Late last month, EMD Serono PAC members visited Washington, D.C. for the annual Leaders Club Conference. Employee-participants from across the country heard from industry speakers and Members of Congress before taking to Capitol Hill to advocate for pro-patient pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reforms.​​

The event started on September 26th with dinner at the restaurant L’Ardente, where the group heard from Congressman Ami Bera (D-CA). Dr. Bera had recently returned to Washington after visiting MIT, learning about the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing, and specifically its application to healthcare innovation.

On Wednesday, the group began the day by hearing from a panel from the industry trade group PhRMA. Robby Zirkelbach, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, Shannon Graham, Vice President of Public Affairs, and Mike Woody, Vice President of Federal Advocacy, shared about PhRMA’s recent work to condition the external environment for legislative progress on Capitol Hill.

Participants then heard from a suite of members from EMD’s U.S. Leadership Team. Terri Stewart interviewed Miguel Fernandez Alcalde, Lori Lebson, Dan Van Horn, and Libby Horne about business priorities, the importance of political engagement, and some fun facts (i.e. who is YOUR favorite fictional U.S. president? —the right answer is Harrison Ford in Air Force One). 

To close out the morning, the U.S. Healthcare Government Affairs team conducted a legislative training session to discuss how to effectively communicate and advocate for EMD Serono’s public policy priorities. Before being dispatched to Capitol Hill, conference participants heard from Congressman Larry Bucshon (R-IN), who discussed many of the key issues impacting healthcare delivery in the United States, like the 340B Drug Discount Program.

After lunch, the group broke out into small groups and headed to Capitol Hill! In total we had nearly 30 PAC Leaders meeting with 30 Members of Congress and their staffs. The conference concluded with a closing reception to debrief about the congressional meetings. Participants also heard from PAC Chair and EMD Serono President, Chris Round, topping off a great 2023 PAC Leaders Club Conference.

PAC Leaders participating in the conference this year included Daniel Barks, Makenzie Bemis-Russo, Tom Borck, Phoebe Bye, Jacinta Chancellor, Tim Fisher, Kristi Greene, Scott Holiday, Robert Hunter, Victoria Lazaroff, Geri Mallory, Justin McGinnis, Mallori Merandino, Marshall Nelson, Nancy Nielsen, Gretchen Pullium, Charrid Simpson, Terri Stewart, Pauline Tenorio, Daniel Tran, Joel Vander Meulen, Ken Vander Pyl, and Jeremy Whitelock. 

For more information on the trip, and how to attend, please reach out to Tom Borck or Mallori Merandino at [email protected] ​​