Speakers

Mike is a distinguished commercial leader with more than 15 years’ experience in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

He has a wide spectrum of professional experience from R&D, medical affairs, process improvement and commercial functions. He has worked in Europe, Australia, Asia, and the US. 

Mike assumed leadership of Novartis’ cardiovascular business in the United States in January 2018, managing a Franchise with approximately 1200 sales professionals. He has a strong interest in performance optimisation of these associates, and particularly the use of digital technology to achieve these ends. Prior to arriving in the US Mike was the Managing Director of Novartis Corporation in Taiwan.   

Mike completed his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Newcastle, Australia and Professorial thesis in Immunology at the University of Essen, Germany. Prior to entering the industry he spent six years in that Germany, initially as an Alexander von Humboldt Scholar.

Michael J. Ruggiero, J.D., is the head of Government & Public Affairs Global Franchise Business Partners for the Healthcare business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.  In this role, Michael leads the design of government and public affairs strategies for the company’s global Oncology, Neurology & Immunology, and Fertility business units, to achieve business priorities for pipeline assets, product launches, and lifecycle management.  Michael also is accountable for coordinating the execution of these strategies at the regional and country level.  Michael serves on the Global Marketing & Strategy Leadership Team, the Global Healthcare Government & Public Affairs Leadership Team, and the Global Market Access & Pricing Leadership Team.

Michael joined the company in 2013 to lead the US Government Affairs & Policy function. 

Michael previously held leadership roles overseeing government strategy and advocacy at Astellas Pharma Inc., and was an attorney in Washington, D.C. at the law firms of Arnold & Porter and King & Spalding, where he represented pharmaceutical and medical device clients primarily on a range of issues including Medicare product access and reimbursement.

Michael earned a B.A. in Economics from Syracuse University, and a J.D. cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center.  He has served as adjunct faculty at American University’s Washington College of Law, where he designed and taught the course “Pharmaceuticals and the Law.”  He is a past Chairman and serves on the Board of the National Kidney Foundation Serving the National Capital Area.

Michael lives in McLean, Virginia with his wife Jennifer and their two daughters, Stella and Olivia.  He is a musician and enjoys cooking.

Najur Runganadhan is a Business Partner, supporting the US Pharma Division at Novartis.  He was previously Head of Commercial Effectiveness for the US Pharma COPD Franchise, and joined Novartis as a lead within the Portfolio & Advanced Analytics team, supporting the US Pharma Division.

Prior to Novartis, Najur led the West Coast CES Delivery Team at IMS Health, supporting a broad variety of pharma, bio-tech and oncology focused companies, primarily located on the West Coast.

He also has extensive experience working at the brand and portfolio level across Patient and HCP focused sales, marketing and commercialization efforts in both client-side and consulting roles, for companies such as J&J, Pfizer, Wyeth, AstraZeneca, Lily, and others.

He has led and been part of pre-launch, launch and LOE product teams, working across a variety of therapeutic areas within the CV, Metabolics, Oncology, Immunology, Neuroscience, GI, Infectious Disease and Vaccines categories.

John is a leading pharmaceutical industry expert and regular speaker regarding shifting marketplace dynamics and developing corresponding commercial strategies.  His unique point of view stems from broad functional and therapeutic exposure at JNJ.  John is currently Director of Health Care Quality Strategy at Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems, Inc.  In this role John has created the structure for a successful multi-stakeholder partnerships to improve diabetes care.  He has shaped product differentiation by shaping economic value proposition to converge product clinical data and quality metrics in cardiovascular and metabolics disease. John is also leading a change management to adapt the Janssen Immunology operating company to align more with value-based care (VBC).  In this capacity, John is leading external partnership opportunities in the health care system regarding goals of value-based care while working internally to institutionalize VBC strategies throughout the operating company. 

Previously, John supported the early commercialization marketing strategy for JNJ’s Hepatitis B portfolio, facilitating and leading senior leader global development stakeholders.  He was heavily influential in blue print target product profile development and working closely with R&D to incorporate access data generation within the early phase clinical programs.  He also had the opportunity to work on life-cycle management strategy to support the global launch and competitive differentiation of simeprevir for the treatment of Hepatitis C.  

John’s early experiences were field-based, driving launch success of Zytiga through speakers bureau development and promotional educational development.  He built a Urology penetration strategy to support further comfort of Zytiga in Urology practices.  He also spent the beginning of his career as a medical science liaison within the Gastroenterology therapeutic area.  John’s broad and successful field experience has been recognized externally, serving as a frequent speaker on key opinion leader management strategies.

