Derek is presently Head of Global Commercial Effectiveness at AstraZeneca. He leads the company’s Global Center of Excellence and is responsible for helping markets, regions and global leaders spot and exploit new sales opportunities and uplift capabilities to drive commercial success through the power of data and analytics.

Derek has been with AstraZeneca for more than ten years, and previously was Executive Director of Commercial Insight, where he was responsible for leading all efforts to support the organization’s insight, analytics, and market research capabilities in the United States. 
Prior to AZ, Derek worked at DuPont Pharmaceuticals and in the DuPont Medical Imaging business and has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including leadership roles in Analytics, Technology Strategy, Market Research, Managed Markets, Sales, Product Management, and Operations.

He holds a B.S. degree in Biology from the University of Massachusetts – Lowell.

Michael Moran is currently a Field Vice-President  for GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals. In his capacity as a member of the Senior Leadership Team he oversees sales initiatives for a  portfolio of Diabetes, Urology and Respiratory products in the NY/New England area. He has over 20 years experience within the Pharmaceutical industry with varying roles of responsibility of Leadership within the areas of Commercial Operations, Analytics, Commercial Marketing, and of course Commercial Sales. He is a member of the Board of Directors for MPloy Inc, and Healthcare Solutions Inc. For the last 5 years he has been part of a Transformational Leadership Team in the USA. A program designed for select senior leaders within GSK to help Transform GSK's local and global business while operating in a very dynamic environment.   

As a Senior Director of Marketing, Deb currently leads a team of marketing professionals responsible for the commercialization of CIALIS in the US, including DTC marketing, payer marketing/contracting, and all channels of physician marketing.  The entire team, including cross functional partners, is fiercely dedicated to creating positive customer experiences as the means to deliver top notch performance.  By actively listening to the customers, the team is able to respond and adjust.  From personal follow up with consumers and healthcare professionals to training call center agents, from changing IVRs to streamlining contact methods on websites, and from streamlining how consumers redeem vouchers, the team has methodically approached each opportunity to ensure it provides the best possible customer experience.  The results:  strong brand performance and increased customer satisfaction.

Cecil has spent his career in sales, management and learning & development.  He is currently Director, Commercial Sales Leadership Development for the North America Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson (Janssen). 

He is considered a strategic, innovative, results-focused leader.  Under his direction, his team has developed a new Management Development Curriculum for emerging people leaders, new and tenured District Managers and Business Directors.  Examples of his vision and creativity are innovative programs such as: the Janssen Business Challenge, a cross-organization, project-based, action-learning program for high performing sales Region Business Directors - the outcome is a solution to a current, urgent organization-wide business problem; the Leadership Theatre, where participants audition for the role of leader at Johnson and Johnson; and  the Centocor Ortho Biotech Community Action Learning Program to develop cross-functional high performing leaders within the organization by being a consultancy for a community organization merging personal and professional development with a commitment to community.  The program won an company sponsored Innovation Award to implement. 

Janardhan Vellore is the Head of Commercial Analytics, at Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, and leads the Management Science team tasked with advanced sales, marketing and payer analytics and commercial ROI analyses.  He was most recently Director for Analytics and Insights, leading a team of market researchers and analysts supporting specialty drugs across the various stages of the product lifecycle. In that role, he supported brand planning, led forecasting efforts, and drove productivity initiatives, to mention a few of his responsibilities.  Prior to Novartis, he held executive positions at Medco Health Solutions, and previously worked at ZS Associates, a management consulting firm.  Janardhan holds an MBA from The Wharton School, a Masters degree in Engineering from The University of Akron (OH), as well as a Bachelors degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

Bob Holliday is the Senior Director of General Medicines Training at Sanofi Pharmaceuticals. He has over 25 years of training experience with 15 in the pharma/biotech  industry. In that time he as lead the launch training of over 25 product launches both in the US and globally. He currently leads a team of 34 dedicated to developing a comprehensive curriculum for the General Medicines business of over 3000 sales professionals and leaders. The team has already launched 3 new products this year and has 4 more in development.

Augusto is an innovative and accomplished Business and IT Leader within Life Sciences and Consulting with extensive experience providing strong leadership, vision, and strategic insights to business organizations -- with dedication to achieving organizational goals partnering IT with internal clients and external customers.
 
Augusto brings a global and diverse perspective as he has successfully managed internationally teams and led large-scale global programs.

Augusto has hold regional and global positions at Schering-Plough, Merck, MedImmune, and in his latest role -- at AstraZeneca -- Augusto has been responsible for the global IT Leadership, Vision, Strategy, Governance and Business Management Realization of Digital Programs. He also spearheads Innovation programs from pilot to global scale, and brings market innovation to a global scale. 

Augusto’s motto for his department is to drive business growth and transformation through Technology, Innovation and Information.

Jon is the US commercial lead for Breast Cancer Marketing at Eisai Inc. This involves overall responsibility for all HCP and Patient Marketing initiatives in the US. He also collaborates with other countries in the Americas providing strategic support to Brazil, Canada and Mexico. Jon has ~20 years commercial experience working in Oncology. His experience includes positions at AZ, GSK, Sanofi and Eisai across Global, US and Europe.

