2018 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

Adrian Mimini

Analyst, Government Contracting and Analytics

Adrian's Bio

Adrian was an intern at Sanofi for about a year and a half and accepted a full-time position after graduating from Drexel University where he earned his B.S.B.A. in Accounting. Before attending Drexel, Adrian was a student at his local community college – he is very excited about the opportunity to provide guidance to those who are in a position he has experienced.

His current role involves providing support and analysis to Regional and National Account Directors to assist with business decisions in the government healthcare channel. Outside of the office, Adrian enjoys playing sports, spending time with family, and traveling. One of his personal goals is to visit a new country every year. Adrian also enjoys continuously learning and is currently preparing to take his GMAT in the fall. You can find Adrian cheering on the Philadelphia Eagles and 76ers all year.

Steve Winawer

Vice President, IT; Global Programs / North America Diabetes and Cardiovascular Business

Steve's Bio

First and foremost, my family is my highest priority. I’m a husband, father, son, brother, and a committed friend. My mother shaped my values for cultural diversity and equality from an early age as she worked hard to break glass ceilings to succeed as an executive in a world of Wall Street finance. I’ve carried that on in the teams that I’ve built as well as in by being involved in professional groups promoting all elements of diversity. I look at myself as a continual work in progress as I try to learn and grow at every personal and professional opportunity. People who know me well are used to hearing me often say, “How can I help?” In my professional career, I’m most proud of the teams I’ve built and of the ways in which I’ve been able to help and support people in developing and advancing their careers. I am energetic, and I’m very good at finding new and innovative ways to solve challenges. I try to bring the full range of my experiences as well as any of my personal and professional network to the table in everything that I do.

As chief engineer in the TV and Film industry at MTI and Rutt Video I was accountable for all elements of these facilities ranging from electrical and HVAC systems, to security, to furnishings, as well as the media technology systems. In this role I was accountable to ensure that these facilities ran flawlessly with outstanding customer experiences 24x7x365. My first responsibility at Pfizer was as the engineer for design and to oversee the implementation of technology in the construction of a 110,000 square foot state of the art learning center in Rye Brook, NY. This assignment involved working with architects, construction contractors of all trades, as well as with local government to ensure that the building met the business value objectives, that the program was on track to deliver on time and within budget, and that the facility could also be set as Pfizer’s global backup headquarters.

In my various roles at Pfizer, Zoetis, and Sanofi I have built and led diverse teams from the US, Europe, and Asia to deliver transformational business programs as well as to ensure that technology supported the business every day and adapted to the evolving business and regulatory environment. These roles have given me the opportunity to develop and demonstrate leadership working across a number of different languages, cultures, and economies. In order to be successful, I’ve developed extremely strong skills in communications and my most recent work in digital marketing as well as patient services have built my abilities to bring that communication across a number of ways such as social, mobile, email, and web.

Syeda Sullivan

Manager, P2P Process and Support

Syeda's Bio

Syeda worked at the New York City Corporation Counsel’s Office and then and as in-house Legal Assistant at Cahill Gordon & Reindel prior to joining legacy Aventis in 2000. Syeda has supported various business/brand areas while working in the Legal group. During her tenure within the Legal group, she has supported IT, Market Access, Clinical, Investigator Sponsored Trials, and Brands such as Allegra, Actonel, Lantus and Taxotere.

Currently, Syeda manages a team of six Contract Managers within P2P organization who draft Simple contracts. She is actively participating in a pilot program to launch a new global contracting tool. In support of this initiative, she works in collaboration with various functions including Legal, Procurement, and other support functions within P2P.

In her spare time she enjoys wine making, cooking, reading, travelling and spending time with her friends and family. She has two adorable dogs named Madison and Tito!

William (Wil) Lythgoe

Value Stream Lead

Will's Bio

Will Graduated College with a Double Major in Business Management and Marketing; and had no idea what he wanted to do. He Joined Sanofi in 2015 as a contract coordinator where he was responsible for reviewing contracts that went through the system, ensuring all compliance/SOX/CIA regulations were met and worked cross functionally with many different groups. Since being at Sanofi, Will has worked as a Purchasing Agent, L2 Support for purchasing systems and most recently, Process Improvement. In his current role, He looks for new innovative way’s on how to improve the current process with new technologies, new ways of thinking and thinking outside the box. He also works on projects like, chatbots, Amazon Alexa Skills, RPA bots, data analytics, web design, SharePoint and much more. Will is the Co-Lead to DeLTAS (Developing Leaders and Talent Across Sanofi) Employee Resource Group where he is involved with various projects (Reverse Mentoring, hosting events and more) and giving back to the community though charities like Junior Achievement, NJ Seeds and Breast Cancer, to name a few.

In the Fall he will be going back to school at night to get his MBA. In his free time, Will likes to relax, hang out with his family, give back to his community, go fishing, play video games, go hiking, Skiing, travel and enjoy life. He believes in a strong Work – Life balance.

He is looking forward to helping a young professional navigate through the beginning stages of their career and making a new friend.

