The Marketers Dave Escalante Jr. Raising the Bar Passionate. Dedicated. Dave Escalante loves his team, his company, and working for an industry that is making a real difference in people’s lives every day. A take-charge leader, dedicated to quality and innovation, Dave Escalante’s can-do attitude elevates every conversation from a pure conceptual level to a very practical and detailed action plan. Mr. Escalante’s career has been built on a ladder of hard work, industry knowledge, and producing results. During his almost 20 years in the industry, he has been instrumental in delivering sales, marketing, and compliance solutions to healthcare and life-sciences companies. He has led product and business teams in developing solutions around CRM, master data management, and data analytics for some of the industry’s top providers. Since taking over Cegedim’s U.S. marketing group in late 2012, Mr. Escalante has increased the company’s marketing efforts significantly, with positive results. His untiring efforts, great leadership, and strong character have been instrumental in the consistent growth of the company. His proactive approach to challenges began with a good piece of advice: when working to achieve career goals, always ask for your manager’s help, never for permission. As CEO of SK&A Information Services, he was instrumental in leading that organization’s outstanding growth and subsequent acquisition by Cegedim. He counts his leadership of SK&A both his career highlight and his greatest challenge. In the office early and out late, he is always enthusiastic and positive even in the face of the most daunting challenges. Mr. Escalante is a team player who wants to see his team do well; he loves to roll up his sleeves and collaborate, always on the look out for the best approach and response. He looks for ways to constantly make things better and never settles simply for what’s currently working. He motivates his team members to do the same and his open-door policy allows them to share new ideas and thinking with him, which results in a rich dialogue. Whether working on a new service idea, a complex data management project, or a marketing plan, Mr. Escalante rallies his team and coaches everyone to ultimate success. One of his most notable achievements at Cegedim was the development of a social-media product that accurately identifies physicians and their social activity and persona. Called OneKey Digital, this unique product gives the healthcare industry the opportunity to engage with physicians in the digital channel at a time when personal and traditional access have become more restrictive. OneKey Digital directly addresses a market need and provides an effective plan for the future. Mr. Escalante believes intrinsically in the value of social media, saying it directly influences every aspect of running a commercial business — from research, marketing, sales, delivery, to customer service/support. “A company and its leadership team need to seriously consider the increasing importance of social media to running a successful business," he says. He is currently working on yet another unique data product that will improve market access for pharmaceutical, medical device, and other stakeholders. As the healthcare landscape becomes more integrated, this data product will offer insights into the connectedness, ownership, affiliations, and health IT of all providers and organizations. His colleagues matter to him, and he always shows interest in their lives outside of work — children, family, interests, well-being, vacations. Getting the balance right between work, business travel, friends, and family can be a challenge, but it’s important to Mr. Escalante that his teams get it right. Mr. Escalante is a constant source of leadership inside and outside the company. In his personal life, Mr. Escalante is generous and giving. He and wife, Kristin, are active in Orange County organizations, providing support for families in need. They have fostered three young children from troubled homes. In particular, Mr. Escalante is committed to Heartworks OC, a nonprofit organization started by his wife, that reaches out and offers goodwill to people affected by difficult life circumstances, such as accidents, illness, or loss of a loved one. Title: Senior VP, OneKey & Marketing Company: Cegedim Relationship Management Education: BA, Rutgers University Family: Wife and daughter Hobbies: Fly fishing, skiing, mountain climbing, football Bucket List: To mountain climb all 55 “14ers" in the Colorado Rocky Mountains Tweet at: @skainfo Social Media: David Zaritsky A Storyteller with a License to Thrill The name’s Zaritsky. David Zaritsky. Just like the world’s most famous spy James Bond, Mr. Zaritsky never shies away from a challenge — or from danger. Mr. Zaritsky once rescued a mother and her two children from a car that had plunged into a frozen lake. With the mother on his back and a child in each of his arms, Mr. Zaritsky got them back to shore by pushing off the bottom of the lake and breaking through the ice. 007 would be proud. Challenges, albeit not so dramatic, present themselves each day in the way healthcare is marketed, in delivering pertinent information to patients while aligning marketing goals, and finding answers to these challenges is why Mr. Zaritsky wakes up in the morning and goes to work smiling. The secret