Tom McCourt joined Ironwood as chief commercial officer and senior vice president of marketing and sales in 2009. He was drawn to Ironwood by the quality and values of the people and by the potential he saw in our first product. Since coming on board, Tom has designed and implemented Ironwood’s commercial strategy, leading the hiring of a sales force and bringing our first medicine to patients. Prior to joining Ironwood, Tom led the U.S. brand team for denosumab at Amgen Inc. Before that, he held a number of senior commercial roles with Novartis AG, where he directed the launch and growth of Zelnorm® (tegaserod maleate) for the treatment of patients with IBS‐C and chronic constipation and held a number of senior commercial roles, including vice president of strategic marketing and operations. He has a degree in pharmacy from the University of Wisconsin.

Joe has been in the BioTech/Pharma & Healthcare business for over 20yrs. His roles have varied from Sales/Sales Leadership, Training, Strategic Alliances, Brand Marketing, & Commercial Operations. He is passionate about coaching & developing leaders in various disciplines. He is a published author, sits on various industry and non-profit boards, and has provided several speaking engagements.

Craig has over 24 years of experience in healthcare marketing and sales.  He has a passion for and specializes in all aspects of the physician "buy and bill" commercial model and is an expert in Health IT marketing.

He is an accomplished life science copywriter and a national thought leader in life science marketing specializing in Health IT. 

He is a member of the speaker bureau for CBI Advanstar, The International Institute of Research, World Congress, and ExL Events.  He serves on the Advisory Board of several health IT companies such as Doximity, Practice Fusion and Amazing Charts .

Craig leads Merck Vaccine’s efforts with electronic healthcare record companies and other health IT partners.  One of his team’s EHR programs was recently recognized with a PM360 Trailblazer Gold Award in the EHR category. 

Prior to joining Merck, Craig served in the United States Air Force.  He retired after 20 years of active and reserve service.  He holds a B.S. in Marketing and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Utah.

Keith has over 22 years of pharmaceutical industry experience and over 9 years of training experience.  He is currently Associate Director for Sales & Access Learning at Bristol Myers Squibb responsible CV training for both Retail and Institutional Representatives. Keith has also spent time at Pfizer, Wyeth, Johnson and Johnson and served as a captain in the US Army.

Nolan is an experienced strategic marketing leader with a strong track record of driving growth in highly competitive markets.  He has a proven ability to convert market insight into business opportunity and is known as a passionate and results-oriented brand management professional.

Nolan is Senior Manager of Respiratory New Product Strategy at Teva Pharmaceuticals where he is responsible for defining, aligning and implementing new product strategy of assigned products currently in development.  Prior to his current role Nolan led Professional promotion for the ProAir HFA brand.

He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Rutgers University and a M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jim Immormino is President, Biopharm Competitive Advantage, LLC in Chester, NJ and was recently the former VP, Commercial Innovation & Strategy, with Novartis Pharmaceuticals, U.S. Oncology, based in New Jersey. 

He brings over 35 years of pharma industry experience with expertise in Sales Strategy and Leadership, Marketing, Training, and Commercial Operations.

In his former role in the Novartis Oncology Business Unit, Jim was responsible for: Marketing Excellence, Marketing Communications, Sales Training, Sales & Marketing Operations and Field Force Effectiveness.

Jennifer Muszik is the Director of Marketing Effectiveness on the US Commercial Effectiveness team for Pfizer Inc.  She leads specific projects and programs to advance productivity across Primary Care by improving effectiveness of customer interactions, evolving customer models and developing and scaling of evolved messaging.

Mike Capaldi is AVP, Civic Action, Policy Coalitions and State Government Affairs for Sanofi US in his 18th year with the organization.

He is responsible for encouraging civic action and employee engagement throughout the organization. This includes leading the grassroots platform, employee PAC and other civic action programs. Mike also collaborates with appropriate trade associations and external policy coalition groups for important industry issues. Finally, he is a member of the state government affairs team monitoring the legislative landscape in the states of CT, ME, NH, RI and VT.

Mike’s experiences include work in Corporate Social Responsibility and Training & Development for 12 years where he was responsible for the T&D of nearly 10,000 field and headquarter-based employees. Mike served as President of the Society of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Trainers in 2010-11. In 2007, he earned a Masters of Education in Corporate Training & Knowledge Management from Jones International University.

Andrew has been with GSK for 13 years, spending the first 8 years in sales and sales leadership in the GSK pharma organization.   Five years ago Andrew moved to GSK Consumer Healthcare working in shopper and professional marketing within smoking cessation and  weight management categories.  In this role, Andrew was responsible for professional marketing to physicians and pharmacists.   This included leading pharmacist engagement within integrated shopper marketing programs with US retailers such as Walgreens,  Sam’s Club, and Rite Aid.  Andrew currently serves as Global Expert Marketing Director for the Smokers’ Health business at GSK  Consumer Healthcare where he oversees global marketing to healthcare professionals.

Deputy director for commercial analytics from Bayer. Conducted hands-on commercial ROI and Marketing Mix analysis for multiple brands. Established and executed a framework to effectively measure the relationship between digital/social media marketing efforts and direct (sales) and indirect (awareness) returns.

Brian Peters is Vice President, Marketing, for Medac Pharma, Inc, where he recently led the launch efforts for Medac Pharma’s first product. He brings 25 years of both client and agency side strategic pharmaceutical marketing experience to the PharmForce meeting. Working in a small company environment, he wears many hats and brings a unique perspective on the challenges of pharma marketing with limited resources.