John earned his Ph.D. in 2004 from Northwestern University, focusing his research on virology and cancer biology.  In 2014 he earned his MBA from Drexel University with a concentration in marketing.  John lives just outside of Philadelphia with his wife, Francesca,  and two children, Benjamin (8) and Calla (6).

As the Vice President of the GLP-1 Portfolio, Ed oversees the commercial success of a core portfolio of Novo Nordisk brands including Victoza, Ozempic, and future GLP-1 products. 

Over the course of his 15 year career at Novo Nordisk, Ed has held numerous sales and marketing positions within the commercial organization including: brand management and leadership across multiple brands and product launches in both diabetes and obesity, District Sales Manager, and VP of Sales Execution & Operations. Most recently Ed oversaw the launch of the Ozempic brand.

Prior to his career in pharma, Ed worked on Wall Street in real estate finance and as a consultant to large, institutional investment banks for fixed income products.

Ed earned a BS in Finance from Lehigh University, an MBA in Marketing and Finance from Fordham University, and a Certificate of Professional Development from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Keith has 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry where he honed his sales, sales management, operations and sales training skills with top fortune 500 companies. Keith is currently an Associate Director at Bristol-Myers Squibb were he leads a training team.

Mark has over 20 years of experience partnering with Executives to make technology investments that drive business results.  Mark is currently Business Technology Lead for Cardiovascular Metabolic at Pfizer. He has been leading the Global Innovative Pharma Digital Program for the last 2 years to target investments in emerging areas of digital healthcare. He also co-leads Quitter’s Circle, an innovative digital program to get smokers to engage in HCP assisted quits. During his 18 years at Pfizer, Mark has held several leadership roles in Business Technology, helping executives exploit marketplace opportunities using technology and process including: Commercial Operations, Specialty & Oncology, Drug Portfolio Management, Primary Care U.S. and Pfizer Health Solutions.

Prior to his career at Pfizer, Mark was an Engagement Leader with Arthur Andersen Business Consulting for 8 years. During this time he led many large-scale business transformation programs for such companies as NYNEX, GTE, Columbia Gas and Weyerhaeuser Mortgage. Mark was a key player in developing the Arthur Andersen's Business Consulting practice in both the Los Angeles and New York. 

Don is the Vice President of Business Development, and is responsible for the overall performance of the LexisNexis claims-based solutions.

Don has over 20 years of experience in the health care industry, spanning roles in market research, sales, and account management. At LexisNexis, Don has responsibilities for business development and account management. He works with pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies, as well as other health care-related organizations, to provide strategic consulting and information solutions to sales, commercial operations, and marketing, across the full range of LexisNexis Market Intelligence solutions.

Prior to joining LexisNexis, Don was Sales Director at IMS Health, one of the world’s largest data and information companies in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. In this role, he supported numerous clients across multiple segments, including pharmaceutical and biotech companies, ad agencies, government agencies, consulting firms, and other health care-related organizations.

Don holds a BS in Business from Stockton University, and an MBA in Pharmaceutical Marketing from St. Joseph’s University.

Jason Morhart is the Marketing Director at Astellas Pharma Inc. leading the healthcare professional channel marketing efforts. He has over 18 years of pharmaceutical industry experience, including various roles in sales and marketing at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hospira, and Accera Inc., before joining Astellas in 2012. His experience in Dermatology, Neuroscience, HIV/AIDS, Critical Care, Oncology and Urology is in a variety of traditional pharma and start-up environments. He also serves as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army Reserve with over 23 years combined active and reserve duty. Jason received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from University of Colorado, Boulder and Master of Business Administration degree from Notre Dame.

Sandy Sexton is the Director, Consumer Marketing at Regeneron Healthcare Solutions leading the development and implementation of patient campaigns and programs for the Immunology Division. Sandy is an essential contributor in the DUPIXENT Marketing team, and for her, the priority has always been on patients—everything she does revolves around serving patients. Sandy has over 18 years of pharmaceutical industry experience, including various roles in sales, training, public relations, and marketing. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, as well as her MBA in Marketing from Iona College in New Rochelle, NY.

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 28 years of both client and agency side strategic pharmaceutical marketing experience to the Brand & Portfolio Management for Specialty Products event. Working in a small company environment, he wears many hats and brings a unique perspective on the challenges of pharma marketing with limited resources.

