New Mentors – RVCC Mentor Program

What is a Mentor?

A mentor is an experienced corporate professional who goes out of his or her way to help their mentee reach important life, education and career goals. A mentor is a guide who can help the mentee to find the right direction and who can help his or her mentee develop career related competencies. The mentor/mentee relationship is based upon mutual trust and respect. A mentor will help the mentee to believe in him or herself and the mentor will help to boost career-related confidence. A mentor will ask questions and challenge his or her mentee, while providing guidance and encouragement. A mentor allows the mentee to explore new ideas in confidence and to develop a broader understanding of the corporate environment.

A corporate mentor will be matched with a mentee and meet their mentee once per month at RVCC at a prescheduled time.
A corporate mentor will speak with their mentee on a monthly basis by phone or skype (that communication will be decided by the mentor and the mentee).
A mentor will attend the September 27, 2017 training program in order to understand policies, appropriate boundaries and recommended topics to review with his or her mentee.
A mentor will get to know his or her mentee, share their knowledge and be an active listener.
A mentor will serve as a resource and allocate his or her time and energy for the scheduled sessions.
A mentor will follow through on his or her commitments in order to promote a productive and enjoyable mentor/mentee relationship.

MEET THE SANOFI US MENTORS

Raj Arora

Director, Strategic Pricing

Raj's Bio

Raj Arora is currently a Director of Strategic Pricing at Sanofi. In his role, Raj heads up the pricing and contracting strategies for Rare Diseases and Established Products. Prior to this role, Raj has held roles with increasing responsibilities in sales forecasting, business development, finance, project management and commercial IT. He is an avid supporter of continuous learning and firmly supports his team and mentees to reach for stretch goals. To that effect, Raj sits on the advisory board of Ruger’s Design Thinking Program helping the team shape the program.

In his spare time, Raj enjoys spending time with his family and their yellow Labrador Max.

Raj holds an MBA in Finance and Strategy from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Chandni Patel

Inclusion and Diversity Program Manager

Chandni's Bio

I am the Inclusion and Diversity Program Manager for Sanofi, a French multinational pharmaceutical company. I lead key initiatives in creating an I&D infrastructure to embed into core HR and business processes. I also support the development, implementation and execution of I&D programs, tools and resources. I have a keen interest in intersections between diversity, inclusion and human centered design.

Previously, I was a Diversity and Inclusion Strategist at the National Institutes of Health, one of the world's foremost medical research centers. In this role, I was an internal consultant advising the organization on attracting and retaining a diverse workforce, advancing an inclusive culture, and executing D&I strategy. I have also worked in training and development, and have served in a HR generalist capacity.

I have a Master of Professional Studies in Human Resources Management, with a concentration in Diversity and Inclusion, from Georgetown University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Management and Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Donna M. Cusano

M.S. Communications Management
Head, U.S. Primary Care Field Communications

Donna's Bio

Donna has more than 30 years award-winning communications experience, both internal and external, in the financial services and pharmaceutical industries. She currently heads U.S. Primary Care Field Communications at Sanofi Pharmaceuticals, where she leads the development and implementation of strategic communications for the diabetes and cardiovascular field force, as well as executive communications for sales leadership.

Donna holds an M.S. in Communications Management from Syracuse University, and a B.A. in Communications from Seton Hall University. She also holds a graduate certificate in Organizational Leadership from Rosemont College.

Donna lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia and spends as much time as possible at her beach house in Belmar, NJ, during the summer. She is the very proud mom of her only son, Bryan Sutherland, a Materials Science PhD student at the University of Delaware. He is engaged to the beautiful and brilliant Sarah Geiger who recently graduated from the University of Delaware with her PhD.

Donna enjoys yoga, running, fishing and rock climbing, and most of all, spending time with her family and grammar/high school friends, who she both admires and adores. A Jersey Shore lover, she is an active member of Clean Ocean Action, a leading national and regional voice working to protect New Jersey/New York coastal waterways using science, law, research, education, and citizen action.

She is also a volunteer with the Association of Change Management Professionals, and a Board Member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators.

