Download The Top 25DTC Marketers of the Year

P RE S EN T IN G
The Top 25 DTC Marketers of the Year
The 2012 class of Top 25 DTC Marketers of the Year were honored during a special private
luncheon at the conclusion of the DTC National Conference.
U
shering the Top 25 Awards into its second decade, this year’s prestigious group
includes representatives from 15 pharmaceutical companies across a broad range
of DTC responsibilities, from brand marketing to media planning to consumer
engagement. A private luncheon, sponsored by PARADE Magazine, was held in honor of
these Top Marketers and their significant contributions to patient communications.
Joined by their colleagues and industry partners, each Top Marketer was presented with
his or her award as a result of being deemed a “brand and patient champion” in the world of
DTC Marketing. “PARADE is pleased to join DTC Perspectives in recognizing this year’s Top 25
DTC Marketers,” said PARADE Group Publisher, Brett Wilson. “These leaders are setting the
benchmark in the industry and driving innovation in their field.”
The Top 25 DTC Marketers are selected after an industry-wide nomination process,
beginning in late 2011. With the help of past Top 25 Marketers, other key pharma executives and agency leaders, a comprehensive list with
many worthy DTC marketers represented is reviewed
and narrowed down to the final Top 25. Each Top
Marketer is profiled on the subsequent pages. (Note:
this information was collected during the early spring;
some job responsibilities may
have changed.)
On behalf of DTC Perspectives Magazine and PARADE
Brett Wilson of Parade (right)
Magazine, congratulations to
welcomes the 2012 Top 25
every member of this year’s
Marketers and their guests to the
Top 25 DTC Marketers of the
celebratory luncheon (top).
Year!
32 | DTC Perspectives • Summer 2012
Top 25 Index
Bob Allen, 34
Melissa Bojorquez, 35
Jennifer Borgmann, 36
Vladimir A. Castillo, 36
Julia Deves, 40
Ken Haener, 46
Susan Harris, 38
Scott Hazelton, 34
Stacee Jones, 46
Todd Kolm, 44
Laura Y. Kolodjeski, 34
Brian Lange, 47
Carolyn Leighton, 48
Christopher Leonardi, 48
Meredith S. Manning, 44
Shruti Parekh, 45
Jessica Pieters, 38
Lisa Romero, 45
Jennifer E. Ryan, 48
Jeremy Shepler, 40
Laura Stamper, 47
Lisa Tollman, 42
Brian Walsh, 35
Michael A. Wishingrad, 45
Justin Zandri, 42
an apple a day is so
yesterday
PARADE offers Americans practical steps for better living with
a dose of wellness, nutrition, beauty and medical news.
64.6 million readers • 50.2 million uniques
mediakit.parade.com
36 million readers • 6.8 million uniques
GfK MRI Fall 2011, dash based on Spring 2011 publisher-defined prototype;
comScore, January 2012 (Parade Partners [E] and Dashrecipes [E])
Top 25
B
Bob Allen
ob Allen is the Director, Digital Marketing for AstraZeneca. He is responsible for defining and stewarding
Director, Digital Marketing
all digital marketing efforts for the company. Bob has
AstraZeneca
over 20 years of marketing
experience across multiple
industries including: Financial Services, Telecommunications, CPG, and Pharma. Prior to joining AstraZeneca,
Bob was with DigitasHealth where he worked on
a number of major brands, such as Tylenol, P&G
Professional Oral Health, Weight Watchers International, as well as a number of Cardiovascular
brands, including AstraZeneca’s CRESTOR.
He has a great passion for technology, and he
keeps his eye on the pulse of changing market and customer trends. He also
has the ability to balance ‘the latest and greatest’ with the needs of AstraZeneca
and its customers.
Bob Allen (left) of AstraZeneca is congratulated by Brett
Bob is an alumnus of Penn State University who resides in Mount
Wilson of Parade on his DTC marketing accomplishments.
Royal, New Jersey with his family.
L
aura Y. Kolodjeski has served as the Community
Manager for the US Diabetes Division at Sanofi
US since August of 2010. As part of Sanofi’s
Senior Manager, Patient Solutions,
commitment to the diabetes community, Laura is
US Diabetes Division
focused on both listening to and engaging in a dialogue
Sanofi US
directly with people living with diabetes such that
Sanofi may identify gaps to improve existing offerings,
identify new opportunities, and forge new relationships to provide solutions that are truly
relevant to those in need. In this role, Laura manages the Division’s Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/sanofiUSDiabetes) and Twitter Feed (http://twitter.com/Diabetes_sanofi); and,
launched the industry’s first blog, Discuss Diabetes
(http://www.discussdiabetes.com/), specifically dedicated to patients and caregivers within a therapeutic
area.
Prior to joining Sanofi US in January of 2009, Laura climbed the ranks to a
leadership position on the agency side, where she gained more than 17 years of
channel strategy & planning experience on leading brands in industries such as
financial services and consumer packaged goods.
