MANUFACTURER

Walgreens has brought on Mark Lelinski as corporate VP of market access. Lelinski will be responsible for contracting and pricing strategies, integration efforts across Walgreens pharmacy, health and wellness division, sales and account management, and overseeing the continued evolution of the company’s managed market strategies. Lelinski previously spent nine years with AstraZeneca in a number of marketing, strategy and managed market roles, both in the U.S. and abroad. In his most recent role as vice president, Americas region marketing and sales, Lelinski was responsible for implementing new commercial capabilities across markets in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

Merz North America announced the appointment of John Donofrio as chief financial officer and head of business development—North America. In this role, Donofrio will be primarily accountable for financial performance, cost management and strategic business planning and analysis for the Finance organization in North America. Donofrio will join Merz’s North American Leadership Team and will report directly to Bill Humphries, president and CEO of Merz North America.

Merck Korea, an affiliate of Merck KGaA, announced that Dr. Michael Grund will take over as Managing Director of Merck in Korea, succeeding Juergen Koenig on July 1, 2013. Grund plans to more closely cooperate with other branches in the European countries and the U.S. He added that the Korean affiliate will strengthen the partnership with the R&D center in the U.K. Dr. Michael Grund was awarded a doctorate in Chemical Engineering and began working at Merck in 1997. Before joining Merck in Korea, he was Vice President PM-Advanced Technologies Development.

AGENCY

Fingerpaint Marketing has added Erin Armstrong (pictured) to its account service team and Pam Volzone to its medical strategy team. Armstrong brings to Fingerpaint nearly 15 years of sales and account management experience. Prior to joining Fingerpaint, she was a sales representative for Lilly USA’s Cardiovascular Health Specialty Division, where she was responsible for marketing and sales of prescription medications for cardiologists and general practitioners. Armstrong also served in a number of account service roles at Palio Communications. Volzone is a medical writer, instructional designer and health educator with more than 30 years of  experience in medical communications, pharmaceutical/medical sales and health education. Volzone’s career  includes stints at AXIOM Professional Health Learning, Evolution Medical Communications and Excerpta Medica (Elsevier). The agency also added on Joann Gometz and Tom Poje to its creative team.  Gometz comes to Fingerpaint from McMurry/TMG, where she served as senior content editor, developing and executing cross-platform content marketing strategies in the financial services, insurance, managed care and software industries. While there, she provided editorial direction, editing, writing and podcast recording services for clients including Thomson Reuters, Nationwide and PNC. Poje hails from senior copywriting positions at Blue Diesel, Mad Ones Creatives, as well as associate creative director positions at Jekyll & Hyde Design and Charles Schwab. The Sarasota Springs-based firm also brought on Alexandra Roth to its operations team and Danielle Saladino-Evans to its corporate communications team.  Prior to joining Fingerpaint, Roth was fundraising coordinator for the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Albany office, where she was responsible for prospecting and soliciting corporate sponsors and for coordinating special events. Previously, Saladino-Evans was account manager and social media strategist for Baker Public Relations, where she managed marketing, social media and public relations strategies for clients in the technology and health and beauty industries. At Curran Investment Management, Saladino-Evans served as marketing communications manager, implementing the firm’s promotional and marketing materials.

MassMedia has hired Sarah Marek as advertising and media specialist. In her role, Marek provides support for Mass­Media’s media buying and creative departments by trafficking ads, assisting with research and conducting media reporting. She also oversees accuracy of work flow and documentation through the creative and media-buying processes. Prior to joining the MassMedia team, she held marketing and management positions at CORE Construction and Cashman Professionals in Las Vegas.

AbelsonTaylor has promoted Kathleen Curley and Meghan Mulhern to senior account executive. Curley, previously account executive, will lead digital and print initiatives for both healthcare professionals and patients, focusing on accounts in the neurology and rheumatology categories. She will report to Nick Rambke, senior account supervisor. Since joining AbelsonTaylor in 2010, Curley has worked on professional accounts in a wide range of areas, including respiratory, women’s health, antispychotics and nutrition. She has also helped develop direct mail programs and iPad sales aids, created Internet and mobile sites, and handled financial management. Previously Curley was research coordinator, business-to-business marketing for Colman Brohan Davis, an integrated marketing agency in Chicago. Mulhern, promoted from her position as account executive, will be working on a portfolio of products for the treatment of diabetes. She will report to Laura Poskey-Paul, account supervisor. Since joining AbelsonTaylor in 2009, she has worked on new campaigns, launch materials and websites, handling products for the treatment of endometriosis, osteoporosis, pain, urinary incontinence and dry eye. She also handled a product in the women’s health area, developing an HCP patient counseling app, branded and unbranded websites and CRM materials.

HCB Health has made Steve Miller (pictured) executive creative director. In his new position, he will be supervising HCB’s creative team and bringing his consumer experience to HCB’s roster of healthcare and device clients. He will report to Kerry Hilton, partner and CEO. Previously group creative director at GSD&M, a full-service advertising agency in Austin, Miller led creative work for Southwest Airlines for more than eight years.  During his tenure there, he helped supervise the agency’s creative department, implementing both traditional and digital work for brands such as AT&T, BMW, Walmart and AARP.

Ogilvy Public Relations announced that Suanne Buggy joins the Sacramento office of Ogilvy PR West as vice president. Suanne will work with key clients including California’s Health Benefit Exchange, Covered California. Buggy joins Ogilvy PR with nearly 15 years experience in public policy, healthcare and foreign affairs. Most recently she was the senior communications officer for the California HealthCare Foundation.  Previously she served as an assistant secretary in the California Health and Human Services Agency and was a department deputy director in the California Department of Public Health. Suanne has also worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Department of Agriculture where she travelled to Kabul, Afghanistan, helping them reorganize their own Department of Agriculture.

RESEARCH

GfK Consumer Experiences North America has named Justin Edge as Managing Director of Health, and Tom Neri as Executive Vice President of Financial Services. They will head the North American client teams for these key areas of expertise. Edge joined GfK in the 2012 acquisition of Knowledge Networks, where he led the pharmaceutical and health practice. Previously, he held a variety of positions with Opinion Research Corporation, including leading its brand and healthcare practices.  Before settling in the US, he worked with HSBC in the UK and with the Irish Trade Board in Sweden. Prior to joining Gfk, Neri spent eight years at Ipsos, where he founded and led Ipsos Loyalty US, and Ipsos Insight Financial Services, Industry & Technology. Neri has also been Group Senior Vice President at Directions for Decisions, now part of RTi Research.

CORRECTION: In August’s “Private View,” the ads for Novartis Oncology and Atrial Fibrillation and Ischemic Stroke were developed by McCann Regan Campbell Ward. The advertisement for Lyrica was done by Euro RSCG Life LM&P, now Havas Metro.

From the September 01, 2013 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media