Jill Donahue, HBa, MAdEd is on a mission to lift pharma – to help us gain back our ability to influence and contribute to better outcomes.

When Jill was 35, she lost her father to an avoidable prescribing error. As a professional in the pharmaceutical industry, she asked herself: ‘What if my Dad’s doctor’s rep had been able to access and influence him more effectively?’

She is a firm believer that the greatest outcomes will be achieved when we shift from being script centric to patient centric. As a global thought leader in pharma, she is winning awards for her work, delivering talks at global conferences, publishing in industry journals and serving pharma teams.

To help commercial pharma people influence ethically so they can make a difference in patient outcomes and improve sales simultaneously, she authored 2 books which became the most popular programs ever seen at Canada’s Council for Continuing Pharmaceutical Education. These spread by word of mouth to 25% of the reps in Canada and won the LTEN Award of Excellence. She also co-founded The Aurora Project; a global volunteer group of thought leaders trying to illuminate commercial pharma’s path to patient centricity.

Jill’s programs are engaging, insightful and game-changing. You can connect with her at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillexcellerate/

Dr. Geissler is an expert in applied behavior analysis with a focus on organizational behavior management.  Organizations engage her to help with change planning and implementation, performance improvement, leadership team alignment and development, and executive coaching.  Industries she has supported in Europe, North America and the Far East include biotech, manufacturing, health insurance, consumer goods, banking, and others. 

From 2014 through 2017, she was an invited professor in the Executive MBA Program at the Business School at Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. Her courses focused on the role of behavioral leadership in small- and large-scale global change efforts. 

Dr. Geissler co-authored a chapter in The Behavior Breakthrough (2013), detailing Behavioral Leadership to enable superior execution and regularly speaks at conferences globally.  

In his role as Vice President of Client Services for Truveris’ Patient Access business, Jon oversees the delivery of effective and efficient patient access programs for Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology clients. Jon joined Truveris in May of 2015, and has served in Product Development, Account Management and Operations roles within the Patient Access business.  Prior to Truveris, Jon worked as a brand strategy and marketing consultant in the healthcare industry, helping companies shape go-to-market strategies for new products, reposition products in changing markets and ensure effective integration post M&A. Jon holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Music from Emory University and a Master’s in Business Administration with a focus in Healthcare Administration and Entrepreneurship from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

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.

Santos has more than 20 years of marketing and sales experience across a variety of therapeutic areas (Allergy, Infectious Disease, Neurology, Ophthalmology and Psychiatry). Santos blends a “Moneyball” philosophy of marketing where analytics and ROI are the core essentials and ensures his brands maintain a customer-centric approach that is both realistic and executable from a marketing and sales perspective. Santos is currently a Director of Marketing at Bausch + Lomb.

Chris has 27 years’ experience in the biopharmaceutical industry in sales and commercial leadership roles.  Most recently he was VP of US Sales at Sunovion, where he grew their marque asset, Latuda, into a blockbuster billion-dollar brand and currently is President of his NJ based consultancy and executive coaching practice.  Chris also worked at Pfizer for 21 years with roles in Sales, Marketing, and Training, culminating in his role leading all promotion assets (digital and personal) for Established Products US Brands Group.

Mike Tilton is an industry recognized innovator with a proven track record of leading and/or launching 7 Blockbuster Brands.  He has held senior executive positions within the Pharmaceutical/Biotech industry and advised multiple start-up and private equity organizations.

His forward thinking, guided by extensive experience in marketing, sales, managed markets and operations, has aided Mike in transforming organizational performance through the development and implementation of unique customer facing models.

His ability to create an impactful strategy that can be flawlessly executed across diverse markets has led to multiple brands achieving market leading performance.

Mark McKay enjoyed a meaningful and exciting 19-year pharma career in the field and in commercial operations for Abbott/Abbvie where he conducted over a thousand days of field coaching in his 12 years as a district manager.  In his evangelizing role at MicroStrategy Mark now helps pharma leaders maximize the value of their data assets by adopting next-generation enterprise analytics and mobility solutions capable of transforming the field experience by increasing representative and manager efficiency, focus, and engagement in a constantly evolving environment.

Javier Castillo is a registered pharmacist with over 20 years of pharmaceutical biotech and patient centric experience.  He has been with IQVIA since 2007 developing customized patient and provider support programs that drive product adoption, patient and provider navigation, patient engagement and retention, and improved outcomes.

