Frank Maione: An appreciation
NEW YORK —An industry titan soon will exit the stage. But those who have known Frank Maione over his long career with Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Warner-Lambert fully expect to see him backstage in the years to come. And, truth be told, it’s inevitable that this seasoned, highly respected leader will continue in some capacity to counsel the vendors who follow in his wake and the retailers who relish his perspective.
Maione is retiring on Nov. 5 as chief customer officer at J&J—a position he created as head of the company’s U.S. sales operations—after a 34-year sales career that defined the modern era of consumer product marketing. His career tracked the evolution of the supplier-retailer relationship from the negotiating table and intuitive merchandising years to today’s data-driven, analytical approach to the store shelf.
“Frank is a leader that believes ‘if you treat people like you want to be treated, they will be there for you.’ This meant you get their respect and truly motivated, dedicated team players. Frank is a good listener that always tried to work out win-win solutions. He also has a unique ability to remember people’s birth dates and the names of their children and spouses—just really good remembering personal data points that are important to those he meets.”—Bob Goode, Johnson & Johnson
In the process, Maione has become one of the industry’s highest-profile sales executives—and a tireless advocate for retailer-supplier cooperation. “We are very fortunate to have had him engaged with NACDS throughout most of his career,” said Jim Whitman, SVP member programs and services for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.
“When I think of Frank, he was one of those guys who was at every drug store function, and one of the pillars of the drug store industry as I was coming up through my career. If he wasn’t actually leading the charge, he was certainly in that small group that was always at the center of everything at [the National Association of Chain Drug Stores] or any drug store industry function—Frank, Peter Thompson, Vic Mazzacone, Harvey Alstodt.
Frank always had time to say ‘hi’ and chat about the business. But the unique attribute for Frank was that he always took a personal interest in people, asking after their families, for example. He was never the flashiest or most flamboyant, but a day-in-day-out solid citizen for the drug store industry.”—Bryan Shirtliff, Rite Aid
At NACDS, Maione has served on the Retail Advisory Board and the Associate Member Advisory Board, and also has co-chaired major NACDS meetings. “Because of the depth of his knowledge and experience, he…was able to learn from a generation of people before him, and take the best of their leadership and qualities and bring them into today,” Whitman said. “And he used that to further the interests of J&J, NACDS and the industry. Hopefully, he’ll be in the industry somehow as he moves into new roles, and hopefully NACDS will be a part of his endeavor.”
For his part, Maione admitted with a laugh, “From a planning perspective, I don’t even know where I want to go right now.” However, he told Drug Store News that he would attend upcoming NACDS events in late 2010 and 2011. “I’m retiring from J&J, but I’m not retiring from the industry,” he stressed. “I plan both to stay very connected to the industry, associations, retailers and all the friends that I have, and at some point in 2011, get into something that’s appropriate for the direction I want to go.”
“Frank is one of the true gentlemen in the industry. He is a very astute businessman and has the ability to make everyone feel [his or her] opinion is valued. Having worked with him for several years, I found him to be a great listener, a man of action and, most importantly, a man of his word. Whatever the next phase of his career brings, he will bring respect, admiration and excellence to his work.”—Chuck Fehlig, Blue Ocean
Beginning in 1976 as a sales rep at Warner-Lambert for such brands as Listerine, Maione forged a success story that culminated with his appointment as head of sales for both Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and J&J. Under his leadership, Pfizer was the top-ranked sales organization in both 2005 and 2006, and was named vendor of the year for one or more product categories by a slew of major accounts, including Target, Walmart, CVS, Duane Reade, McKesson and Cardinal Health. “That was positive reinforcement that we got it,” Maione said. “We made a difference by being a customer-centric-minded organization,…and our business rocked so much that we drew a lot of attention to ourselves.”
“Frank Maione is one of those rare individuals that is great at building business and personal relationships. Frank and I have worked together for years, and some of our most important meetings took place at the NACDS annual meeting. We would meet and discuss business-building ideas, but the most important discussion was always centered around the spouses’ luncheon.
Frank and I both knew that we could talk business anytime, but it was more important to make sure all of the spouses were taken care of at the meeting. Speaking for my wife, Linda, it was always a highlight of her meeting agenda. Thanks, Frank, for your leadership, friendship and, more importantly, [for] keeping all of our spouses happy!”—Dave Van Howe, Market Performance Group
Behind the success of his sales team, Maione added, were “great people who knew their business, knew the industry and got up every day to run hard at creating mutual wins for us, the manufacturer and the retailers we were in partnership with.”
“Frank has always been a friend of CVS, and we are going to miss him. My fondest memories with Frank date back to his Pfizer days, when business was less complex and we were able to do great things to drive mutual sales. We had great collaboration, great planning and great results under Frank’s leadership. We can thank Frank and his team for many big wins at CVS over the years. While this chapter may be ending, I can’t wait to see the next chapter and hope that CVS can be a part of anything that Frank does in the future!”—Mike Bloom, CVS Caremark
“I have had the great fortune of associating with Frank as a colleague, a friend, a member of his team and as a neighbor. In each case, I was the better for it. He is a man of incredible character and high integrity that consistently delivered positive impact on the business and people wherever he was.”—Ken DeBeane, SmartCare
In addition, Maione said, “We had objectives that were aligned with what the retailer needed. When you had a room full of people in sales, marketing, finance, operations and [research and development], and everyone understood what a customer-centric mindset was, the conversation was so easy, and the outcomes were phenomenal. And the breakthroughs we had in product innovations at Pfizer were second to none.”
The rise of the mega-retailers, Maione said, has changed the way buyers and sellers interact and negotiate terms, prices and support strategies. “There are some basic principles that have never changed, like having a product that somebody else wants or needs on the other end. But the manner in which we engage today, based on the big mega-retailers, requires sophistication and teams of people and representatives,” he asserted. “And yet, at the end of the day, the bottom line is still about communication, and understanding what your retailer needs and what their customer wants or needs out of them.”
“Frank Maione is widely recognized as a successful b