OTC Perspectives, Inc.

 


 

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  The OTC National Conference Speakers - Listed in Alpha Order by Last Name

Jeffrey T. Arnold, founder of Sharecare & founder of WebMD, serves as the Chairman and Chief Architect of Sharecare, an interactive healthcare platform organizing and answering the questions of health. He also currently serves as Chairman Emeritus for HowStuffWorks.com, a site which under his direction grew to one of the largest content destinations on the Web, attracting 20 million visitors each month. In 2007, Mr. Arnold sold HowStuffWorks.com for $250 million to Discovery Communications, where he is now Chief of Global Digital Strategy.
 
Sharecare is a comprehensive, groundbreaking web 3.0 platform, where consumers can ask, learn and act on the questions of health. By uniting the collective wisdom of a coalition of doctors, medical experts, hospitals, practitioners and targeted health consumers, Sharecare provides a single destination where users can find multiple points of view to all of their health and wellness questions. Prestigious contributors include Sharecare co-founder Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Michael Roizen, Deepak Chopra, Dr. Dean Ornish, Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medicine, New York Presbyterian Hospital, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and leading publishers Simon & Schuster, Harmony Books and Harper Collins. Additional Sharecare co-founders include Discovery Communications, Harpo Productions, Sony Pictures Television and HSW International.

Prior to HowStuffWorks.com, Mr. Arnold founded and served as CEO of WebMD Corporation, the first healthcare company to harness the power of the internet to create a destination for consumers, healthcare institutions and physicians to find medical information. Between August 1998 and September 2000, Jeff negotiated more than 10 acquisitions, growing WebMD from 60 people and $75,000 in annual revenue to more than 5,000 people and revenue of nearly $1 billion in 2001.  Before launching WebMD, Jeff started Quality Diagnostic Services (QDS), a cardiac arrhythmia monitoring company, ultimately selling the company to Matria Healthcare for $25 million in 1998.

Mr. Arnold also currently serves on the Board of Directors for HSW International, which develops Internet businesses in the world's emerging digital economies and as the Chairman of Forbes Travel Guide, formerly Mobil Travel Guide, the gold standard of travel ratings and reviews for over 50 years.

Samantha Chmelik, Head of Global Consumer Health Research, Euromonitor International
Samantha Chmelik is the head of global consumer health research at Euromonitor International, where she manages the syndicated research project that encompasses the OTC industry, vitamins and dietary supplements, sports nutrition and slimming products.  She has worked in the pharmaceutical industry and as a market intelligence professional for 15 years.  She is experienced in conducting market analyses and benchmarking studies.

Jim Davidson, Chair, Public Policy Group, Polsinelli Shughart PC
For two decades, Jim Davidson has helped companies and business associations define and achieve their goals in the legislative and regulatory arenas of the federal government. He is founder of Davidson & Company, a public policy advisory firm,which is a subsidiary of Polsinelli Shalton Welte Suelthaus.

Davidson & Company has helped its clients address a broad range of public policy areas including advertising regulation and commercial speech, appropriations, taxation, healthcare, telecommunications and the Internet. Through his work on behalf of The Advertising Coalition, Mr. Davidson has become widely known as an expert on advertising regulation and specifically on prescription drug advertising. He also was asked by leaders in the advertising and food manufacturing industries to help make Congress and the American public more aware of industry initiatives to introduce new products and promote healthy lifestyles. He writes the “Eye on Washington” column on prescription drug advertising for DTC Perspectives Magazine, and a column on federal government issues for Electronic Retailer Magazine.

Mr. Davidson served as Chief Counsel and Staff Director for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure. In that capacity, he directed the drafting of omnibus regulatory reform legislation and the Regulatory Flexibility Act. He also was Chief Counsel of the Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations where he was a principal staff author of the federal Privacy Act and major amendments to the Freedom of Information Act.