Prior to joining IQVIA Commercial, Javier was Director of National Accounts at Pinsonault Associates, LLC a highly regarded managed markets consulting company servicing the pharma and biotech sectors.  In this role he worked with key clients in the development and execution of enhanced managed markets strategies and training for existing and emerging products in order to insure a successful launch and a secure reimbursement environment for his clients’ products.  Additionally, Javier led all Medicare Part D consulting and training projects including the development of a call center for the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit of one of the largest providers of health care benefits. 

His broad background includes an extensive career at EMD Serono, Inc. and Centocor, Inc. where he held positions as Managed Markets Account Executive, Manager of Government Affairs for the Eastern United States, Sales Training, and Hospital Systems Sales and Contracting.

Mike has over 20 years product, sales & marketing experience in the Business Intelligence industry. Mike helped bring analytic products to market with senior roles at Seagate Software, AIM Technology, Tealeaf, Accero & GoodData.

Mike Moran specializes in Commercial Operations and Pharmaceutical Insights.  With years of experience innovating solutions for sales leadership, and a focus on an actionable sales insights strategy, Mike believes we’re only just starting to tap into the potential for a fully integrated commercial insights landscape.  As healthcare data improves, and the landscape of field support solutions continues to evolve, it is our primary responsibility to provide innovative new strategies to apply detailed customer information in the most actionable and easy to consume manner possible driving adoption and growth across a complex healthcare landscape.

 

Brent Herspiegel is the Founder and President of Herspiegel Consulting LLC.  As a 20-year pharmaceutical industry veteran, Brent brings his global consulting and substantial client-side experience to our client projects. With his passion for innovative marketing and strategic planning, Brent has successfully developed Herspiegel Consulting into a trusted partner for our client’s marketing and operational needs.

Since its founding in 2007, Brent has helped Herspiegel Consulting pioneer groundbreaking approaches and set new standards to help our clients triumph over challenges. He has expanded the firm’s core services to address the unique and individual needs of our clients’ US and global brands. 

Prior to starting Herspiegel Consulting, Brent developed his passion for and deep expertise in pharmaceutical marketing while working in a variety of new product planning, pre-launch and in-line marketing and sales positions for Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly and Esprit Pharma (acquired by Allergan). He recognized that many pharmaceutical and biotech clients’ needs would be best served by an agency partner that could unite exceptional marketing strategy and tactical implementation with a rigorous analytical mindset and approach typical of a consultancy. Hence Herspiegel Consulting was borne to uniquely satisfy those needs in the marketplace.

Originally hailing from Canada, Brent received his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and his Masters of Business Administration specializing in the Management of Innovation and New Technology from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Brent also serves as a board member of the Phi Delta Theta Canadian Educational Foundation.

Charleen is an experienced content director, market researcher and published author with a passion for creative storytelling. She produces innovative b2b networking conferences that serve as platforms to help businesses and professionals create narratives that inspire and foster connectivity between industry thought leaders. Her portfolio currently focuses on events in the life sciences and travel, hospitality and leisure industries. She manages WBR’s Digital Travel Summit, Future Pharma (Formerly PharmaForce), MedForce, and NGPX. When not developing awesome programs, you can find her working on her next novel, traveling with her husband, or Instagramming photos of her beloved French Bulldog, Marv.

Having spent over 30 years in healthcare marketing and advertising, including 17 years as CEO of Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide, one of the largest healthcare agency networks in the world, Matt has turned his creative energy to the fast-paced world of technology services and solutions as the CEO of Inception Digital.  At Inception’s helm, Matt has broad responsibility for leading teams in video production and broadcasting, AV and meeting planning services and virtual meeting technologies, including Pando – the newest innovation in virtual meeting solutions with applications in sales training, speaker training, market research, advisory boards and more.  In this role, Matt brings his deep understanding of the healthcare marketplace ecosystem, healthcare marketers & manufacturers and the myriad of media, agencies and suppliers supporting them.

Matt is a founding board member and currently Chairman of Charity Navigator, the largest and most-utilized charity evaluator in America.

Matt and his wife of 29 years, Colleen, live in their rapidly-emptying nest in northern New Jersey.  Their three daughters, Emma, Sarah and Hannah are the center of their universe, with a yellow and chocolate lab orbiting enthusiastically nearby.  With whatever time is left on the calendar, Matt enjoys fly-fishing, skiing and, when even vaguely encouraged, acoustic guitar and vocals.