When: 
Thursday, April 10th, 2025
6:30-8:30pm

Where:
UMass Dartmouth
Room 149,Charlton College of Business (CCB) Building 

SEE BELOW FOR RIDE SHARE INFORMATION

Program Details:
The UMass Dartmouth Student Chapter invites 6 different Panelists with various backgrounds to have an in-depth discussion on career development. There is a primary focus on providing direction to young professionals who have the drive and are willing to solidify their spot in the industry. Each of the panelists will have their chance to share details of their own professional adventure, in hopes to inspire the next generation. Bring your open mind, a pen and paper, and a list of questions for a Q&A session after the discussion. Oh! And bring an appetite as well, food and beverages will be provided.

Parking/Travel Reimbursement:
Is free! Coming right off of Old Westport Rd, you'll head towards the school and take your first right over the speed bump, from there you will see signs of descending parking lot numbers. Lot 14 will be recognized as a vistor's parking lot and will be free for all visitors! From there you can follow the path down to the library signage will be posted as needed. 

Reimbursement Available
* For groups of 4 or more traveling together via Uber/Lyft - up to $50 per foursome per way.
* All travelers must be current ISPE Student Members
* Pre-approval required by the Student Development Chair
*  Submit reimbursement form with receipt to Office@ispeboston.org

Registration:
Is free, and includes food, beverages, and the chance to network with other emerging leaders and professionals.

Agenda:

6:30 — Doors open, eat and network
7:00 — Intro to SDC and EL
7:15  — Panel Discussion
8:15  — Open Floor Q&A
8:30 — Event End

Speakers:

Heather Longden:
Senior Marketing Manager for Pharmaceutical Regulatory Compliance, Waters Corporation
Heather Longden is an independent regulatory compliance consultant to the pharmaceutical industry. Heather specializes in data integrity, regulatory compliance, data management, GLP and GMP and computer system validation. She acts as an advisor to various regulatory groups, previously as a leader at GAMP® Americas steering committee and Boston Chapter Program Committee (EPC) and now serves on the ISPE Quality Control and Analytical COP and the Boston Area Chapter Board as well as founder of the Boston Chapter GAMP local COP.

Stacey V. Vega
Director of Business Development and Marketing, Connolly Brothers Inc.
Stacey has over 25 years of diverse business development, marketing, and sales experience. She started her career in the financial services industry, working as Marketing Associate for a private institutional investment firm in Connecticut. Her clients included Fortune 100 and 500 companies. In 2007 she made a career shift relocating back to her home state of Massachusetts and accepted a position as Business Development Manager at a design/manufacturing company where she developed critical lead generation strategies. She went on to become Marketing Director for the largest parking/transportation management firm in New England. During her tenure as Marketing Director, she was responsible for all internal and external client marketing programs with an emphasis on developing innovative and creative programs that drove both company and client profitability. After receiving an opportunity to join an engineering firm, she discovered her niche within the A/E/C industry. For the past 10 years she has worked for two of the most exemplary design-build construction firms in New England as Director of Business Development and Marketing. Her talents also include website design, SEO, social media marketing, copywriting, public relations, and graphic design. In 2019, she became Chairperson of ISPE Boston’s membership committee. Stacey is a Cum Laude graduate of Villanova University. She holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in Sociology and Communications. Stacey also has certification in social media marketing from Harvard University’s Executive Education Program. In 2021, Stacey was honored to receive the Janet Tice Distinguished Volunteer of the Year Award for the ISPE Boston chapter.

Tracy Mason
Division Manager, Biomedical Search
She has had a very non-linear career path. She received her degree in Microbiology from Sweet Briar College in Virginia. After graduation, she moved to Washington, DC, to work for the National Institutes of Health. She spent five years working for the NIAID under Tony Fauci, where, as a bench scientist, she primarily focused on oligonucleotide sequencing and synthesis for HIV research. Her career then shifted into the hospitality industry, where she spent the next 25 years in various roles, including restaurant assistant manager, catering director, and general manager. Shortly after the birth of her son, her career pivoted again, this time into a more traditional office manager position. Today, she describes herself as "life sciences adjacent," as she currently leads the Biomedical Search division of King & Bishop. In this role, she works with life science companies to source candidates for a wide variety of positions.

Lisa Conti
Principal Engineer, Sarepta Therapeutics
She attended Southeastern Massachusetts University in September 1988 as a Biology major with the goal of becoming a veterinarian. Four years later, she graduated from UMASS Dartmouth with two degrees—one in Biology and the other in Psychology. She added Psychology as a major during her second year after a meeting with her advisor, which led her to pursue a different career path.