While serving on the Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee, Mr. Davidson was
singled out for recognition in the book Unelected Representatives: Congressional Staff and the Future of Representative Government. Prior to that, he served as Special Assistant and Press Secretary to Missouri Senator Stuart Symington, and as Administrative Assistant to Missouri Secretary of State James C. Kirkpatrick.

Mr. Davidson is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia Schools of Journalism and Law, and served as an adjunct Professor of Law at the Washington College of Law at American University. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, the Missouri Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. He was a Fellow of the American Council on Germany, and was a Conferee at the Chief Justice Earl Warren Conferenceon Advocacy.

Phillip P. Federspiel, Principal and C.E.O., Group 4
As Group 4's Chief Executive Officer and Principal, Phil is a respected consultant to companies such as Schering-Plough, Panasonic and Kraft, with Industrial Design Awards and Package Design Council Gold Awards to his company's credit. Phil was the President Emeritus of the Brand Design Association and served on the Executive Board. His expertise makes Phil a popular speaker on topics such as design trends and product packaging at national trade and industry events, conferences and seminars.

Phil Hallstedt, MsPH, MBA, Director, HealthCare
Phil has over 20 years of experience spanning pharmaceutical and drug delivery technology in diabetes, neurology, erectile dysfunction and women’s health.  His focus is as an advocate for a defined benefit to the consumer, healthcare professional and payer in the design process.

Jim Joseph, Author of “The Experience Effect” and President and Partner of Lippe Taylor Brand Communications
Jim Joseph is an award winning marketing professional who has specialized in building consumer brands and agency businesses his entire career. Jim’s consistent goal throughout his career has been to help blockbuster clients including Kellogg’s, Kraft, Cadillac, Tylenol, Clean & Clear, Aveeno, Durex, AFLAC, Ambien CR, and Wal-Mart create successful brand experiences that engage consumers and add value to their lives.

Jim is releasing his first marketing book titled “The Experience Effect”, which is aimed at helping marketers build consistent brand experiences across multiple touchpoints. He also writes a blog to coincide with the book, which can be found at JimJosephExp.blogspot.com. He just recently joined Lippe Taylor, an agency dedicated to marketing to women across all categories including health, beauty, fashion, home, and relationships.

Prior to joining Lippe Taylor, Jim spent the bulk of his agency career at Publicis Groupe. He started his own agency, which he sold to Publicis and then merged it with two others to create Arc-NY, the largest integrated marketing services agency in Manhattan at the time. Jim comes to Lippe Taylor from Publicis’ Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness where he led the transformation of the agency from traditional advertising to diversified marketing. During his tenure, the agency won several prestigious industry awards including “Agency of the Year” from DTC Perspectives on Excellence, “Most Creative Agency” from The Manny Awards, and a Grand CLIO Award for advertising.

Early in his career on the client side at Johnson & Johnson, Jim became a new products expert by launching nine new consumer products in less than five years--including the number one Reach Wondergrip toothbrush for kids and the reinvention of Clean & Clear skin care for teenage girls. Jim then went on to be the lead marketer for the Arm & Hammer Dental Care toothpaste line.

Jim is a graduate of Cornell University and also has an MBA from Columbia University. When not working with his team or spending time with his family, Jim is likely to be found running along the Hudson River.

Brian Levy, Chief Operating Officer, Pulse Health & Wellness Initiatives
At Pulse, Brian has helped his Fortune 500 food, pharmaceutical, OTC, and retail clients meet their most significant health and wellness marketing challenges.  He has overseen health and wellness shopper marketing programs at more than 65 retail banners nationwide, and worked side-by-side with retailers and manufacturers to develop strategies and tactics that meet both parties’ business objectives.  Prior to his work at Pulse, Brian provided management consulting and marketing strategy services to major pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and managed care companies.

Laura A. Mahecha, Industry Manager, Healthcare, Kline
Based in the New Jersey office, Laura Mahecha manages the syndicated Healthcare studies for Kline research, the market research studies division of the company.