Over 25 years of sales, marketing and executive leadership experience in both pharmaceutical and medical device with Johnson & Johnson in multiple therapeutic categories which include Aesthetics, CNS,  Analgesics, Biologics/Hemostasis, Urology, Infectious Diseases & Wound Care. Recently joined Cempra Inc. as the Vice President of Market Development. His primary responsibility is to develop commercialization plans for Solithromycin, the next-generation macrolide, the first fluoroketolide for community acquired pneumonia. Cempra Inc. is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing antibacterials to meet critical medical needs

Strategic Leader with extensive Biotech and Pharmaceutical experience at AstraZeneca, MedImmune, Human Genome Sciences, Novo Nordisk and Cegedim delivering business enabling capabilities through innovative solutions that connect strategy, people, process and technology across multiple therapeutic areas. 

Edward is customer focused with a solid track record of successful business relationship management, leadership and transformation while working in collaboration to achieve enterprise goals. Proficient at leading multiple Commercial programs in a fast-paced cross-functional environment leveraging in-depth business, technical and communication competencies that quickly create rapport and credibility with diverse commercial business & technology leaders.

Matt Barry is the Associate Director for Urology Marketing at Astellas Pharma, US.  Matt joined Astellas (then Fujisawa  Healthcare) in 2000 as a part of their Transplant Sales Force, and in his 15-year career with the company he has held positions  in Sales Training, IT Training and the Commercial Innovation and Excellence team.  His current role focuses on how to leverage  data gathered by all interactions with HCPs to deliver focused marketing programs, as well as insights to the Field Sales teams  so they're aware of how customers interact with Astellas when they're not there.  He's constantly chasing the paradigm of  delivering the right message, to the right customer at the right time, through the right channel. 

Matt lives in St. John, IN with his wife Amie and two children Paige & Cameron.  He's an avid Chicago Sports fan and is patiently  awaiting a Cubs World Series championship.

Rodney Somerville has over 20 years of business and industry experience.  He is widely recognized for his cross-functional business and project leadership with experience in Management Development, Sales Training, Procurement, District Management, Marketing, Sales, and Six Sigma consulting.

As a Senior Manager for Commercial Sales Leadership Development at  Johnson & and Johnson, Rodney is responsible for development, execution, and measurement of the Management Development curriculum for commercial sales leaders across Janssen and the key contact for the Janssen Management Development Program.

Rodney holds a Master of Business Administration from the Smeal College of Business at the Pennsylvania State University and is J&J Certified in Lean for Six Sigma.

He currently resides in Glenside, PA

Jay Sabbah is a Pharma industry professional with over 8 years of industry experience in sales, market research/analytics, brand marketing and currently in a global role leading the launch of new HIV assets (Integrase Inhibitors) in the Middle East and North Africa, a part of the world where the epidemic is still growing. As a Commercial Launch Lead for MENA, Jay just completed two successful launches in Saudi Arabia  and Turkey, and is preparing for launches in 10 more countries in the Gulf and North Africa where different approaches are needed (different  GDP/Capita, HIV burdens, resourcing, local knowledge, capabilities, and Governments’ Willingness to Pay). Regardless whether a country is  developed or emerging,  launch readiness and planning is a discipline that must be mastered to ensure success. Jay leads a diverse cross- functional team consisting of regulatory affairs, market access, demand, and marketing professionals in the countries he has responsibilities  for.

Dharmesh has experience in a variety of industries and different roles which have leveraged his background in Finance, Operations, Marketing and IT systems.  For the past 13 years he has been with GSK and is currently part of the Strategy, Planning and Operations organization supporting the US Pharmaceuticals Sales Team.  Recently, Dharmesh has supported the design and implementation of GSK’s incentive compensation program.  He has developed innovative compensation programs designed to support company objectives during times of both stability and change. 

Dharmesh resides in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina and holds an MBA from the Owen Graduate School of Business at Vanderbilt University as well as a Bachelors of Science from Lyon College.

After starting off his career in radio, Adam D. Shandler has spent the last 15 years helping companies in the healthcare sector achieve their recruiting and training goals. While at Medco Health, Adam led a project management team charged with filling 100 customer-facing positions when the company spun off from Merck. He also developed the company’s campus recruiting programs, including Medco’s MBA Development Program. At Stryker, Adam developed a “hiring culture” at the company’s Spine division and launched the division’s first Training & Development program. Parlaying his wins in Talent Management, Adam then led Stryker’s East Region Talent Acquisition team, improving this COE’s engagement scores by a full two points and improving customer satisfaction scores over prior years.

Currently, Adam leads Talent Acquisition and Talent Development at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, North America. He is relentlessly focused on building a stronger digital employer brand for the company and is developing a leadership development program for high-potential managers.

Adam believes that better employer branding drives better talent acquisition, and retention happens through building community within departments.

Adam is happy to connect on LinkedIn. His twitter handle is @adshandler.

Richard Johnson is a Cialdini Method Certified Trainer (CMCT), personally trained by Dr. Robert Cialdini and Dr. Gregory Neidert, Director of Training, INFLUENCE AT WORK.

Richard holds a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Development and Training from Webster University. Additionally he holds undergraduate degrees in Sales and Marketing from Trident College and Charleston Southern University. Richard received the prestigious Merit Award in Marketing. Richard completed his Master’s program Summa Cum Laude from Webster University. His thesis focused on pharmaceutical sales and marketing excellence.