 After graduating, she applied for jobs in various fields, initially focusing on hospitals, as she believed that was where someone with her educational background would find employment. Months later, she connected with a temp agency that was seeking someone to fill a temporary position at a biotech company while an employee was on leave for a few months. Biotech was an emerging field in the late 1980s and early 1990s. What began as a three-month assignment turned into a 33-year career in the biotech and biopharmaceutical industry. Over the years, she has worked at both private and public companies in various roles and capacities. Utilizing her background, she has witnessed the direct impact of her work on the lives of others, which has instilled in her a deep respect for science and the importance of developing life-saving medicines.

Martin Kockx
Principal Manufacturing Systems Engineer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals
I graduated from California State University Sacramento (CSUS) with a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 2010. This was toward the end of the Great Recession and the job market was still very difficult for new graduates. I had been working for an MEP Firm as a project engineer before graduating and we laid off shortly after due to the macro-economic climate. At the time, I was interested in machine design, product design, automotive, and aerospace. All natural outlets for an ME. After nearly 6 months of applying to things of interest and adjacent options with no success, necessity drove me to look outside the obvious options. I happened to have a great relationship with a professor and advisor who had been asked by a startup in the area for possible field engineers to join their company and she thought of me. That idiom of “who you know” really hit me from day one. This was somewhat lucky since that position was rooted in automation, where I would spend the rest of my career, but also because it let me travel extensively. I ended up living in Singapore and Hong Kong for the better part of my first 5 years out of university, which broadened my views in so many ways personally and professionally. That company was eventually acquired, and I had become less interested in that industry (Data Centers), so I looked to parlay that experience into more automation. I really liked the work and wanted to learn more. This led me to Life Sciences where I would stay until this day. I started at an A&E firm as a system integrator, moved to another firm when that one closed down, took a short detour to the wine & spirits industry before returning and working for an operating company. The first operating company was a CDMO and I was the lead automation engineer. I then went to a much larger and global role with a competitor where I did not enjoy the culture and mission. Finally, I ended up with Vertex as a Principal Engineer.

I have had to navigate tough times, events beyond my control, moves across continents and countries. I’ve worked for contractors, CDMOs, suppliers, and DSDP operating companies. I’ve mostly taken a self-taught approach vs formal training but do have experience with both. 

Jeffrey Heil
Discipline Manager, Process Engineering, DPS Group Global (Arcadis)
Dedicated, innovative and quality-conscious Professional Engineer (P.E.) with more than 18 years of process engineering and technical project management expertise in a diverse portfolio of engineering applications. Experienced in mRNA, oligonucleotide, and vaccine development projects. Also experienced in the design and validation of process safety systems, providing independent technical assurance of engineering work and working directly with clients to solve complex engineering problems in a variety of applications. I specialize in leading the execution of process projects with a background in hazardous materials, industrial processes and small molecule chemistry relating to the design, evaluation, optimization, and construction of process engineering systems. In the last 8 years I have been involved in a range of facility design and execution projects in the novel therapeutics space, including Oligonucleotide synthesis, mRNA vaccines, Viral vector / vaccine process development. One recent project has been leading an mRNA facility design for a pandemic scale vaccine. In addition to leading a diverse portfolio of projects, I lead the Process Engineering team at the Arcadis Framingham Office.

Want to attend the April 10^th Career Program at UMass Dartmouth, but don’t know how to get there?

See three options below to help you be at the event.

1. Uber Ride Share:
Use the WhatsApp group to coordinate shared Uber rides to the event. Below is the link to the WhatsApp group and a QR code below for easy access:

WhatsApp Group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Fbr1ef73n0lAFdX32k1DFB
QR Code: 

2. Train:
You can take the South Coast Rail line (formerly Middleborough/Lakeville Line) from South Station in Boston to either New Bedford or Fall River. UMass Dartmouth is centrally located between these stations, and you can then take Bus #9 directly to campus from either location or take a ride.

3. Peter Pan Shuttle/Bus:
Alternatively, you can take the Peter Pan Bus/Shuttle service from South Station to either New Bedford or Fall River. From there, you can take Bus #9 directly to UMass Dartmouth or take a ride.

If anyone has concerns or needs assistance with transportation, you can join Northeastern University ISPE Student Chapter WhatsApp group to ask questions or feel free to email the Northeastern University Industry Liaison Jenny Luo Yau (jluoyau@gmail.com) directly.