A native of Southern California, Laura earned her BS in Business Administration, Marketing from San Diego State University. She moved to New York City Laura Kolodjeski from Sanofi US is lauded for her
in 1995 after falling in love with its energy while on a brief visit and now resides patient communication efforts by Parade’s Brett
at the New Jersey Shore with her husband, Andrew and their 5-year-old daugh- Wilson.
ter, Olivia.
Laura Y. Kolodjeski
Scott Hazelton
S
Director, Consumer Marketing BPH
Franchise, JALYN®
GlaxoSmithKline
cott Hazelton is the Consumer Brand Director at
GlaxoSmithKline responsible for leading the strategic
development and execution of the consumer marketing initiatives for the BPH
franchise. Most recently, Scott launched the new integrated DTC
campaign for JALYN® with a focus on finding innovative ways
to communicate and support the needs of BPH patients via a
mass reach digital and print media plan.
With over 12 years experience in the pharmaceutical
industry, Scott has held various roles within GlaxoSmithKline in sales, sales training and marketing management
and has been recognized with a GlaxoSmithKline Gold Marketing Excellence award for his contributions to the development of the launch strategy for
JALYN®.
Scott has a BS in Pharmacy from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and lives in Raleigh with his wife, Amanda, and two children, Ella and Lily.
GlaxoSmithKline’s Scott Hazelton (left) received accolades from Parade’s Brett Wilson during the private Top
25 luncheon.
34 | DTC Perspectives • Summer 2012
Top 25
Melissa Bojorquez
Associate Director
eChannel Marketing
Boehringer Ingelheim US
M
elissa Bojorquez is a seasoned health care marketer with over 16 years of experience in both the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. She currently
works with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals leading their US strategy for
Social Media and integrated media specializing in emerging technologies. In this role, she
provides Social Media and Internet Marketing expertise to all of BIs core therapeutic areas,
including but not limited to respiratory, cardiology, diabetes, virology and oncology.
In her short time at BI, she has been a strategic driver in over 20 social media initiatives at BI. She has been directly involved with shaping numerous campaigns and initiatives such as DRIVE4COPD, Healthseeker, disease awareness Initiatives through patient
communities such as Diabetic Connect and COPD Connect and private communities.
These include the utilization of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Within3,
Liveworld and Buddy Media to develop campaigns that leverage two way dialogue with customers. She is also the US liaison aligning with BI Corporate on
corporate social media priorities and initiatives.
Prior to working at Boehringer Ingelheim, Melissa worked at BMS in a
variety of Marketing roles that included both DTC marketing (ABILIFY),
Global eMarketing Communications, Professional Marketing and Global
Medical Marketing (Medical Devices); all of which contributed to a strong
understanding of emerging media and how to best utilize technology to connect with customers.
Parade’s Brett Wilson (right) praised Melissa
She earned her BI in International Marketing at Arizona State University and
Bojorquez from Boehringer Ingelheim for helping to
is the mother of a beautiful one year old daughter, Isabella.
advance DTC communications.
Brian Walsh
Senior Product Manager, EGRIFTA®
EMD Serono, Inc.
B
rian Walsh has been with EMD Serono, Inc. for three years and is currently the Senior
Product Manager responsible for EGRIFTA® Consumer Marketing. In this role, he supported the launch of EGRIFTA® while developing and executing the DTC strategy and
tactics for the brand as a new class of treatment. Previously, he was the US Strategic Marketing
Manager for the Rheumatology Therapeutic Area at EMD Serono, Inc. Brian is a three-time
winner of the EMD Serono, Inc. Values Award given to
teams and individuals that demonstrate the company val-
ues in their work.
Brian started his career at Johnson & Johnson in Operations and later moved
into Pharmaceutical Sales within the Janssen division. During two years in
sales at J&J, Brian ranked top in his district and in the top 15% of the sales
force nationally. After business school, Brian worked as a Marketing Strategy Consultant for the Monitor Group (Cambridge, MA) for three years.
In this role, Brian worked primarily with large pharmaceutical clients across
multiple brands on launch preparedness and market expansion opportunities.
Brian earned his BS in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania
and an MBA from the University of Oxford in the U.K. He currently lives
in Duxbury, MA with his wife Diana and their 4-year old son Liam.
Brian Walsh of EMD Serono (left) is commended by Brett
Wilson of Parade for his efforts in DTC Marketing.
DTC Perspectives • Summer 2012 |
35
Top 25
Vladimir A. Castillo
U.S. Oncology, Yervoy Marketing
Bristol-Myers Squibb
V
ladimir Castillo is currently responsible for Patient
Marketing and Healthcare Professional MultiChannel/CRM Initiatives at Bristol-Myers Squibb
(BMS). In his current YERVOY brand marketing role, he
has developed and executed Offline, In Office and Digital
Strategies. Vlad’s experiences range from PLAVIX marketing to building and leading a center of excellence
group dedicated to supporting direct and digital marketing programs across BMS.
With a clear strategic vision and a commitment to excellence, Vlad empowers his biopharma organization to remain at the forefront of innovative thinking within the industry. His passions mirror his strengths – brand marketing
innovation, customer engagement and analytics, and relationship building/
nurturing through the personal experience perspective.
