LogIn
Join us
a
M
Log In
Join us

Catalyst Program

Catalyst Program: 1:1 Coaching for Career Growth

 

The Catalyst Program is a signature initiative by Advancing Black Talent in Pharma (ABTiP), delivered in partnership with Pangaea, designed to accelerate the growth and development of Black professionals across the life sciences industry.

Through personalized 1:1 coaching, participants are matched with experienced senior leaders who provide tailored guidance, practical insights, and real-world perspectives to help navigate career decisions, leadership challenges, and professional growth.

What to Expect

  • 1:1 Coaching: Dedicated sessions with a senior industry leader

  • Tailored Matching: Coach selection based on your goals, interests, and career stage

  • Actionable Guidance: Practical advice you can apply immediately

  • Safe, Supportive Space: Honest conversations to build clarity and confidence

Who It’s For

The Catalyst Program is designed for:

  • Early-career professionals seeking direction and growth

  • Mid-career professionals looking to advance or pivot

  • Professionals navigating career transitions or re-entry into the workforce

Why Join

Participants gain:

  • Greater clarity on career direction and next steps

  • Insight into how leaders think, decide, and grow

  • Tools to navigate the life sciences industry with confidence

  • A meaningful connection with a senior leader invested in your success

How to Participate

  1. Review the coaching profiles and select your top 5 choices in order of preference
  2. Log into your ABTiP member profile
  3. Navigate to the Career page
  4. Select the Job Board
  5. Complete and submit your Catalyst Program application and select the coaches you would like to work with.

Please note: The Catalyst Program is a member-exclusive benefit.

Program Timeline

  • Applications Open: April 15

  • Applications Close: April 24 at 12:00 PM(noon) Extended to April 28th 5pm

  • Matching Announced: April 29

  • Participant Orientation: TBD

  • Coaching Period: May/June

     

      About Pangaea

      The Pangaea Group is a boutique Canadian consulting company that uses deep industry experience and expertise, genuine curiosity, and seamless collaboration to solve business challenges unique to Canadian pharmaceutical and biotech businesses and their partners.

      Their focus is to enable people to positively impact the Canadian healthcare system for the well-being of all Canadians. Pangaea brings together a team of senior experts with extensive knowledge, networks, and relationships across all areas of healthcare delivery in Canada. Working collaboratively with stakeholders, they provide solutions that span from insights to execution.

      Nathalie Drouin

      Area(s) of Expertise: Commercial leadership Canada Europe US

      Location: Hudson, PQ

      What is one leadership lesson that has shaped how you lead today? I once launched a drug in 6 weeks teaching me anything is possible if you have the right people and mobilize the organisation to make it happen.

      If you could give your younger professional self one piece of advice, what would it be? Ask for what you want

      Fun Fact: I lived in Switzerland for the last 5 years

      Nathalie Drouin is a senior executive with more than 25 years of expertise in the pharmaceutical industry. Most recently, she served as Region Europe Commercial Director at Novartis Pharmaceuticals in Switzerland, where she was responsible for shaping strategic priorities, overseeing resource allocation, and managing performance for the $1.2 billion European Neuroscience division. Prior to her role in Europe, Nathalie held the role of Vice President for Cardio/Renal/Metabolic and Respiratory franchises at Novartis Canada.
      Throughout her career, Natalie has worked in all stages of the product life cycle and successfully launched multiple brands. She has managed teams of up to 200 professionals across nine therapeutic areas, including Neuroscience, Rheumatology, Women’s Health, Gastroenterology, Oncology, Respiratory, Cardiology, Allergy, and Dermatology. Based in Montreal, Nathalie brings extensive expertise in strategic planning, executive development, and an international perspective to organizations in Canada and Europe.
      Jimmy Fung

      Area(s) of Expertise: Trade, pharmacy channel, hospital channel, strategic planning

      Location: Toronto, ON

      What is one leadership lesson that has shaped how you lead today? People follow trust, not titles. Always ask yourself, why would somebody follow me?

      If you could give your younger professional self one piece of advice, what would it be? Listen more and admit your mistakes when you make them.

      Fun Fact: Love to cook – have even tried to make my own prosciutto (I overdried it)

      Jimmy is a proven pharmacy leader with 30+ years’ experience driving results across hospital and specialty pharmacy channels. As former Director of Pharmacy at SickKids and Director of Pharmacy at one of Canada’s largest specialty pharmacies, he brings extensive real-world knowledge and expertise across channels.
      Jimmy has deep insight into hospital operations, budgets, and funding, having led large pharmacy departments, major hospital committees such as P&T, and served on GPO procurement teams. In specialty pharmacy, he’s built bridges between pharma and patient services, optimized reimbursement strategies, and improved access to high-cost therapies.
      Jimmy’s ability to navigate hospital and specialty pharmacy ecosystems, coupled with his understanding of the therapeutic landscape and patient journey, makes him an invaluable asset for Pangaea clients.
      Kristen Knott

      Area(s) of Expertise:  Trade relations, distributor and retail, key account and sales, relationship sales, distribution

      Location: Oakville, ON

      What is one leadership lesson that has shaped how you lead today?  Understanding that team members process/digest at different speeds, and that different management/leadership approaches are required to ensure all team members are on the same page for team synergy.

