MERIT Executive Spotlight is a series featuring leadership team members introducing themselves and explaining why they chose to work in the clinical trials industry and at MERIT.
What is your role at MERIT?
As VP of Product Development, I oversee a broad portfolio that spans several interconnected teams. On the development and R&D side, my team is responsible for building and validating new features and capabilities across our respiratory, ophthalmology, and oncology/radiology platforms. A key distinction in our work is the difference between early-stage proof of concept and algorithm development versus production-ready software, which requires careful planning around testing and validation before anything reaches end users.
We also have a Product Operations and Management (POM) team that serves as the bridge between development and operations, handling all study setup. It’s a small group doing an enormous amount of work, configuring over 120 studies a year. More recently, we added a team of Product Development Specialists whose focus is writing clear, thorough requirements before development ever begins. Getting that step right, asking the right questions and aligning with operational teams early is one of the most important things we do. We’ve also introduced AI tools to help standardize that process and recently launched an internally built product called Switchboard to manage it all. It was built around the way our department actually works, rather than trying to fit our process into an off-the-shelf tool.
The IT and IT security side of things falls under my umbrella as well, including data retention, storage, and our ISO 27001 certification and recertification.
What do you like about working at MERIT?
Two things stand out. The first is the people. It has been a real privilege to work with a team that is as dedicated and reliable as ours. Things do not always go smoothly in this business, and knowing you have colleagues who will step up when it matters most makes an enormous difference.
The second is the ability to actually affect change. We get to investigate new techniques, evaluate new technologies, and respond directly to sponsor feedback by building solutions rather than saying no. Over the years, many projects started with nothing more than a research paper and an idea that had never been implemented at scale. We got to be the ones to build it. That kind of ownership is something I do not take for granted. As MERIT grows, maintaining that responsiveness is one of our ongoing challenges, but it is something we are continuously working to protect.
What is your background?
I came into clinical research by way of the preclinical world, starting out in a laboratory setting where I worked my way from technician to supervisor over a few years. A recommendation from colleagues led me to a manager role at the Wisconsin Reading Center overseeing the imaging group, and that is where I made the transition into clinical trials. It was a steep learning curve. The industry had not completely transitioned from film to digital imaging at the time, and the volume of OCTs and digital fundus images was growing quickly. Being involved with the team that helped bring EXCELSIORTM to reality during that period was a formative experience that shaped how I think about building software for this field.
When I joined MERIT in 2014, a lot of my learning was on the job: being in every meeting, working directly with developers, and handling all tech support questions for the first year. That total immersion gave me a full picture of how the platform needed to work from both the user and engineering sides, and it is the foundation of how I approach product development today.
My path into this field was not a straight line. I started with a dairy science degree and an early stint in agricultural sales before finding my way into a laboratory environment. That pivot ended up defining the rest of my career. I have always been more comfortable as someone who knows the product deeply and can defend it on its merits than as someone focused on the sell.
What do you do in your free time?
I live in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, just outside Madison. A lot of my free time over the past decade has been spent at volleyball courts and swim meets, cheering on my daughters. The two oldest are now off to college, but my youngest is now in club volleyball, so our schedule stays full.
In addition to that, I am someone who likes working with my hands. I grew up on a family farm and also worked for contractors over the years, so home projects have always been a natural outlet. I have remodeled our various homes over time (including roof replacements), and I also do most of the maintenance on our vehicles. I’ve been told many times to leave it to the professionals, but I actually enjoy the problem-solving side of it. I have built coffee tables, desks for my kids’ rooms, and completed various other projects over the years.
When there is time for it, I head up to northern Wisconsin with family to spend time on a lake boating, tubing, and skiing. And then there are Murphy and Moose, my two golden doodles, who keep me company in my home office most of the day. They are extremely friendly, just a little loud when someone knocks on the door. I also do their grooming myself, which, given what golden doodle haircuts cost, turns out to be one of my more financially sound hobbies.
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