Joseph Cerro

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 of Bayer's High-Tech Platform as a scientist and technologist for nearly a decade. As Head of Informatics, 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, he 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.

As a member of Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corporation’s Executive Committee for IT governance from 2000 to 2005, and as the chair of its Research IT Committee, Mr. Cerro was responsible for developing and leading the company’s drug discovery IT strategy, and he is a highly sought-after public speaker on the subject of business and IT alignment.

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.

In addition to his corporate roles, Mr. Cerro is active in several professional groups and service organizations. 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, and he represents the Yale School of Engineering and other scientific areas as an Alumni Delegate at university events.

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.