Her Story
About Donna
My career in healthcare, medical device, and pharmaceuticals has spanned over three decades since I graduated from college in 1991. The bulk of my career has been in sales and sales leadership, including corporate accounts, working for reputable organizations like J&J, Stryker, Baxter, and now AbbVie. When I joined AbbVie seven years ago, I started in sales leadership, but after about three years, a previous leader tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I would be willing to take a huge career change and move from the commercial side to the medical side to start the communications department. I took the opportunity and have been in this role since December 2023, though it has evolved over the last couple of years. In my current role, I work with our medical senior leader team to ensure we're thinking strategically to position our vision and mission across medical affairs and health impact. I help prepare leaders with their speeches to speak to teams and get them excited about our work, whether it's launching new indications or achieving milestones in our therapeutic areas. My team works behind the scenes to make sure communications are ready internally, and we take a lot of pride in recognizing team achievements. Everything is centered around our focus on the patient. One of the things I wanted most in taking this role was to get an understanding of the organization as a whole, all the different therapeutic areas, and really understand R&D and what's in the pipeline. This role has given me the opportunity to think very high level and bring organizational goals into the businesses while also bringing business achievements up to the level of medical affairs and our partnerships with commercial teams.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Donna
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say just trying new things, being bold, helping my team, helping to influence others, and creating new processes. I am most proud of these things now because this was a role where there really wasn't a footprint or a framework. So it's really about listening to the needs of others, leaders, and the organization, and creating a pathway forward.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received came from a presenter who focuses on the she economy that I brought in for a Baxter Woman Leader event. She explained that when you look at a woman's resume, if she has 33% of the responsibilities or experience for a role, typically she wouldn't apply, whereas a man would apply and probably get the job. The best advice she gave that day, and it's still with me, is that you may not need to have all of those experiences and responsibilities. You should be willing to take a chance and put yourself out there because you're always going to be learning no matter what role you're in. So be confident and know that if it's responsibilities that you are excited about and passionate about, go for it, regardless of whether you have 99.9% of all the experiences they're requiring. What's the worst case scenario? You don't make it through and get the role, but at least you put yourself out there. That's the best thing you can do. After getting that advice at Baxter, I've been in several roles after that, and it truly has held true.
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