Janet Meyer

Did anyone ever oppose your career plans when you were young or push you in a direction you did not want to go?

Yes! My family wanted me to stay home for all 4 years of college, mainly so I did not get deeply into debt. I saw their reasoning and decided to live at home for my first 2 years of college. I saved a lot in tuition and living expenses, got all of my basic classes completed, then went away to a 4 year university to finish my education. I paid for everything myself, and graduated with very little debt. It turned out great for me in the end.

In layperson terms, what do you actually do at work?

I’ve had a couple of different career paths: retail clothing buyer for a 300 chain store, buyer for a toy design and wholesale company, supply chain for a pharmaceutical (prescription drug) manufacture, and now Portfolio Management for a pharmaceutical manufacturer. In Portfolio management, I am the ‘bridge’ between our research and development group and our commercial sales group. I review new product opportunities to determine if 1) they are a good fit for our business (can we sell them); 2) we can successfully develop them in R&D; 3) we can successfully manufacture them in our plants; 4) costs (with our Finance group) to do all of that 5) timeline to do all of that and 6) if our company will make money on the product. I really like it.