In his free time Vlad enjoys volunteering in his local community, readBristol-Myers Squibb’s Vladimir Castillo (left) is congratulated ing, working out, and of course, spending time with his family.
by Brett Wilson of Parade for his DTC Marketing excellence.
Jennifer Borgmann
Promotion Manager, Global Marketing
Communications, ISENTRESS
Merck & Co., Inc.
J
ennifer Borgmann started her career at Merck as a Pharmaceutical Sales Representative in
the Boston area. Twelve very successful years later, she has held various positions throughout the organization that have brought her to where she is today, Consumer Promotion
Manager for the HIV team.
Jennifer joined the HIV promotion team soon after the launch of ISENTRESS. She has
seen the brand through the launch of two new indications in addition to several key data extension launches. She developed and launched the unbranded platform (Healthy with HIV) for the brand in 2009 and evolved the branded campaign
for the launch of the Naïve indication.
Jennifer is a dedicated team player whose leadership skills are outstanding. She inspires the agency partners that she
works with to reach new, innovative heights in the pharmaceutical category and leads the way, bringing pharma into
new digital technology. This is evidenced by the successful 2011 launches of both the desktop and mobile applications
that have helped HIV patients actively manage their disease. She tackles challenging assignments with both a big-picture,
strategic approach and a meticulous attention to detail. Her strategic championing for ISENTRESS
led to the successful optimization of the brand’s digital promotion where she achieved
increases in consumer response up to 4,000%. Jennifer handles heavy workloads
with diligence and grace. She has received numerous Awards for Excellence over
the years in addition to several Special Achievement Awards.
Because of Jennifer’s success with the HIV team she was asked to step in and
help develop and launch the branded consumer campaign for Merck’s new
Hepatitis C medication, in addition to maintaining her current role supporting the HIV team. She was able to take 6-8 months of work and condense it
down to three in order to meet aggressive timelines, and launch the first print
ad a month ahead of schedule. The end result was the launch of a successful,
branded campaign that was able to bring key insights of the Hep C consumer
audience to life and helped the brand achieve its over-plan performance for
2011.
When Jennifer is not working, she is having fun with her husband, Jennifer Borgmann of Merck & Co. received commendation
Glenn, and two beautiful children, Luke and Sophie, in Doylestown, Penn- by Parade’s Brett Wilson for her work in the DTC field.
sylvania.
36 | DTC Perspectives • Summer 2012
Top 25
Susan Harris
Sr. Director, Insulins Marketing
Sanofi US
S
usan Harris is an award-winning marketer with 20 years of health and CPG industry
experience. In her current role, Susan is Senior Director for Insulins Marketing with
Sanofi US. Having held positions of increasing responsibility since joining the company
in its Diabetes Business Unit in 2002, she now strategizes and develops pioneering marketing plans and DTC campaigns, including the recently launched new unbranded public service
campaign to encourage people with diabetes to control their blood sugar. With the help of
her team, she has spearheaded the creation of the A1C Champions, to mentor and educate
patients, ultimately driving behavioral changes. Also among her many successes, Susan has
been named a Sanofi Innovation Champion and her work has earned an MM&M Award for Best Diabetes Website.
Prior to joining Sanofi US, Susan worked for Bristol-Myers Squibb, where she began as a product manager before
working her way up to the role of associate director. While in the company’s Managed Care Marketing sector, she created a strategic plan, designed educational materials and tools, and initiated and managed a national Physician Group Advisory Board. In the Consumer Medicines Division, she developed a new product pipeline plan, as well as discovering new
claim opportunities for Excedrin and Comtrex. In addition, she analyzed Rx-to-OTC switch opportunities and managed
a public relations strategy for medical and FDA issues.
In her earlier days, she held the title of International Group Product Manager
with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. It was here where she established a new product
development strategy, copy strategy and strategic direction for analgesics, topical
skin preparations, hair care, vitamins and oral care. She also engineered the
synthesis of acquired American Cyanamid brands into the Whitehall portfolio.
Susan began her career with The Procter & Gamble Company. During her tenure, she helped to develop and launch new product concepts,
develop and implement a brand restage plan, and proposed and managed
packaging changes that resulted in significant cost savings.
In her spare time, she and her husband Ed spend quality time with
their two sons, Sean and Ryan, and their black lab, Riley. Harris earned
a BS in Management/Marketing from Purdue University and her MBA
in Strategic Management and Finance from The Wharton School at the
Susan Harris of Sanofi US is commended for DTC marketing
University of Pennsylvania.
communications by Brett Wilson of Parade.
Jessica Pieters
Brand Marketing Leader,
Seroquel XR/Nexium
AstraZeneca
J
essica Pieters is a marketing leader at AstraZeneca, with oversight across multiple customer
channels for the GI portfolio. She has also led consumer marketing
efforts for Seroquel XR and Crestor during her five-year tenure at
AstraZeneca.
