So there I was on March 26, 2016 a few blocks from downtown Wilmington when I spotted FOCM member Gayle Grandinetti’s car proudly sporting the FOCM window decal! Any member is eligible to get one at the reduced member rate of $5.00. I’d like to say they make a great Christmas gift, but that’s a bit of a stretch.
Let it be publicly stated that the line: Friends with FOCM Benefits was first uttered by Charles “Chuck” Gettis at a conference.
I am determined to catch up with my backlog of posts and pictures. It was March 15, 2016 at World of Beer in Cary, NC where a FOCM Networking Event was held. It was the night before Arena International’s Outsourcing in Clinical Trials Southeast meeting.
Quite a good turnout and FOCM membership cards were given out to deserving members. Attendees included: Chad Pollio, Lisa Campbell, Bernie Linner, Jeff Hudak, Vince Hoefling, Constance Hopkins, Deb Carfagno, Mark Paul and a colleague, Denee Oakley, Peter Payne, Paula Heyer, Jennifer with Acurian, Dana Edwards and a colleague, Kim Martinez, Erin Tabet and a colleague, Rosina Pavia, Michelle Jacobson, Sue Joor, Paul Eisenmann, Brian Langin, Jon Gardow, Diane Romick, Alison Greenwood, Laura Peters, Mike Markowitz, Garrett Smith, Chris Ramm, Pippa Wilson, Paul Oldfield, Breyona Fenner and two that I only have down as ‘knows Ken Billard’ and ‘Brit TRX guy’.
I will be attending Site Solution Summit in Boca Raton, October 6 – 8, 2017. I am appreciative of being asked to faciliate one of the breakout sessions on Saturday. More than likely I’ll organize a happy hour for October 7.
Site Solution Summit Break out Session
On Monday morning, September 25, there was a definite buzz of excitement as FOCM members attending #SCDM2017 knew that there would be a networking event that very evening. The location, chosen by FOCM Member with card number 0001, Brian Langin was Bob Marley – A Tribute to Freedom restaurant at Universal CityWalk in Orlando, FL.
Brian is not in the picture below, possibly due to his past undercover work keeping America safe or maybe because he took the picture.
Attending: Vicky Martin, me, Karen Hicks, Charlene Dark, Tina Pietropaolo, Joby John, Karen McPoyle, Hugh Levaux and Jen Price. A late (post-pic) arriver was Shae Wilkins.
Here’s how we’re connected: Vicky, Karen, Tina, Karen and I met at ICON; Hugh, Brian and I met at Quintiles, Charlene and I met through Karen Hicks at a past SCDM conference, Jen and I met at conferences, Joby and I met at this year’s conference. Shae and I met at some conference or other.
Crazy, I know, but rather than go back to 2016 and find pictures from a networking back then (which I commit to still doing to get caught up), I decided to go with a more recent event.
On July 27, while in Boston for the 2nd Ophthalmology Drug Development Summit sponsored by Hanson-Wade, a FOCM event was held at the Back Deck, 2 West St., Boston, MA. This group (pictured) is quite unique in the origin of the connections it represents. It represents quite a timeline of my life and career. Attending were:
Christie Schmitt Coombs – we know each other from our home town of Yuma, AZ; having gone to high school together. Her sister Carolyn and I graduated the same year. I worked with her sister Linda at a summer camp during college.
John Ketchum – we worked together at Burroughs Wellcome (my first job out of college) and stayed in touch while he traveled the world for Novartis, from which he recently retired.
Brian Langin – we worked together at Quintiles (my job after Burroughs Wellcome) and again at YPrime (where I worked prior to current job).
Amy Zastawney – we worked together at ICON (after a short stop elsewhere, my job after Quintiles).
The FOCM meeting record does recognize that Cory Winters, with Bio-Telemetry Research also attended, but he had to depart early and that was before I thought to take a picture. FOCM member Vicky Martin brought Cory into the network. Time will tell if she is to be thanked, we’re just waiting on Cory’s background check to come through.
Also I’d like to point out that our bartender was Denver Lincoln and he took our photo, so I took his so he can get credit for it and to give him some promotion as he works two jobs while working on his stand-up comedy. When he gets famous, you can go through me to get his autograph and to book him for events.
On February 23 and 24, 2016, I found myself in Miami attending SCOPE (Summit for Clinical Operations Executives). It is always fun to attend conferences and see old friends and make new ones. At this meeting three people received their cards.
The first night, my friend Angela Radcliffe had arranged reservations for 16 at a restaurant’s private room and due to some issues had no RSVPs by 3 p.m. and was going to cancel it. I asked her to give me an hour and I’d see what I could do. We ended up getting 20 people and they had to move us to a larger room. It was a great dinner where a lot of people met each other for the first time and Angela led it by sharing a personal story about what drew her into clinical research and everyone else shared their path to the industry. It was a really memorable night.
On the second night, we arranged a group go to dinner at Larios, the restaurant owned by Gloria and Emilio Estefan. That was also a great group of people. Not in the pictures: Brian Langin, Alicia Foley, David Fairbrother, Amy Zastawney.
On February 10, 2016, while attending Arena International’s Outsourcing in Clinical Trials Northern California three people received their FOCM cards.
Adam Kuzmicz, who I have known for 10+ years. Adam is with Parexel. The photographer really captured his extreme happiness at this moment. He later said, it was one of the happiest moments of his life. At least that’s how I remember it.
Barry Murphy with Novotetch was next to receive his card. He is a little more in control of his emotions than Adam was.
Donna Fraser with Novotech also received a membership card. Her joy at the moment is quite evident!
Welcome them to FOCM!
So on February 9, I was in the San Francisco area for an Arena International Outsourcing in Clinical Trials conference and knowing that others I would know would be in town for that, I put together an event. I got in touch with Sue Simpson, friend for 20 years and proprietor of TasteVin Wine Bar and Bistro, located in San Carlos, CA to schedule the event there. Then, thanks to Facebook, I saw that the one and only Bob Bildner was also going to be in San Francisco and lawd, lawd, lawd, we had us a time.
Present for the event and receiving major attendance reward points for gift items in the FOCM gift catalog (future possibility) were:
Dave Gibboni, Paul Oldfield, Beth Johnson, me, Sue Simpson, Julie Hammack, Brian Langin, Bob Bildner, Claudia Kunzler, Pippa Wilson and Breyona Fenner. Bob received his FOCM membership card and I don’t know about you, but to me, it looks like one of the happiest moments of his life.
Please note: any card carrying FOCM member receives a 10% discount when dining at TasteVin. Membership does have its privileges.