Joel Gross

Director, Value Stream Transformation

Joel's Bio

Joel Gross serves as the head of Quality & Performance for Sanofi Business Services in North America.  He graduated from Lafayette College in Easton, PA with a bachelor’s degree in Biochemical Engineering.  He spent the first 8 years of his career with Merck as a vaccine process engineer, supporting the development and manufacture of products such as ZOSTAVAX® (shingles) and GARDASIL® (HPV).  During his time at Merck, Joel developed deep expertise in various continuous improvement programs, achieving certification as a Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma and as a Change Agent. In 2013, Joel joined Sanofi as a member of the continuous improvement team supporting the newly created Global Services Division (GSD).  With the reorganization of the GSD into Sanofi Business Services (SBS) in 2016, Joel assumed leadership of the continuous improvement efforts, but has recently transitioned into a new role as Head of Quality and Performance. 

Joel resides in Nazareth, PA with his wife and five children.  In his (limited) spare time Joel enjoys writing for his personal blog at TheKaiZone.com.  He also enjoys reading, running, hiking, camping and fishing. 

Gary Sharp

Director, Clinical External Parties

Gary's Bio

Garreth “Gary” Sharp is currently a Director in the Clinical External Parties Management group at Sanofi. He has been in his current role for four (4) years. He is originally from Philadelphia, PA. Gary attended the University of Pittsburgh, and majored in Natural Sciences. Upon graduation, he worked several years as a technician in the Residue Chemistry for FMC Corp. That laboratory experience led to an opportunity to work in “Quality”. Gary’s quality experience spans the entire GxP spectrum (laboratory, clinical and manufacturing) with a few of the top pharma companies. However, it is the laboratory setting where he uses his skill set best. Outside of the office, Gary enjoys sports – coaching his local high school basketball team, golfing, and spending time at the beach. He is married with three (3) kids and two (2) dogs.

Kati Sadiwnyk

Director, V&A CV

Kati's Bio

Kati is a diabetes and cardiovascular market access lead and has officially been with the company for about one year with two years of prior contractor experience with Sanofi.  Kati graduated from the College of New Jersey with a BA in Mathematics/Statistics and without a specific industry in mind, sought out jobs that had “research” in the description. She found her way to a market research company focused on health plan/pharmaceutical interests.  After discovering that this area was very compelling and identifying an interest in both analytics and strategy, grew to a leadership role within her starting company before moving to a payer marketing agency.  Kati’s experience within the agency provided a deeper look at the day to day workings of a pharmaceutical company and prepared her for the transition to Sanofi, working with the market access team to develop and execute strategies and tactics to support brand growth and field activities.  Kati is interested in understanding the myriad of changes that are occurring in the healthcare industry, whether driven by the government, health plan or manufacturer and discovering new ways to tackle challenges in the market.  When not a work, Kati enjoys spending time with her husband and son Eagan, hiking, camping, reading, travelling and gardening.  She is looking forward to meeting the mentees!

Mark Millet

Coordinator, Contracts and Pricing

Mark's Bio

Mark joined Sanofi in 2012 and is currently a Coordinator in Strategic Pricing and Contracting Management. In 2011, he earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland – College Park in Criminology & Criminal Justice in addition to completing the Life Science Scholars Program – a community-focused honors program.

After graduating, Mark secured an internship in the newly-formed Corporate Social Responsibility department at Sanofi US. Within a month timeframe, he was offered a position in the same department, which he maintained until his transition to the Market Access department as a full-time employee.

Mark is on the leadership team of the DeLTAS (Developing Leaders and Talent Across Sanofi) Employee Resource Group and serves as community liaison for both the VETS and CancerConnect Employee Resource Groups, developing relationships and partnership opportunities with local and national nonprofit organizations.

In his spare time, Mark enjoys scuba diving, international travel, chasing solar eclipses and new experiences.

Jennifer Cinquino

Senior Manager, Contract Development

Jennifer's Bio

Jennifer received a B.A. in Business Economics from Montclair State University in 2002. She has been in the pharmaceutical industry since 2006 where she has spent many years working for Novartis and Allergan. She joined the Contract Development team at Sanofi in 2015 and in this role she negotiates contracts with health plans which help provide patients access to Sanofi’s brand products. Jennifer enjoys spending her free time investing in herself. She spends much of her time exploring new opportunities that feed her passions in life, like mindfulness meditation, mind/body work and self-compassion. She believes that investing in oneself should be an ongoing, never ending process throughout life. None of us are perfect and we all have room to grow; there is always something we can learn from someone else. Jennifer also enjoys being in nature, spending time with family and friends, horseback riding and kayaking. She feels so blessed to have this wonderful opportunity of having an impact on the life of someone who is just starting out in a career endeavor. It’s such a wonderful time in someone’s life and she hopes that her experiences can be of help to others.

Kripa Patel

Associate Director, Labeling- Global Regulatory Affairs

Kripa's Bio

Kripa recently joined the Global Regulatory Affairs Labeling group in June 2018. In this role I am responsible for management of Labeling related to the General and Emerging Medicines Portfolio. I lead/manage the development and maintenance of the Company Core Data Sheet, package inserts for these products and submissions to the health authorities in US and Europe. I became interested in this role as I wanted a positon where I could utilize my pharmacy education and my medical and quality experience that I had gathered over the years in my professional career.