Surabhi Sharma

Director, Clinical Research & Operations

Surabhis Bio

Surabhi is currently Director of Clinical Research & Operations where she is responsible for designing long term strategy and executing clinical trials for Diabetes and Cardiovascular diseases at Sanofi. Before joining Sanofi in 2017 she worked at Eli Lilly & Co. in Immuno-oncology. In the past she worked on over-the-counter (OTC) medicines at Novartis Consumer Health, managed Oncology & Neurosciences pharmaceutical sponsored clinical trials, Investigator Initiated trials (IITs), Registries and at Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Previously at Bayer pharmaceuticals & Merck pharmaceuticals, she managed IITs in Oncology focusing on Phase I thru IV trials. She served as a Clinical Project Coordinator in Gastroenterology at Mount Sinai at NY where she oversaw both pharma & Investigator sponsored trials. Before clinical research she had years of experience in preclinical research at Univ. of Michigan & drug development research at State Univ. of New York at Buffalo & Indian Institute of Technology.

She has two very active sons who swim and play basketball and keep her on her toes. She is an avid globetrotter and likes to swim, dance and do pro bono career and personal counselling.

I look forward to sharing my experiences with the students at RVCC.

Tony Whalen

Director, Information Technology & Solutions, Client Engagement

Tony's Bio

Tony Whalen is a leader in the Information Technology End User Services, Support and Experience domain with over 17 years at Sanofi. He brings innovative ideas to fulfillment; great people, budget and team management skills; and cross-functional collaboration with all levels of the organization. Tony is currently the Director for Client Engagement Activities in Information Technology & Solutions leading a global team to educate, launch and communicate ITS solutions.

Originally, from Edison, NJ, Tony graduated from St. Joseph’s High School in Metuchen, NJ and was an exchange student. He graduated from Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ with a double major in Political Science and Spanish with a minor in International Studies. There Tony was heavily involved on campus where he won many awards, founded a local chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon social fraternity and became Student Government President among other achievements. Tony achieved his Master’s in Business Administration specializing in Technology Management and is a Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma.

Tony resides in Bridgewater, NJ and loves spending time with his high school sweetheart wife and 2 awesome children, playing video and board games, reading magical science fiction, watching movies, spending time with friends & family, helping mentor people succeed and achieve their full potential, traveling and serving others at church, as President of the SigEp Alumni Board, as a Freemason, as a Scottish Rite member, and as a Shriner.

He enjoys personal and professional development to examine, expand, and evolve to produce greater value-added results and enjoy the good times that life has to offer. Tony looks forward to sharing, growing, learning and making the most of this mentoring experience partnership with RVCC.

Bob Shustack

North America Head of Finance for Global Support Functions

Bob's Bio

Bob Shustack is the North America Head of Finance for Global Support Functions (GSF) at Sanofi. His team serves as finance business partners for Human Resources, Information Technology Solutions, Legal, Finance, External Affairs, Chief Medical Office and Business Transformation, assisting these functions with the preparation of annual expense budgets and monitoring operational performance. The son of high school teachers, Bob sees the office as his classroom, with the mission of guiding team members to reach their career potential. In his leadership role, Bob emphasizes people development and challenges staff to improve their communication / presentation skills, initiative and self-confidence. An avid reader, Bob started the GSF Finance Book Club, which tasks new hires with reading a business book addressing a personal development area and delivering a creative presentation to the team. Since its inception in 2014, nearly 30 educational presentations have been given. Favorite books include Be Our Guest, The Effective Executive and Talk Like TED.

Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) in 2016, Bob is actively involved with supporting the local diabetes community and empowering others to live well with diabetes. Bob is Co-Lead of the DiabetesConnect Employee Resource Group at Sanofi, and started a “Let’s Talk Diabetes” campaign to bring members together each month for support. Bob is also on the Board of Trustees for the Camp Nejeda Foundation, which operates a summer camp in Stillwater, NJ for kids with T1D, and he attends diabetes support group meetings at his local Shop Rite in Clinton, NJ.

In his personal life, Bob is passionate about fitness, nutrition and fantasy football. He enjoys reading books and listening to podcasts that inspire him to become a better human being. During the summer, his family can be found vacationing on the beaches of Ocean City, NJ, the Outer Banks or Anna Maria Island in Florida.

