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FOCM Networking Meeting Minutes March 12, 2018

Report filed from Outpost RTP:

March 12, 2018

It was a bitterly cold and snowy night that caused all but the bravest souls to stay in their warm homes. Only a select few dared to venture out into the third major winter storm in March.

FOCM members are nothing if not brave, courageous, oh and, thirsty, let’s not forget that. So there we were on March 12, had previously arranged to have this event at a location which will now remain nameless since they closed and didn’t let me know. A quick decision was needed and made. With no time to spare a note was sent out stating we would meet at Mez.

First to arrive at the closed meeting site was Pippa Wilson of Barrington James, second to arrive was Kathleen Finn of Barrington James, third to arrive was Bernie Linner with West Coast Clinical Trials. We then headed to Mez where we met up with the intrepid (yes, I used dictionary.com) FOCM members (Drew Harrison, Steve Caravaglio, Derrick Ferrar, Carol Miller (photo taker), Chad Pollio, Brooks Satterfield and Kasey Karr (not pictured; arrived late, but made up for it by staying late). FOCM NEVER cancels its events due to weather! (of course, FOCM reserves the right to change its rules at any time.)

FOCM at Global Clinical Supplies Conference

The month was April, the year 2016, the event: the #1 clinical research industry’s clinical supplies conference – Global Clinical Supply Group. Several important events happened with photographic evidence to support it.

It was my honor to give a FOCM membership card to one of my favorite co-workers of all-time, Roxann Pinguelo. Is she thrilled or what?

FOCM also welcomed Ryan Jarvis to the organization and Russ Brierley and Renee Brown were on hand to witness these ceremonies.

Russ Brierley, Ryan Jarvis, Roxann Pinguelo, Renee Brown

Historic FOCM Card Ceremony

This FOCM card-membership ceremony was a very significant one for several reasons –

It just happened on November 11, 2017 – making it very recent given my usual delay in posting such things
It’s too important to delay until I catch up
recipient and I probably first met when we were pre-schoolers and
we spent our formative years in that oasis in the desert known as Yuma, AZ
we slow danced to Stairway to Heaven or maybe it was Nights in White Satin in 8th grade
wandered around Yuma on New Year’s Eve with a few friends and a few bottles of Boones Farm wine generously donated by our sisters when we were 13

At the recent Kofa High School reunion, this significant event (photo below) was captured.

Jody (Ambur) Nestell received her FOCM membership card. Other than family members, I believe she is the youngest card-holder that I’ve known the longest. Perhaps only Brady Leffler and Jody’s cousin, Ray Face, if they’re ready to accept the responsibilities of card holdership could surpass this.

FOCM Members at Wilmington NC Event

Here’s an interesting item about FOCM that I just realized comes from my having grown up in a small town in Arizona – if there’s a party in town – join it! You may call it crashing it, but in Yuma, AZ, if there was a wedding reception in town, regardless if you were invited, you went to it. So in that vein, when I organize Wilmington Pharma/Bio/CRO Networking Events in Wilmington, NC, it’s an open call for all FOCM members. While in this case they do belong to the Pharma/Bio/CRO industry, they do also belong to FOCM.

Kris Klein, John Peterson, Wendy Revenaugh, Gayle Grandinetti and Steve Simpson

FOCM Sticker Seen Downtown

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.

For the record

Let it be publicly stated that the line: Friends with FOCM Benefits was first uttered by Charles “Chuck” Gettis at a conference.

FOCM World of Beer Networking Event

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’.

FOCM attends Site Solution Summit

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 2017

Site Solution Summit Break out Session

FOCM Gathers at SCDM

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.

FOCM Networking Event in Boston

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).

Brian Langin, Amy Zastawney, John Ketchum, Me, Christie Schmitt Coombs

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.

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