These areas of expertise combined with his experience as Sales Representative, Regional Field Training Coordinator, Hospital Sales Representative, Territory Manager, District Manager, Regional Manager, National Field Sales Director and Senior Vice President of Sales and Sales Training provide Richard with a unique blend of people development and business development skills.

Richard has spent the last 20 years developing world class sales teams with a special emphasis on the pharmaceutical and medical industry. During this time, Richard and his teams have won the highest sales awards in the industry thirteen times.

“Richard Johnson brings a truly impressive depth of understanding to all manner of sales and marketing matters. Even more valuably, in his presentations, he is able to transform that deep understanding into easily undertaken and highly profitable action steps.” – Dr. Robert Cialdini, New York Times Business Best Seller Author and President of INFLUENCE AT WORK

Randy has invested 30+ years in pharma primarily with start-up organizations.  His journey began with a small start-up company called Bock Pharmacal, transitioning to the initial launch of Sanofi in the USA; then, the start-up of a women’s health specialty company called Ther-Rx, and currently, another women’s health start-up called TherapeuticsMD. With each transition, salesforce expansion and the curriculum to support the expansion was always a priority.   Randy’s educational background is in secondary education and he has, over the years, parlayed those skills into adult learning with a focus on knowledge, skills, and behaviors aligned with successful job performance at all levels of the organization.

Mike is an experienced Brand Leader who has held roles across Brand, Payer and Sales Teams across three product launches in three therapeutic categories.  He has experience in both Domestic and Global Strategic Marketing.  His areas of expertise include product launches, product in-licensing analysis, preparation for major market changes (LOEs) and alliance management. Prior to starting The Beaumont Group, focused on strategic consulting to the Healthcare Industry, Mike was Brand Director for SavaysaTM with Daiichi Sankyo where he was focused on Access & Payer Strategy Development as well as Trade Strategy.  Mike holds a B.S. from Southern New Hampshire University, an M.S. from Stevens Institute of Technology and a CIBE from Columbia University School of Business.

Michael Ybarra, M.D. is a board-certified emergency physician and Senior Director of Alliance Development at PhRMA. In his capacity at PhRMA, Dr. Ybarra leads alliance outreach to provider, multicultural, and LGBT organizations. His issue areas include communications with health care professionals and delivery reform. In addition to his work at PhRMA, Dr. Ybarra works clinically in the Emergency Department at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.

Jonathan Gordon is a Director in the Office of Strategy at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where his focus is on the intersection between strategy, policy and innovation. He was most recently responsible for launching the hospital’s Medicare accountable care organization, and has worked on a wide variety of projects, ranging from planning a genomic medicine program, to improving patient access to care, to creating a strategic plan for information technology. Jon is also Director of the Health Policy Center at NewYork-Presbyterian, which advocates for the role of Academic Health Centers in developing solutions to the challenges facing the American healthcare system. Prior joining NYP, Jon helped found and served as Chief Operating Officer of EveryDay Medical, an e-commerce-based provider of home and durable medical equipment. Jon is a Mentor for Blueprint Health, a start-up incubator in New York City, and a Director of Costs of Care, a not-for-profit dedicated to increasing cost awareness among clinicians. Jon holds a BA from Princeton University and an MBA with honors from Columbia University.

Mr. Rajiv Khatau is Managing Director of LODAAT LLC -an innovative, science based research firm specializing in Botanical ingredients, Finished Dosages, and Generic  Pharmaceuticals .  Mr. Khatau and his R&D team have developed a proprietary manufacturing processes which incorporates Ayurvedic techniques and the latest 21st century  technology in the entire life cycle for manufacturing botanical ingredients: from seed to growing to extraction .  With over 18+ years of experience;  Mr Khatau and his team are acknowledged as a creative force in understanding and researching small molecules for the food, beverage and nutraceutical industry.

As Testament to LODAAT's cutting edge innovation, The LODAAT science team was awarded Best Science Exporter by The State of Illinois, USA (October 2014)- -one of the highest accolades from the Governor's Office.  Lodaat was also honored as the Exclusive Knowledge Partner to CPHI conferences- the world's largest pharmaceutical-science conference. 

Anita Burrell is a dynamic, passionate and infectiously enthusiastic consultant focused on improving patient outcomes through pharmaceutical innovation. She is also an adjunct assistant professor at Rutgers University and a regular speaker on health economics, market access and mHealth.
   
Anita has 23 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry in a wide variety of roles.  She has been responsible for strategic commercial execution on the Sanofi diabetes portfolio, led Aubagio, the oral MS therapy through submission and approval in over 30 markets worldwide and been responsible for global pricing, reimbursement support and market access for launch products throughout her career.

Anita joined the pharmaceutical industry as a pioneer in the field of Health Economics for Burroughs Wellcome. After increasingly senior roles within the UK, she moved to New Jersey in 2001 where she has made her home apart from a sojourn for Sanofi to spend 4 years in Paris, France .

Anita holds a BA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Stirling, an M.A. in Economics from Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada, and a Masters in Business Administration from Kingston University, Surrey UK.

In her spare time she is a Director at Large for the Mid Atlantic chapter of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association, likes to read a wide variety of literature, ride horses and experience different cultures through travel.

