Home > Companies > C-Suite On Deck > Q&A with Andrea Lechner-Becker, Chief Marketing Officer at LeadMD

Q&A with Andrea Lechner-Becker, Chief Marketing Officer at LeadMD

MEDIA 7 | December 5, 2019

Q&A with Andrea Lechner-Becker
Andrea Lechner-Becker, Chief Marketing Officer at LeadMD is an experienced Marketing and Sales Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the marketing and advertising industry.

Skilled in Business Process, Marketo, Sales, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and IT Service Management, Andrea is also a strong business development professional and a storyteller.

MEDIA 7: What inspired you to get into marketing?
ANDREA LECHNER: Frankly, not having better options. I originally attended the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse thinking I’d major in Archaeology. I wanted to be Indiana Jones! But, after visiting the archaeology building – i.e. the cold, dark basement of the science building – where a girl sat to piece together pieces of an old Native American vase, I knew archaeology was not going to be the right path for me. And so, without being good at science and a major in art or art history was unlikely to pay my bills, I decided to go into “business”. I originally registered as a management major, but took my first marketing class and thought it was more interesting and switched my sophomore year. That was pretty much it. I’d never been involved in business classes or DECA in high school – I didn’t really know what to do or what jobs in marketing were even possible. I dumb lucked myself into it really.

M7: As a storyteller, do you relate the brand to a story or story to the brand?
AL: Both? Neither? I think there are stories in every brand, because there are people working on the brand and people engaging with the brand and people using what the brand creates. People, most often a single person, are at the heart of great stories.
You can start with the “point” of the story you’re trying to tell. Say you have a software that help accountants better create reports for board meetings. It’s likely you’ll want to tell a success story about an accountant getting promoted to CFO in part because your software helped better communicate their work product to the board. You could have the idea for that and go looking for that story in your customers. OR, you could hear that story, and say, “That’s amazing!” and share it with customers, partners and internal people. Stories are all around us – the most important thing is to keep your ears and eyes open for finding them.


"People, most often a single person, are at the heart of great stories. Stories are all around us – the most important thing is to keep your ears and eyes open for finding them."

M7: LeadMD has been named as Marketo’s platinum service partner. What are the core values that drive the company to be a leading marketing firm?
AL: About two years ago, we got to the size where we had to really dedicate some time to defining our core values. We got into a room with everyone in the company and talked about what it feels like to work at LeadMD. We decided on the following values, which all start with “We” because we’re a tribe and succeed together with our clients:

1. We over me. Our people will drop almost anything to help another member of the tribe and our clients. We are a performance organization and aim to ease the lives of those around us with valuable contribution.
2. We stand in your shoes. Empathy is so critical to our success internally and externally.
3. We are better than yesterday. Marketing is a discipline that must be creative and iterative. We don’t know everything, but we strategize, plan, do, review and optimize constantly. Together, we figure out what will garner the best results.
4. We believe in transparency. Transparency is function of trust. Trust is a function of reliability, competency, communication, authority and predictability. Our clients trust us with their vision and that's an honor we take seriously.
5. We have fun in everything we do. We like our tribe and our clients and we do cool sh*t together. It’s fun work.




"Until you execute learnings, test them and see if and how they work, none of it means anything. If in doubt, do something."

M7: What distinguishes LeadMD from the rest in creating predictable and sustainable revenue operations for enterprise brands?
AL: Our value to our clients is our ability to integrate strategic objectives with all the day-to-day actions of teams of people. We are great at rolling our sleeves up and truly creating scale around these elements that ultimately impact the organization as a whole. The results our clients see are things like, a technology company generating a $15 million lift in pipeline within 90 days and a medical device company generating $5 million in revenue in six months (which is like one month in healthcare timelines) in a typically down quarter. Ultimately, the work we collaborate with clients on, impacts the business in more revenue, faster.


M7: How does LeadMD’s methodology facilitate organizations in delivering exceptional outcomes that they desire?
AL: This may fall more under philosophy than methodology, but we work with leaders unwilling to maintain the status quo. We call them Catalysts. We work with people eager and willing to act to change a current poor performing outcome in their organization. We can help, but we are never going to be able to impact the types of outcomes we’re used to without internal champions and rainmakers. Our outcomes are in large part due to the fearless nature of our clients.


