Joseph Cerro is an Executive Technologist with nearly twenty years of experience in applying technology to solve scientific and business challenges. He is the President and Founder of The Schooner Group, LLC, a consultancy with practices in high-end informatics and data analytics, organizational design and leadership, and life sciences product development. In addition to health care, the firm has attracted clients in other industries, such as professional sports and entertainment, where data analytics are critical to competitive success.
Prior to founding The Schooner Group, Mr. Cerro contributed to the development of Bayer's High-Tech Platform for nearly a decade. As Head of Informatics at Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corporation, he was responsible for striking the proper balance among business, scientific, and information technology demands in order to discover innovative drugs as efficiently as possible. To this end, Mr. Cerro led or participated in due diligence studies of science and technology projects worth over US$2 billion, while helping to steer internal and external projects in the fields of functional genomics, pharmaco/toxico-genomics, proteomics, and systems biology. Mr. Cerro also served on Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corporation's Management Commitee for Information Systems, where he played a key role in developing industry-leading approaches to IT management and governance.
In recognition of his contributions as a Pharma industry thought leader, Mr. Cerro was named as a recipient of the 2005 Albert Einstein Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Life Sciences by the State of Israel and Global Capital Associates.
More recently, Mr. Cerro was elected to serve as the Executive Vice President of the Yale Science & Engineering Association, a group that has been promoting university engineering and science programs since 1914.
Mr. Cerro is one of the founding members of the Boston Technology Leadership Council, a forum for Chief Technology Officers from a range of industries to explore practical issues in technology and business management. In addition, he serves on the Life Sciences Advisory Board of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, an organization that "is dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship and promoting the success of companies that develop and deploy technology across industry sectors."
He is also a member of the Global Leadership Council of the Michael Nobel / Harriet Fulbright Institute of Business Technology Management, an international think tank focused on improving the strategic management of technology in the global economy.
Mr. Cerro earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry from Yale University, and he holds two Masters degrees from Columbia University.
