April 30, 2024
PharPoint Proposal’s Manager, Chris W., is best described as energetic and collaborative – two must-have attributes in a cross-functional role that requires clear and proactive communication.
In his role within proposals, Chris is responsible for the full life cycle of each proposal deliverable he works on, including collaborating with subject matter experts to craft clear proposals, set project budgets, and maintain contracts.
“Proposals interacts with every single department in the company,” Chris explains. “It has been super insightful and helpful working with so many different types of people and backgrounds.”
When speaking about some of his favorite things about working at PharPoint, Chris highlighted the uniqueness of having open, consistent interaction with leadership and the space to suggest process innovations.
“If we want to propose a change,” Chris gives as an example, “we can just call one of the company’s founders, and they listen and give their feedback. . To be able to have this access to people with so much experience is unique.”
Chris has been at PharPoint since 2018, and over the last six years has grown within his role in the proposals department, where he now manages a team.
Like many of his department colleagues, Chris fell into proposals by chance. He originally graduated from North Carolina State University with a focus within technology and supply chain logistics. “My goal was to kind of tinker with tech and help with process improvements,.” he shares, reflecting on his time in school.
After an encounter at an NC State career fair pulled him into his first proposals role, eventually leading him to PharPoint, Chris has been able to use his technology and logistics educational background to improve proposals-adjacent processes.
Chris’s ability to find ways to improve and grow his skill sets has allowed him to quickly adapt to the current tasks at hand. “I’ve had to think of new ways to innovate, whether it’s requested by our budgets or our contracts. As our company grows, we want to mature our processes.” Outside of work, Chris is a father of three. He values his work–life balance, and family time (including the occasional NC State game) is a top priority.
Excellent time management has been crucial in building out a healthy work-life balance while meeting business goals.
“Every day kind of brings new challenges,” Chris shares of his day-to-day. “We prep as much as we can for the week and understand where things might fall, but sometimes you get urgent requests or changes that pop up, so you just have to be flexible.”
Over the last six years, Chris has seen many studies progress through from when they were first brought to PharPoint to close out, and enjoys having had the opportunity to view the entire life cycle of a study.
“The most rewarding aspect of my work is contributing to something larger. Though I make no impact on drugs or helping people in the sense of being directly related to therapeutics– I can still contribute in a small way to help us get there.”
