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by the Membership Services Committee with photos by Joyce Chiu, Perceptive Informatics

On a warm Thursday evening on June 10th, local professionals met at Tufts Gordon Institute in Medford to see old friends, make new ones and, more importantly, learn from a panel of nine experienced industry leaders, all from different fields and companies. This unique event was organized by the Boston Area Chapter Member Services Committee to assist individuals looking for information to help them grow professionally or those interested in exploring a variety of different career options in a single evening.

Tufts Gordon Institute host Mary Viola enjoys a light moment with attendees.

After a "welcome" reception (with a great array of dinner items), Gordon Institute Professor Mary Viola formally welcomed the panelists and attendees to Tufts. Her comment that one of the Gordon Institute's goals is "Helping Engineers and Scientists" struck a great opening note. Next, the nine panelists introduced themselves and opened with brief remarks in three areas: what inspires them about their jobs, how they had overcome a hurdle in their careers and one piece of advice on how to succeed in their field.

Although each of the panelists was from a different discipline, a few common themes were evident:

• be willing to try something different, something out of your comfort zone;
• recognize the virtue of having patience; and
• keep an open mind regarding new possibilities in one's career track.

Panelist Cheryl Marrotta of Genzyme with Barry Potts (left) and Ric Feldt of the Chapter's Member Services Committee.

After the welcome and panelists' introductory comments, five breakout sessions were held with the panelists, with participants able to visit with each for fifteen minutes in a friendly round-table atmosphere. The following are some of the highlights of these discussions:

Beth M. Wescott, P.E. Operational Excellence:
Director, Site Operations Management, Andover, Pfizer Global Manufacturing

Beth discussed issues such as how to facilitate, how to consolidate resources, the importance of "learning the ropes" in an organization and how to get people better involved in continuous improvement.

Cheryl Marotta Corporate Quality:
Vice President, US Therapeutics Quality Operations, Genzyme

Cheryl hosted a lively session that spoke to points such as how important it is to find the time to make improvements, to get out of a reactive mode and become more proactive. She recommended getting out of one's comfort zone (a point echoed by several of the panelists) and described her career ladder of different companies (Millipore, Ion Pure Technologies, Genzyme) and various quality positions. She also spoke of the advantages of being able to connect to people on an individual level, person to person, rather than through formal positions.

Michael J. Kaufman, Ph.D. Pharmaceutical Product Development:
Vice President, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company

Mike spoke of the day-to-day management required for his position and how this related to bringing new pharmaceuticals to market. He also answered questions regarding how he learned to plan and budget for large scale projects.

Susan Dana Jones, Ph.D. Biotech Process Development & Tech Transfer:
Vice President and Senior Consultant, BioProcess Technology Consultants

Susan described what her job entails on a day-to-day basis and how she started her own company, helping to shape the future with her past experience.

Bob Steininger Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing:
Senior Vice President, Manufacturing, Acceleron Pharma

Bob discussed his experiences at small and larger companies and the levels of expertise that can be acquired at both sizes of companies. He also gave advice to those wanting to switch from lab/office management into managing drug development projects.

Robert Mitchell, P.E. Architecture & Engineering:
Vice President, Engineering, SPEC Process Engineering & Construction

Rob stressed the importance of learning the history of the field you're in and described his career experiences and how they shaped his approach. He also spoke of sustainability (green engineering) and stressed that this new directive can be addressed by employing good engineering practices, that is, by doing the right thing.

Lisa Wyman Production Engineering:
Senior Production & Engineering Manager, Boston Scientific

Lisa discussed topics such as lean engineering, as well as how important it is to prove the connections between quality, customers and costs. Some key points of her advice included create opportunities to keep learning, take on responsibility and find mentors.

Roop Kumar Automation Engineering:
President & Founder, Aztec Technologies

Roop discussed some technical aspects of what his company provides and how he overcomes some common hurdles, as well as how the experiences from his past positions at such companies as Wyeth and Amgen have shaped the approaches he used at his own company.

Peter Mosgrove Business Development, Sales & Marketing:
Head of Marketing, Mettler-Toledo Thornton

Peter discussed how important it can be to take different avenues in one's career and how important those experiences were in his own career. After being a part of R&D, then sales, he enjoyed marketing because it allowed him to help educate people on what products can do.

Panelist Lisa Wyman of Boston Scientific with attendees (l to r) Bernadette St. John, Nancy Buczko and Cynthia Laksawana.

Attendees at this unique event - from young professionals to seasoned veterans - were offered a rare opportunity to gain personal insights from a diverse group of distinguished industry professionals, all in a single evening. One of the attendees in particular, an enthusiastic high school student, seemed especially pleased with the information she gained. We hope this event helps her formulate her future career direction.