I have been at Sanofi for 17 years but have grown professionally and personally over that time. I worked for over 5 years in the Diabetes therapeutic area in Medical information Services. I worked towards obtaining my Doctorate in Pharmacy and subsequently also pursued a Masters in Healthcare Management.

In 2007, I changed gears and moved into Quality and Compliance area as Senior Manager –Product Technical Complaints, where I managed group of 9 employees and 10 contractors. In 2015, moved to a different role within Quality as Lead for CAPA and Deviation to help evaluate the current process and develop a plan to establish a more comprehensive process for the North America Quality Group. In 2016, I became the Lead for Quality Document Operations

Team where I managed a team of 5 people (employee and contractors) who managed the Quality documents for US. I expanded my scope from management of US documents to management of North America documents and was integral in the successful roll out of the system and processes across US and Canada.

I am very involved in my own development and development of my peers and team. I believe that the road to success is paved by hard work, determination and persistence. Keeping an open mind and being able to look at things from others perspective has been integral in getting aligned with the management goals and strategies. I believe that you are the driver of your own future and success. My moto has always been- where there is a will there is a way!

On personal level-I like to read and spend time with family and travel. I have two young kids that keep me on my toes and tremendously busy. I am looking forward to working with the student and helping them benefit from my experience and learning to become successful individuals.

Filomena Masullo

Lead, Training

Filomena's Bio

Filomena worked for Exxon Mobil and then joined legacy Aventis in 2000.  Filomena has held various positions within the North America Site Services department where she managed and implemented move and facilities services within Bridgewater. Filomena has participated in many continuous improvement kaizens, was a member of the Service Excellence Champions and is currently part of the Sanofi Business Services Concierge team and the Onboarding Process Council. Filomena leads the new hire orientation process and efforts for NA Sanofi Business Services. She works across North America to ensure new hires are given consistent messaging and similar experiences on Day One while also facilitating and coordinating the Bridgewater, NJ, Cambridge, MA and Swiftwater, PA, orientation. In her spare time she enjoys going to the beach, reading, working out and spending time with family.

Brandon Druker

Manager, Business Transformation

Brandon's Bio

Brandon Druker is a Value Stream Manager within the Business Transformation Division where his focus is on improving processes and operating efficiency. Prior to this position he worked at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in various operational and financial roles. Brandon completed his undergraduate degree at Rutgers double majoring in Economics and Public Health in 2011 and completed his MBA with concentrations in Entrepreneurship and Strategy in 2015. He went on to become a part time lecturer at Rutgers teaching Intro to Healthcare Administration, Healthcare Economics and in the Spring of 2019 will be teaching a new course Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare at the graduate level.

When not working he enjoys martial arts, photography, being outdoors and traveling.

Donna Spencer

Senior Manager, Contract Development and Analytics

Donna's Bio

Donna has 30 years of experience in the Strategic Pricing and Contract Management area within the pharmaceutical industry. During this time, she’s negotiated Managed Care, Medicare, Medicaid, Hospital, Long Term Care, GPO and Federal Government contracts at several pharmaceutical companies. She is currently a Senior Manager, Contract Development at Sanofi and is responsible for negotiating Managed Care and Medicare contracts with several national health plans and pharmacy benefit managers.

Donna received her BA in International Business from the University of Connecticut and her MBA from the Leonard Stern School of Business at New York University. Donna loves to travel and speaks German fluently. In fact, her first trip to Germany was by herself at 7 years old! She continued her travels in the coming years staying with several host families in Belgium, Corsica and France and learned to speak French. These days she continues to enjoy traveling as often as possible with her family members. When she's not traveling, she’s pursuing her hobbies in photography, swimming, cooking and shopping! 🙂

She has mentored many colleagues over the years to take on increasing levels of responsibilities and has taken great satisfaction in their success! She looks forward to continuing her mentoring with RVCC students through Sanofi's mentor program.

Loura Said

US Market Access Team

Loura's Bio

Loura Said has been with Sanofi for over 3 years. She joined Sanofi through the Rutgers Post – Doctoral Pharmaceutical Fellowship program where she worked closely on a launch product from development through launch on the marketing team. Currently Loura is in US Market Access providing strategic direction and support for the US Market Access Field Team. Loura holds a PharmD from Rutgers University and also recently completed her MBA through Rutgers as well.

Kathy Murphy

Senior Manager, Channel Services

Kathy's Bio

Kathy Murphy is currently a Senior Manager at Sanofi, managing copay programs for various brands. She is originally from Edison, NJ, but has resided in Bridgewater for many years. Kathy graduated from Stonehill College in MA, majoring in Marketing and Minoring in Business Information Systems. Kathy feels very fortunate to have been offered an internship with AT&T before the start of her senior year in college. This experience provided Kathy the opportunity to meet many contacts and to work in a Marketing department within a large corporation.  Since graduating college, Kathy has worked in many industries, including Telecommunications, Financial Services and Pharmaceutical.

Outside of the office, Kathy enjoys reading, gardening, music, spending time with family and friends, and trips to New England, New York City, and the Jersey Shore.