"Learning is about connective tissue and being able to connect new things to things that already make sense to you. Just do it. It’ll not only make you a better employee or entrepreneur, it’ll also make you a better person."

M7: You have co-founded an e-learning firm, Six Bricks. What was the learning experience from it and how has this accelerated your career journey?
AL: The learning experiences from that piece of my career are far too numerous to name in this QA. The best way I could sum them up is to say that doing something new will always hold value. As a long-time consultant, I’ve had lots of ideas about what professionals in sales and marketing could or should do. I’ve listened to a lot of podcasts, attended SaaStr’s annual conference and brought ideas back. But, until you execute on them, test them and see if and how they work, none of it means anything. If in doubt, do something.


M7: Going with the story of your book ‘Sixty Days Left’, how does exploring new marketing trends and making informed decisions create a fortune for any enterprise?
AL:��I’m a big advocate for everyone, even executives, to explore trends and the news of their discipline at a fairly deep level. Just knowing artificial intelligence as a thing is “good” but not great. Lean in. Read opinions from people who have worked in artificial intelligence for years, who study it in a university setting, who can really break it down. The first AI article I read was really technical and I barely understood it, but I kept doing it and kept learning. Learning is about connective tissue and being able to connect new things to things that already make sense to you. Just do it. It’ll not only make you a better employee or entrepreneur, it’ll also make you a better person. Follow leaders like Bill Gates with book recommendations and actually read those things – again, it’ll just make you a better, more well-rounded and ultimately happier human.


M7: What is your superpower?
AL: Curiosity. I am interested in everything. And everyone. Everyone has a story and I love hearing them. I learn a lot from that and have more stories to tell and more knowledge to connect new knowledge to.

ABOUT LEADMD

LeadMD is the #1 performance marketing consultancy that leverages best-in-class technology to make your vision actionable and your outcomes measurable. Breaking down the typical siloes of technology and strategy, LeadMD collaborates with clients to increase revenues, align teams and engage ideal customers. We’ve helped more than 3,500 high-growth companies succeed by building revenue engines that scale on top of marketing and sales platforms like Marketo, Adobe, Salesforce.com and dozens of others. For more information, visit www.leadmd.com or email us at go@leadmd.com

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Matica Bio Launches MatiMax™ Cell Lines at BIO International Convention

Businesswire | June 07, 2023

Matica Biotechnology, Inc. a contract development and manufacturing organization specializing in the GMP production of cell and gene therapies, today unveiled the company’s new MatiMax™ cell lines at the BIO International Convention, taking place in Boston, MA.. Proprietary to Matica Bio, MatiMaxTM HEK293 and HEK293T cell lines have been rigorously optimized to enable. Faster doubling times – Reaching as low as 17 hours, which can significantly shorten processing timelines; 30% faster than industry standards Improved transfection efficiencies – Reducing the amount of DNA and transfection reagents required for production Increased titers – Supporting higher virus production at a lower cost “The current industry standard for media-based cell line development — typically focused on a limited set of factors, such as glucose, glutamine, nitrogen and ammonia — can potentially limit scalability, which is mission critical when selecting cell lines during the early stages of cell and gene therapy development to stay competitive,” said Michael Stewart, Matica Bio’s chief technology officer. “As a specialized CDMO, we are changing the rules of the game by incorporating a more holistic, multi-dimensional philosophy into our cell line platforms for cell and gene therapies, which incorporates some of the most advanced processes, analytical technologies and media analysis available. This fine tuning is absolutely necessary to reduce bottlenecks for any viral vector expression system, which, in turn, can improve yields and enable doubling times that are faster than other cell line service offerings on the market.”. MatiMaxTM is available for customers to use today, and comes in four different cell line options. HEK293: Adherent HEK293: Suspension HEK293T: Adherent HEK293T: Suspension “As advances in gene modified therapies continue to grow, Matica Bio is well-positioned to support the exploding number of cell and gene therapy candidates under development, which helps our clients reach the clinic faster with high-quality products,” said Andrew Arrage, Matica Bio’s Chief Commercial Officer. “We already have several clients currently using MatiMaxTM lines, which have immediate availability and attractive licensing terms. Our objective is to empower biopharmaceutical developers to achieve their clinical and commercial goals, and, ultimately, treat more patients.”. About Matica Biotechnology, Inc. Matica Biotechnology, Inc. is a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specializing in fully integrated cell and gene therapy manufacturing. The industry-leading experts at our state-of-the-art facility in College Station, Texas, deliver breakthrough therapies rapidly and safely through innovative manufacturing solutions.