      If you could give your younger professional self one piece of advice, what would it be?  Take more risks from a new job perspective -try new things.

      Fun Fact:  I am a lover of the written word. Read voraciously and I have written a few novels.

      Kristen Knott has provided consulting and outsourced services to a plethora of Canadian pharmaceutical companies since joining The Pangaea Group in 2006. As Director of The Pangaea Group her expertise is in Trade Relations outsourced services, Retail and Distributor Channel consulting, and Corporate and Product launches. The Pangaea Group manages 2 billion dollars in Rx and OTC sales in the Canadian marketplace. Kristen has successfully set up a dozen pharmaceutical and biotech companies for commercial trading in Canada as well as lead the trade product launch of over 50 molecules and OTC products.
      Kristen began her sales career in Key Account Management within the consumer-packaged goods industry with Bathurst Sales, which included Sales and Key Account Management for consumer and health care brands. Kristen then challenged her leadership and sales skills with the IBM Corporation including client solutions from IBM’s Business Consulting Services, and Government Contracted Team Selling.
      She received her Human Resource Professional Association (HRPAO) designation through Seneca College’s Human Resources Management Certification Program and holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Toronto.
      Mark Lafleche

      rea(s) of Expertise:  Commercial and People Manager

      Location: Coteau du lac, PQ

      What is one leadership lesson that has shaped how you lead today? Management is like a golf club set – when you play a round of golf you dont always use your driver or putter – you need to master all types of leadership ( clubs) in your bag for every situation.

      If you could give your younger professional self one piece of advice, what would it be?  Head, Heart and Gut trust them.

      Fun Fact:  One of my summer jobs I was a river guide and was so impressed with how strong the river was but also how people (guests) were so brave with the challenges of cold and powerful water that were perilous.

      Mark is an accomplished pharmaceutical industry professional. He has most recently provided consulting services by leading advisory boards, shaping strategies and coaching sales teams to superior results Beginning his career in 2001 as a sales representative in cardiology and dermatology at Novartis, he advanced to national medical education manager, sales manager, and ultimately sales director, where he successfully built, led, and coached numerous sales teams at both provincial and national levels. His commercial experiences span specialty, general medicines, OTC products and medical devices, with a particular emphasis on eye care, where he oversaw the launch of various products and services. He has also held significant positions in marketing and health policy. Mark’s skills include business development, contract negotiation, strategic planning, and cultivating collaborative relationships with stakeholders such as patient groups, professional associations, and executive leadership. Fluent in English and French, he is a graduate of Université de Montréal, holding credentials as a teacher.
      Marc Lafoley

      Area(s) of Expertise:  Loss of Exclusivity, Analytics, Patient Support, Distribution, Quebec Environment, Virtual Care, Pharmacist Expanded Scope

      Location: Montreal, PQ

      What is one leadership lesson that has shaped how you lead today? You can teach people skills, but you cannot teach people values

      If you could give your younger professional self one piece of advice, what would it be? Embrace new challenges, new opportunities and don’t be afraid to change companies.

      Fun Fact: Love Kayaking and cycling

      Marc began his career in healthcare more than 25 years ago in pharmaceuticals at an entry level position and quickly rose to commercial leadership positions across several healthcare organizations. Marc’s experience spans multiple commercial areas including sales, analytics, brand management, digital marketing, operations and trade.
      Marc has broad experience across numerous therapeutics areas including biologics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and consumer healthcare. He has worked on several product launches that include the creation of new therapeutic markets, line extensions and late entry products along with successful development and implementation of “loss of exclusivity” strategies for many other products.
      From strategy to execution, Marc’s strong analytical and financial skills coupled with his cross-functional experience allow him to support clients in the development, validation and execution of corporate and brand strategies. His experience as a leader and a doer gives him the perspective of advising clients and pull in the resources to get things done. He can help clients transform plans from paper to profit.
      Jeff Martens

      Area(s) of Expertise:  Business development, executive leadership, Commerical leadership in Canada, International, LATAM,

      Location: Montreal, PQ

      What is one leadership lesson that has shaped how you lead today?  Congruence is key. Your words, body language and actions need to line-up if you are going to establish a long-term trusting relationship with your team.

      If you could give your younger professional self one piece of advice, what would it be? Pause and reflect before making a decision and acting, especially on decisions of significant importance.