Praveen Mathur is Associate Director, Commercial Analytics at Aegerion Pharmaceuticals. His area of expertise include analyzing marketing and sales data and establishing best practices in the area of sales optimization through combination of customer and market information, advanced analytical processes and software solutions, maximizing ROI on marketing investment; customer segmentation, promotion response modeling, field force portfolio optimization; and market mix modeling using non-linear regression techniques. Prior to joining Aegerion Pharmaceutcals, Praveen held various positions at inVentivHealth, leading cross-functional teams of business analysts and software engineers in the development of analytical tools to evaluate the effectiveness of sales and marketing initiatives.

Larry has over 16 years of experience in pharmaceutical/vaccine sales and marketing and has developed a reputation for being an effective leader, strategist, and planner.  He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, a J.D. from Boston University, and an M. B. A. from Duke University.  He possesses a deep understanding of the pediatric vaccines market, having worked across multiple brands including Gardasil, MMRII, as well as the launches of Proquad, RotaTeq and Menhibrix.  Additionally, Larry had extensive experience readying the launch strategy for specialty cardiovascular brands in the heart failure, atrial fibrillation and statin markets.  Most recently, Larry was the Senior Director of the Pediatric Vaccine Commercial Strategy Team and led all aspects of the Pediatric Vaccine business and life cycle planning, delivering ~$1.0B of gross annual revenue in the U.S. market.  

Karen is currently President and Managing Director of marcomCore.  She is responsible for the creation and implementation of their flagship software solution, marcomCore.

Previously, she was VP, Commercial and Field Operations at Kadmon Pharmaceuticals, where the idea of marcomCore was born.  She has held management positions in Business Development, Operations and Compliance during her 20+ year career in the pharmaceutical industry.

Jeff Gaus is the Chief Executive Officer of Prolifiq Software. He is responsible for articulating and overseeing the execution of the company’s growth strategy. Prior to his current role, he led the company’s business development, marketing and sales activities having initiated relationships with Prolifiq’s largest customers and partners.

Jeff is a 30+ year veteran of the telecommunications industry, has designed several communications protocols and has co-authored two United States patents: one for VoIP and the other for electronic message management – the core of Prolifiq’s platform.

Marilyn Cox is the Marketing Principal focused on developing the Industry Center of Excellence within the Oracle Marketing Cloud. Simply put, she's a modern marketing best practices sleuth. She researches, provides guidance and delivers marketing expertise to customers by developing industry-specific best practices. She works to facilitate exchanges between companies facing similar industry business challenges. Industry analysis and best practice development perfectly align with her desire to make peoples’ job a bit easier. She exists to empower sales and support the customer. Marilyn is a PMP certified project manager. Marilyn received her degree in Political Science from The Ohio State University and is the author of BusinessisChildsPlay.com. She classifies herself as a left brain mind living in a right brain world. When not geeking out over industry marketing analytics, she can be found daydreaming about her unrealized dream as a professional wrestler with the WWE, training for an upcoming endurance race, and hanging out with her two awesome kids.

John M. Daly is senior principal, U.S. Healthcare Solutions at IMS Health. John leverages his experience in commercial effectiveness, strategic business planning and execution to drive actionable insights within the new biopharma environment. With two decades of experience in commercial operations and sales at Bayer, Schering-Plough and Merck, John has a proven track record as a sales leader and provider network account manager as well as in product launch planning, launch execution, national business planning and field development processes.

Valencia started her career as a staff nurse and she practiced in critical care and post anesthesia care nursing.  She became fascinated with the business side of healthcare and decided to leverage her knowledge of nursing into the business of healthcare.
 Valencia has expertise in population health management, hospital operations, healthcare consulting and lean methodology.

Valencia has extensive knowledge in telemedicine and has spearheaded numerous telemedicine programs with VISICU ( a start-up company based in Baltimore) throughout the United States.   Valencia also served as the Director of a pharmacy implemented Transitions of Care Program at Inova Health System in northern Virginia. She has held several leadership positions in hospitals and consulting firms. She continues to maintain her commitment to nursing by serving as adjunct nursing professor and mentoring nursing students.

Valencia earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  She graduated with honors from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland where she earned a dual degree of Master of Science in Nursing (Concentration: Health Systems Management) and an MBA. Valencia also holds a Business of Nursing Certificate from The Johns Hopkins University and is certified in Lean Healthcare.

Peter leads the global efforts for Quintiles in developing innovative new services in the area of multichannel engagement. His nearly 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, includes work for pharmaceutical companies but also IT solutions for the Life Science industry.  Prior to joining Quintiles, Peter was vice president Multichannel Strategy at Veeva Systems. In this role, he helped develop the strategic vision and plan for multichannel software products and services for the Life Sciences industry.  Prior to Veeva, Peter spent more than 25 years at GSK where he held several senior-level positions including vice president, Commercial Operations, US Pharmaceuticals. Peter has extensive experience across a variety of therapeutic areas, including vaccines, CNS and diabetes.

Peter holds a bachelor’s degree in business and chemistry from the Westminster College and has completed leadership programs from the University of North Carolina, Duke University and University of Pennsylvania Wharton Business School.

Dr. John is leading our Hospital Transition in Care and our Employer Solutions programs. He is a practicing pharmacist, healthcare consultant, entrepreneur and patient advocate.  Dr. John has considerable expertise in the areas of patient engagement, population health management, transition in care and mobile health technology solutions. He serves as a medical advisor for a variety of companies focused on health/wellness, patient engagement and medication adherence.