weapon for Mr. Zaritsky, however, is his talent as a storyteller. He is a master of painting the big picture and excels at sharing his ideas, while energizing people with his enthusiasm. Passionate about changing the way healthcare is marketed, Mr. Zaritsky starts with a story where the patient or provider is the central figure, the protagonist of the tale. He then defines the challenge that the protagonist is facing and presents the solution — a customer-centric marketing approach, rather than a bundle of bullet-point tactics. His approach is inspirational because it puts people rather than products at the center of the conversation. He is always looking for the next puzzle to solve and he is never short of ideas in how to look at a marketing situation from a completely new point of view. Mr. Zaritsky’s love of pop culture gives him an edge and provides a different way of thinking when approaching the challenges of pharma marketing. Since taking the role of president of Roska Healthcare Advertising, he has changed the culture of the agency and has accelerated the agency’s quest to change the way healthcare is marketed. His dynamic personality, appetite for change, and passion for people were keys to the shift in culture. He has restructured the Roska agency into tight, cohesive teams, setting up a strategic services unit — a center of excellence for planning, research, and analysis; reorganizing and enhancing the digital marketing area; strengthening the creative department; and establishing a strong leadership culture in account management. He drove the idea that Roska Healthcare’s new customer engagement model, which integrates DTC advertising with third-party partnerships and CRM to deliver multiple messages to different audience segments through iterative storytelling, is the wave of the future, or the new mainstream. It’s a model designed to drive acceptance of therapy and take patients directly from awareness to action, rather than just relying on standard DTC advertising. Next, Mr. Zaritsky would like to integrate experiential marketing into the mainstream and have it accepted as the go-to way of storytelling in the industry. “The best way to do this will be a top- down approach, starting with speaking to the senior members of PhRMA and using a consulting team on healthcare issues," he says. For him, the goal should be to move healthcare from brand focus to patient focus to wellness focus. “The surround-sound of wellness should touch and influence every part of the patient’s existence and not just those moments around a brand message," he says. “Diet, exercise, and health maintenance need to be the business we are in and incorporated seamlessly with the brand support." His insights are widely respected. He addressed the executive and associate members of PhRMA around forecasting how the industry should be changing the way they market and speak to the consumer. Mr. Zaritsky inspires those around him through his genuine enthusiasm, his exuberant and positive approach to challenges, and his willingness to roll up his sleeves to not only lead but to do. He shares ideas and opportunities for others to take a leadership role, urges them to step forward and take initiative, and offers coaching and guidance based on his own experiences. People matter most to Mr. Zaritsky. His employees, his clients, and partners together make up some of the most inspiring and forward thinking groups he has ever worked with. “I was told long ago that my direct reports don’t work for me, I work for them and that your people will always be the greatest resource in your company, so empower them," Mr. Zaritsky says. He creates an environment where it’s okay to fall, so long as you fall forward and learn. By doing so, Roska team members are motivated to take risks and to be tenacious because there is no punitive damage to do so. And he does it all with a self-deprecating, laid-back style and a fantastic sense of humor, all of which he blends artfully with a strong sense of professionalism. Marrying his passion for people with his craving for change, Mr. Zaritsky is involved in several philanthropic efforts. He has conducted charity auctions for Make-A-Wish Foundation, sat on the charity function board of Johns Hopkins Cardiac Care, assists with movie premieres for charity, and he works with the Devereaux Foundation for its events and fundraisers to help children and adults with intellectual, behavioral, and emotional challenges. Change does not come easy to pharmaceutical marketing. But Mr. Zaritsky has a knack for it that comes from his commitment to change, and his commitment to people. A master storyteller, David Zaritsky excels at sharing his ideas and his enthusiasm in ways that truly bond teams together to achieve success. Experiential. Insightful. Title: President Company: Roska Healthcare Education: BS, Psychology, SUNY Stony Brook Family: Wife, Danielle, two children, Ellis and Ashlen Hobbies: James Bond movie buff and collector Bucket List: Bungee jump off the Contra Dam in Switzerland, as Bond did in Goldeneye; be an extra in a Bond film Associations: Associate member of PhRMA Tweet at: @RoskaDZ Social Media: Art Pirrone Marketing to the Masses On a plane, at a conference, or in a hotel lobby, Art Pirrone is always networking — connecting people to business opportunities and encouraging them to broaden their