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Alice Woychik, Director of Meeting Solutions

PAST Although she has spent the past 10 years in the meetings industry, Woychik got her start as an accountant for a technology company. She eventually moved into marketing, where she was responsible for planning events—and she hasn’t looked back.

CRED When Woychik joined Novartis two years ago, she noticed that despite the high level of expertise contained within the meetings department, meeting managers were only being asked to perform logistical services for clients and were not able to use their skills to influence decisions. Within six months, she had reorganized the entire team into an account-management structure, where meeting managers act as liaisons between preferred third-party logistics planners and internal meeting sponsors. “We used that new structure as a jumping-off point to say, ‘As account managers, we’re advisers. We are the experts, so let us advise you.’” She has also implemented preferred-supplier agreements, as well as a supplier relationship management model, which was rolled out in 2008.

SUCCESS STORY One of her most memorable moments at Novartis came when she and her team pulled off a product launch for 3,200 attendees with just 10 days’ lead time. They put their partnerships with suppliers to the test and came up with some truly creative solutions. The product launch was a success and—nearly two years later—is still viewed as model for other launches at the company.

FORWARD THINKING Woychik is leading a cross-operational team tasked with rolling out a new technology solution and developing a new process for capturing and reporting on physician spend data in order to comply with increased regulations in the pharma sector. The new operational structure for data reporting is expected to launch later this year; the technology solution will go live in July.

ADVICE “You don’t have to be in a leadership position to bring new ideas to the table. Always look forward to the next thing and push the envelope, and you will differentiate yourself and your organization.”

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