Co-Founder and Managing Partner

As Co-Founder and Manager Partner at Imbue, Gretchen Hover is a trusted strategic partner and practitioner in patient-centricity, growth strategy, leading change, and building organizational capabilities for clients in the international Biopharma and Medical Technology markets. With a 25-year history of successfully partnering with clients, she uses effective frameworks to create behavior-based market segmentation and to define competitive positioning. Her expertise includes insight generation, designing strategies and solutions, crafting compelling narratives, and rolling out actionable adoption plans that deliver profitable, sustained growth for her clients.

As an expert facilitator, trainer, and speaker, Gretchen is uniquely qualified to design and implement learning programs with the highest impact, engagement levels and retention. Her track record includes collaborations with Alexion, Biogen, Hillrom, Pfizer, Sanofi Genzyme, Takeda, and WelchAllyn. Prior to founding Imbue Partners in 2009, Gretchen was an associate director and case team leader at The Monitor Group and a Senior Associate at Cambridge Technology Partners, both world-class consultancies with Global 2000 clients.

Gretchen is an active member of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio). She earned her BA from Loyola University in Maryland, attended Richmond College in London, and received her Master’s degree in Organization Development and Change from The Pennsylvania State University.

Life Sciences Consultant

Janet Chien is an innovator in pre-clinical, clinical, and commercial excellence with over 20 years of experience working with small to large international biopharma and medical device organizations. She has brought a number of products successfully through clinical trials into the commercial setting, including the first-of-its-kind digital 3D mammography technology.

Janet also has therapeutic experience in pulmonary, oncology (particularly solid tumor as well as lymphoma), cardiac interventions, neurologic diseases, and women’s health, as well as diagnostics and devices. Her expertise crosses traditional R&D silos; her work ranges from work with pre-clinical teams designing and managing animal studies to executing multi-center randomized Phase 1 – Phase IV clinical trials, real-world evidence trials and registries.

At Imbue Partners, Janet’s expansive work ranges from market sizing and strategy for commercial brand teams to patient engagement and community outreach in rare disease and ethnographic/immersion research. She also develops training programs in product launch, rare disease strategies, and professional skills development.

Along with Managing Partner Gretchen Hover, Janet authored the article, “Lessons from an Experiential Approach to Patient Community Engagement in Rare Disease,” published in Clinical Therapeutics, December 2020, which highlights learnings from their community outreach on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, in collaboration with Wave Life Sciences.

Janet holds a Master of Business Administration from Babson College in Wellesley, MA and a Bachelor of Science from the College of Engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

Operations Manager

Linda Altieri has served Imbue Partners as Operations Manager since joining the company in 2016, initially as an executive assistant before being promoted to her current role. She specializes in project analysis and financial operations—tracking project progress, managing accounts payable/receivable, and overseeing general office management. Linda joined Imbue following a career in marketing communications in the software industry.

Linda earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing from Westfield State University in Massachusetts.

Marketing and Branding Consultant

Tina Hartwell is a marketing and branding consultant with more than 20 years of leadership experience in strategy, process, and marketing. She creates solutions focused on customer-centricity, research, and strategic principals. Tina’s areas of expertise include process development, marketing operations, research, and program and project management.

At Imbue Partners, Tina develops programs ranging from global marketing excellence and process improvements to customer market definition and professional skill development training. She focuses on solving targeted issues using data and facts as well as analysis and innovation to provide the tools, resources, and experiences that our clients need to be successful.

Previously, Tina led Razorfish Digital Strategy in Boston, including the Branding, Customer Research, Strategic Partnerships, Business Strategy, and ROI teams.  She has also led digital innovations and marketing teams for technology product and service companies.

Tina holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire.

Strategic Communications Consultant

Liz Ryan Sax has more than 25 years of experience in external communications, employee engagement and reputation management for global technology and healthcare corporations.

Beginning her career in consumer public relations for the travel industry, Liz soon transitioned into the technology field, serving in corporate communications roles with global medical technology company Becton Dickinson and pharmaceutical software creator Dendrite International, now part of IQVIA. Before joining Imbue, she led worldwide communications for the Combat Mission Systems business within BAE Systems, an international aerospace and security company.

Liz earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola University in Maryland and a Master of Science in Health Communication from Boston University. She is also a graduate of the Lead New Jersey fellowship program.

Co-Founder and Strategic Advisor

Frank Hover is a recognized international sales and channels expert with more than 40 years of experience. He currently serves as a trusted strategic advisor to the Imbue Partners team, sharing proven tools and hands-on experience that enable sales leaders to reduce sales cycles, target the most productive markets and open new selling channels.

Frank’s successful track record as a sales leader in the pharmaceutical technology and information services sectors includes working with world-class firms such as Shire Pharmaceuticals, Sunovion and CCC. His extensive experience allows him to develop and hone the vision, competencies, and perspectives needed to deliver sales and channel expansion services that yield top-line results.