professional horizons. The king of sales has a long-standing commitment to job coaching and training, mentoring, business development, and product launches. He is an inspiration and a leader in the sales and marketing of health and beauty care (HBC), OTC, and device products. Across the nation, Mr. Pirrone continually builds relationships and links people, brands, and businesses together, forming long-term partnerships in the process and empowering individuals along the way. He was hired for his first sales position in the industry at Procter & Gamble’s toiletries division, before he even had his college degree, but he didn’t let that slow him down. From P&G to his current position as VP of sales and marketing at Modular Thermal Technologies, he has amassed an incredibly successful career in the HBC market, making friends, connections, and clients along the way. Mr. Pirrone credits some of his success to being a straight shooter. “I say what I do, and I do what I say, and I genuinely care about and have empathy for others," he says. No stranger to hard work, Mr. Pirrone became a top-selling rep at P&G while he attended college at night, raised a young family, and participated in the Army Reserves. Advancing to increasing levels of responsibility in sales positions at eight different companies, including one of his own, in a career spanning 40-plus years, Mr. Pirrone has marketed hundreds of HBC products to every mass market account in the country in every state. During a sales call in Alaska, he discovered that some of his products were distributed by dogsled. “Those deliveries were made twice a year and in those delivery areas they did not need a freezer," he says. He still maintains relationships with some of his very first customers from 40 years ago, a testament to how much he is respected for his honest business practices, his caring, and his knowledge of both his products and his customer’s needs. Mr. Pirrone is motivated every day by the satisfaction of marketing and selling products that will enable people everywhere to have the ability to look and feel better and he is looking forward to launching another healthcare OTC product that will significantly help improve the quality of consumers’ lives. The consummate multitasker, Mr. Pirrone started his own consulting firm, New Decade Marketing in 1998, at the same time that he took on responsibility as a volunteer for the state of New Jersey to provide coaching and mentoring to unemployed individuals. The state offered him a full-time position, but he declined, since his real passion is growing healthcare brands and helping others do the same. He still finds time to mentor on an individual basis, through discussions, resume advisement, job referrals, interview coaching, and any other thing he can do to help others. Outside of his current position, Mr. Pirrone serves as advisor to PuraMed Bioscience Co. in its efforts to bring to market a new line of homeopathic migraine OTCs. “I am a mentor because I feel it is my responsibility — and all of our responsibility — to help others to succeed to reach their own maximum capacity," he says. “I inspire and motivate people through what I call my caring-and-sharing management style." In all his managerial sales roles, Mr. Pirrone implemented rewards and recognition programs that had not previously existed. Typically, sales reps were not recognized unless it was a negative response. Knowing the value of being appreciated, he instituted programs that commanded positive outcomes, while empowering individuals. In his current capacity at Modular Thermal Technologies, he is credited with being the primary force behind the company’s cold pack product, CryoMAX. He has gained full national drug chain distribution for the cold pack and he hopes to grab more distribution opportunities through supermarkets, independent pharmacies, and the medical field. Mr. Pirrone’s skillful sales and marketing mastery have increased access to HBC and OTC/device products for home self-care. His global vision may some day enable international distribution of the products he represents — perhaps some even by dogsled. Colleagues tell us that Mr. Pirrone often says by the end of his life he hopes he will have made significant contributions to growing the healthcare industry, improving wellness, and maximizing people’s potential. To many who have connected with him throughout his four-decade career, that is a goal he has already accomplished. Honest. Caring. Title: VP, Sales and Marketing Company: Modular Thermal Technologies Inc. Family: Wife, two children, three grandchildren Hobbies: Music, travel, American history Bucket List: To see more of the world, starting with every country in Europe Awards/Honors: Abbott Labs Presidential Award; P&G Salesman of the Year, three years in a row; Revlon sales awards; Associate Member of the Year at CDMA in 2010 Associations: NACDS (National Association of Chain Drug Stores), CDMA (Chain Drug ­Marketing Association), ECRM (Efficient ­Collaborative Retail Marketing), GMDC (General Merchandise Distributor Council) Social Media: Art Pirrone lives, breathes, and loves the HBC sales and marketing field, and through his myriad connections and mentoring, he spreads that inspirational fire. John Guarino Deliberate Excellence Live your life deliberately. This is the perfect motto for John Guarino, the guy who digs