Donna L. LaVoie President and Chief Executive Officer

Donna L. LaVoie, President and Chief Executive Officer of LaVoie Group, has more than 15 years experience in business strategy, corporate communications, public relations and investor relations. As a strategic business partner, her expertise is in providing senior-level strategic counsel to executive managers of privately held and publicly traded life sciences companies.

Her approach is based on helping clients build a unique brand and a credible voice with key audiences while providing strategic counsel to build value. She brings knowledge of all aspects of the corporate marketing effort and the integration of strategic options in the overall mix of those efforts. One of her core strengths is the development of strong relationships among industry, the venture and investor communities and media.

Prior to leading LaVoie Group as President and CEO, Ms. LaVoie was a communications and investor relations practitioner, having spent her career in senior communications and investor relations roles at leading biopharmaceutical and technology firms. Ms. LaVoie held the position of Vice President, Corporate and Strategic Marketing at Stream International (now Solectron), Vice President of Investor Relations at Cambridge Technology Partners (now Novell, Inc.), and senior communications and investor relations roles at several life sciences companies including Ergo Science Corporation, Alkermes, Inc., and Genzyme Corporation, where she led the company’s public relations efforts during a time of tremendous growth.

Ms. LaVoie is a frequent speaker and has been published on a variety of subjects including crisis communications, investor and public relations best practices and international investor relations. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from Lesley College and has completed a strategic marketing program at The Wharton School. She is a past board member of The Salvation Army and is a member of the National Investor Relations Institute. Ms. LaVoie is Co-Chair of the Marketing and Communications Committee for the Mass Biotech Council (MBC) and an advisor to MBC’s CEO boot camp and MassOpportunities Conference.

Catherine Cloft Vice President

Catherine Cloft brings more than 20 years of life sciences and healthcare focused communications, as well as marketing expertise to LaVoie Group. Ms. Cloft is well recognized for her broad business experience and her understanding of numerous therapeutic specialties. Her business background spans corporate communications, business development, finance, sales and marketing. She brings IPO experience and has managed scientific communications to a variety of audiences, including medical, scientific, investor and media.

Ms. Cloft’s therapeutic knowledge base includes business development, marketing and/or communications in dermatology, rheumatology, neurology, psychiatry, urology, cardiology, gastroenterology, pulmonology, and wound care. Most recently, she has been involved in product development, marketing and communications for dermatology products, particularly related to inflammatory skin diseases.

Ms. Cloft earned a Bachelor of Science from Eastern Michigan University where she majored in English. She holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from North Texas State University (now known as the University of North Texas) where she majored in Finance. Ms. Cloft is also a member of the National Investor Relations Institute.

Lisa Rivero Director/Senior Account Supervisor

Lisa Rivero has 10 years of agency experience including both public relations and investor relations. She most recently held the position of Account Manager at PAN Communications.  At PAN, she managed account activities such as value-added strategic planning and allocating agency resources for a diverse client base.  Ms. Rivero also provided fully integrated public relations counsel to business to business (B-to-B) clients, consisting of trade and business media outreach, search engine optimization (SEO), blogging strategy, analyst relations, as well as speaking and award programs. In her portfolio at PAN, she planned and executed a variety of successful B-to-B campaigns to drive visibility for her clients, and provided the foundation for multi-faceted partner and customer programs.

Prior to PAN Communications, Ms. Rivero held positions at Schwartz Communications and Sharon Merrill Associates, where she was a key player in their public relations and investor relations programs respectively.  Ms. Rivero brings a decade of experience in writing corporate materials, such as public relations plans, press releases, white papers, bylined articles, corporate FAQs, product sheets, web site copy and newsletters. Lisa also has public company experience including successful IPO planning and execution, writing quarterly materials such as earnings announcements and conference call scripts, and working with sell-side and buy-side analysts.

In addition to her agency experience, Ms. Rivero was a Financial Representative for Northwestern Mutual where she earned her series 6 and 63, and life, accident and health insurance licenses.  She received her Bachelor of Arts from Boston University, where she double majored in English and History, and holds a Master of Arts in English and American Studies from the University of Connecticut.

Tim Allison Account Executive

As Account Executive, Tim Allison services client-related activities including public relations, corporate communications, investor relations and branding programs for private and public companies.

Mr. Allison supports the development of corporate materials including corporate and technical fact sheets, Q&A documents, competitive matrix’s and presentations. He provides press release project management and executes media outreach efforts in support of client news announcements.

In addition, Mr. Allison manages LaVoie Group’s Life Sciences Events Planning Calendar featuring investor, medical and industry events.

Mr. Allison earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Arts from Framingham State College and has been involved in the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s national convention.

Wendy Irwin Business/Office Manager

As Office Manager, Ms. Irwin leads the agency’s best practice administrative functions including assisting in client and agency communications, the setting of office protocols, coordinating and maintaining office support services, oversight of client billing, account receivable and payable as well as human resources.

Prior to LaVoie Group, Ms. Irwin worked in various healthcare administration roles for nearly 20 years.

Benjamin Navon Associate Account Executive

As Associate Account Executive, Benjamin Navon provides competitive tracking, information gathering, project management, graphic design, and implements web programs for LaVoie Group clients.

Mr. Navon assists the account team in a number of public relations, corporate communications and branding programs for various life sciences accounts.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in Communications from Salem State College.