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Pharmaceutical consulting firm Xcenda focuses on employees

 
Pharmacist Chelsey Campbell says Xcenda’s culture drew her back to the company after interning there while she was a student.  
Pharmacist Chelsey Campbell says Xcenda’s culture drew her back to the company after interning there while she was a student. 
Published April 9, 2015

PALM HARBOR – Over the past two decades, pharmaceutical consulting firm Xcenda grew from three employees in Palm Harbor to 325 across the United States. A little more than a quarter of that number work in the Tampa Bay area. Many work from home. ¶ Xcenda keeps acquiring space to accommodate the growth, including all or parts of three floors of its Palm Harbor headquarters in the 4000 block of Woodlands Parkway. ¶ The company also maintains offices in Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, N.C.; San Bruno, Calif.; and Hannover, Germany.

Before joining Xcenda, Luther Hill often worked for companies for about 12 months then felt a need to go elsewhere. That all ended when he became a part of Xcenda.

"It was one place a year, another place a year, another place a year," Hill said. "I have been here 18 years."

The culture at Xcenda helped it make the Tampa Bay Times Top Workplaces list at No. 26 for small businesses.

Hill, vice president of technology and innovation, said the high performance environment attracts highly intellectual problem solvers with broad experience and top-notch academic credentials.

"When you get a group like that, you challenge each other," Hill said. "We have a much more entrepreneurial environment. They get to use their creativity."

The culture at Xcenda attracted Chelsey Campbell three years ago after she earned her doctorate in pharmacy. Campbell had worked for four weeks at Xcenda as a student intern and enjoyed the challenges of helping to bring to market products that can improve and even save people's lives.

"I just love the work that is done here," Campbell said. "The excitement keeps you here."

Nancy Young, who handles direct market access and payor services, put it this way: "I get to come to work with really smart people. They challenge me intellectually. It's really a place of collaboration."

Brian Nightengale, Xcenda's president, said he works to maintain a workplace that challenges highly motivated people while balancing work with family and social life. It can be difficult, he said, for a company like Xcenda because as a consulting firm other companies regularly interact with his employees and might attempt to hire his talent away.

"We have to create a preferred workplace to keep our customers from poaching our talent," Nightengale said. "Our focus on career path development has always been a part of our culture. If you don't (focus on career development), they're going to look elsewhere."

With the company's growth, Nightengale said community giving has become an important part of the company. He said employees provide supplies for the homeless and the company maintains a partnership with the Eckerd Foundation for the Angel Tree, a program that fulfills the "wish list" requests of homeless children and families.

Xcenda is a subsidiary of AmerisourceBergen, one of the largest global pharmaceutical sourcing and distribution service companies.

AmerisourceBergen helps health care providers and pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturers improve patient access to products and patient care. AmerisourceBergen acquired Xcenda in 2007.

Xcenda provides an array of consulting services to help pharmaceutical and health care companies deliver their products to patients.

The team at Xcenda includes clinicians, health care researchers, medical writers, marketing and operations teams.

Kristine Flemister, who has a doctorate in pharmacy, has been with Xcenda since a year after it began in 1994. The senior vice president said the commitment of the people at Xcenda shows in the example of one employee making sure a client had a package for a Monday meeting.

It was too late to send it by a carrier, so the employee hopped a plane to New Jersey and delivered it to the client at his home on Saturday.

"What gets me jazzed to come to the office in the morning is the people," Flemister said. "For most folks, it's not a job. It's a career for them."

Angie Snowden, director of project operations, said she has worked at other companies but none with the enthusiasm of Xcenda's workforce.

"People don't just put in 100 percent," Snowden said. "They put in 200 percent. I like it."

Xcenda touts its competitive salaries and bonus potential along with other benefits such as a 401(k) with match; medical, dental and vision plans; employee stock purchase plan; and tuition reimbursement, among others.

The company offers discount programs that include automotive services, banking and car rentals. Employee purchase programs help workers buy computers and printers. The discounts extend to home Internet, TV and phone service.

A favorite is the unwritten benefit of free daily snacks and drinks.

At times, the company rents Splitsville for a bowling outing.

"It's an extension of family," Flemister said.

Contact Ivan Penn at ipenn@tampabay.com or (727) 892-2332. Follow @Consumers_Edge.