Dr. John is also the Executive Director of NOVA Scripts Central a non-profit pharmacy that provides medications to uninsured patients in the Northern Virginia area. He is the founder of Urban Medical Solutions, which is focused on raising awareness of health literacy with in the underserved patient population.   Dr. John has previously worked in academia serving as an Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences where he developed innovative ambulatory care practice sites within federally qualified community health centers.  He has worked to train healthcare professionals in the areas of health literacy and cultural competency in order to address health dispartities.

Dr. John holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from St. John’s University in Queens, New York and has completed a pharmacy residency with Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences.

Sudhakar has 12+ years of consulting experience in the pharmaceutical industry, and is an expert on Big Data Analytics. Due to his grasp of the understanding and the application of big data analytics, Sudhakar is becoming well known around the pharmaceutical industry and has been a presenter at several national conferences.  Prior to joining SRI, he spent 5 years as Director of Statistical Services at IMS Health.  He is very well versed with most databases used in pharmaceutical industry and has extensively used them with advanced statistical techniques to address business questions. Sudhakar was instrumental in developing applications of patient-level data for pharma clients.  Prior to IMS Health, he worked at ZS associates. Sudhakar holds a MS in Operations Research from Princeton University and Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from (IIT)-Chennai, India.

Richard Whitehead is Chief Operating officer of CSL and Co-Owner of the CSL Global organization . Richard has a wealth of experience in pharma Marketing , Sales and Business Intelligence, and joined CSL when it was a startup. Over the last 18 years CSL has grown to be a major provider of Quality Assurance and Incentive Compensation solutions to the Pharma and Banking industries.  Based in Burlington VT, Richard specializes in the commercial growth of CSL and consulting / strategizing in performance management and Incentive compensation.

A thought leader on these subjects , he has spoken at and chaired many conference events in both Pharma and Financial.

Richard is also an avid adventure and track motorcyclist, and motorcycling blogger.

Vincent Rienzi is an advertising and direct marketing professional, with over 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry.  Prior to starting his own company, Vincent worked on both the pharma and agency side of the business.  In pharma, he was a Sales Representative for E.R. Squibb (now BMS), and he held positions in Marketing Research at Roche and Parke Davis.  On the agency side, he worked on the Lederle account at CDA; the Parke Davis account at S&H, and the Ciba-Geigy account at STF, where he was a Vice President. 

In 1985, Vincent founded his own company and created PhydBack® (pronounced “feedback”)—the Physician Information Exchange Network—to support brand marketing and sales efforts.  Since that time, PhydBack has been used by 65+ companies to communicate information for 150+ pharmaceutical and biotech brands.

Outside of his business life, Vincent is co-founder of Banyan School, a non-profit school for children with learning disabilities…he currently serves as Board President.  He is a recipient of the Pinnacle Award from Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he received his undergraduate degree. He has also dedicated his time to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which raises money for cancer research in children.

Bill Coyle is a Principal with ZS Associates, based in the firm’s Princeton office. He leads ZS’s team focused on Key Account Management in pharma and biotech, leveraging his expertise in commercial organization design and market access. Bill's work at ZS has spanned many key areas of sales and marketing in the pharma and biotech industries. His areas of expertise include sales operations and analytics, commercial organization design and optimization, and market access and pricing / managed care.

Chris Cestaro is the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Zephyr Health, the Insights-as-a-Service leader harnessing the power of global healthcare data to address critical business and patient needs. He leads the go-to-market strategies for commercializing Zephyr Health’s innovative, enterprise solutions.

With over 15 years experience in Marketing, Sales, and Business Development, Chris is a thought leader on lifecycle, go-to-market strategy, vertical solutions, and sales and partner enablement for Healthcare and Life Sciences markets worldwide.

Prior to joining Zephyr Health Chris spent 4 years with SalesForce.com leading the Healthcare and Life Sciences division and prior to that was Vice President and General Manager of Product Lifecycle for Ventana Medical Device Company, a division of Roche Group.

Chris holds an MBA from Goizueta Business at Emory University and a Certificate in Biotech for Executives from Northwestern University.

Namita Kalyan is an Associate Principal based in ZS’s Philadelphia office. She is the global lead for ZS’s Sales Force Effectiveness practice and her focus has been in sales force strategy, design and effectiveness. She has worked with multiple Fortune 100 companies to evaluate and improve sales manager and rep effectiveness, including multi-country sales force training.

Heidi is a lifelong healthcare marketing communications professional with a wealth of successful experience at pharmaceutical and medical device companies as well as communications agencies. She has held a variety of leadership roles in marketing, communications, and consultative sales at inVentiv Health, Johnson & Johnson, Guidant, Allergan, and Smith & Nephew. She has worked in the US and Europe, leading a variety of brand growth and innovation efforts globally and regionally.

As an independent consultant who understands both the client-side and agency environment in healthcare, Heidi uses her strong strategic, creative, influence leadership and problem-solving skills to tackle her clients’ business challenges with passion and know-how. She is best known for her work in optimizing client/agency relationships, leading cross-functional collaborations, and developing clear, compelling communications that get results.

