Leadership

Melissa M. Beck, Esq.

Melissa is the inaugural Executive Director of the Sozosei Foundation. She brings 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, managing and growing large-scale, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. Prior to joining the Sozosei Foundation, she served as Executive Director of The Educational Foundation of America (EFA), a family foundation that supports a range of organizations through grantmaking and impact investing activities. Before joining EFA, Melissa was CEO of Legal Information for Families Today (LIFT), a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing access to justice for children and families throughout New York State. Prior to her role at LIFT, she championed criminal justice reform on a national and local scale with a focus on decriminalizing mental illness.

Read More Before joining the nonprofit sector, Melissa was a litigator, working as a prosecutor in the Brooklyn DA's Office and as a criminal defense attorney. She was also an adjunct professor of Nonprofit Management at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service and an adjunct professor in the Political Science Department at Fordham University.

Melissa has authored numerous articles on nonprofit management and social justice issues and has participated in many panel discussions and debates. She also holds volunteer leadership positions for several nonprofit organizations, including the Correctional Association of New York and The Support Center on Nonprofit Management.

A graduate of Hampshire College, Melissa earned her JD from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and holds a certificate in nonprofit management from the Columbia Business School.

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Mary Chi Michael

As Vice President of Patient Advocacy and Stakeholder Management at Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. (OAPI), Mary has the unique opportunity to work with trailblazing leaders both inside and outside the clinic walls to create innovative patient-centered solutions. She is responsible for understanding how the world is changing across multiple disease categories, and pulling together the thoughts, ideas, and research from a global array of key opinion leaders, patient advocates, technologists, caregivers, and more to incubate novel business solutions. Mary brings innovation to Otsuka by engaging with stakeholders from the world’s most prestigious medical centers to local advocacy chapters.

Mary has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry, developing and incubating novel business solutions across a diverse portfolio of healthcare arenas—biopharmaceuticals, orphan disease, digital health, and technology alliance partnerships. She has worked in both large multinational and start-up environments across nearly 20 different therapeutic categories.

Read More Before coming to Otsuka, Mary spent nine years with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in Opinion Leader and Advocacy Relations, where she developed and executed Global Opinion Leader business strategies across the Specialty products portfolio. Prior to Wyeth, Mary was at Bristol-Myers Squibb for 13 years, in a variety of positions. At Otsuka, she has spearheaded the launch of the Global Council on Alzheimer’s Disease (GCAD), a collection of preeminent experts who influence the Alzheimer’s space, including science, medicine, technology, policy, advocacy, and caregiving. Through GCAD, Mary has jumpstarted technological innovation, framed a patient navigation model for Alzheimer’s, and helped improve communications between families and healthcare providers.

Mary is a graduate of Virginia Tech as well as Singularity University.

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Karen Gally

Karen is passionate about using her legal acumen to positively contribute to Otsuka’s business, mission and employee culture. Her leadership style is firmly rooted in Otsuka’s purpose to defy limitation, so that others can too. Driven by the belief that people perform best when they are challenged, she actively seeks ways to continuously encourage those around her to reach their full potential and fulfillment.

As Vice President & General Counsel, Karen focuses on legal issues related to clinical development, product commercialization, and corporate governance. Karen loves the diversity of the opportunities she has had in her Otsuka career, which has afforded her the ability to work on the legal issues for a compound from Phase I studies through its full lifecycle. In addition, Karen supports the Boards of Directors of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. (OPDC) and Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. (OAPI).

Read More Karen’s ability to evolve and learn has served her well throughout her career. Prior to joining Otsuka in 2003, Karen was an Associate with Epstein, Becker & Green in the Washington, D.C. office in the national health law practice group. From 1996 through 2003, she represented national healthcare companies in the areas of durable medical equipment, home healthcare, and pharmaceuticals in criminal and civil investigations. Before earning her JD from the University of Maryland Carey Law School in Baltimore, Karen worked in public relations and public policy in Albany. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.

Outside of Otsuka and the Sozosei Foundation, Karen is on the Board of Directors of the Alliance of Aging Research and the Alumni Board of the University of Maryland Carey Law School.

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