Whatever you think can’t be done in our industry, Real Chemistry Can.

Throughout his career—one that spans the likes of McKinsey & Company and Cognizant—Shankar has held a singular belief that the pursuit of making a real impact should guide each and every action, for companies and individuals alike.   Taking the CEO reins from Jim Weiss in January 2022, Shankar brings that same belief to Real Chemistry along with a personally-powered and professionally-driven mission of transforming healthcare from what it is, into what it should be.

Over his 25 years of experience , Shankar has been squarely seated at the intersection of technology, healthcare, and digital transformation, with a strong track record of leading innovation across the life sciences industry. His big picture, growth-minded experience is the driver behind Real Chemistry’s focus on being a tier one commercialization partner to the health care industry.  

Prior to joining Real Chemistry, Shankar held senior executive roles at Equian, Cognizant, and McKinsey & Company. As Chief Operating Officer of Equian, he played a pivotal role in growing the company and in integrating nine companies, helping to position the firm for its successful acquisition by Optum, a UnitedHealth Group company. At Cognizant, he led the Life Sciences business unit, driving significant growth and transformation; and during his time at McKinsey, he advised some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies on strategy, large-scale mergers, and transformation initiatives.

In 2024 and 2025, Shankar was named to the PRWeek Power List—and under his leadership, Real Chemistry was named Healthcare Network of the Year by Medical Marketing & Media (MM+M) in 2025.

Guided by a deep commitment to impact and equity, Shankar is a longtime supporter of non-profits focused on education and maternal and child health in India, including Pratham, which aims to improve literacy and numeracy among underprivileged children; the Akanksha Foundation, which delivers quality education to underserved communities; and, The Antara Foundation, which strengthens rural health systems to improve maternal and child outcomes. 

Shankar lives in the Boston area with his wife and two children. He’s infinitely curious, an avid reader and pun enthusiast. Outside the office, you might find him drumming with the RC band, on the golf course, or watching football (the global kind). 

As a founding partner and head of the Integrated Communications practice, Jennifer has spent nearly two decades building Real Chemistry to meet the dynamic and evolving needs of the healthcare industry, serving as a trusted business advisor on the most significant pharmaceutical launches, campaigns, acquisitions, crises, and innovations of the last 30 years.

Jennifer brings a patient-first mindset to everything she does, leveraging Al and innovative technologies to deliver real-time insights and unprecedented reach across the entire healthcare ecosystem, from pharma and biotech to digital health and diagnostics.

She serves on the Real Chemistry Board of Directors and is a board member of the Ad Council, the Institute for Public Relations, and the Center for Public Relations at USC’s Annenberg School of Communications. She is also a member of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association, New York Women in Communications, and the Women Business Leaders of the US Health Care Industry Foundation.

Jennifer’s career trajectory has been more about climbing the rock wall than the ladder, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She’s always gravitated toward invigorating and challenging roles to gain new experiences and to provide value where she’s needed most. Whether driven by her team, clients, company, or her commitment to transform healthcare from what it is to what it should be, she rolls up her sleeves every day to ensure the work we put into the world has impact and creates meaningful change.

Outside the office, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, beach getaways near and far, binge-watching the latest shows, cheering on the NY Rangers, a nice long walk on a beautiful day, and a relaxing weekend cozying up with her Maltipoo, Jessie.

Over the past 25 years, the driving force behind Suzanne’s work has been her unwavering belief that medical communications have a fundamental role in improving patient care.

As a leader at Real Chemistry, her mission is to ensure that the work we produce has a meaningful impact across the healthcare ecosystem. She won’t stop reimagining progress until we have global reach and greater access to medicines for all.

Her career spans both client and agency sides, giving her a unique perspective on how to craft programs that resonate with patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations alike. And her ability to connect people across industries and networks is one of her superpowers.

She’s definitely not the sit at-home type. She’d much rather be talking to clients and their key audiences face-to-face than stuck in a spreadsheet. She is an entrepreneur—as one of the founders of ISO, which was later acquired by Real Chemistry—with a strong Scottish heritage who believes that with a “work hard, play hard” motto great things can happen.

She’s a connector at heart, always bringing people together across industries and networks. At Real Chemistry, she brings together disciplines ranging from promotional education, medical affairs, publications, and scientific visualization across both US and global markets.

