LTEN has wrapped its 50th LTEN Annual Conference, held Nov. 8-11 at the Gaylord Rockies in Aurora, CO, where it named the 2021 Members of the Year and honored several additional colleagues.
Four 2021 Members of the Year were named at the conference ceremonies for the 7th Annual LTEN Excellence Awards. The rest of the awards in this year’s competition were handed out at a special virtual ceremony in June, saving these top awards for the in-person ceremony. Click here to view the full list of 2021 LTEN Excellence Awards winners.
The Members of the Year award honors those LTEN colleagues who have gone “above and beyond” to support LTEN missions, goals and objectives. At the in-person ceremony, two Members of the Year were named from the supplier community and two were named from the “practitioner” community. The 2021 LTEN Members of the Year are:
- Amity Cutaia, executive director, capabilities, learning & development, for Astellas Pharma
- Joe Wilmoth, executive director, training and development, for Arcutis Biotherapeutics
- Jessica Knox, chief executive officer, Metrix Group
- Celeste Mosby, vice president & general manager, learning solutions, for Syneos Health.
The Members of the Year were just a few of those honored at the #LTEN2021 event. In his main-stage welcome on Nov. 8, LTEN Board of Directors President Richard Sampson also paid tribute to his predecessor in that role, David Fortanbary, for his service as board president in 2018 and 2019. Fortanbary’s term saw a significant expansion in LTEN membership, and he also extended his service for a few months before Sampson’s term began.
Also at the conference, Sampson joined LTEN Board of Directors Member Laura Last on stage to honor late board colleague Chuck Pearson, who passed away in February, the first time in LTEN’s 50 years that it lost a sitting board member. Pearson was honored for his lifetime of educational service to others, his career-long commitment to life sciences sales training and his dedication to lifting all LTEN members. Pearson’s colleagues at Astellas were watching virtually from the Chuck Pearson Learning Center as their friend and former leader was honored. Sampson and Last also announced that the LTEN board has created the Chuck Pearson Learning Scholarship, which starting in 2022 will be awarded to applicants to help them learn through LTEN events and programs.
“This was a special year for the conference, held at a special time, and it’s fitting we were able to honor some really extraordinary members,” said Dawn Brehm, LTEN executive director. “Each of our Members of the Year deserved the recognition they received and frankly more – they each set a really high bar for commitment this year. We weren’t able to properly honor David Fortanbary for his work when the 2020 conference was moved to virtual, so it felt good being able to send that appreciation from the main stage now. And there’s so much more we could have said about Chuck and still be scratching the surface. We were honored to work with him and are honored to continue his mission through the scholarship program.”
ABOUT LTEN
The Life Sciences Trainers & Educators Network (www.L-TEN.org) is the only global 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization specializing in meeting the needs of life sciences learning professionals. LTEN shares the knowledge of industry leaders, provides insight into new technologies, offers innovative solutions and communities of practice that grow careers and organizational capabilities. Founded in 1971, LTEN has grown to more than 2,600 individual members who work in pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and diagnostic companies, and industry partners who support the life sciences training departments.
MEDIA CONTACT
For more information contact Nannette Nolan, LTEN director of marketing communications, at nnolan@L-TEN.org.
