Meet the Team: Interview with Tony Bernardino – Associate Sales Director, Life Sciences

My role as Director of Sales for North America focuses on providing support to our sales team and customers. I spend a lot of time travelling, visiting customers to address any inquiries and ensure they have all the information they require on our product and service offerings. I also help to manage customer relations, guiding our sales team to effectively meet all customer needs and quickly resolve any concerns. Together with my team, our aim is to enhance customer satisfaction and facilitate successful outcomes in their scientific endeavors.

What is your professional and academic background that has led you to this role?

I received my Bachelor’s in Science from the University of Connecticut, after which I completed my Master’s in Public Health at Southern Connecticut State University. After graduating, I got my first taste of working in sales at Rainbow Scientific, Inc., a distributor of molecular diagnostic products. At that time, one of the product lines we were selling was cell culture media from Biological Industries, a company now owned by Sartorius. After around four years in that role and supporting that product line, Biological Industries branched out and opened a US branch – I moved over to a new role at the company and that’s when my career in sales really started.

Ultimately, this led me to my role here. I was fortunate enough to find a fantastic opportunity here, working as a Territory Manager covering our entire Bioproduction product line. Since then, a combination of hard work and the great growth opportunities that FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific provides have brought me to where I am today, the Associate Sales Director for our Life Sciences Business Unit for North America and ROW (rest of world) – it’s been a great journey!

What are your passions outside of work?

Outside of work, I have two passions that are incredibly important to me. First and foremost is my family and being able to spend quality time with them. They’re the ones who support me and are always there for me after a long day and so I cherish every moment we share together. One of our favorite things to do as a family is travel – every year we try to pick a country we’ve never been to before and that’s where we go. We really enjoy exploring new places and being able to do it together makes it even better.

My other passion is coaching soccer. I’ve been a coach for girl’s soccer at the elite level for around 12 years now, it’s a role that allows me to combine my love of the sport with my passion to mentor and inspire young athletes. It’s an immensely rewarding experience being able to watch the team grow, both as players and as individuals and I’m thankful to be a part of that.

These two parts of my life are extremely valuable to me, bringing happiness and fulfilment. Not only that, they complement each other and provide me with balance in my life and purpose outside of my professional responsibilities.

How has the Company evolved since you joined?

Over the past four years, the Company has evolved and grown significantly, driven by our commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction. We’ve expanded our market presence across the life sciences sector; diversifying our product portfolio and growing our teams substantially to provide the capabilities we need to meet the diverse needs of our customers.

Key to our growth has been the adoption of new, cutting-edge technologies, which has allowed us to enhance the quality of our offerings and significantly optimized our operational efficiencies. We’ve also bolstered our customer-centric approach through a number of new initiatives such as personalized service offerings, new customer support strategies, customer success programs and anticipating future needs. Taken together, these approaches have enabled us to build strong relationships with our customers and reinforce our reputation as a global leader in the production of cell culture media.

The market as a whole has also undergone significant evolution during this time, which has supported our growth. Pharma companies are now looking for more support in the media manufacturing space. Where they used to do these things internally most of the time, they’re now outsourcing a lot of those processes, and the team have worked hard to expand our capabilities to meet these rising demands.

What challenges have you faced in your role so far, and how have you overcame them?

I think for any person in sales, if you ask them what their biggest challenge is, they’ll tell you that it’s competition. We exist in a highly competitive market, where multiple vendors are all vying for the same clients. To overcome this, I focus on building strong relationships and networks with my clients, effectively demonstrating the unique value propositions of FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific, and maintaining constant communication with clients to address any concerns they may have.

How does a market-leading company like FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific stay relevant in such a dynamic market?

One of the most crucial aspects of staying relevant in our market is continuous innovation. We are constantly adapting our processes to provide the best value to customers that we can, monitoring and adopting emerging technologies and changing with the market. Above all, regulatory and compliance is key, and that is one of our core areas of focus – constantly making sure that we meet regulatory requirements so that our customers can have confidence in our offerings.

How do you support your team to respond to customer feedback and coordinate with the wider company to deliver these solutions to market quickly?

Supporting my team to respond effectively to customer feedback and coordinating this with the wider company involves several important steps and strategies, including: Establishing clear communication channels, having regular feedback review sessions, empowerment and ownership between all groups, ensuring cross-functional collaboration between internal groups and stakeholders, prioritization and resource allocation, agile problem-solving approach, monitoring and measuring success and a feedback loop closure. When we receive feedback from a client, we’ll set up a team with individuals from each group that is involved. Their responsibility is to work together to address the feedback and set defined timelines. In my role, I help these teams and make sure they have everything they need, as well as ensuring that feedback is actioned throughout the whole company and any information is relayed all the way to the top. Combined, these strategies help to make sure that all feedback is addressed quickly and that we as a team are constantly providing customers what they need.

What do you enjoy most about working for FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific, and how do you think it differs from other employers?

I think there are several important reasons that set us apart from other employers in the sector. For me, a major one is the autonomy that the company provides – the company has a unique and supportive environment where people are encouraged to share their own ideas and work on them. The organization promotes open communication, teamwork and knowledge sharing across all departments, and you really feel like your voice is being heard, which I believe is a major differentiator to other companies.

Another thing that stands out for me is the Company’s dedication to employee growth and development. Many companies in our sector are very large and established, but that also means that there are not so many growth opportunities and it can be more challenging to progress in your career. We’re at the beginning of a massive period of growth as the leading cell culture media supplier, which comes with lots of opportunities for employee development and advancement. I’ve been fortunate to see these opportunities myself, having joined four years ago as a Territory Manager for New England to being promoted to Director of Sales for North America. The Company also actively encourages employee growth opportunities, offering specialized training programs, mentorship initiatives and opportunities to take part in cross-functional projects.

What do you think sets FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific apart in terms of its vision, technology, and impact on research?

Overall, what sets us apart is our will to always be the best, constantly pushing boundaries to be the number one cell culture solutions supplier. Our customer-centric approach and continuous innovation allows us to constantly push the boundaries of what is possible in the biopharmaceutical and cell therapy industries, further reinforcing our commitment to driving positive change, improving health and living our company purpose in delivering more smiles to people worldwide.

 

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