vert skateboarding. Just in case you don’t know, that’s the scarier, harder, version of skateboarding with half-pipes, quarter-pipes, ramps, bowls; basically this means flying through the air at warp speed with just a helmet for protection. He applies that same intensity in his pursuit to navigating the twists and turns of a complex managed care and government reimbursement market. With more than 25 years of managed markets experience, Mr. Guarino is a guru. In less than three years, he has built a managed markets team at Palio+Ignite Managed Markets that is a force to be reckoned with. Across two coasts, the 25 members of the team are made up of account services, content experts, creatives, and operations professionals. Mr. Guarino makes sure his folks are well-tuned on market access, reimbursement, effective pull through, specialty drugs and specialty pharmacy, and contracting profitability. They understand the differences and similarities between traditional marketing and payer marketing, which allows them to deliver the strategies and tactics that ensure access and reimbursement success critical to the brands they’re managing. With years of adapting to utilization and cost-control efforts, Mr. Guarino knows that marketing strategies must keep pace with how healthcare delivery is changing and that the success of a brand depends upon having a solid understanding of the evolving managed markets environment. One of Mr. Guarino’s innovations led the managed markets team to launch a blog series, Managed Markets Monday, specifically focused on sharing contemporary insights on comparative effectiveness research (CER), meeting the value challenge for a brand, Medicare Part D, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). He is driven to build the best managed markets agency in the business, which can not only solve problems for clients, but also create a new healthcare industry. “We are finally moving into a place where information rules the day," he says. “Payers are making decisions based on value and not just cost. The ACA is pushing the industry decision-making to organized customers. This is new and very exciting." The challenge in the space is that while some clients are early adopters of managed markets, others are late to the dance. As he puts it, “it ain’t a sale till someone pays for it." Selling is an art, and Mr. Guarino learned this lesson the hard way. He started out as a back-office rep — table paper, tongue depressors, cotton balls, etc. — in a job that was 100% commission. This helped him early on to sharpen his selling skills. Selling is something he’s not only good at, but something he loves. “I love to sell, and agency pitches are awesome winner-takes-all opportunities," he says. One of the things he loves most about working in an agency is the opportunity to lead a diverse group of individuals; some team members are just out of college while others have 30 years of experience. He finds helping each of them improve their skill set and succeed in their role a lot of fun. Mr. Guarino’s style of management is tailored to each individual; his goal as a leader is to gain the most out of each contributor. Colleagues say he is a manager they would happily follow into the abyss. Reflecting on his own experience that things go well when there is a positive, success-driven vibe in the office, he strives to create a work environment where people can succeed. “It’s important to understand what I call someone’s why," he says. “Each person has had experiences in their past that shape who they are. Those experiences dictate how they react to stress, challenges, conflict, and work — their why. Once I have that foundation, it’s easier to manage and motivate them as individuals." There are a few deliberate items in Mr. Guarino’s office that keep him grounded: a patch from his time in the military, a quote related to his faith, a name tag from a former colleague, and a picture of his family. These items remind him to always learn from his experiences. He describes himself as loud, funny, and thoughtful. He’s also a risk-taker, optimistic, energetic, empathetic, ethical, and flawlessly generous. Mr. Guarino acknowledges that he doesn’t always have all the answers. So, he asks for help to ensure the company always has the best solution possible for clients. His optimism is infectious. He walks around the agency and engages people. It sounds so simple but the result is that he builds tighter relationships and uncovers pockets of insights and opportunities for Palio+Ignite and its clients. Inspiration for him has come from different parts of his life. He had the good fortune to interact with many of the founders of Amgen early in his career, and was inspired by their belief that the organization existed to help patients and benefit the people who worked there. At Palio+Ignite, he says his colleague Guy Mastrion has a visceral understanding of what good advertising is, is thoughtful and always helpful in making the work better. And in his personal life, his son Nick, who has a severe form of dyslexia, inspires him. Mr. Guarino says his son is one of the smartest people he knows, and that Nick has never allowed the failings of the education system limit his desire to learn. Deliberate. Positive. Seeing his greatest challenge as his greatest opportunity, John Guarino is working to create an organization