Heidi holds a BS degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Dr. Emily Freeman is a social/behavioral scientist interested in the development of evidence based communication tools to facilitate decision   making between patients and healthcare providers. Dr. Freeman is exploring how medical evidence (i.e. risk, benefit, and health outcomes) is   constructed and communicated within a patient-healthcare provider clinical encounter. In addition she is interested in the intersection of   medical evidence and patient's preferences and the impact on shared treatment decisions. Her research has focused on the impact of shared   treatment decision making on the quality of care received by patients and using shared decision making as a tool for patient engagement. Finally, she is interested in bringing a more patient-centered approach to drug development through patient-reported and defined outcomes.

In her roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb and more recently Pfizer, Dr. Freeman conducted research to assess the effectiveness of the FDA mandated REMS and EMA RMM's on patient and healthcare provider communication and knowledge and the impact of regulatory science on both groups. In   addition Dr. Freeman has been the principal investigator on various health outcomes studies within the pharmaceutical industry focused on improving the effectiveness of communication to HCP's/patients, understanding the experience of treatment on patient's quality of life/survival, improving medication adherence, and qualitative understanding of benefit-risk from the patient's perspective.  

Dr. Freeman received her PhD degree in Health Geography from McMaster University with postdoctoral training in Psychosocial Oncology from the   University of Toronto. Her substantive research interests include: patient engagement (social media, behavioral interventions, and health   literacy), qualitative health research, clinical epidemiology, improving medication adherence, patient reported outcomes, risk communication, and   shared treatment decision making.

Jim is a leader in developing marketing solutions. Driven by his innovative thinking, he enjoys partnering with his clients to develop solutions that deliver top results. Using his extensive pharmaceutical and healthcare experience, Jim delivers some of the most forward-thinking solutions in the market today. He combined his experience and ingenuity with unparalleled access to targeted physicians and patients to deliver success for clients and their brands.

Jim’s strategies include the development of disease state portals and driving the use of virtual technology to deliver content. He has worked on successful product launches, CME programs and training platforms, and has developed the latest innovative two-way video solution with a platform called Virtual Rep Connect.  Presently Jim is working with clients like Apple, Kaplan, NFL, TaylorMade Golf, NFL, Pfizer, Astellas, Boehringer Ingelheim and Abbive.  Jim prides himself on delivering superior solutions that exceed his clients' expectations.

Dr. Pulim is currently Medical Director at PharmacistPartners, and CMIO at @Point of Care™.   He leverages innovative health information technology to support the highest quality care, patient outreach, and population management, while providing a safe and trusted environment for self-assessment, peer assessment, evaluation of performance in practice, and learning at the point of care.

Dr. Pulim founded several health tech companies, most recently as co-founder of Health Recovery Solutions, which helps empower patients to better manage their health and improve quality of life using evidence based interventions.

Dr. Pulim previously served as Senior Medical Editor at MDLinx,  an award-winning, practical medical information tool that busy physicians, and other healthcare professionals use to stay up to date with the latest research in the medical field.

He earned his MD from St. George’s University School of Medicine in 2002, and since then he has been an advisor at several Health/tech accelerator programs such as Liftoff Health, Startup Health, and BluePrint Health.

As an Intel Healthcare Business Development Manager, Ashley works with Healthcare customers in the NY/NJ metro area to implement innovative Intel technologies that help to deliver better experiences for patients and those who care for them – across the spectrum of care and the computing experience.

Prior to joining Intel in 2014, Ashley was an Ambassador at Lenovo where she conducted briefings for the press, customers, and business partners in North America. She was also a pioneer for the company in developing strategic initiatives and partnerships in the healthcare industry. During her time at Lenovo, Ashley received several awards including: 2014 XChange XCellence Awards Best Executive Presentation & Best Boardroom, 2013 Lenovo Sales Support Person of the Year, 2013 Lenovo Ambassador of the Year, 2012 Lenovo Innovation Task Force Pioneer, 2012 XChange XCellence Awards Best Executive Presentation, 2011 Lenovo Marketing WOW Award

Ashley holds an MBA with a concentration in marketing from the University of Maine. As part of Ashley’s graduate assistantship, she worked at the University of Maine’s Technology Business Incubator helping several technology start-up companies to conduct market research, write business plans, and launch their solutions.

Ashley and her husband Chris reside in Greenville, NY (Orange County) with their 2 year-old son Chris Jr. and 3 month-old daughter Madison. When Ashley isn’t geeking out on technology or spending time with her family and friends, she loves to hike, practice yoga, and ride horses.

Liz  joined Quintiles as a Business Development / Key Account Director in March 2011, worked on a number of multi-channel solutions for a range of clients. From August 2013, she led the European Multichannel Centre of Excellence (CoE) and in January 2015, transitioned to be part of Quintiles Global Multichannel CoE Team.

Prior to joining Quintiles, Liz worked at Pfizer for 13 years within the UK and Europe / Global level, in a variety of roles, gaining experience in Sales, Marketing, Account Management, Market Access, Business Effectiveness, Customer Strategy / Effectiveness, Change Management, Team  Leadership and  a range of therapy areas.

Prior to joining Pfizer, Liz worked in the UK’s health service, as a physiotherapist  (7-8 years), and as a Senior Manager  (7-8 years) across Community, Secondary and Tertiary Care. 

Liz has an MBA from Manchester Business School and also worked as an Associate Lecturer on the Open University (Open Business School) MBA programme until May 2011, the latter providing insight in to many other industries and companies over 10 years.

Rishav has over 15 years of experience bringing cutting-edge technology solutions to the Talent Management arena, including playing a critical role in the development of an award-winning HRMS system for PeopleSoft.  He has spearheaded the design, development, and implementation of TalentFirst’s flagship technology-based platform (iCoachFirst®) across a multitude of organizations in the Life Sciences arena. 

