Worcester Business Journal

32 Worcester Business Journal | August 22, 2022 | wbjournal.com Benjamin Barner, 36 Senior director pharmacy Fallon Health, in Worcester Residence: Walpole Birthplace: East Greenbush, N.Y. Colleges: University of Rhode Island, UMass Amherst In Becker's last year working at Worcester Polytechnic Institute as director of the Academic Resources Center, she logged support for 865 students and alumni over 1,184 appointments. She moved on to Wheaton College, where in more than a year she supported nearly 600 students and alumni. Becker's reputation for helping others achieve breakout success has led to students, peers, faculty, and alumni referring others to her. In 2018, she co- led the WPI Career Development Center to rank in all three of the 2018 Princeton Review's career cat- egory rankings. Currently, at Dell, she is focused on developing a career readiness curriculum for recent graduates and early career individuals. The program focuses on targeting students and graduates of historically Black colleges and universities, as well as community colleges. Becker ensures all students are served by career centers, and at WPI focused on making the career center comfortable for students with documented physical, learning, sensory, psychological, developmental, and other disabilities. She was recognized by the WPI Office of Accessi- bility Services with the access-friendly professor of the year award. - L.F. What four people would you take on a 10- year, deep-space mission? Mark Watney, the botanist in "The Martian", T.J. Lavin from MTV's "The Challenge", Garrett. That's it; as an introvert, I don't want too many people around. Best location in Central Mass.? Buffomville Lake in Charlton What destination do you hope to visit in the next 25 years? I want to visit all 50 states. I am currently at 36. 4 0 U N D E R F O R T Y Maggie Becker, 39 Senior advisor, sales training Dell Technologies, in Auburn Residence: Auburn Birthplace: New Haven, Conn. Colleges: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, The College of Saint Rose PHOTO/ERIKA SIDOR Since his first job as a pharmacy technician at 16, Barner has spent 20 years not only climbing the ranks, but consistently striving to break down barriers to pharmacy- related health care. Now, as senior director at Fallon, Barner's vision has fueled a string of initiatives which have helped make Fallon a leader in pharmaceutical benefits. Barner pushed hard for his organization to adopt the prescription savings program Rx Savings Solution, making Fallon the first health plan in Mass. to offer such a program to Medicare beneficiaries. In early 2022, he helped lead an effort to expand access to at-home COVID tests to Medicare members, one of the first initiatives of its kind in the country. In perhaps his most notable accomplishment, Barner oversaw the implementation of a new pharmacy benefits manager in 2022. The project was Fallon's largest vendor implementation project in 10 years, involved a team of 200, and stood to impact more than 200,000 members. Despite all odds, Barner completed the transition seamlessly and is now saving the company more than $80 million compared to the previous benefits contract. - K.H. What movie best encapsulates your personality? "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" – It's about a guy who works behind the scenes' at his job and is never in the limelight, but he always daydreams about being adventurous. He finally realizes how important it is to be more spontaneous and intrepid. What key to business success do most people not know? Sincere compassion in every aspect you can. When do you want to retire? I'd like to retire in 20 years and start working outside by the ocean, such as oyster farming or sailing. Photo shoot at construction site of the new Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester (special thanks to Sherri Pitcher and Fontaine Bros., Inc.)

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