Mrs. Mahecha joined Kline & Co. in 1995 as a consultant.  As a consultant Laura conducted market research, analysis and writing for the OTC pharmaceuticals, consumer products, and nutritional supplement industries.   In 2002, Mrs. Mahecha was promoted to Industry Manager with responsibility for all Healthcare titles.  In this role Mrs. Mahecha is responsible generating new titles, testing concepts, sales and marketing activities, providing clients with quick turn-around consultations, managing research associates, editing/proofreading, and coordinating publication of reports. 

Mrs. Mahecha has completed and/or managed market studies on the nonprescription drug market, Rx-to-OTC switch, prescription pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical regulations, managed care, vitamins, herbal, and nutritional supplements, functional foods, consumer products, and cost structures in the nonprescription drug and personal care markets.  Mrs. Mahecha authored and/or contributed to numerous articles and speeches on Rx-to-OTC switch and the nonprescription drugs market for international and U.S. trade conferences and publications.  Her work has been published in the journal Nature. 

Mrs. Mahecha holds a Bachelor’s degree in marketing from Rutgers University and a Masters of Business Administration in pharmaceutical studies from Fairleigh Dickinson University.  She is a member of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association and Delta Mu Delta National Honor Society in Business Administration.   

Joshua Palau, Vice President, Search Engine Marketing, Razorfish 
Joshua began his digital career in 1996 and has a diverse background working on the publisher, client, and agency side.  Prior to joining Razorfish, he has worked for Hearst Magazines, About.com, and Johnson & Johnson.

Joshua is the Vice President of Search for Razorfish.  In this role he is responsible for the strategy, product development and operations of their Paid, Organic, and Feeds offerings which spans 6 offices in the US. He helps clients to understand how search fits into the overall marketing plan and constantly researches the rapidly changing industry to help clients anticipate, and respond to, changes in the landscape.    

Joshua is an active writer who has authored several Razorfish POVs on topics such as managing Paid and Organic Search, Reputation Management, and Social Search Optimization.  In addition to this, he serves as the editor of Search Marketing Trends, a bi-monthly column for Search Engine Watch on the inside scoop of search from an agency perspective titled outsourced and can be found tweeting @searchtrends and @joshuapalau.

In his spare time, plays video games, read comics, and has 1,000’s of opinions on television and other useless tidbits of pop culture information.  He currently resides in the sleepy little tourist town of New Hope, PA with his wife and 2 daughters, Zoe and Logan – who yes is named after his favorite comic character.

Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp, PhD, MSc, BSc (all summa cum laude) is the C. Knox Massey Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Marketing Area Chair at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina. He is Honorary Professor at the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management and Fellow of the European Marketing Academy. He also is executive director of AiMark, a non-profit foundation, bringing together the academic world and CPG companies with the mission to be the leader in CPG Consumer and Market Knowledge. Its Business Trustees include GfK, Kraft, Mars, Procter & Gamble, Taylor Nelson Sofres, and Unilever. His areas of expertise include Branding/Private labels, Global marketing, Marketing strategy, and Innovation.

He has chaired eight conferences for industry, has contributed to more than a hundred conferences and executive seminars for senior marketing managers, and has consulted with numerous companies.

He has written over 100 articles in leading marketing and management journals. His most recent book is Private Label Strategy: How to Meet the Store Brand Challenge, written with Nirmalya Kumar of London Business School, and published by Harvard Business School Press. The book has been translated in simple and complex Chinese and in Portuguese, and translation rights for Spanish, Russian, and Polish have been sold as well as an Indian edition by Macmillan.

A native from the Netherlands, he has taught at universities in Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain, South Africa, U.K., and the U.S.

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences has awarded him the Muller lifetime prize for “exceptional achievements in the area of the behavioral and social sciences.” It was the first time the prize has been awarded to an academic in any area of business administration.