Paul Tomaszeski
Executive director of business support services
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.
East Hanover, N.J.

PAST Tomaszeski began his career as a CPA at Novartis on the financial side of the business and moved into his current position 11 years ago.

CRED He was instrumental in developing a strategic meetings management program at Novartis in 2003 by forming a dedicated meeting solutions group for sourcing, planning, and contract-management expertise. Without a mandate, he worked hard to sell the value of the department internally, and his team now boasts upward of 90 percent compliance to the program. In January, he was also asked to become the North America travel manager for Novartis Group Cos. in the United States and Canada.\

SUCCESS STORY Executing a product launch meeting for 3,000 attendees in Dallas last June in just two weeks time. “That's start to finish,” says Tomaszeski, from contracting to booking travel and executing meeting logistics. The crunch was due to an accelerated drug approval. “Once the approval came through, the drug needed to be launched immediately.'”

FORWARD-THINKING Looking ahead, he has his sights set on meetings beyond pharma: “We have specifically been focused on pharma meetings up until now. But there are other business units within Novartis Group Cos. in the U.S. that could benefit from our best-practice sharing. We are meeting with them and asking them how we can help them.”

ADVICE “Throughout my career, I have never said no to any work that comes my way. Anything anyone has ever asked me to do, I find a way to do it.”

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