Melissa Leichter

Vice President, Commercial Lead, Rare Disease at Novo Nordisk

Speaker

Melissa Leichter is a senior commercial executive with 25+ years of experience developing and leading highly efficient, people-centric organizations in the healthcare industry. Her career is deeply rooted in biotechnology—with expertise in rare diseases—combined with a background with mid- to large-sized pharmaceutical companies.

As VP/Commercial Lead, Rare Disease for Novo Nordisk Inc. (NNI), Melissa brought together teams from across the enterprise to achieve an ambitious goal—to exceed $1B in annual revenue. By merging big-picture vision with hands-on commercial leadership, she reached the objective in less than 12 months. In earlier roles with NNI, she led product launches, staved off competitors, and brought new energy to mature brands.

Before joining NNI, Melissa fueled growth across therapeutic areas for Johnson & Johnson (now Janssen), where she earned many awards while progressing through a series of positions in sales, training, product management, and brand innovation. Melissa holds a BA in Business and Economics from the University of Pittsburgh.