News
Mark Luckie Named SBN Director at Avant Healthcare Marketing
CARMEL, IN - August 20, 2010 - A seasoned veteran in pharmaceutical and biotech marketing, Mark Luckie has been named a Strategic Brand Network Director of Avant Healthcare Marketing. Mark will use his pharmaceutical marketing experience to transform client objectives into strategic solutions. He will then oversee the development and implementation of those projects.
Before becoming a SBN Director, Mark worked as Executive Vice President of Snow and Associates. While at Snow, a rapidly growing boutique agency specializing in creating and growing patient communication platforms, Mark had oversight of several pharmaceutical and biotech accounts. Mark was responsible for integrating brand strategy into actionable and measurable patient-centric tactics including live and web patient-led events.
Before his time at Snow, Mark was a Marketing Consultant at Eli Lilly and Company. His experience there included work in US neuroscience marketing and global musculoskeletal marketing.
When it comes to business philosophy, Mark finds success in collaboration, focus of purpose, and customer influence. "My experiences have taught me that there is a danger in not understanding and celebrating the different talents a team brings to the table," Mark says. "I have learned to be an effective coach, providing constructive feedback coupled with actionable plans." He also says that he promotes ideas, products, and services not through diversion but through "focus of purpose, transparency and collaboration of ideals."
Avant Names New Sales Director
CARMEL, IN - Joseph Barrett, a seasoned veteran in sales with over 20 years of experience, is the newest member of the Avant Healthcare Marketing team. As Executive Director of Business Development, Barrett will focus his efforts on developing collaborative relationships with new accounts in the peer-to-peer channel. His many years in the pharmaceutical industry will enable him to build strong customer partnerships.
For the past four years, he has worked as Vice President of Sales for Achievant. At Achievant, Barrett was a partner in the start-up, focusing on sales and marketing of HR software solutions to small and mid-size markets. He was responsible for Achievant’s sales and marketing across the United States. Additionally, he implemented sales forecasting and investment priorities for long-term growth and profitability, generating recurring annual revenue.
Before Achievant, Barrett held multiple leadership roles at Eli Lilly and Company and Abbott Labs. He was responsible for the initial and ongoing training of all neuroscience representatives and sales managers. Barrett coached and developed internal and field trainers for future sales management roles. He was the core team member for Six Sigma projects related to increasing customer value, and he identified critical training and coaching interventions to continually increase sales performance. While at Lilly, Barrett won the Sales Force of the Future Leadership Award, Living the Brand Award, and Peer Award for Sales Training and Development.
Barrett received his BS in Business Administration from Marian University. He is the president of The O’Conner House, and a member of the board of St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church School.
DWA Healthcare Communications Group Honored as One of the 2010 Indiana Companies to Watch
CARMEL, IN - DWA Healthcare Communications Group is one of 41 companies recognized as one of the 2010 Indiana Companies to Watch, an awards program presented by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation through its Small Business Development Center network, Purdue University, and the Edward Lowe Foundation. DWA, along with its affiliated companies, provides comprehensive healthcare education services and strategic marketing solutions for the medical, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical industries.
Companies to Watch is an awards program that celebrates Indiana privately held second-stage companies, typically those businesses that are past the startup phase, are considered to be established, and face issues of growth, not survival. Companies honored range from traditional businesses involved in manufacturing, financial services, and retail trade to high-tech companies working in the life sciences, information technology, telecommunications, and aerospace industries. The companies will be honored during the third annual Indiana Companies to Watch awards program, held on August 26 in Indianapolis.
About Indiana Companies to Watch
Companies to Watch firms must employ between six and 150 full-time equivalent employees, have between $750,000 and $100 million in annual revenue or working capital in place, and demonstrate the intent and capacity to grow based on employee or sales growth, exceptional entrepreneurial leadership, sustainable competitive advantage, or other notable strengths. This year, more than 300 Indiana companies were nominated for the Companies to Watch program. The number of applicants was narrowed to 141 businesses. From that pool, 100 finalists were selected, and 41 companies emerged to become the 2010 Indiana Companies to Watch.
Highly Regarded Medical Writer Philippe Vitat Joins Avant Healthcare Marketing Team
CARMEL, IN - Dynamic, thorough, and robustly qualified are a few of the many adjectives applied to our newest Scientific Content Consultant, Philippe Vitat, who brings with him expertise and an abundance of experience in the field. Mr. Vitat has worked as a certified medical writer and editor since 2001 and was named a “Leading Health Professional of the World” in medical education by the International Biographical Center in Cambridge, England. As a medical writer, he provided strategic consulting services in medical communications for major manufacturers, including Eli Lilly and Company, Ethicon, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Prometheus, Novartis, Eisai, and Sanofi-Aventis.
Mr. Vitat’s therapeutic specialties include neuroscience, oncology, dermatology, gastroenterology, infectious diseases, and cardiovascular diseases, among others. He co-founded and served as medical editor of IMPACT, a Digestive Diseases Educational Center-produced regional CME symposium series, which continues to provide periodical clinical updates on digestive diseases, metabolic disorders, and infectious diseases throughout the United States.
Before working as a freelance medical writer, Mr. Vitat was Vice President and Group Account Supervisor at Grey Healthcare Group, a New York-based global healthcare communications company. While at Grey, he led numerous account teams that provided clients with project management support and elaborated a multi-faceted medical communications plan, which led, among other achievements, to the successful launch of Aciphex and Celexa. He also managed all operational aspects of the strategic partnership with Lilly leading to the global launch of the innovative biological agent Xigris.
Mr. Vitat received his baccalaureate in Economics at the College Sainte Marie in Antony, France, in 1987. He received his masters in Management with honors at the Ecole des Dirigeants et Createurs d’entreprise in Paris, France, in 1990 and his certificate in medical writing and editing at the University of Chicago Graham School of General Studies in 2008.
Avant Healthcare Marketing is recognized as a leader in peer-to-peer marketing for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies who need comprehensive communication strategies and plans. Avant delivers superior medical and health education across multiple channels to healthcare professionals to improve patient outcomes.
