R D Product Development

ALEX AVRAM

**** * ****** **** **, Fayetteville, AR, 72703 845-***-**** ******.*****@*****.***

https://www.linkedin.com/in/avramalexandru

CAREER SUMMARY

Product Development, Sr Mngr II • R&D Technical Production Mngr • R&D Engineer

Career Highlights and Transferable skills:

- Product Development & Project management with Walmart’s over-the-counter drugs division. Executed towards maintaining established KPI metrics and hitting annual budget targets.

- Led the R&D department of biotech company Pel-Freez Biologicals with focus on developing the pipeline for new product lines. Create the SOPs for an entirely new assortment with >20 items. Built relationship with the largest vaccine development pharma companies across US, while also maintaining close contact to the FDA officials.

- Collaborated with Marketing, Merchants and Business Analytics teams on developing the 1YR and 3YR innovation strategies to move forward into the product pipeline.

- Championed sustainability efforts under Private Brands Consumables Division for most added post-consumer recycled content into the substrates of primary packaging.

- Ownership over the packaging design and claims substantiation processes for commercialization of new items. This included Compliance and Legal expertise.

Highlights from product launches: Launched the optimized version of Equate Pregnancy Tests, which became sub-category best-sellers. Launched an entire product line of IGG/IGM- depleted human serum & derivates with applications in bio-pharma. Created a new sub-brand of sustainable items to compete against other large retailers, such as Target and Whole Foods called Great Value Our Promise.

Business development experience. Directly impacted the category P&L of over $1B in total sales by delivering towards budget projections. Front-face management for >30 Private Brands suppliers. Responsible for over 450 SKUs within the Great Value, Equate and Vibrant Life brands. Impacted the delivery of +25% over planned budget in 2021.

Servant leadership and client relationship. Acted as hiring manager for one direct report and shared several indirect reports with the production department. Maintained relationships with key supplier clients on the R&D side by initiating recurrent discovery phase meetings. Worked closely with CMOs and CROs on several large projects. AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Product development

Business analysis

Business development

Leadership

Project management

Chemical engineering

Packaging design

Sustainability

Over the counter drugs

ANDA, monograph

HPLC, ELISA, SPE

FTIR, AFM

Microfiltration and sterility

Ultrafiltration for bioseparations

Stirred reactor and peripherals

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Walmart, Bentonville, AR November 2019 – Present

Senior Manager II, Product Development, Private Brands Executed Product Development for the large Household Paper&Chemicals and OTC drugs departments. Responsible for the development and execution of packaging/label change projects, educating and informing cross-functional partners on customers, go to market strategy, opportunity areas and customer strategic initiatives. Serviced the customer needs by working side by side with R&D and Production engineers from a diverse base of CPG suppliers.

Directly managed the packaging design refresh of product lines under Great Value / Equate / Vibrant Life private brands. This represented a massive project management endeavor.

2022 Sustainability Champion for overall reduction of CO2 emissions in Household Essentials category. Incorporated >20% PCR content into primary cartons and films, and found ways to reduce packaging weight leading to sustainability wins and COGS reduction.

2023 New Item Merchant Award for launching the most new incremental items., along with spearheading a new sub-brand Great Value Our Promise of sustainable items to compete against other large retailers, such as Target and Whole Foods.

Pel-Freez Biologicals, LLC, Rogers, AR April 2018 – November 2019 R&D Process Engineer/Technical Prod. Manager

Directly involved with financial and human resource allocation for company research and development lab. Provided technical support on all major product lines and resolved issues and customer concerns. Developed custom SOP procedures, including DOE and economic feasibility studies.

Generated marketing ideas for new products and directly managed the launching of new products out of lab bench: total sales for a team of 3 people accounted for ~$1M within 1.5 years post-launch

Established the R&D lab from the ground up. Influenced leadership to invest in allocating CAPEX resources and expand the physical space for a new R&D lab space. Pel-Freez Biologicals, LLC, Rogers, AR August 2017 – April 2018 R&D Engineer

Evaluated processes and technologies to assess technical performance. Performed and improved test methodologies for Quality Control. Supported senior technical staff and coordinated production activities on a project-by-project basis. Documented and reported scientific results to management team. EDUCATION

PhD, Chemical Engineering Bachelor of Engineering, Biotechnology University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR University of Applied Sciences Mittelhessen, Giessen, Germany January 2013 – May 2017 January 2008 – July 2012

LIST OF PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

List of publications can be accessed here:

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/1176929 HOBBIES AND PERSONAL INTERESTS

Kickboxing Weightlifting CrossFit Hiking, fishing and mountain biking Reading (mostly psychology, philosophy, mythology) Volunteer for the Fayetteville Recycling Center

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