Jessica has over 16 years of marketing experience, having worked in consultancies, ad agencies and in brand management. Prior to joining
AstraZeneca, she led account teams for a variety of DTC brands including
Crestor, Advair and Cymbalta. She also spent several years working across
multiple industries outside of big pharma, including consumer packaged
goods, retail, telecommunications and financial services, leading Fortune
500 brands such as RadioShack, Verizon Wireless, Ericsson, TIAA-CREF
and American Express.
Jessica and her husband reside in West Chester, PA and are looking forward to welcoming their first child this fall. In their spare time they enjoy
adventure travel and just about anything outdoors.
AstraZeneca’s Jessica Pieters received praise by Parade’s Brett
Wilson for her efforts in the DTC marketing industry.
38 | DTC Perspectives • Summer 2012
!
n
Sa
u
S
o
G
Congratulations, Susan Harris, on being named a 2012 Top 25 DTC Marketer
of the Year. From your biggest fans at Arnold.
Top 25
Julia Deves
Senior Product Manager, Tafamidis
Pfizer
J
ulia Deves has 15 years of experience at Wyeth and Pfizer and after more than a decade
in pharmaceutical sales and healthcare professional marketing, Julia discovered her passion for consumer marketing. Julia is currently working on the launch of an orphan
drug in the rare disease space and she is dedicated to helping patients with Transthyretin
Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy (TTR-FAP), an irreversible progressive neurodegenerative disease, and their families learn more about this rare and difficult to diagnose disease. Julia’s primary responsibility is Market Development for tafamidis and she recently
launched a multi-channel Disease Awareness Campaign for TTR-FAP. Currently, she is also leading Digital Strategy, the
Genetic Screening Strategy, the Diagnostic Testing Strategy, the Relationship Marketing Campaign, Public Affairs, and
Public Relations.
Prior to joining the tafamidis team, Julia had a great deal of success on the ENBREL consumer marketing team leading E-Strategy, Media, Relationship Marketing, a new Multicultural Champaign and an integrated Call Center. While
all brands set strategy to “improve doctor patient dialogue” Julia led the way on the
ENBREL team addressing Rheumatoid Arthritis patients’ needs in an innovative and
coordinated approach both in the office and on-line. An Example of Julia’s Work:
RA Conversations is a series of nine videos which offers patients a preview of what
their next visit to their physician could realistically be like and gives them comfort of what to expect on their next visit. RA Conversations is on Enbrel.com
(http://www.enbrel.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/talk-with-your-doctor.jspx)
and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/enbrel).
Julia became well-versed in mass media consumer marketing with
ENBREL and now has expanded her expertise to meeting the needs of a
small community of patients with a very rare disease. She has infectious passion, innovation and drive, coupled with a long history of success providing
helpful tools and resources to patients and their families.
Julia holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of William
Julia Deves of Pfizer is congratulated by Brett Wilson of
and Mary. She resides in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania with her husband
Parade during the Top 25 ceremony.
Aaron, and three boys, Andrew, Carter, and Chase.
Jeremy Shepler
Associate Director,
Diabetes Marketing, Value Up and Devices
Novo Nordisk
F
or over 10 years, Jeremy Shepler has been at the forefront of healthcare marketing. He joined
Diabetes Marketing at Novo Nordisk in 2010, where he currently leads consumer and physician marketing strategy for Value Up and Devices across
the Novo Nordisk insulin portfolio. He led the recent
marketing campaign for FlexPen®, which has become a
corporate benchmark for integration of TV, in-office,
print, web, CRM, PR and online media.
In 2002, he began his career on the digital marketing agency side,
developing breakthrough online solutions for both the professional and
consumer realms. After creating truly integrated campaigns for a number
of A-list healthcare brands, Jeremy made the move to pharmaceutical sales
across several organizations and earned high performance accolades and
the opportunity to transition into product marketing. In 2008, after working on consumer initiatives for the ASTELIN® brand, Jeremy spearheaded
the highly successful launch of ASTEPRO®, for Meda Pharmaceuticals,
which featured a national TV campaign, radio and online executions.
Jeremy holds a BS from Bentley University.
Parade’s Brett Wilson (right) commended Novo Nordisk’s
Jeremy Shepler for his DTC marketing successes.
40 | DTC Perspectives • Summer 2012
Julia, we tried to calculate your career trajectory.
But it looks like you’re off the charts.
Congratulations to Julia Deves on being named
one of DTC Perspectives’ Top 25 marketers of the year.
Top 25
J
Justin Zandri
Associate Director, Spiriva
ustin Zandri joined Boehringer
Ingelheim in May 2010 to lead US
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals
consumer strategy, DTC, and media
planning for Spiriva. During his tenure,
Justin has led efforts to re-invigorate consumer communications for the brand.
The cornerstone of those efforts, the “Elephant” campaign was launched in June
2011. The campaign leverages a key consumer insight based on what it truly feels like
to breathe with COPD. The “Elephant” has received multiple industry awards and
accolades and was lauded in a recent MM&M magazine article as “… a perfect execution [that] delivers on the adage that it is better to have one big idea that can be used
in many multidimensional, multilayered and multifaceted ways than one execution of
a big idea.” Since the launch of the new campaign, Spiriva top-of-mind awareness and
patients’ interest in taking action have significantly
increased.