Under her leadership, the team continuously looks to push the boundaries and bring the latest innovations—from insights gathering, to imagery, to clients. And she has pioneered the use of artificial intelligence, from Al-simulated HCP personas and predictive analytics to interactive training tools and generative content—delivering smarter, faster, and more impactful solutions.

Just don’t ask her to wake up too early. Living on Oxford’s campus means she not only gets to mingle with scientists on the brink of discovery, but also gets to enjoy working US hours on a UK timeline. 

Kevin is an expert at integrating all our offerings and solutions together to deliver results for our clients, leveraging analytics to build the perfect team, and leading our commercial solutions, from creative and marketing to market access, precision media, integrated analytics and omnichannel offerings. He has been a driving force behind Real Chemistry’s evolution into a Tier-One commercialization partner and global leader in Al-powered marketing, medical communications, and precision media.

That rotating cube on the homepage that demonstrates how we’ve perfected the art of integrating teams to solve client problems… well, it’s in large part due to Kevin’s leadership. In his day-to-day, he works closely with account leaders to ensure we show up for clients in a truly integrated way that leverages all our services, capabilities, solutions and technology in the right moments, with the right mix of people. Under his leadership, Real Chemistry has expanded its expertise to help clients accelerate their scientific innovation and realize their full commercial potential.

Throughout his career, Kevin has pioneered data-driven, technology-enabled approaches that help life sciences and healthcare organizations better understand, reach, and connect with patients, communities and healthcare professionals. An entrepreneur at heart, in 2008 Kevin founded Marketeching, one of the earliest research and analytics firms to harness social and digital data for healthcare insights. Following its acquisition by W2O Group (now Real Chemistry) in 2016, Kevin scaled his entrepreneurial success into enterprise leadership where he has been instrumental in integrating more than 10 acquisitions and unifying Real Chemistry’s diverse capabilities into a cohesive, AI-enabled healthcare offering.

Recognized by MM+M’s “40 Under 40” early in his career, he continues to shape the future of healthcare marketing by combining entrepreneurial vision, operational excellence, and client-focused innovation.

Beyond his professional achievements, Kevin and his wife are deeply involved in NICU advocacy, which was inspired by their three children who were all born prematurely. Together, they have sponsored programs to install live-streaming cameras in NICUs; funded the construction of an overnight hospital suite for parents of critically ill newborns; and serve on the board of a nonprofit supporting families navigating the NICU journey.

Kevin lives in Bucks County, PA with his wife, three children, two family pigs, and a growing collection of rare succulents. 

Frank is not only Real Chemistry’s CCO and one of the founders of 21GRAMS (which became a part of Real Chemistry in 2020), but one of the most awarded and effective leaders in health. Too impatient to wait for the change he believed was necessary for brands, clients, and their audiences to reach their full potential, he removed the word can’t from his vocabulary. Instead, he sought to create the kind of work that can make medicine feel as inspiring as sneakers.



Frank has built a career defying what people think is possible with “pharma” client work. Under his leadership to “do work that will make people proud of our industry,” 21GRAMS has been ranked a Top 5 Most Creative Health Agency in the World by Cannes almost every year since its inception. And it’s all while continuing to build a body of work that has had an undeniable influence on what’s possible in a highly regulated industry. His teams are consistently proving that creativity can do so much more than win trophies (like actually help people).

In addition to being CCO of Real Chemistry, co-leading 21GRAMS as Managing Founder, and serving on several international creative juries (none of them for crimes), he holds equally important roles as a son, father, husband, and hair stylist (after getting a terrible haircut when he was 12, he’s never been back to a barber). All of this without owning a single fedora, indoor scarf or all black outfit. Some creatives really can beat the odds.

Known for her clarity and ability to see around corners, Madeline excels at diagnosing challenges and designing solutions that help teams navigate critical inflection points. She partners with our CEO Shankar and our executive leadership team to drive alignment, shape priorities, and unlock new value for our clients—and constantly ask our teams what’s next. Her leadership style centers on listening, trust-building, and empowering high-performing teams to see past “innovation” as a buzzword but rather an impetus to challenge the industry to transform in tangible ways that benefit our clients and the people they serve.

With more than two decades in healthcare communications, Madeline has built some of the agency’s largest partnerships while delivering exceptional growth and launching new franchises across commercial, medical, and data/ Al disciplines.