Bob graduated from Rutgers University and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). He currently has a recent RVCC graduate on staff as an intern and is eager to participate in the 2019 Mentoring Program!

Dany De Grave

Sr. Dir. Scientific & Digital Innovation

Dany's Bio

“Making People's Life Better” is what you will read on LinkedIn as Dany’s job title. Because that’s the constant in his activities at work and in life.

Dany currently leads the use of cognitive and other innovative technologies at Sanofi Pasteur R&D, using Natural Language Processing, machine learning, advanced analytics, and also explores blockchain applications. He’s an engineer trained in biology and has over 20 years of vaccine industry experience at GSK and Sanofi Pasteur in Europe and North America. From starting in the lab through various positions later on he contributed to the research, development, manufacturing and regulatory submission of both companies’ line of vaccines for children, adolescents and adults.

Dany has been described in Forbes as "driving some of the most award-winning and buzz-worthy employee initiatives at Sanofi Pasteur". That is because next to vaccine projects he played a key role in forward-looking change initiatives like “Women in Sanofi Pasteur” and “Project M: An Experiment in New Ways of Working, Inspiring Engagement, and Unleashing Talents” for which the team received “Employee Engagement” awards in international competitions.

His personal goal is to prepare young people at scale for the future of work through a concept of Meet – Talk – Learn while in the same effort addressing growing issues like student loan debt, loneliness, and soft skills. In the right conditions everybody can be a star.

Rekha Law

Sr. Director, USMA Compliance

Rekha's Bio

Rekha graduated from Rutgers University with a BS in Accounting and is a NY Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Rekha began her career at the public accounting firm Arthur Andersen in the assurance practice focusing on Banking and Insurance audit clients.

Subsequently she went on to work at Goldman Sachs & Co in NYC focusing on Derivatives Reporting and supporting the Credit Derivatives trading desk and then onto Fannie Mae focusing on SEC Reporting.

She joined Sanofi in 2006 and has held a variety of roles in Finance, Accounting & Internal Controls. She is currently responsible for all compliance efforts for the US Market Access team. She has participated in various leadership programs include the Junior Management Committee as well as Elevate (Women’s leadership program). She feels lucky to have had so many exciting opportunities over her 13 years at Sanofi which has allowed her to develop personally and professionally.

Rekha has been married for almost 16 years and has 4 beautiful children, Aidan, Kieran, Alexa and Valentina. In her spare time she enjoys traveling, vacationing at the beach, watching her kids play sports (softball, baseball, soccer) and exercising (running)

Tim Orange

Senior Manager, Service Owner for Messaging

Tim's Bio

Tim was enlisted in the U.S. Army as an Information Systems Operator Analyst (74B) from 1995-2000. During his time in the Army, he worked on various IT systems and solutions.

From 2001-2003, Tim worked at Sanofi as an external consultant. Tim has been a Sanofi employee since 2003. During his time at Sanofi, Tim’s has performed various global roles such as Email Support Specialist, Email Administrator, Email Architect, Manager of Email Architecture, and his current role of Service Owner for Messaging. As the Service Owner for Messaging, Tim manages a global team of six people from four different countries.

The work culture and environment at Sanofi has provided Tim with great experiences over the years. While working at Sanofi, Tim attended Temple University, where he earned a B.S. in Management Information Systems and an M.S. in Business Analytics.

In his spare time, Tim enjoys listening to live music, jogging, and visiting museums. He is married with two kids and two guinea pigs name Muffin and Mocha.

Alka Shaunik, MD

Senior Medical Director

Alka's Bio

Alka Shaunik is a physician with advanced training in clinical research methods. She has practiced medicine, worked in academia as a health care researcher, before she joined Pharma. She has worked on many aspects of drug development and medical affairs, with a focus on putting patients first. She is currently working on a new combination medicine for treatment of patients with diabetes. She works on evidence generation activities to design strategic and innovative studies for randomized clinical trials and digital innovations such as Apps, real world evidence and advanced analytics, also supporting strategic collaborative and investigator sponsored studies. Her role involves collaboration with team members from medical affairs, commercial, clinical development, regulatory, safety, and external experts.

While actively pursuing her Health Care Strategy MBA, when there is time, she goes for nature walks and hiking with her friends and family.