Justin began his marketing career after earning his MBA from the Darden
School of Business at the University of Virginia. He was classically trained through
consumer packaged good experience garnered over several years with Pfizer
Consumer Healthcare and Johnson & Johnson, where his responsibilities
included consumer strategy and mass communication efforts behind the
Rx-to-OTC switch of Zyrtec, as well as stewardship of Listerine’s whitening portfolio.
Prior to joining Boehringer Ingelheim, Justin worked for the advertising arm of Subway Restaurants. There he helped evolve the company’s
health platform and led marketing efforts supporting the launch of breakfast nationally.
Justin’s favorite thing in the world is spending time with his family: wife
Abigail, son James, and daughter Tess.
Boehringer Ingelheim’s Justin Zandri (left) is lauded for his
work in DTC marketing by Brett Wilson of Parade.
Lisa Tollman
L
isa Tollman is Director of Consumer
Marketing for Amgen’s Bone Health
Business Unit (BHBU). In this role,
she is responsible for all consumer and
patient education and marketing strategy, as well as the planning and implementation of tactics to support the strategy. Most
recently she was instrumental in leading the DTC launch for Prolia from soup to nuts
culminating in a surround sound campaign of TV, Print, Point of Care, Digital, CRM
and other tactics that include award winning actress and Prolia patient, Blythe Danner.
Lisa is recognized for bringing great strategic insight and galvanizing her team around a
focused goal.
Prior to joining the Bone Health Business Unit, Lisa spent three years
leading the Consumer team for Amgen’s Inflammation Business Unit on Enbrel, focused on Dermatology. During that time she and her team revamped the brand’s Digital and
Pharmacy approach, and delivered award-winning Disease Education Campaigns including offline and online elements.
Before joining Amgen in 2006, Lisa spent several years in Consumer
marketing within the Consumer Packaged Goods and Technology industries at both start-up and well-established companies like General Mills
and ConAgra Foods. Her “classic marketing” upbringing and aptitude is
frequently cited as core to the insight she brings to the Biopharma arena.
Earlier in her career, Lisa spent seven years as a management consultant
with Accenture – based in South Africa, and including projects in the UK
and USA – gaining broad business process and management experience in
the retail, transportation and insurance industries.
Lisa earned her BA in mathematics and economics from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and her MBA Lisa Tollman from Amgen received accolades from Parade’s
Brett Wilson during the private Top 25 luncheon.
from Harvard Business School in Cambridge, MA.
Director Marketing, DTC, Prolia®
(denosumab)
Amgen Inc.
42 | DTC Perspectives • Summer 2012
We always knew there were big things
in store for you, Justin.
Congratulations to our client, partner, and friend, Justin Zandri, on being named one
of DTC Perspectives’ Top 25 DTC Marketers of the Year. Huge kudos!
Top 25
Todd Kolm
Director, Emerging Channel Strategy,
US Primary Care Marketing
Pfizer Inc
T
odd Kolm is a member of Pfizer’s US Primary Care Marketing Consumer Center
of Expertise, a group responsible for consumer marketing innovation. He leads the
efforts to harness the potential of emerging channels (social media, mobile, digital
video, etc.) and guides brands in developing and advancing strategies that leverage those channels in the service of consumer engagement. He also chairs a multidisciplinary group that develops Pfizer guidelines
enabling brand marketers to launch initiatives in these new digital frontiers.
Prior to his current role, Todd led Pfizer’s HCP online strategy for the US.
Before joining Pfizer, Todd worked at PSL Group, where he was
president of DGNN, a new business unit that delivered essential medical
information to HCPs on the go. He also led product development and
marketing of the company’s strategic solutions that leveraged innovative,
multi-channel approaches.
Prior to PSL Group, Todd was at Medscape where he was responsible
for product development of consumer and HCP initiatives. His efforts
led to the launch of the company’s first foray in mobile back in 2000.
Pfizer’s Todd Kolm (left) earned praise for his DTC marketHe also played an integral role in the company’s launch of an online coning successes by Parade’s Brett Wilson.
sumer health portal in partnership with CBS News.
Meredith S. Manning
Senior Director, Marketing
Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
M
eredith Manning joined Vertex in 2009 as Director, Marketing and was promoted to Senior Director in 2010. In this role, Meredith led the consumer and
patient marketing team to develop a robust strategy that has helped differentiate
INCIVEK™, Vertex’s first commercial launch, in the competitive hepatitis C market. Meredith and her team created a comprehensive suite of programs & resources to help educate
and support patients through treatment. This included building a new team of field-based
clinical nurse educators and two major campaigns: Better to Know C, an unbranded hepatitis C awareness campaign and the
branded INCIVEK™ campaign.
The Better to Know C campaign won the 2011 MM&M award for Best Disease/Education Website, which recognizes
excellence for websites that promote education about specific disease states or health issues. Meredith was also part of the
INCIVEK marketing team that won the 2011 MM&M award for Small Pharma Marketing Team of the Year.