Before joining Real Chemistry, she led her own consultancy and held senior roles at Allos Therapeutics, Sanofi, and Bristol-Myers Squibb leading external and internal communication strategy and teams. She’s been a trusted advisor to her business partners and clients during complex industry launches, acquisitions, and reputation-shaping moments across oncology, dermatology, endocrinology, CNS, and rare diseases.

When she’s not solving problems or staying ahead of the ever-changing healthcare landscape, Madeline mentors emerging leaders and recharges with family and nature. Fun fact: she still remembers TV commercial jingles from decades ago and can sing them on demand. There’s no doubt we’re lucky to have her leadership (and singing abilities) in our corner. 

Real Chemistry and our subsidiaries take Michael’s legal expertise seriously and hereto would like to inform you that his CV is quite extensive, even though it all started with a Larry David moment as a legal intern who was mistaken for a client. Michael brings his legal expertise and a sense of humor to the company as our Chief Legal Officer.

Together with his team, his goal is to ensure that every policy and process we follow exceeds expectation, follows the rules, and meets the ever-changing legal and proprietary needs of our client’s businesses. And that we do so both consistently and efficiently each and every day. 

Michael has built a successful and rewarding career being a better business leader than most lawyers and being a better lawyer than most business leaders. He firmly believes that business success is a long-term game, where doing the right thing pays off, teams win together, and nice guys can finish first—it’s no wonder he fits right in with our ethos and desire to transform healthcare from what it is to what it should be. 

Jeff is not your typical financial executive-he’s a dynamic force in corporate finance and a seasoned financial executive with deep expertise in mergers and acquisitions and business transformation. His career spans senior leadership roles at both Interpublic Group and Omnicom, where he served as Global CFO for their media, e-commerce and public relations divisions, managing revenues exceeding $1.6 billion annually.

He has successfully spearheaded numerous M&A and private equity transactions, both in the U.S. and internationally, and has led initiatives that significantly improved profit margins, financial system conversions, and large-scale business transformations.

In addition to his corporate roles, Jeff serves as the Treasurer on the Board of Directors of the American Marketing Association (AMA), where he contributes to advancing the organization’s financial strategy and operations. His versatility to shift from M&A to AMA is what sets him apart—and he brings that prowess to our business and our clients. 

Natalie is a leader with proven experience across multiple Human Resources functions, specifically in the areas of executive counsel, complex talent management challenges and talent acquisition. She’s a trusted partner to senior leaders in the development and execution of HR initiatives supporting organizational strategies. Her ability to anticipate challenges and proactively deliver solutions is what sets her apart.

Before joining Real Chemistry, Natalie spent many years in account management, working on brands like McDonald’s, Discover Card, and Aveeno. She made the career transition to HR by going back to school for training and greatly appreciates the opportunity to make a career pivot. As a former account person, she brings a unique set of skills and empathy to her role, by truly understanding the business, people dynamics, and how to connect employees with opportunities that not only drive the business but their careers forward.

When she’s not working with talent or cheering on the Cubs, Natalie is making creative floral arrangements for family and friends. 

Robin Tolla leads global HR strategy and operations to support the company’s growth, culture, and commitment to innovation. With more than two decades of experience driving enterprise transformation, workforce planning, and leadership development, Robin brings deep expertise in aligning people strategy with business performance in dynamic, fast-paced environments.

Since joining Real Chemistry in 2021, Robin has helped shape a modern HR function capable of scaling with the organization. She most recently served as Global Head of HR before being appointed co-Chief People Officer in 2023. In her current role, Robin oversees a broad portfolio of people functions-from talent acquisition and employee engagement to organizational design and DE&l-ensuring that Real Chemistry’s talent practices support both individual development and enterprise success.

Prior to Real Chemistry, Robin served as a strategic HR business partner at Cigna and held multiple senior leadership roles at AXA XL, including Vice President of Human Resources supporting their Chief Operating Officer. In these roles, she led M&A transformation, organizational design efforts, guided culture and engagement strategies across global teams, and partnered with C-suite leaders to navigate large-scale integrations and business transformations-managing change across geographies, including the U.S., Europe, India, and the U.K.

Earlier in her career, Robin started in healthcare operations then began her HR career leading HR initiatives for Walgreens’ healthcare employer solutions and contributed to enterprise-wide transformation efforts, including leadership development and performance management redesign.

Robin is widely respected for her ability to lead with clarity, empathy, and a future-forward mindset. Outside of work, she enjoys mentoring future HR leaders, running, traveling, and spending time with her family in the New England area.