Rishav earned his B.S. in Computer Science from The Ohio State University and an MBA from Columbia University.

Kristy Junio oversees all aspects of Oracle Marketing Cloud’s global go-to-market strategies focused on the healthcare and life sciences industries. She serves as the subject matter expert in these market segments and supports sales efforts in interacting with customers, analysts, and other industry leaders. Kristy has more than 20 years of experience in advertising and marketing. Before joining Oracle, she spent 13 years in leadership roles with notable healthcare delivery and health insurance companies.

Neil Bloking is currently a VP of Business Management and Governance with TD Bank. Neil brings to his work a diversity of experience, having held positions with top banks over the past twenty-five years, including Bank of America, Fleet Bank, and Bank of New England. He has held offices in Mergers & Acquisitions, Risk Management, Process Engineering, Project Management Office, Technology, Collections, Operations and Private Clients.  During his tenure, Neil has established several banks, small businesses and coordinated over 300 billion in Asset Sales.  Neil is Six Sigma certified, maintains affiliation and accreditation with PMI and is an active member of the B.P.O.E.  He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Western New England College with degrees in Information Technology and Finance.  Neil resides in CT with his wife Cindy and is an avid Golfer, Skier and Yachtsman.

Larry Westfall is currently Director, Healthcare Quality Alliances for the Strategic Customer Group within Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems. He is part of a team responsible for developing an understanding across Janssen Pharmaceuticals Companies of Johnson & Johnson of the changing dynamics within the US healthcare system, and working across the organization to develop strategies to align company offerings with the needs of current and evolving healthcare delivery and payment models.

Prior to this role, Larry held positions within J&J of the National Director, Strategic Alliances in the Health, Policy, Advocacy & Quality division and the Director, Quality Management for the Johnson & Johnson Institutional Franchise where Larry was responsible for providing franchise-specific strategic quality planning & perspective on current health system practices and future healthcare environment strategies. During his tenure in this position, Larry was appointed and served as a Member of the NQF National Priority Partnerships’ Care Coordination Workgroup.

Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson in 2005, Larry held a variety of leadership positions with Aventis Pharmaceuticals.

Larry received his BS in Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the University of Maryland and prior to his career in the pharmaceutical industry held several senior management pharmacy positions in the hospital, home care, and long term care segments. In addition, Larry has held faculty appointments at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and George Washington University School of Medicine where he taught geriatric pharmacotherapy. 

Abhilash Davé is a Principal at Strategic Research Insights (SRI).  Abhilash has a blend of academic, pharmaceutical industry, market research, data analytics, and consulting experience of over two decades. His expertise lies in developing innovative research offerings to effectively address key business questions for sales and marketing team leaders.  He has extensive experience in immunological diseases, biologics, osteoarthritis, pain management, allergy, gastrointestinal diseases, anti-infectives, diabetes, depression, hospital products, and hypertension / heart diseases. He has served as a Director in the Global Market Research team at Pfizer. He has also taught undergraduate and MBA courses. He holds a Ph.D. in marketing / market research from Cornell University, in addition to an MBA in marketing.

Jerry has over thirty years of experience in speaking and consulting extensively on the issues of sales and marketing excellence. His breadth and depth of experience and expertise has led to numerous awards and recognition including being named one of the 50 best salespeople of all time and as one of the top 10 sales experts in the world (according to salesgurus.net). Jerry has been featured on MSNBC and the ABC Radio Network, as well as The Street.com, Wall Street Journal on-line, Fortune, Sales and Marketing Management Magazine, Investor’s Business Daily, Managed Care Pharmacy Practice, Fast Company, Selling Power and Selling Power Live. Jerry’s passion for selling and building business relationships is reflected in his three best-selling business books: The Relationship Edge, The Relationship Edge in Business, and Stop Acting Like a Seller and Start Thinking Like a Buyer.

Starting his career as a sales representative, Jerry quickly rose to become VP and General Manager at Hoechst-Roussel Pharmaceuticals, earning accolades including Salesman of the Year twice and District Manager of the Year three times. Jerry has earned recognition for his expertise in business relationship development, strategic sales messaging, and selling approaches which have led to a position as Executive in Residence at the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and an invitation to the White House to share his views on health care reform. He is passionate about keeping abreast of the latest research and ideas from thought leaders, which tend to reinforce his beliefs and primary tenet of thinking like the customer. Clients continually provide testimonials of his enduring effect on their commercial organization as evidenced by enhanced selling effectiveness, improved coaching by sales managers, and brand excellence in the marketplace.

Ann has over 19 years of experience as a Talent Development leader with a history of consistently improving sales performance and business results through innovative training and development methods and strategic talent management initiatives. She has a proven track record in providing talent process solutions and in selecting, implementing and maximizing human capital and talent management systems and software. 
At TalentFirst Ann is responsible for helping clients to identify and implement actionable tools and systems to optimize their PEOPLE investment.

TalentFirst offers a leading Life Sciences-specific all-in-one talent development solution, iCoachFirst®; a comprehensive field sales force management application designed to maximize the impact and efficiency of critical talent management processes within a field sales organization. 

Ann holds a B.A. degree in Communications and a Master Certificate of Human Resource Management from Villanova University.

amcdonald@talentfirst.com