Meredith now leads the Treatment Educator (TE) team as the National Director,
Treatment Educators. The Vertex TE team is a group of field-based Nurses, Nurse
Practitioners or Physician Assistants who provide education to healthcare providers on how to safely and appropriately use INCIVEK™ triple therapy. The TEs
also teach classes to help prepare patients for treatment.
Prior to joining Vertex, Meredith spent eight years with Pfizer where
she held a number of marketing and commercial development positions.
In her various roles there, Meredith assisted brand teams with payer contracting strategies as part of the Payer Provider Marketing Group, conducted a primary care field rotation, participated on the Pfizer Worldwide
Early Commercial Development team that was responsible for commercial
assessment of in-licensing and acquisition opportunities for the company’s
Oncology therapeutic area and worked on the brand strategies for two of
Pfizer’s breast cancer products – Ellence and Aromasin.
Brett Wilson of Parade (right) congratulated Meredith
Meredith has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Colorado Manning of Vertex for her work advancing patient commuCollege and received her International MBA from the University of nications.
Chicago.
44 | DTC Perspectives • Summer 2012
Top 25
S
hruti Parekh is the current consumer marketing
manager for AndroGel, the market leading brand
Shruti Parekh
for men’s testosterone replacement therapy develProduct
Manager,
II, AndroGel
oped by Abbott Laboratories. During her time with
Abbott
Laboratories
AndroGel, Shruti led the first ever fully integrated marketing campaign across television, digital, and mobile. In
addition, she also launched the first SMS text program
and developed the first branded TV commercial for the brand. Shruti was awarded the Pharmaceutical Division Presidents Award in 2011 for her contributions to the launch of the next
generation of AndroGel.
At Abbott, Shruti has also held management positions in marketing and market research
across several international divisions. In her first role at Abbott, she was a sales representative in the lipid lowering franchise. Prior to joining Abbott, she held management consultant
positions for five years at Accenture within the Government and Automotive practices. She
specialized in IT systems integration and implementation.
Shruti graduated with an MBA in 2007 from the Ross School of Business at The University of Michigan. She holds a
BBA in business administration from The University of Michigan.
M
ichael Wishingrad currently works in Global
Marketing Communications as the Team
Leader for the GARDASIL Franchise overGardasil Franchise Team Leader
seeing the Global promotional activities for both
Merck & Co., Inc.
Healthcare Professional and Healthcare Consumer. He
joined Merck and Co. Inc., in 2001 as a Health Science Associate working with national thought leaders
to prepare the market for the launch of ZETIA and began working in Marketing in 2004 to
support the launch of VYTORIN. In 2006, Michael joined Global Marketing Communications and worked as part of the team responsible for consumer DTC and relationship marketing for VYTORIN and ZETIA. During this time, his efforts on the team were recognized
internally by being a finalist for several Merck Marketing awards including “Best Marketing
Program” – Patient kit for ZETIA, “Best Consumer Program”
– Hispanic DTC campaign for VYTORIN, “Best Consumer Campaign” – Food and
Family: the two sources of cholesterol and “Marketing Team of the Year.” In 2007,
the team also received a Gold DTC National Advertising Award for “Best 2007
Point-of-Care Campaign” for a VYTORIN “Food and Family” in-store program.
After a brief period supporting consumer promotion for SINGULAIR and
NASONEX, Michael joined the Merck Vaccine Division in the summer of
2010. His early efforts included assisting in the development of the consumer
campaign for ZOSTAVAX. After a change in responsibilities, Michael worked
on the evolution of the consumer print campaign from “One Less” to “Both”
resulting in a significant increase in awareness of the male indication for GARDASIL, which was critical to the brand’s success in 2011. Additional efforts in
consumer promotion have been focused on developing innovative programs to
ensure completion of the dose series for GARDASIL and the evolution of the
International consumer campaign.
Michael Wishingrad of Merck & Co. (left) received accolades
Michael holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology/Pre-Med from by Parade’s Brett Wilson for his DTC marketing efforts.
Canisius College and a Master’s Degree in Biochemical Pharmacy from the
State University of New York at Buffalo.
Michael A. Wishingrad
A
Parade’s Brett Wilson (right) praised Lisa Romero of
OraPharma during the congratulatory Top 25 luncheon.
highly driven and
strategic marketer,
Lisa Romero
Lisa Romero is curProduct Director
rently Product DirecOraPharma
tor with OraPharma,
responsible for Arestin. In her role, she
championed the “Pearls” campaign for the gum
disease prescription treatment. After uncovering
valuable insights, Lisa led to the implementation
of an integrated strategy that included branded and
unbranded in-office materials as well as a mobile
campaign, all of which helped turn around sales
in 2011.
DTC Perspectives • Summer 2012 |
45
Top 25
Ken Haener
Media Director, Team Leader
Pfizer
K
en Haener leads the Media Team for Pfizer’s biopharmaceutical brands. In this
role, he is responsible for media strategy and investments across traditional, digital and search media. Pfizer is one of the top DTC advertisers and key brands
include Celebrex, Chantix, Enbrel, Lipitor, Lyrica, Premarin, Pristiq, Prevnar 13, and
Viagra. He has worked in the industry for more than 20 years both on the agency and
corporate side.