      Fun Fact:  I recorded an album when I was 19! It wasn’t great, but it was fun!

      Jeff Martens is an executive with over 25 years of biotech and pharmaceutical experience. His most recent position was Vice-President, Commercial at Knight Therapeutics, a publicly traded global pharmaceutical company. At Knight he led all commercial operations with focus on Canada and Latin America. In addition to integrating and building the commercial business at Knight, he also engaged with the investment community as an executive member of the Board of Directors. Prior to that, he was Vice-President for Novartis in Canada and Australia/New Zealand. Over his executive career he led numerous launches, brand rescues, and brand acceleration plans in multiple therapeutic areas including Oncology, Ophthalmology, Immunology, Dermatology, Neurology, and Rare Disease. He has built a reputation and passion for developing and coaching strong senior pharmaceutical leaders. Additionally, his experience at all levels of pharmaceutical commercialization allows him to guide and teach the next generation of Marketing and Sales leadership. As a new member of Pangaea he will be Montreal based, and is excited to bring his years of successful strategic planning, plan execution, BD&L and executive development to Biotech and Pharma organizations in Canada and Latin America.

      Rick Mosseri

      Area(s) of Expertise: General Management, Business development, HR development, Operations and logistics.

      Location: Montreal, PQ

      What is one leadership lesson that has shaped how you lead today? Put people first and lead by example. Never blame your team. Always protect your team. Leadership is earned, never given to you due to a title.

      If you could give your younger professional self one piece of advice, what would it be?  Always differentiate yourself (what makes you unique) and become indispensable. Set careers goals from the start. Identify a mentor. Become passionate at what you do.

      Fun Fact: Passionate about sports. Specifically tennis. I believe that tennis is like life. You are never good enough and you always have to work hard to reach your goals. It is not about the wins its about learning from your losses. Have fun!

      I’ve had the opportunity of playing with WTA Canadian champion : Aleksandra Wozniak and Boris Bosnjakovic (Current ATP Serbian coach to Novak Djokovic)
      I’ve played recreational and competitive tennis for the last 50 years. Tennis thought me about mentorship. I’ve embraced and was fortunate to tennis mentor both my son and aspiring tennis kids who want to play the game at college level. Helped my son reach his goal to play for a NCAA (division 2) at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio Texas and reach his highest level of education (became a mechanical engineer).

      Rick is an entrepreneur, experienced pharma and medical device executive working with International and entrepreneurial organizations of which, he built from the ground up. A seasoned marketer and commercial strategist only begin to describe Rick’s experience having touched all parts of building a healthcare business, Rick has built a solid career in commercialization and building infrastructure in healthcare.

      His broad experience crosses several industries including Pharmaceuticals, Biotech, Medical Devices and Consumer healthcare.

      Rick’s commercial leadership strength is in complex medical product launches, operation and sales scale-up & implementation and strategic distribution strategy (Hospital, Retail and DTP). He held various roles in communications, marketing, sales and general management.

      Rick holds a Bachelor of Commerce in International Business.

      Ben Parry

      Area(s) of Expertise:  Commercialization of new and existing pharmaceuticals, industry development, trade relations

      Location: Mississauga, Ontario

      What is one leadership lesson that has shaped how you lead today?  Practicality and action is as important as the idea when planning for success.

      If you could give your younger professional self one piece of advice, what would it be?  Network early and often.

      Fun Fact: I enjoy constant learning and trying new things.

      Ben Parry is a Director based in Toronto who brings more than a decade of collaboration with executive teams in shaping and implementing strategy. He has assisted healthcare organizations with commercialization, channel optimization and trade integration of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, over-the-counter and natural health products.
      Ben has managed a trade portfolio that included all major Pharmaceutical manufacturers in Canada with deep experience in enterprise demand planning, integrated trade development, supply chain optimization and financial risk management. Ben is a rapidly deployable advisor with a unique ability to develop prompt meaningful results that unlock working capital and break down barriers in healthcare policy and operations.
      Prior to joining Pangaea, Ben managed the wholesale pharmaceutical portfolio at Kohl & Frisch Limited through the rapidly changing commercial and regulatory landscape and where he built a trusted trade reputation with industry stakeholders as a skilled diplomat and visionary. Having developed and implemented trade systems, business intelligence frameworks, continuity strategies, financial risk plans and supply chain infrastructure across all stages of the economic lifecycle, Ben understands the balance P&L operations require in the healthcare industry today.
      Ben has also managed relationships with leading pharmacies and contributed to numerous advisory boards and work groups in the areas of commercial optimization, big data, regulatory and market access.
      Ben is a graduate of Queen’s University holding a B.Sc. in Engineering. Before joining the healthcare industry Ben worked through other appointments with RBC Investments, INA Bearing Canada and Baycomp Thermoplastic Composites Canada.
      Ken Saldanha

      Area(s) of Expertise:  Commercial Leadership, Operations, People Management, Patient Support – Specialty Biologics, Business Development

      Location: Montreal, PQ

      What is one leadership lesson that has shaped how you lead today?  Lead by example while empowering my team

      If you could give your younger professional self one piece of advice, what would it be?  Don’t rush to be successful. Be smart about how you approach your career growth… Hard work and giving it your best doesn’t necessarily always make one successful!

