5 Questions With Ernie Payne, Vice President, Client Services at Conexus Solutions, Inc.
“5 Questions With…” is a weekly BioBuzz series where we reach out to interesting people to share a little about themselves, their work, and maybe something completely unrelated. This week we welcome Ernie Payne, Vice President, Client Services at Conexus Solutions, Inc.
Ernie Payne brings a wealth of leadership to the life sciences industry due to his breadth of experience supporting customers in the Commercial Operations space. He has partnered with various companies to help them with achieving service delivery excellence and improving client satisfaction with respect to Sales Force Automation, Field Administrative Support, Sample Accountability & Compliance, as well as other home office solutions and support. Ernie’s areas of focus include ongoing operational support, solution design, solution implementations, and sharing of best practices, while coordinating with the internal and external stakeholders to provide customers with better service through process mapping/improvements, documentation, automation, improving communications, and collaborative behaviors.
Prior to joining Conexus Solutions, Inc., Ernie held successful operations, account management, and business development positions with Physicians World/Veeva, inVentiv/Syneos Health, Dendrite International, and CorNet (acquired by Dendrite). Ernie also served eight years active duty between the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army in the Communications, Military Intelligence, and Combat Engineer fields.
Ernie enjoys golfing and tennis, exploring and utilizing new consumer technology, attending live music events, boating, and spending time with his wife and “fur babies”, a Miniature Pinscher named Marley and a Boston Terrier named Tucker.
1) Please introduce yourself to our audience by looking back at your education, training, and career.
I have known since high school that what I liked to do the most was learn about new technology and how it can help solve problems and enrich our lives. I also enjoyed helping people by providing any insight, knowledge, or experience that may be of value. All my life, I loved to share my passion and knowledge around the things that excited me. Throughout my education and career, I was one to eagerly embrace new technology, new ways of working, and new concepts. So, it made sense that my path through life reflected those passions and interests as well.
I graduated from a small high school around the time that computers and consumer technology was starting to take off. It seemed as if the future was limited only by your imagination and creativity to apply new technology to age-old problems. In addition to playing sports and being a member of the scholastic team, I held various service-oriented jobs throughout high school that gave me an early introduction to helping people. The jobs most interesting to me were ones where I interacted with people. I wanted every interaction to feel as if I was able to provide someone with a positive outcome. It excited me to be able to help someone solve their problems. I even enrolled in some real estate courses and earned my Pennsylvania realtor license as I graduated high school.
In college, I was drawn to all the computer language and IT courses as well as the business management, leadership, and communication courses. I continued working in service-oriented roles, serving as a Resident Advisor for several years and working weekends in sales roles selling vacation memberships in the Poconos. I even bought an IBM-compatible PC when everyone else was still going to the computer lab to use a school computer. I graduated from Bloomsburg University with a BA/BS in Business Management with a concentration in computers. It was clear that my future was going to be at the crossroads of service and technology.
Looking back throughout my career and the positions that I held, every role has supported my passions. To this day, I am still energized by opportunities to creatively solve problems, help others, and discover new technology.
2) Tell us more about Conexus and your role within the company.
Conexus Solutions, Inc. provides managed services and support for small and mid-size life science companies. We have a passion for helping customers solve challenges, whether they be operational, process-oriented, or technological in nature. By partnering with our customers and understanding their goals and challenges, we can help design a solution and provide the tactical execution so that they can focus on their strategic objectives. What makes Conexus exciting to me is that we are growing at a fast pace and always looking at creative ways to solve customer challenges, so every day is an opportunity for innovation. Conexus is continually developing and expanding not only our service offerings, but our team as well.
I head our Client Services division which consists of our project and program manager teams. Our project management team leads our initial customer engagements by coordinating all workstreams to onboard a new customer or to manage large projects for our existing ones. Our program management team provides proactive and ongoing operational support and coordination across all of Conexus’ support teams and offerings. I am building out our team and tools to provide exceptional customer service by driving five key initiatives:
- Understand customer expectations.
