which tackles one of the cold chain’s toughest end-of-life challenges: vacuum insulation panels (VIPs). VIPs provide excellent thermal protection, but at end of life they have typically been sent to landfill or incinerated. Peli BioThermal is helping build a circular economy for VIP cores, with a commitment to recycle 140 pallets of end-of-life panels each year.
Sustainability decisions run throughout the pharmaceutical cold chain, from materials and transportation to storage, reuse, refurbishment, and end-of-life management. Peli BioThermal supports these decisions with both reusable and single-use temperature-controlled packaging, alongside conditioning, repair, and refurbishment services.
Looking Ahead
For Karen, the Women in Pharma Award is a meaningful milestone in a career spanning more than two decades in the pharmaceutical industry. True to form, her reflections stay grounded in the people and experiences that shaped it.
Asked how she would sum up her approach to leadership, Karen kept it simple: “Character over applause.” And, as she puts it, “Strongest in the quiet.”
On receiving the award, she added:
“It’s a lovely moment personally, and one that I’m genuinely very proud of. I’m grateful to everyone who has been part of the journey, and I’m looking forward to what comes next!”
Peli BioThermal congratulates Karen on this well-deserved recognition, and thanks every team member whose work continues to advance cold chain innovation and protect critical therapies around the world.
Interested in Vēro One for your deep-frozen shipments? Contact our team to learn more about Vēro One and discuss your pharmaceutical shipping needs.
Want to learn how Peli BioThermal can help solve your sustainability challenges? Discover how we’re giving end-of-life cold chain materials a second life, starting with recycling vacuum insulation panels for reuse.