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INDUSTRIAL IMPACT

Guardant Health Receives Regulatory Approval from Singapore's Health Sciences Authority for Guardant360® CDx blood test for patients

PRNewswire | May 30, 2023

Guardant Health, Inc. announced that Singapore's Health Sciences Authority has granted regulatory approval of Guardant360® CDx, a liquid biopsy test for tumor mutation profiling, also known as comprehensive genomic profiling in patients with advanced solid cancers. The Guardant360 CDx test was also approved as a companion diagnostic to identify patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer with epidermal growth factor receptor alterations who may benefit from treatment with TAGRISSO®. Guardant360 CDx is the first blood test to be approved by Singapore's HSA for comprehensive genomic profiling for all solid tumors. Since being introduced as a laboratory developed test the Guardant360 liquid biopsy has become widely accepted for blood-based CGP with more than 400 peer-reviewed publications. "We are delighted to receive regulatory approval from HSA for our Guardant360 CDx test, as it supports the value liquid biopsy brings to oncologists and the patients they treat," said Simranjit Singh, CEO of Guardant Health AMEA. "With a simple blood draw from the patient, the Guardant360 CDx test provides CGP results in approximately seven days from receipt of the blood sample in the laboratory, enabling physicians to make faster treatment decisions compared to tissue biopsies. Our hope is that this approval will drive clinical adoption of liquid biopsy testing in Singapore and enable more patients to be matched to potentially life-changing precision medicines." In 2020, over 23,600 people in Singapore were diagnosed with cancer and there were slightly over 12,000 cancer-related deaths. The most prevalent cancer types among men and women in Singapore include breast (15.5%), colorectal (15.1%) and lung (12.3%) cancer[1]. According to the Singapore Cancer Registry Annual Report 2020, over 70% of all lung cancer cases among men and women were diagnosed at the advanced stage[2]. Pancreatic, stomach and colorectal cancer cases among men and women were also diagnosed at the advanced stage respectively To improve cancer outcomes in Singapore, Guardant Health AMEA is currently collaborating with National Cancer Centre Singapore and National University Cancer Institute, Singapore for several clinical trials using the Guardant360 test in efforts to accelerate clinical trial enrollment by identifying genomic biomarkers in patients with cancer. The Guardant360 CDx test was the first blood test to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for comprehensive genomic profiling for all solid tumors, and it is now FDA approved as a companion diagnostic test for four targeted therapies in NSCLC and one in advanced breast cancer. In March 2022, the test was also granted regulatory approval by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for tumor mutation profiling in patients with advanced solid cancers as well as a companion diagnostic to identify patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-High) solid tumors who may benefit from Keytruda® and patients with MSI-High advanced colorectal cancer who may benefit from Opdivo®. In addition, Guardant Health is currently involved in multiple studies with drug development companies to develop Guardant360 CDx as a companion diagnostic for new therapies. About Guardant Health Guardant Health AMEA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Guardant Health, Inc., a leading precision oncology company focused on helping conquer cancer globally through use of its proprietary tests, vast data sets and advanced analytics. The Guardant Health oncology platform leverages capabilities to drive commercial adoption, improve patient clinical outcomes and lower healthcare costs across all stages of the cancer care continuum. Guardant Health has commercially launched Guardant360®, Guardant360® CDx, Guardant360 TissueNext™, Guardant360 Response™, and GuardantINFINITY™ tests for patients with advanced-stage cancer, and Guardant Reveal™ for patients with early-stage cancer. The Guardant Health screening portfolio, including the commercially launched Shield™ test, aims to address the needs of individuals eligible for cancer screening.

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