- Provide proactive and thorough communication.
- Anticipate needs and issues.
- Identify, or establish, and consistently leverage best practices to drive continuous improvement.
- Create and sustain a strong team-based approach that facilitates transparency, collaboration, and drives accountability across all stakeholders.
Utilizing this approach, we can not only strengthen our relationships with our customers, but we’ll also help our organization grow smartly.
3) Prior to your career in operations, BD, and client services, you spent six years in the US Army as a Combat Engineer. What kind of impact did that experience have on how you conduct and manage business?
My military background was both diverse and exciting, and reinforced my passion for technology, opportunities to learn, and personal growth and development. I started out enlisting in the Marine Corps where I went to basic training at Parris Island. There, I learned the value of teamwork and discipline that I have brought forward throughout my life. Through a series of events, I completed an inter-service transfer to the Army, initially serving as enlisted and NCO in the Military Intelligence field, and then eventually transitioning to the Combat Engineer field as a commissioned officer. All the training and schools that I attended were diverse and challenging; some mentally and some physically. In all cases though, they taught me to be open-minded and that I was never too old to learn or to internalize new concepts.
I have taken those lessons and brought it forward in everything that I do. I learned to appreciate the often-overlooked things that many take for granted like family and friendship, and the fact that there is an opportunity to learn at every turn. I also realize that no matter how stressful a situation appears, it does not compare to the life-or-death decisions that are made routinely in the military. When confronted with a challenge, it’s important to assess the situation, evaluate your options, and make a decision based on the intel that you have to solve the problem!
I also learned that no matter how well you plan, there is always going to be a wrinkle that could disrupt your plans. You must remain flexible and adaptive and be able to reevaluate your plan of action quickly and decisively. As I am fond of saying to my team, “Hope is not a strategy!”
4) What have you enjoyed the most out of your career at Conexus so far, and what impact are you hoping to make in 2022?
I have thoroughly enjoyed working at Conexus because of the can-do attitude that everyone has. The team relishes a challenge and the ability to partner with customers to help them solve problems and meet or exceed their objectives. Many of our customers are just commercializing and do not have the resources or expertise, so they rely on us to be the team behind their team. In our most successful engagements, we have transcended the vendor-customer dynamic to become strategic partners. This has led to very loyal customers that we continue to work with as they have moved to new organizations.
The main goal I have for my team is to help make Conexus become more indispensable to our customers, but I also have a secondary mission. We have all been at companies where we have asked ourselves, “How did we get here? Who decided to make these silly processes? Why aren’t our systems talking to one another? Why is it so hard to get things done?” As Conexus continues its rapid growth and scales to meet the demands of our customers, I want to help ensure that our organization’s growth occurs in a purposeful and thoughtful manner, so that we don’t suffer the challenges that other companies face and can continue to scale in a way that doesn’t hinder our nimbleness or responsiveness.
5) We heard that you’re big into live music – what was your favorite concert that you’ve been to, and why?
I have probably been to well over a thousand live shows over the years, but my favorite one has to be my first concert. It was back in my early high school days, and I lived in a rural area with not much culture or entertainment. Music was my staple to escape the day-to-day grind of growing up. Music, by the way, was also my gateway into my passion for technology. I had to have the best stereo with the best speakers to get the best sound, I had to have a tape recorder to record songs off the radio, I bought a VCR of my own so that I could record late-night television. Back then, if you wanted to see a band perform “live”, you had to watch Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert or The Midnight Special on TV which were both on in the middle of the night.
When I was old enough to venture out on my own, I jumped at the opportunity to go to a concert with good friends who were also passionate about music. It certainly exceeded my wildest expectations! I was absolutely blown away by how much better it was compared to listening on the radio or watching it on TV. It opened my eyes and ears to a whole new way of enjoying music. . The energy of the crowd, that dynamic live sound, and the communal spirit was incredible to me. Since then, I have lost count on how many live events that I have attended, but I will always remember the first one because of what it opened up for me. Music is one of those things that can truly unite us all. Live music…even more so!
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