Leadership at Medidata

Medidata co-founder Tarek Sherif assumed the full-time role of Life Sciences & Healthcare Sector board Chairman for Dassault Systèmes in July 2021.

Over the span of 20 years, in his role as Chairman and CEO, Tarek led Medidata from startup to becoming one of the leading global providers of cloud-based solutions to the life science industry and the largest in clinical development, while defining the vertical cloud company business model. 

Medidata is the most-used platform for clinical trials around the world, powering tens of thousands of clinical trials, with millions of patients. Medidata is now also redefining the patient experience in clinical trials and is helping customers use the power of data and AI to bring safer drugs to market more quickly. In 2019, in one of the largest healthcare technology acquisitions in history, Medidata became part of Dassault Systèmes.

Tarek has more than 35 years of leadership experience in health-tech and finance. Prior to Medidata, he co-managed and managed equity funds focused on public and private technology and life sciences companies, as well as holding various positions in finance.

Tarek received his BA in economics from Yale University in 1984 and graduated from Columbia Business School in 1991, where he earned a degree in business administration and finance. 

He serves as the co-chair of the Partnership Fund for New York City, which is focused on creating business opportunities and jobs for city residents. Tarek also sits on the advisory board of Students on Ice, a not-for-profit organization focused on inspiring youth through educational expeditions to the polar regions, the Musculoskeletal Advisory Board at NYU Langone Medical Center​, the board of directors of Florence Healthcare, and the Yale University Council. 

Anthony Costello is CEO of Medidata, a Dassault Systèmes company. For over 25 years, Anthony has worked to redefine how clinical trials are conducted, transforming the patient, site, and sponsor experience while accelerating the delivery of life-changing treatments. Through his founding and nurturing of companies from start-up to commercial success, he has played a critical role in the development of revolutionary technologies—including decentralized trials—pioneering the use of data solutions and advanced analytics to empower patients via experience-led platforms. 

Throughout his career, Anthony has been the driving force behind the creation of innovative solutions designed to address the life science industry’s most pressing challenges. His accomplishments across the Medidata organization span key strategic planning, critical sales initiatives, and serving as the customer and market-facing representative for the Medidata story. In his previous role as CEO of Medidata Patient Cloud, Anthony led the development of patient-facing activities and solutions. Under his leadership, Medidata announced several groundbreaking new products and capabilities including the myMedidata patient portal, patient registries, telehealth and virtual visits, Sensor Cloud (Medidata’s advanced system for wearable sensors and digital biomarker discovery), and Health Record Connect, Medidata’s newest technology for connecting patient health records and clinical trial data. Anthony was also a champion for the award-winning Medidata Diversity Program, the industry’s most comprehensive solution to diverse studies. These industry-leading products support better study design, reduce patient burden, improve diversity, and create connected experiences, demonstrating his relentless dedication to transforming the broader life sciences ecosystem.

Anthony’s impactful contributions resulted in Medidata’s recognition as a market leader in Everest Group’s “Decentralized Clinical Trial Platforms PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2023,” with an exclusive “Star Performer” designation for two consecutive years. He is the former Chairman of the Board for the Society for Clinical Data Management (SCDM), co-founder of Nextrials (acquired by PRA Health Sciences) and Mytrus (acquired by Medidata), and named one of PharmaVoice’s Top 100 Most Inspiring People in Clinical Research. He also serves as a board observer for Circuit Clinical, and is the executive sponsor of Medidata’s award-winning Social Innovation Lab, a skills-based volunteering program that pairs employees with non-profit partners.

Janet Butler is the Executive Vice President and Head of Global Sales for Life Sciences, Dassault Systèmes.

Janet leads the commercial go-to-market team responsible for global sales of Dassault Systèmes brands and solutions into the life sciences sector. She joined Medidata in 2016 to lead their strategic partnerships and expanded her role to include leadership of the enterprise business.

Prior to Medidata, Janet worked at IBM for more than 20 years, where she held numerous leadership roles. Her most recent role at IBM was Vice President of Hybrid Cloud. In this position, she led sales of the Hybrid Cloud Software across North America. She also held global roles leading worldwide sales for IBM Commerce and Industry Solutions. Janet arrived at IBM by way of acquisition and led software sales for IBM’s Wall Street business.

Janet graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Tom Doyle heads product development at Medidata, a leader in clinical research technology and a life sciences arm of Dassault Systèmes. In this role, Tom leads Medidata’s work in developing industry-leading solutions for patients, sites, sponsors, and CROs, improving and accelerating the design, execution, and oversight of clinical trials – essential in bringing new and novel treatments for patients. 

Tom joined Medidata in 2019, bringing 20 years of global experience in medtech and data science. Before coming to Medidata, Tom held leadership roles at Janssen and at Boehringer Ingelheim, championing technology to drive new experiences and better insights. He’s passionate about the power of innovation to transform clinical research towards better outcomes and better experiences for patients.

Tom has a BMath in computer science from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

Rick Goldstein serves as General Counsel at Medidata.

Rick leads Medidata’s business-focused Legal and Compliance teams, which support the company’s commercial relationships, protect the company’s intellectual property, advise on data privacy and protection regulations, identify and mitigate enterprise risk, and guide Medidata through cutting-edge legal and compliance issues attendant to creating transformative technology and data analysis products.