      Fun Fact: Love gardening, and nature.. buy small plants and see them grow and take care of them… some have been with me for over 20 years.

      Trilingual senior pharmaceutical executive with very strong record of generating strategic growth and putting in place innovative operational plans to grow spectacularly for new products and to protect market share for products nearing the end of their life cycle. Results-driven natural leader with strong presence who is at home negotiating at a high level or coaching and motivating his teams to meet and surpass their targets.

      Michelle Stewart

      Area(s) of Expertise: Retail Pharmacy

      Location: Nova Scotia

      What is one leadership lesson that has shaped how you lead today? The best leaders naturally create a following.

      If you could give your younger professional self one piece of advice, what would it be? Don’t underestimate yourself, go for it.

      Fun Fact: I have hosted my own podcast.

      One of Canada’s premier innovators, Michelle Stewart is a veteran of conferences, classrooms and symposiums. Beginning as the first Canadian pharmacist to lead a walk-in clinic, Michelle progressed to Clinical Lead of five ambulatory pharmacy clinics in Nova Scotia. Today she works in various pharmacy settings throughout the province, actively utilizing the entirety of her scope in providing much needed services.

      Her volunteer work includes contributions in both advocacy and regulation as prior Board Director for the Pharmacy Association of Nova Scotia and her currently held position as Councilor, Nova Scotia’s College of Pharmacists. She has also shared her expertise on endeavors by CPHA, Neighborhood Pharmacy Association, OPA & NAPRA and has created her own pharmacy podcast series, Canadian Pharmer.

      Michelle strives to implement services that are most needed within communities, which has prompted her to acquire specialized training. Chronic Disease Management Certification, Certified Diabetes Educator, Anticoagulation Management Certification and Lab Test Certification have enabled her to demonstrate the value of pharmacists in primary care. With these tools and perseverance, pharmacy is being leveraged within the healthcare system like never before and according to Michelle, this is just the beginning!

      Michelle will be assisting Pangaea clients in understanding the ever changing role of the Pharmacist in various Pharmacy channels and the exciting opportunities for partnering with industry.

      Kyra Trainor

      Area(s) of Expertise: Commercial leadership

      Location: Toronto, ON

      What is one leadership lesson that has shaped how you lead today?  Network when you don’t have to

      If you could give your younger professional self one piece of advice, what would it be?  Get more comfortable with corporate politics

      Fun Fact: I am a volunteer for this summers FIFA world cup

      Kyra Trainor is a business developer, with over 17 years of marketing, government, sales and team building leadership experience. She is a vision to action leader with a record of building and retaining highly motivated teams with a track record of performance.
      Her broad experience crosses several industries including vaccines, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and consumer healthcare.
      Kyra’s commercial leadership strength is in product launches, sales force scale-up & implementation and government reimbursement strategy. In her role as a country commercial leader, she helped two organizations through full company acquisitions and ensured business continuity and commercial success. She has built several national sales forces from the ground up and has utilized a mix of contract sales organizations (syndicated and dedicated), broker sales forces and lead generation companies to help achieve company sales objectives.
      Kyra’s passion for learning is at the forefront of everything she does. She holds an MBA and an Honours Bachelor of Science and continually participates in leadership training.
      Marla Weingarten

      Area(s) of Expertise:  Business Strategy, Corporate Strategy, Healthcare regulations and trends

      Location: Toronto, ON

      What is one leadership lesson that has shaped how you lead today?  Most work is a team approach and giving credit for others involvement/input makes you look more confident, not less. You don’t need all the answers but know where to go or who to go to, to find solutions

      If you could give your younger professional self one piece of advice, what would it be?  There is not always a right decision – you need to support your decisions with reasons why you went in that direction and own it.

      Fun Fact: I love learning about the history of Toronto and am a woodworking enthusiast!

      Marla brings to Pangaea over 20 years of sales and marketing experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Throughout her career, Marla has proven her ability to lead and motivate teams and to foster productive customer relationships both internally and externally and has skillfully managed different aspects of strategic planning including market assessments of new competitive threats. Marla identifies trends within the biopharmaceutical environment and connects the dots to bring meaningful strategic interpretation of the changes shaping this industry as the leading author for Pangaea’s publication, Topics and Trends™.