that not only can drive evolutionary thinking in the agency space, but also take clients to places they sometimes don’t even know they have to go. Title: Executive VP, Managed Markets and Global Payer Access Company: Palio+Ignite Education: MS, Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; BS, Biology, California Lutheran University Family: Wife, Marsha; three sons, Nick, 27, Zach, 24, and Jake, 22; two daughters-in-law, Katie and Chelsea; and one grandson Miles, 4 months old Hobbies: Vert skateboarding, woodworking, building classic cars Bucket List: Take the Orient Express across Asia; spend a summer with his grandson in the same cabin he shared with his grandparents when he was a boy Awards/Honors: Amgen’s Global Commercial Operations Coach of the Year, 2007; multiple sales awards at Amgen; several marketing excellence awards; finalist for Cardinal Health’s account manager of the year Tweet at: @john.guarino31 Social Media: Calvin Butts Paying it Forward Calvin Butts Jr., VP of strategic services at CMI/Compas, is so good at what he does, he can even earn business when he is in the wrong client meeting. Mr. Butts was in the middle of a new client meeting and he thought the session was going well. The group was brainstorming and Mr. Butts was hurriedly writing down the ideas on the whiteboard, when he realized something very critical. “As I stood recording the ideas and contributing my own, I realized that the brand we were brainstorming for wasn’t mine — I had come to the wrong room," he says. No problem, though, because it turned out that he won that piece of business, too. A recognized leader known for providing in-depth, cutting-edge strategies to clients within the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, Mr. Butts started his career at Lilly as a sales representative, where he won several awards. From pharmaceuticals sales, he moved to roles in medical publishing and continuing medical education. Before the age of 30, he founded his own digital healthcare agency, PointTaken, which focused on multimedia, social, and interactive platforms for a few of the top pharmaceutical manufacturers. CMI/Compas acquired the company shortly thereafter. His years of working with top pharmaceutical companies as well as best-in-class digital agencies make him perfectly suited for the job. Throughout his career, he has developed a significant knowledge base of all aspects of product life cycles, from initial research and development to loss of exclusivity. Having functioned effectively in both the pharma and the agency worlds, he is able to harmoniously blend the needs of both to create award-winning, successful programs. Given his extensive experience in several areas of multichannel communications, he brings a lot to the strategic solutions table, including first-hand experience of the most effective communication channels. Leading high-profile launches of several new digital brand platforms, and mastering multi-tiered media campaigns consisting of traditional and nontraditional tactics, Mr. Butts has gained the reputation of thinking outside the box. Highly dedicated and driven to assist clients in moving the needle for their brands, Mr. Butts says he would someday like to be responsible for the commercialization of a drug or therapy from A to Z that will greatly impact patients’ lives. His experience with launching two ADHD meds may have whet his appetite, and he says that opportunity was one of his career highlights. “I am very passionate about the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder," he says. “I was personally affected by ADHD and know there is a stigma that it hinders people from success. It was an amazing opportunity to work on several projects that refute the stereotype and show there is hope and success for people with ADHD." Getting the industry to embrace all that is available in the way of digital channels is his biggest challenge, he says. Pushing the envelope with pharmaceutical companies to embrace new market innovation and aggressively jump into physician-level customer details and data are daily hurdles. However, when faced with a challenge, he remembers what his mentor Dr. William Harvey, president of his alma mater, Hampton University, told him: dream no small dreams. Another piece of advice he lives and works by is everyone should strive to make the lives and day-to-day jobs of those around them easier. “And a good friend once told me, ‘Be patient and strategize,’ which has become the center of how I am professionally," he adds. Mr. Butts is proud to mentor others, and says it is vital to his own success. Every day he looks forward to supporting the professional growth and development of others, at CMI/Compas or recent graduates from Hampton University, where he is a founding member of its mentor program. He says he promised his own mentors, namely Fred Foard, president of F. Carter Foard & Associates, Charles Benaiah, founder and CEO of Watzan, and Dr. Harvey, that he would always pay it forward. “From the moment I starting working in the industry I have been fortunate to have mentors who have guided and advised me in every major decision," he says. “In return, I am grateful to mentor several individuals, as my mentors asked me to do." Mr. Butts says his love of people helps motivate and inspire him and keeps him leading by example. “I love being