Tell us a little bit more about your role.
I’m the senior director of sales for the healthcare team at MMIT, managing a team of three and also handling a few of my own sales accounts. My job is to make sure everyone stays on track and we hit our monthly goals in terms of bookings.
How did you join the company? What in your background brought you to pharma?
My college degree was in Marketing and Professional Sales, at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. Gartner, the market research company, actually recruited me right out of college, which was amazing. Every year seniors have the chance to give Gartner a sales pitch presentation for a job, and I was the only one offered a role that year—they flew me to Florida and really rolled out the red carpet.
I learned a lot in that position, and I had the opportunity to work with a few healthcare clients. I knew I was interested in staying in the industry, so when I heard there were some openings at MMIT back in 2019, I applied. I started off as a salesman on the healthcare team, focusing purely on non-pharma accounts. After becoming a manager, we focused a lot on renewals, but now that function has shifted underneath the client services role. I’ve seen the team through a lot of iterations of how we do business, and now am purely focused on new business at the healthcare level.
What does your day-to-day usually look like?
Since this is a player-coach role, I like to be organized with how I spend my time. Typically, I focus on my accounts in the morning, making sure Salesforce is updated and I’ve sent all my follow-up emails. In the second half of the day, I make sure that my team has what they need to move their accounts through the sales cycle. That might mean I need to help put a proposal presentation together, or talk about pricing on a call, or just serve in a kind of advisory role on client engagements.
What are some of the larger projects you’re working on?
Outside of my normal sales-related tasks, I’ve been working with the Commercial Planning, Pricing and Alliances team to fine-tune our pricing strategy for healthcare clients. We’re in the process of formalizing the format and approval process. Sometimes I also help our enablement teams develop trainings, by weighing in on the sales strategy for a particular product or sharing product knowledge.
What are some of the common challenges of your role?
Balancing your time and figuring out how to prioritize what you need to get done is probably the most common challenge in this role. For me, I have to work to balance my time as an individual contributor while also making sure my team has what they need. I may be in the middle of working on a task for a client, and one of my sellers needs something urgently, so I need to be able to pivot and ensure that the most pressing tasks are completed first.
What’s been your career highlight to date?
My second year on the job, I hit my annual target, which really gave me an appetite for success. And then back in the 2022-23 time frame, I landed the biggest deal ever sold by the healthcare team, at least at the time—I’m sure it’s been surpassed now. That deal was pivotal for my career, as it helped to show that I was ready for a leadership challenge. Last year, I was promoted from manager to senior director, and now I have the opportunity to mentor other sellers in addition to serving as an individual contributor. That promotion is my career highlight to date!
What trends are you seeing right now that MMIT is in a unique position to help with?
I would say that MMIT’s in a unique position to serve the healthcare market because of our BIN/PCN/Group data repository. Without the lookup we deliver, our healthcare clients would have no idea which plan name within MMIT maps to the patient’s individual insurance plan. They’ve been asking for this data for years, and now that we have it, their eyes just light up. We can help healthcare companies understand payer coverage at a patient level using that BIN/PCN/Group data, which in turn speeds the verification process and gives them the access information they need.
Which company principle resonates most with you?
I think resiliency, mettle and grit is a non-negotiable for sales. Anybody getting into sales needs the ability to stay level-headed and not let their emotions get the best of them throughout the deal process, whether you hear good news or bad. Your ability to persevere throughout difficult circumstances is the key to being successful.
And then as a human, the principle of kindness, empathy and grace really resonates with me, as I try to lead with those qualities. The ability to put yourself in somebody else’s shoes and think about a situation from their point of view is essential.
What would you tell someone just starting their career with MMIT?
Be enthusiastic in everything that you do, and also be patient. As we become a larger and more mature organization, we will no doubt experience growing pains throughout that evolution. We might adopt processes that aren’t an immediate best fit for your team, but we’re also good at recalibrating and making sure that things are operating smoothly in the end. We have so many great managers at this company that are dedicated advocates for their teams and their employees.
Where do you see Norstella in the next year or two?
I see Norstella being solidified as the top data provider for the healthcare and pharma industry. Our industry expertise only gets stronger the more people use and rely on our data. With some of our new products—from Landscape iQ to BPG Mapping—we’re able to touch so many more elements of the pharma lifecycle, not just market access. I see our reach only continuing to expand over the next few years.
What do you like most about working at MMIT?
Since I started here in 2019, I’ve seen a lot of people come and go in the sales organization. The people who stay tend to stay for the same core reasons, which is that we enjoy winning and we enjoy the people we work with. We’re a really efficient team here on the payer side of things. Regardless of the outcome of a particular month, quarter, or year, there’s always going to be people behind you giving positive reinforcement. If you didn’t perform well, they’re willing to show you how to improve. And if you did perform well, they recognize that.
What do you like to do outside of work?
My girlfriend and I live in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia, and I’m a huge Philly sports nut. I love the Phillies, the Eagles, the Flyers, the Sixers, and Union. And my main hobby and passion is DJing. My most recent gig was an engagement party, but I primarily like DJing in a club atmosphere. EDM and house music are my specialty!
