Profiles

Mark Zitter, MBA
Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Mark Zitter founded the company in San Francisco in 1989. He has special expertise in managed care, health economics, and disease management, and has authored four books and scores of articles on health care. He writes regularly for trade journals and is a frequent speaker at national meetings. Mark is on the editorial board for Pharmaceutical Executive and has been an advisor and reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals. He has been a guest lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health, Stanford Business School, Yale Medical School, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and other universities. Mark holds a BA from Wesleyan University and an MBA from Stanford University. He lives outside of San Francisco with his wife, Jessica, and three children, Solomon, Tessa Rose, and Sasha.

 

 

Andrew Pecora, MPA
Partner & Chief Operating Officer

Andy joined The Zitter Group in 2003 and is now the firm’s Chief Operating Officer. In his role as COO, Andy manages the day-to-day operations of the firm which includes overseeing all of TZG’s product offerings, product development, finance, human resources, and sales management.

His background includes experience in many aspects of healthcare including provider, manager, executive, lobbyist and consultant. He has implemented and developed quality measurement standards for pre-hospital care which now serve as a standard of care. Before joining The Zitter Group, Andy was the CEO of Stamford EMS, Inc. (SEMS), a regional emergency medical services corporation, for over 7 years. During his tenure at SEMS, Andy was responsible for successfully orchestrating a financial and operational turnaround during the implementation of the Medicare Fee Schedule. He facilitated several regional governmental subcommittees for housing and emergency preparedness. Andy is a licensed paramedic with experience in the cities of Newark and Jersey City, and he holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration-Healthcare Management and a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Seton Hall University. Andy enjoys distance running. He is married and lives just off the Jersey Shore with his wife and two children.

 

Edward Szostak, MBA
Vice President of Business Development

Ed Szostak is VP, Business Development at The Zitter Group.  He has an impressive background in managed care spanning a number of senior executive positions within the pharmaceutical industry, with an emphasis on managed markets and sales. He spent 20 years at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, ultimately serving as Vice President, General Manager of National Managed Healthcare Sales. There he was responsible for leading the National Managed Healthcare Sales team, driving the commercial strategies for the current and new product portfolio. The scope of Ed’s responsibilities included managing a contracted book of business in excess of $1.4B, representing strategic products, and another $1B dollar in non-contracted products. Ed served as Executive Director of Sales and Managed Markets for Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals’ Branded Division. Most recently, Ed served as Director of MCO and PBM contracting for Roche Laboratories. Ed holds a BS in Biology from Charleston Southern University and an MBA in HR Management from National University, San Diego, CA.

Carl Schmidt
Vice President of Business Development

Since joining The Zitter Group, Carl is responsible for key interaction and management of customer relationships for our clients in the Midwest. His background includes a successful marketing consulting practice with a focus on new product planning, marketing and product management and business development. Previously, Carl was the General Manager/Marketing Director for Gelita Health Products, a start up OTC company from 2005 to 2007. Prior to Gelita, he served in New Product Planning for Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America with a focus on the commercial development of cardiovascular, immunology, CNS and GI products. Carl held a number of marketing management, sales management, managed care account management and managed care marketing positions with G.D. Searle and Company, GenDerm, Beecham Laboratories, Owen Laboratories and Westwood Pharmaceuticals.

Jeffrey Gladstone
Vice President of Business Development

Jeff serves as the strategic client lead for east coast biopharmaceutical clients providing expert insights on managed care issues, and responsible for organic growth and new business development. Coming into this role, Jeff brings over twenty years of business development experience. His areas of expertise include managed care, specialty pharmacy, market research methodology and subject matter expertise in a variety of therapeutic classes. Jeff’s experience includes strategic consulting at Health Strategies Group, market development across Medtronic’s portfolio of businesses, and, most recently, business development at a start up market research firm.  Jeff holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts from Brandeis University.

 

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