Thursday, October 8, 2020
6:30 pm – 8:15 pm
Peter Finn – Finn Partners, Founding Partner & CEO; Chairman, Catskill Mountain Foundation
The Founder/CEO of Finn Partners, an eight year old global PR and marketing firm with 18 offices worldwide and 800 employees, Peter has grown a small agency into one of the top independent agencies in the world. With his wife Sarah, Peter is also Co-founder and Chairman of the Catskill Mountain Foundation, one of the largest multi-arts organizations in the Catskill Mountains. With a year-round staff of 30 people and an annual budget of around $2 million, the 20 year old Foundation runs two performing arts centers (presenting 25 performances annually), a four screen movie theatre (showing 100 films/year), a studio arts school (offering 25 courses each summer), a regional gallery, a Piano Performance Museum (home to 20 playable historic pianos, some dating to the time of Beethoven and Mozart), hosts multiple arts residencies each year and publishes a major arts-oriented monthly magazine serving the greater Catskill region. Concentrating in literature for both his BA from Brown and his MA from Columbia, Peter spends as much of his free time as he can reading novels, with a current list of 1,000 he is looking forward to reading.
Kathryn Metcalfe – Bristol-Myers Squibb, EVP, Corporate Affairs
A born storyteller who honed her skills scaring her little sister with ghost stories in childhood, Kathryn’s love affair with the art of the story hasn’t dimmed since; though she’s now advising CEOs on even scarier topics such as crisis, issues, and policy matters. Kathryn has held multiple leadership positions at major corporations and top agencies. She is currently the head of Corporate Affairs at Bristol-Myers Squibb where she is responsible for government affairs and communications. Previously, she was the Chief Communications Officer of CVS Health, the nation’s largest health company, and Aetna, Inc. Kathryn also served as Chief Communications Officer of Deloitte LLP and as a Vice President at Pfizer Inc. and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Kathryn holds Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in journalism from Northwestern University and was an adjunct professor at New York University. She is on the Board of the Boise Urban Garden School (BUGs) and, in her spare time, built a park in her hometown of Boise, Idaho.
Srikant Ramaswami – GSK, Head, U.S. Pharmaceuticals Communications
A well-known leader in the pharmaceutical industry who is passionate about the patient journey and the role of communication in driving business results, Sri has worked around the world in the industry’s largest markets, including the United States, China, and India. In his current role at GSK, Sri is responsible for oncology, respiratory, specialty and vaccines communications as well as partnerships and the No.Carolina GlaxoSmithKline foundation. Sri is driven to elevate humanity and help patients. In this mission, he lives with intent, having led Operation Smile efforts to help children with cleft lip and cleft palate in raising tremendous amounts of money to help with expenses for corrective surgeries. As a nightclub disc jockey, Sri has hosted musical events to raise money for childhood cancers. He has also written prolifically about diversity and inclusion, and is an invaluable protagonist for gender rights and the eradication of poverty.