Ken joined Pfizer in 2001 focusing on
several DTC launches, portfolio TV buying, and media research. As
media director, he championed an integrated approach that minimizes
traditional/digital silos to find the optimal media solution for brands. A
highlight of his Pfizer experience has been working on Lipitor (with
peak annual US sales of $7.8 billion) where he played a key role in
the evolution of the brand’s media mix. Under Ken’s leadership,
Pfizer’s media practice continues to lead in the digital space,
while maximizing the value of media investments.
Prior to Pfizer Ken worked at several leading agencies including The Media Edge, JWT and Bates working on Unilever,
Procter & Gamble, Warner-Lambert, Roche and MetLife.
He received his BS in psychology from Old Dominion University and lives in Fairfield, CT with his wife and 16 year old
Ken Haener from Pfizer (left) is lauded by Parade’s Brett Wilson for his
daughter.
DTC marketing efforts.
Stacee Jones
Senior Product Manager, Primary Care Marketing
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
S
tacee Jones knows the pharmaceutical industry from the ground up. With over a decade
of experience in the industry, she started her career in sales and eventually transitioned to
marketing, where she found a true passion in consumer marketing. Stacee currently serves
as Senior Project Manager in Cardiovascular marketing at Novartis, a role in which she leads
direct-to-consumer efforts for the blockbuster brands Diovan and Exforge.
Prior to that Stacee was the DTC lead for the Tekturna family with responsibilities ranging from overall consumer strategy to tactic development for five brands, including two launch
brands, Tekamlo and Amturnide. She led the creative development and production of a robust cross-culturally focused
Tekturna DTC campaign, which included TV, print and digital promotion. Additionally, she revamped branded websites
and aligned the consumer savings registration experience across the CV portfolio via the “SaveOnYourPrescription.com”
microsite. Given her natural ability to forge strong partnerships with key internal and external team members, Stacee was
able to build a strong foundation for the Tekturna family brands in a very short time period.
Before moving into consumer marketing, Stacee worked in Professional Promotions as a Product Manager for the
Tekturna family. In this position, she was part of a team that successfully implemented a clinically focused unbranded/
branded promotional campaign.
Earlier in her career, Stacee excelled as a Skills and Product training manager, earning a Business Excellence award as
a member of the expansion training team. Her experience in sales at both Parke-Davis and Novartis earned her a district
MVP award in 2004 and provided a foundation for her future successes in the industry.
Stacee earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Villanova University. An avid sports fan, she can be found cheering for the Wildcats and her beloved hometown team, the Steelers. She also enjoys travel, cooking, photography and a
relaxing round of golf.
46 | DTC Perspectives • Summer 2012
Top 25
Brian Lange
Product Director – Cardiovascular and Urology,
LOVAZA, LEVITRA, STAXYN
GlaxoSmithKline
B
rian Lange is currently a Marketing Director with GlaxoSmithKline in its US Pharmaceuticals Business. Within his current role, he has responsibility for all DTC activation
and strategy development for several brands within the Cardiovascular and Urology
franchises. Prior to joining GSK in January 2011, Brian spent approximately six years working in a series of progressive roles within the Consumer Companies of Johnson & Johnson,
including as the Senior Brand Manager on JOHNSON’S Baby and Brand Manager on
SPLENDA. Throughout his marketing career, Brian has been a committed champion of marketing to diverse consumer populations – with experience developing marketing plans for both the Hispanic and AfricanAmerican communities.
His track record is one of delivering business growth, marketing and communications excellence, and a relentless focus
on eliminating organizational churn and identifying the true business opportunity and challenge. He’s worked on teams
that span the globe and is known for always having a good joke, a funny story, and an on-the-fly analogy for just about
anything.
His most prized marketing awards and accomplishments include championing the development of the first two
mobile-friendly brand websites at GSK, developing one of the first integrated Facebook campaigns for the Baby business
at Johnson & Johnson, spearheading the launch of SPLENDA with Fiber, receiving an award from AdAge for “Best Holiday Print” in 2007 for SPLENDA, and being selected as the Duke Marketing “Above and Beyond” Alumni of the Year
in 2006 and 2007.
He has an MBA from Duke University, an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia, and currently resides
with his wife and three children in Chapel Hill, North Carolina – so if you’ve got a question about anything related to
the Atlantic Coast Conference, he’s your man! Originally from Long Island, he spent the first several years of his professional career working as a Strategy Consultant within the Health Care and Pharmaceutical industries at PriceWaterhouseCoopers before returning to business school. In his spare time, he’s an aspiring scratch golfer and a huge New York
Yankees fan.