around people; the chance to help others in their goals and be a part of their success means a lot to me," he says. “I remind them of their goals and connect them to the task on the table; I involve them in my success to set the examples for them to follow. I continuously share information. I uncover what it is that really drives them, and try to include that in their motivation." Title: VP, Strategic Services Company: CMI/Compas Education: Temple University/Fox School of ­Business — Executive Masters in Business ­Administration, 2014; Harvard University, Executive Education Family: Wife, April; two daughters, Carmen Lilliana, 3; Cailyn Lesilie, 2 Hobbies: Mentoring, driving and owning ­performance cars, playing basketball Bucket List: Having dinner with the President of the United States; donate and support the ­development of a new building, Butts School of Business at Hampton University Awards/Honors: Eli Lilly Directors Council Member, Eli Lilly District Peer award Associations: Princeton Hospital System ­Foundation; Executive 50, National Executive Forum Tweet at: @Calbjr Social Media: Calvin Butts is driven to assist clients in moving the needle for their brands, and to pay it forward through mentoring others. Laura Randa Laura Randa has a proven track record of turning nonperforming businesses into ­successes. From her first industry job as a sales rep at Solvay Pharma to her position in vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline today, Laura Randa has been blazing a trail of accomplishments and accruing critical expertise along the way. Regarded by colleagues an icon in managed market circles, she comes with a wealth of sales, marketing, strategy, and payer experience. She is a respected leader, successful pharmaceutical executive, and an author with unique managed market and payer knowledge. Ms. Randa is a dynamic, engaging, high-energy trailblazer skilled at building high-performance teams in complex matrix environments. Coworkers find her strategic planning and business skills coupled with creative, savvy problem-solving, a strong moral compass, sales, and marketing talents a lift to the entire profession. She has a track record of establishing effective collaboration with diverse commercial payers, business units, and stakeholders all while breaking down barriers and driving actionable consensus. She has delivered several hundred million increases in annual revenue from competitive markets in the face of generic competition. She has a consistent record of turning around nonperforming pharmaceutical businesses by engaging superior managed markets strategies and using her sales, marketing, customer relations, leadership, and finance skills to achieve key performance metrics regularly. This has been achieved at companies from start-ups to multinational companies and Ms. Randa’s strong track record of accomplishment after accomplishment speaks for itself. Her biggest career highlight involved a comprehensive U.S. reorganization that involved moving the company into a high-growth segment while improving employee productivity. In doing so, she promoted 54% of her staff to manage additional responsibilities, or offered internal or external interdepartmental or other division career advancement based on sales and increased market share. Ms. Randa is often noted for her vision for healthcare as a whole, as well as her managed care expertise. She maintains a strong network outside of pharma with managed market decision-makers, medical associations, and government agencies. She has pioneered many significant partnerships such as with Joint Commission Accreditation, Health Care, Certification, (JCAHO) to support improved patient compliance and develop focused training and educational materials. Her strongly held convictions and keen vision for the future make her poised to be the proverbial groundbreaker and change agent for the paradigm shift of the healthcare system. Ms. Randa is committed to mentoring those outside her company as well. She has served on the Women’s Leadership Initiative and has been actively involved in building and growing the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA). As an HBA member, she mentors many younger women and has served as a board member of two HBA chapters, Southern California and Boston. Always striving to give back, she also strongly supports the American Cancer Society. “I have lost family members to cancer,"’ she says. “I have served on the board of the American Cancer for two years and have volunteered with several initiatives to support the society’s mission of saving lives." Title: Director, Payer Marketing, Vaccines Company: GlaxoSmithKline Education: BS, Economics/Education, The Ohio State University; MBA, Managed Care, University of Delaware Hobbies: Traveling, playing tennis, boating Bucket List: Revive funding for HR3355 section 30401 to fund a community school for underprivileged girls Associations: AMCP, Healthcare ­Businesswomen’s Association Board, WLI, Women’s Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry, and American Cancer Society Social Media: Jorge Lee World-Class Marketer Persistent. Light-hearted Jorge Lee is not afraid to take risks, and it pays off thanks to his leadership skills, intelligence, ability to drive business, and work collaboratively with his team. Today’s marketers can often be paralyzed by fear — fear of senior management, of FDA regulations, of not having enough data to make the next big decision, and of failure. Not Jorge Lee. He has the confidence and experience to make decisions and implement untested programs. Unwilling to settle for the status quo, Mr. Lee’s goal is excellence. He is willing to start over if he sees an opportunity ahead and he is committed to finding the strongest path to success. He is also not afraid of the elbow grease it takes to get there. Mr. Lee has a special ability to build relationships and make connections at all levels of an organization, which has allowed him to launch innovative marketing programs while educating and mentoring others around him. He has built a reputation in the life-sciences industry as an expert in forming cross-functional strategic alliances and implementing world-class marketing programs. These relationships and Mr. Lee’s willingness to make the tough calls, allow him to make good decisions, act fast, and get ahead of the market. His experience at numerous cutting-edge companies such as Eisai, EMD Serono, Biogen, and now Questcor Pharmaceuticals speak to his desire to work in environments where he can take risks, build things, and get creative. He thrives in settings that allow him to mentor others, whether they are his direct reports, colleagues, or agency partners. One area that Mr. Lee is particularly passionate about is the multiple sclerosis (MS) community. From his initial work at EMD Serono to his current efforts and success launching the Acthar Ambassador Program at Questcor Pharmaceuticals, he has demonstrated a drive to make a difference in the lives of people affected by MS. He consistently strives for the best, whether it is leading a committed team in its patient education efforts or working with the best partners to find appropriate patients to be a part of truly novel patient support services. Mr. Lee has elevated the Acthar program at Questcor with his understanding of the patient and of the importance of sharing authentic patient experiences in the pharmaceutical space. Another great experience for Mr. Lee was the opportunity to work on the launch of Aricept for the treatment of Alzheimer’s. “In my first year at Eisai, I was transferred from market research to marketing," he says. “They said welcome to marketing. You’re about to launch Aricept, which eventually hit the billion-dollar mark. Not many of us in marketing get a chance to work on megabrands, but this is something I will remember for the rest of my life." Working as part of a co-promotion team, as he did with Aricept, was an eye-opener. “You learn about your communication style and your ability to work with others in hard circumstances," he says. “The co-promote was one of my best experiences, but at the same time challenging because there are so many individuals you need to be able to communicate with." In every part of his life, Mr. Lee has shown he has a team mentality. While playing football, for example, he learned the importance of team dynamics, and that sometimes you have to be willing to take a few hits to ultimately win the game. In fact one of the best pieces of advice he received was: “if you’re not making mistakes you’re not trying hard enough." He prioritizes and stays prepared for future challenges, and is eager to someday have the opportunity to lead his own marketing team. Coming from an athletics background, Mr. Lee learned that persistence was important, that practice can maker perfect. However, he also learned that it’s important not to be too serious, and that levity and lightheartedness brings comfort to people. When it comes to helping others, he believes in an open-door policy. He notes that it is important to sit down and swap ideas, discuss, think about decisions, and even just share how the day is going. He finds the greatest challenge as a leader is communicating across the generation gap, particularly with younger employees who may have grown up with an ideal that working hard equates to achieving success, but they discover in the real world it’s often not the case. “I really don’t want those individuals to be disappointed in our industry or just overall in life," he says. “I need to find a way to get to those individuals and communicate my message or my belief to them because they’re the future of our industry." Mr. Lee draws inspiration from his own family: his father who took the family 3,000 miles to start a new life, as did his uncles; and his grandfather, who was a small businessman in a third-world country, but was able to run his own business and produce quality furniture. All of these individuals have left an impact on his life that he still draws upon. Title: Associate Director of Consumer Marketing Company: Questcor Pharmaceuticals Education: BA, Rutgers University Family: Wife, Nicole; Sons, Ricky, 10, and Gabriel, 2; daughter, Alex, 8 Hobbies: Watching his children’s sporting events Bucket List: Exploring the U.S. with his kids and wife Social Media: Tim McCort Story Teller Give Tim McCort a watermelon and an elephant, and he can tell you a good story. Mr. McCort is able to relay his knowledge and experience and his ideas through his natural ability to spin a tale. According to colleagues, this talent to share information through a meaningful narrative is what makes him a true teacher, and allows his team to not only