Prior to Medidata, Rick was a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, a leading global law firm, where he represented some of the world’s best-known technology and pharmaceutical companies in antitrust, intellectual property, and other complex commercial litigation and investigations. Earlier in his career, Rick was Deputy General Counsel at internet advertising pioneer DoubleClick Inc. and was a member of the commercial/legal team at Merck & Co., Inc. He received a JD from New York University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.

Sanjay Mandloi is Senior Vice President and Head of R&D Cloud and Operations at Medidata, a Dassault Systèmes company. His global team of engineers transforms and streamlines R&D operations and processes for all Medidata products and services. He also identifies and leverages synergies with other Dassault Systèmes brands, and provides highly scalable, reliable, and sustainable global cloud-based data solutions for our customers.

Sanjay joined Medidata in 2019 with deep expertise in building and deploying enterprise-level IT solutions in complex regulatory environments in industries including financial services, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and telecommunications. Prior to his current appointment, he held technology leadership roles at GS1, Johnson & Johnson, JP Morgan Chase, and Merril Lynch.

Sanjay has a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental science from St. Joseph’s College in Bangalore, India, and a Master of Science degree in software engineering from the University of Birmingham in the UK.

Matt Noble is the Head of Patient Cloud, a suite of powerful patient-facing solutions including eCOA, eConsent, and Decentralized Clinical Trial (DCT) capabilities. Previously, as Senior Vice President of Product Management, Matt led the product development efforts for Patient Cloud technology since the initial launch of Patient Cloud eCOA, the industry’s first BYOD (bring your own device), app-based solution in 2014. 

Noble has over 17 years of experience building and leading complex B2B software products across both the life sciences and financial services industries. Prior to joining Medidata, Noble was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs, focused on building financial pricing and reporting software.

Jennifer Plumer is the senior vice president, Head of Medidata and Life Sciences Engagement Marketing.  She is an award-winning marketing leader who brings 20 years of well-rounded experience and proven track record across all marketing disciplines within the life sciences technology and healthcare industries.

Joining Medidata in 2016, Jennifer is responsible for leading the global marketing strategy and execution for Medidata and the life sciences sector. Driven by a passion for developing cross-functional marketing strategies and plans, she has developed centers of excellence, operating models, and frameworks that have led to increased impact in the market and greater synergies across marketing teams, channels, and tactics.

Jennifer has received recognition for her marketing initiatives, including Forrester’s 2022 Marketing Program of the Year Award for her strategic work establishing and implementing the audience framework and marketing levers across the marketing discipline. She was also recognized with a 2022 Global ACE Gold Award by the ANA for Medidata’s Solve the Impossible brand campaign.

Jennifer received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from Liberty University.

Joe Schmidt is the Chief Operating Officer of Medidata, a Dassault Systèmes company. For the past seven years, Joe led the global Customer Success, Services and Support team supporting over 2,000 customers, delivering professional services from product configuration, ongoing study support, strategic consulting, digital transformations, study management, analytics, and platform management.

Joe has over 25 years of experience building and leading teams in the clinical research industry, largely focused on technology-enabled solutions that help bring better treatments to patients faster. Since joining Medidata in 2017 servicing enterprise clients, Joe created the Patient Cloud services team, focusing on the support of mobile, patient-facing, and decentralized clinical trial solutions.

A proven executive with a record of success managing global service delivery businesses within life sciences, Joe is a highly effective leader, driving efficiency in large company and start-up environments. His specific expertise spans across creating strategic plans, and building and leading diverse teams to deliver sustainable financial results via innovative technologies.

Joe previously served as the Chief Operating Officer of Clinical Ink. Before Clinical Ink, he spent 10 years with MedAvante (now WCG) as Executive Vice President and General Manager, leading the solution development and global expansion activities. Joe started his career at Covance working in clinical operations with roles of increasing responsibility. He has a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Scranton.

Josh Schwartz is the Chief Financial Officer at Medidata, responsible for overseeing financial planning and analysis, pricing, commercial engagement, controllership, procurement, tax and operations. He and his team partner with leadership across the organization to implement financial strategies that drive forward the company’s strategic and operational objectives. 

Josh brings nearly 20 years of corporate and operational finance experience across the technology industry with a focus on SaaS. Since joining Medidata in 2010, Josh has held financial leadership roles with increasing responsibility, helping to build high performing teams and driving scale across the organization.

Josh received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Maryland. He started his career with Grant Thornton and obtained his CPA license in the state of Maryland.

Esmerita Sepulveda-Lusky is Head of People at Medidata Solutions. In this role, she oversees critical functions that instill Medidata’s culture, contribute to the company’s overall performance, and advance Medidata’s mission and business.

As the head of the People Organization, Esmerita leads People Operations, Talent Acquisition, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Workplace Benefits and Resources, Talent Management, and Corporate Social Responsibility.

A 25-year industry veteran, Esmerita’s career reflects achievements in leadership and management roles with industry leaders such as Prudential Financial, Unilever, and Merck & Co.

Esmerita’s efforts have contributed to Medidata’s score of 100 on HRC’s Global Equality Index and appointment to the Great Place to Work list for workplace excellence.

Prior to Medidata, Esmerita worked at Prudential Financial for nearly 10 years, where she held numerous leadership roles. Her most recent role at Prudential was Human Resources Director. In this position, she provided strategic partnership to executive leaders and served as the primary HR Business Partner to the Financial Services organization. Esmerita led the HR teams to drive key HR strategies that impacted business performance. She also held global roles managing the HR function at industry leaders including Unilever, and Merck & Co.

A passionate advocate for women’s leadership and career development, Esmerita graduated from the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business with an MBA.