Laura Stamper
Product Manager, Neurodegenerative Diseases
EMD Serono
F
or over six years, Laura Stamper has served in a variety of roles on the Neurodegenerative Diseases Marketing team at EMD Serono, Inc. In her current
role as Product Manager, she helps drive the strategic direction
of the brand and manages numerous innovative
consumer initiatives designed to help educate
and motivate people living with relapsing MS
including Talk MS, an online educational
show, the MS LifeLines Ambassador program, and CHAT Programs. She is
instrumental in building and maintaining relationships with MS thought
leaders and core MS advocacy organizations. Laura’s extensive knowledge
of the disease state and marketplace are critical to her success, but it is her
passion for the patients and focus on developing marketing solutions that
truly help patients live well with MS that sets her apart.
Laura received her Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the University of Rhode Island and currently lives outside Boston in Weymouth,
MA. Laura has participated in the National MS Society’s Bike MS Cape
Laura Stamper from EMD Serono is congratulated for her
Code Getaway, riding to support a close friend living with MS.
work with patient communications by Brett Wilson of
Parade.
DTC Perspectives • Summer 2012 |
47
Top 25
C
arolyn Leighton was most recently a key member
Carolyn Leighton
of Auxilium’s XIAFLEX® product marketing team
Product Manager, XIAFLEX
as of 2010. XIAFLEX is a prescription medicine
Auxilium Pharmaceuticals
used to treat adults with Dupuytren’s (pronounced, “Doo
(Formerly)
puh trenz”) contracture in the hand when a “cord” can be
felt. Dupuytren’s contracture is a progressive hand condition that can cause the fingers to bend into the palm.
Upon joining the marketing team, Carolyn was presented with two challenges: first, to
bring attention to this little-known hand condition, and second, to give relevance to the only nonsurgical treatment
option for Dupuytren’s contracture.
Following the FDA approval of XIAFLEX and market
launch in February 2010, she helped to spearhead the
product’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) campaign to
raise awareness about Dupuytren’s contracture. In 2011, she transformed the
consumer program into a fully-integrated cross-platform national marketing
effort. The 2011 DTC program expanded beyond national print advertising to
include a broadcast effort in select markets, a robust online program including
WebMD placements, paid search, a re-designed consumer website, and a customer relationship management program.
Before joining Auxilium, Carolyn spent significant time as a marketer on
the agency-side, representing healthcare clients such as EMD Serono, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Shire. While at imc2, a Philadelphia-based digital marketing agency, she led all aspects of interactive projects and campaigns, and
Brett Wilson of Parade congratulated Carolyn Leighton durat PointRoll, she coordinated all elements of multi-million dollar online
ing the private Top 25 luncheon.
advertising campaigns.
D
rawing from 24 years of Marketing, Sales and
Training experience, Christopher Leonardi has
served as Associate Director, US on the CML
Associate Director, Tasigna
(chronic myeloid leukemia) Brand Team at Novartis
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
since January 2011. During this time, Chris LeonCorporation
ardi was part of the successful US launch of Tasigna in
newly diagnosed patients, and helped manage the overall transition of CML business from Gleevec to Tasigna in the Consumer Marketing arena.
In 2011, he successfully rolled out Ph+ CML Patient Summit in six US cities. These programs
were designed to help patients understand CML better and give them an opportunity to talk with
a panel of Medical experts.
Chris Leonardi is a two-time Presidents Award recipient, earning his first in 2011 for the
National Launch of Frontline Tasigna and his second in 2012 for the STEP-UP Program, a starter kit for Tasigna patients.
Christopher Leonardi
T
enacious. Passionate. And armed with 20 years of
Jennifer E. Ryan
marketing experience. Jennifer Ryan is responsible
Team Leader, Global
for numerous successful consumer and physician
brand promotions on the Merck Women’s Contraception
Contraceptives, GMC and CS,
Healthcare Franchise. This includes the brands NuvaRing®,
Merck & Co., Inc.
Implanon®, Nexplanon®, Cerazette®, Mercilon®, Marvelon®, and Livial®. In addition to her day-to-day brand responsibilities, Jennifer also challenges
herself to play an active role to change Merck for the better. In fact, she’s a Certified Merck
Sigma Greenbelt. Jennifer is always ready to kick fresh thinking into gear!
Prior to her role at Merck, her diverse career spanned many disciplines and target audiences
including community affairs, not-for-profit, consumer packaged goods, medical education, and
ethical advertising. She’s led marketing and advertising campaigns for global pharmaceutical brands
in the respiratory, cardiovascular, CNS, sexual health, and women’s health categories. She also has experience on consumer
brands, such as Thomas’ baked goods and Starwood Hotels and Resorts.
Some of Jennifer’s most commendable work has been the topic of many women’s health conversations. The NuvaRing®
campaign “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday” not only won the prestigious Silver Clio Award, but also catapulted the brand
into the consumer spotlight. Most recently, Jennifer launched the multi-channel DTC NuvaRing® campaign “Oh!” Always
looking for a new challenge, Jennifer is currently spearheading consumer initiatives outside of the United States.
Jennifer received a BA in Advertising and Business from Penn State University. She has completed Public Relations
coursework at NYU and attended the Harvard Business School Executive program. When she’s not busy eating, sleeping,
and breathing marketing, she’s spending time at her residence in Cranford, NJ, with Buddy, her dog.
48 | DTC Perspectives • Summer 2012