Shawn Cline Tomasello
Chief Commercial Officer and CoFounder of Kite Pharma
Shawn Cline Tomasello joined Kite Pharma in 2015 as Chief Commercial Officer with over 30 years of experience in pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Prior to joining Kite Pharma, Ms. Tomasello was the CCO of Commercial and Medical Affairs at Pharmacyclics. While leading the commercial and medical affairs teams at Pharmacyclics, the market cap increased from $8 Billion to $19 Billion culminating in an acquisition by AbbVie for $21 Billion. Ms. Tomasello has extensive strategic experience in building world class organizations encompassing commercial, compliance, regulatory, pricing, and medical affairs functions. She is also accomplished at representing corporations with investors and analysts.
Ms. Tomasello is the former President of the Americas, Hematology and Oncology, for Celgene Corporation where she managed over $4B in revenue. She had been with Celgene since 2005, where she was responsible for all aspects of the commercial organization encompassing multiple brands spanning 11 indications. In addition, she was instrumental in strategic decision making regarding global expansion and M&A evaluations which led to the acquisition and integration of Pharmion Corporation, Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Abraxis Biosciences, Inc.
Prior to joining Celgene, Ms. Tomasello was the National Director of Hematology for Rituxan® at Genentech, where she was responsible for over $1.7B in revenue and all in-line and new indications for the hematology commercial sales organization. Earlier in her career, she held positions at Pfizer Laboratories, Miles Pharmaceuticals and Proctor & Gamble.
Ms. Tomasello received her B.S. in Marketing from the University of Cincinnati and her M.B.A. from Murray State University, KY. She has served on the board of BIONJ and has been a member of the advisory board for Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA).
Kayla Pokorny
We are so touched by the brave story of a brave young woman, Kayla Pokorny, also a tireless force who bravely battled Ewing’s sarcoma for seven years before losing the fight at 19. Her heroic efforts and vision will continue to make an extraordinary difference in the lives of other children battling cancer everywhere. Her foundation, Move Mountains, helps kids with cancer live their lives to the fullest, even when it feels like they are moving mountains. You can visit and donate at https://movemountains.org
To honor these amazing and inspiring women we have given a gift to Move Mountains, remembering Kayla’s favorite quote, “You have been given this mountain to show others that it can be moved.” Kayla didn’t take any day for granted and she made sure everyone danced.