Engagement Manager

Rick Sherwood

Rick Sherwood is an Engagement Manager at Triangle Insights Group that has supported clients in large pharma, emerging biotech and medical device, healthcare-focused private equity and venture capital and academic health systems.   Rick’s previous experience at Triangle has included corporate strategy and strategic growth planning, portfolio strategy, indication prioritization, commercial assessment and product-level forecasting, partnering support, pricing and reimbursement strategy and opportunity assessment.  His projects have spanned a variety of therapeutic areas – including hematology, oncology, orthopedics & other surgical indications, cardiology, dermatology and women’s and reproductive health.

Prior to joining Triangle Insights, Rick worked at McKinsey and Company as a business analyst.   At McKinsey, Rick developed expertise in corporate strategy, market assessment, due diligence, branding, and operational efficiency.  Rick also worked as a health policy analyst for a leading think tank, where he synthesized and produced analyses of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Rick obtained a dual MD-MBA degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 2015, where he was a Sternberger Scholarship recipient.  He also holds a B.S. in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia, graduating with the highest distinction.

Engagement Manager

Megan Thomas

Megan Thomas is an Engagement Manager at Triangle Insights Group. Prior to joining Triangle Insights, she spent several years in academic research at the Center for Developmental Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Megan’s previous work experience includes sports and entertainment consulting, grassroots public health ventures, and multidisciplinary research. Her recent consulting engagements include product and portfolio level commercial assessments, commercial launch planning, corporate and R&D strategy, and IDN strategy. Her project experience spans across a variety of therapeutic areas including infectious disease, orphan diseases, CNS conditions, oncology, and pain management.

Megan holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina where she was a Morehead-Cain Scholar.

Engagement Manager

Ryan Coe

Ryan Coe is a life science consultant with experience across a wide range of therapeutic areas and service offerings. Previous engagements have included portfolio analysis, competitive assessment, partnering support, product identification and assessment, and forecasting for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and diagnostic companies. This work has been applied to a number of therapeutic areas including oncology, anti-infectives, diabetes, orphan diseases, and biosimilars.

Prior to joining Triangle Insights, Ryan worked in academic research laboratories, where he collaborated with several diagnostic start-up companies. He has published peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and has given presentations at national and international conferences.

Ryan completed a fellowship in Bioengineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Washington, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. He received a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Partner

Kate Kitsopoulos

Kate Kitsopoulos is an experienced life science consultant with original industry roots in pharmaceutical development. She’s managed and led numerous global projects while developing a focus in commercial and corporate strategy. She’s developed a product and portfolio strategy focus and expertise across the biotechnology, pharmaceutical (branded and generic), biosimilar, diagnostic, and medical food industries.

Some of the therapeutic areas where she has in-depth experience include oncology, orphan disease, gene therapy, diabetes, infectious disease, pain, psychiatric disease, and women’s health. Kate brings technical expertise and commercial experience to develop successful strategies for complex technologies in rapidly evolving commercial markets.

Kate’s previous strategic consulting experience includes Platform Advisors, Campbell Alliance, and Deloitte. Kate also has research experience in discovery and development at AlphaVax, Inc., Research Triangle Institute, and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

Kate received her M.B.A. from Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC Chapel Hill. She also holds an M.S. in Biotechnology from Pennsylvania State University and a B.S. in Biology from Texas A&M University.

Partner

Barrett Rankin

Barrett Rankin has led a wide spectrum of strategic engagements for life science industry clients, ranging from large multinational firms to venture-backed start-ups. Barrett’s previous management consulting positions were with Campbell Alliance and Boston Healthcare Associates. He also has client-side commercial experience from Grifols Therapeutics.

Barrett has significant experience with commercial assessments, transaction diligence, pricing/reimbursement, and launch strategy. He has broad therapeutic area experience and has completed a lot of recent work in orphan disease, dermatology, and oncology.

Barrett received his M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia. He has been a lecturer at several life science industry conferences.

Partner

Ben Bonifant

Ben Bonifant is an experienced consultant to leaders of global pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations, and to decision-makers at large private equity funds. Prior to the founding of Triangle Insights Group, Ben was the leader of the Business Development Practice at Campbell Alliance and a partner in the Strategy practice at Oliver Wyman (formerly Mercer Management Consulting/Strategic Planning Associates).

Ben has been a management consultant for more than 20 years. His perspectives on developments in the life sciences market are frequently published in industry and strategy journals. Recent bylined articles have appeared in Pharmaceutical Executive, InVivo, Nature Biotech, RPM Report, and Scrip. In addition, Ben’s case studies on the pharmaceutical industry have been used in graduate business programs.

Ben is also a member of the Life Sciences Executive Committee of the Licensing Executive Society. He has also been a member of the program committee for the BIO International Convention. Ben has been a guest lecturer at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, and industry conferences in the US, Europe, and Canada.

Ben earned an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.S. from Duke University.

Partner

Christopher Apolito

Chris Apolito has over twenty years of pharmaceutical and strategy consulting experience, with positions in discovery research, business development, and management consulting. His previous employers include GlaxoSmithKline, Becton Dickinson, AVOS Life Sciences, and Campbell Alliance.

While at GlaxoSmithKline, Chris’s scientific accomplishments led to multiple patent authorships and peer-reviewed publications. In business development roles, Chris was responsible for corporate strategy and reviewing in-licensing and out-licensing opportunities. For the last fifteen years, Chris has led consulting engagements focused on corporate strategy, R&D portfolio strategy, and commercial assessments across the life science sector

Chris earned an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School as a member of Beta Gamma Sigma academic honor society. He has an M.S. from the University of Buffalo and a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Rochester.

Partner

Gautam Aggarwal

Gautam has thirteen years of pharmaceutical and consulting experience and focuses on providing strategic guidance to clients within life sciences organizations. His previous employers have included GlaxoSmithKline, Boston Consulting Group, and Campbell Alliance.

His recent engagements have involved commercial assessment, indication prioritization, white-space strategy, commercial model design and in-licensing/out-licensing support. Gautam has provided strategic advice to a wide range of clients, spanning Top-5 pharmaceutical manufacturers, emerging biotechnology manufacturers, biopharmaceutical investors, and service providers to biopharmaceutical companies. He has spoken at several industry conferences (LES, CED, EBD, BIO-Windhover, CHLA, Banff Venture Forum) and has published a peer-reviewed article on deal-timing.

Gautam received his M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke. He holds an M.S. and a B.S. in Bio-Statistics from UNC-Chapel Hill.