Meet a Veevan: An Epic and Non-Conforming Career Path to Strategy
Meet a Veevan is a series that looks at the employees who bring us life. For this edition we spoke to Jared Katz, Director of Strategy, Development Cloud Architect. Jared has always taken the road less traveled and it led him to a place where he feels highly valued and supported and in turn values and supports his colleagues and customers through thick and thin.
What is your personal and professional background, and how did you get to Veeva?
Jared: My name is Jared Katz and I am currently a Director of Strategy for the Vault Development Cloud, though I started my career at Veeva as a Services Engagement for Vault Clinical. I grew up in the Northeast but always liked to try to do things a bit differently than my peers, so I went from my home town in New Jersey to college in Nashville, TN. At the time, I was pre-Med and followed this path all the way through the MCATs. As I felt the momentum down this path, I realized that if I wasn’t fully committed, it might be tough to jump off. I was in search of something bigger than myself, something with a mission.
Being the non-conformist, I made another bold move and landed in Madison, WI at the campus of Epic, well-known company in the healthcare industry. This put me squarely in a role where I could make money, establish the footings of my professional career, and make a larger mission-oriented contribution while taking advantage of my education. It also spoke to my passion for building things and technology.
I like things to be a bit messy and uncharted. I started in my previous company as a consultant in the clinical area working with nurses and doctors. Then, with no prior experience, my boss offered me a unique opportunity to work with the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration. I became the key person in this area. It was particularly challenging because the company was set in their ways according to their process and procedures, but the Federal Government had a very different way of doing things. Effectively, I picked up directly where the sales person left off and figured out how to deliver the product based on the unique requirements of the federal government, and architected the roadmap of how it would all work and be rolled out.
To understand my transition to Veeva, you have to know a bit about my previous employer. It was a Disneyesque, Oz-like company with a huge, all-encompassing work-live environment in Madison, WI. Most employees are under age 30. At the seven-year mark, I had to really decide if I was there for life or if I should pull back the curtains and see what else was out there. As the Government work slowed down, a chance LinkedIn message from an old high school friend appeared. As I was specifically looking to broaden my horizons beyond healthcare, a life sciences tech company seemed like a great fit. I could apply related experience from healthcare, but also be challenged to learn. I took the interview for a consulting role just out of curiosity. I was honest with the interviewer that I wasn’t sure about consulting, as my career focus had been geared towards pre-sales work, but I was really interested in the company. He surprised me then, by pitching a different role, in Services Engagement which was a perfect fit.
It didn’t take much more for me to realize Veeva was the right place to start the next phase of my career.
Prior to my current role, I was a Services Engagement Manager in the Professional Services team which exposed me to the entire post sales process and a deep understanding of the customers’ critical business drivers. I recently moved to the Strategy Team. I am now looking across the spectrum globally to see how we can optimally architect entire customer solutions. Customer needs have evolved and so has Veeva — from offering point solutions to a fully integrated suite of products and services. Veeva and its customers have invested in a platform and in my role, I am tasked to help them get the most out of it.
What’s unique about the work environment and culture at Veeva?
Jared: It was a huge mental leap to go from my previous company to Veeva. The former company had a culture of doing good, having fun, and making money. To some extent these all hold true at Veeva as well. However, the real difference is being treated like an adult. The flexibility afforded to employees at Veeva and the trust to do the right thing was hard to even comprehend at first. The “work anywhere” opportunity was also a huge shock. I came from a culture that needed to see people at their desks. To some extent that’s still important to me and my safety net is the local, San Francisco office.
To really appreciate the opportunity at Veeva, you have to step back and look at Life Sciences vs. other industries. In the last 10–15 years, Health Care enjoyed many innovations, but to some extent that market is saturated technology-wise. Veeva is uniquely tied to Life Sciences and addressing many unmet needs as the only life sciences platform providing true end-to-end solutions.
As such, the most enticing thing at Veeva is growth. While many other industries are trying to do the same thing over and over again and focused on just one problem, Veeva has the entire portfolio of industry challenges and problems to fix. Veeva is building the “operating system” for an industry that saves lives. I am betting my career on Veeva’s growth and so far, Veeva’s growth keeps opening new doors for me.
What is unique about Veeva’s Leadership?
Jared: Veeva also has a good business plan and really smart leaders. It’s not about the next deal that comes along, it’s about planting the seeds for ten years and beyond. This inspires confidence. I also appreciate that leaders aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. It’s not a crazy hierarchy; you can talk to anyone about anything. Senior leaders get involved in problems both big and small. In short, it’s servient leadership across the board with everyone trying to make things good for their team.
What’s also very important at Veeva is the way that each and every employee is valued and given space to enjoy all dimensions of life. As a member of the LGBTQ community, I take a lot of value in the fact that Veeva encourages diversity and being true to oneself in the workplace. Veeva’s culture puts Diversity and Inclusion initiatives at the forefront, giving all to a community at work that allows Veevans to discuss issues, challenges, access support mechanisms and promote awareness
What do you think about Work Anywhere?
Jared: Veeva’s remote-first policy allowed me to move to San Francisco, affording me the chance to live in a city surrounded by some of the most beautiful natural scenery, but is also able to satisfy my draw to world-class restaurants and fantastic wines. My ultimate place of comfort is in the kitchen, and you can often find me and my husband testing our culinary skills on any given Friday or Saturday night. Outside of just all the amazing food and wine, the Bay Area allows me to pursue all of my personal interests year-round– skiing, beaches, tennis, and biking to name a few.
How will Veeva help you grow?
Jared: Veeva endorses a philosophy of “operating within your own lane” — where no one is micromanaging you. At first, I was nervous about what appeared to be a lack of structure, particularly as it related to career growth. When I first listened to the recruiting pitch, I saw a lot of white space. But now I see that as the company grows, so do the opportunities. The white space at Veeva is actually an opportunity. In the end, I fell back to one of my strongest personal qualities, operating in the gray! At Veeva, if you can’t operate like that you will have a harder time getting along and succeeding. Another way of looking at it is writing your own Playbook. Many say they want to do this, but few really mean it. It requires taking on sticky situations and connecting the dots. Within my first seven months at Veeva, after spending months architecting a huge project, I went on-site to work with a large customer for a big kick off meeting and it went very well. That’s when things came together, and I knew that my work had direct impacts on program success and future opportunities. I soon realized that the reward for the hard work is more (happy) customers coming back to the well again and again! After all, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it
What would you say to someone who was thinking of working here?
Jared: Veeva is a place that is not just taking what is there and creating its own versions, but rather it’s trying to create entirely new things, new ways of thinking, doing things from scratch. If you are someone that wants to operate in that environment and loves to create a foundationally new way of doing things — Veeva is a great place for you.
Creating something fundamentally new and unique is hard work. As the saying goes, if it were easy everybody would be doing it. However, the people you work with get you through the tough days. There’s an incredible team dynamic — we are all in it together. We approach challenges together considering them “collective problems” where everyone is accountable.