understand an idea or issue, but to embrace it as their own. “I believe our jobs in marketing are all about telling good stories — ones that motivate action — whether this is for products or building teams," Mr. McCort says. Mr. McCort created an internal employee engagement program that helped transform his GSW team, creating a level of cohesiveness and high performance that went well beyond expectations, benefiting both the agency and clients. This was one of the highlights of his career, he says and he was successful in part due to some expert business advice he received from Luke Sullivan, advertising guru and author of Hey Whipple, Squeeze This. Mr. Sullivan says: walk into every meeting fully believing there is a 50% or greater chance you’re wrong; it forces you to listen. Early in his career, Mr. McCort built powerhouse campaigns for fast-food giants such as McDonalds and Wendy’s and managed national media buys and hundreds of annual TV productions. He won awards, exceeded marketing goals, and innovated long-held approaches. Then, he left the consumer advertising world to take on one of the nation’s biggest challenges: helping more people choose to actively improve their health. His team members say since Mr. McCort became a key leader of GSW’s diabetes practice, he has affected a huge shift in how those teams use marketing. In health, it’s not enough for marketing to sell products, he says. Marketing also has to help people be successful at changing their own lives. He believes the biggest competitors for healthcare brands aren’t other brands. The real competitors are lack of knowledge, lack of motivation, inaction, and the frailties of simply being human. Mr. McCort is a powerful advocate for people and professionals fighting diabetes. He is actively involved with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and other pro bono and volunteer initiatives. Delving deep into the science of behavior change, Mr. McCort also heads up several of GSW’s direct-to-consumer accounts, including the recent launch of an important new multiple sclerosis drug. Mr. McCort says he is motivated every day “by the rush he gets from chasing new ideas and solving new problems," which is a good thing, since there are many challenges facing him daily. One of the biggest is striving to keep everything simple, so that people can understand and then act on important messages. “I worry that in our effort to prove a concept that agencies and clients alike have a tendency to keep adding or changing an idea so that when they’re done, it resembles a congressional bi-partisan bill, where the need to find common ground has watered down and or complicated a good idea," he says. “Tearing away the extraneous and getting back to executing one core, simple idea can be surprisingly difficult." Mr. McCort looks forward to influencing a change in how market research is conducted by healthcare and pharmaceutical clients. “We can’t expect people to explain their unconscious emotional motivations in a rational way while we watch them behind a one-way mirror anymore," he says. “Our reliance upon outdated methods fails to consider that all decision-making is emotional, which makes measuring rational feedback a highly flawed method for market research." His most important role in the industry may not be what he does for business, but what he does for people. Exceptionally skilled in helping people excel in their careers and find passion in their profession, he is a mentor to many. He maintains relationships with colleagues around the world, quickly building ad hoc connections between them and he is always willing to make time to share ideas or offer advice. Colleagues report that Mr. McCort is the go-to person at GSW, someone who seems to have instant perspective on every challenge, who knows where to find the right resource or research, and whose clear-headed advice is smart and practical. Oh, and about that elephant and the watermelon: One of the most unusual occurrences during his career was the time he organized a watermelon eating contest between 50 fraternity brothers and one elephant as a promotion for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. “The elephant briefly escaped from the trainer and roamed the streets of downtown Denver," Mr. McCort says. “It was successful in garnering media attention about the circus being in town, but for all the wrong reasons." Title: Executive VP, General Manager Company: GSW Education: BS, Journalism, Ohio University Family: Wife, Peg; two daughters, Katie, 12, Molly, 8 Hobbies: Playing the drums, attending live music shows, cycling Bucket List: Get a pilot’s license, backpack the Appalachian Trail Awards/Honors: AdWeek Media All-Star, Gold Cannes Lion for Sports Illustrated, Silver Effie for United Airlines, Wendy’s Mop Bucket Award, Eli Lilly Vendor of the Year Associations: American Diabetes Association, AdFed Columbus Tweet at: @TimMcCort Social Media: Tim McCort abandoned his award-winning consumer advertising career to tackle a bigger challenge: helping people improve their health. Calvin Butts CMI Communcations Media Inc. Dave Escalante Cegedim John Guarino Palio+Ignite Jorge Lee Questcor Pharmaceuticals Tim McCort GSW Art Pirrone Modular Thermal Technologies Inc. Laura Randa GlaxoSmithKline David Zaritsky Roska Healthcare

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