Health Power for Minorities

Health Power Corporate Advisors

Michael L. Weamer, CAE, Executive Vice President of the American Heart Association - Founders Affiliate (Northeast Region). The Founders Affiliate is a $100 million + organization dedicated to reducing death and disability from cardiovascular disease and stroke in the Northeastern United States. Prior to joining AHA, Mr. Weamer was Executive Director of the National Society to Prevent Blindness, and Executive Director of the National Easter Seal Society, administering rehabilitation centers that provided physical, speech and occupational therapy for physically disabled children and adults as well as pre-school education programs.

Michael Weamer is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Journalism and Broadcasting. Michael served as a member of the Board of Directors and was Chairman of the New York Society of Association Executives. He is a recipient of the Outstanding Association Executive Award of the New York Society of Association Executives.

Prior to joining Lifescan, Cheryl Pegus was National Medical Director for Clinical Program Development, Sales and Marketing of Aetna, Inc. prior to which she was the company's National Medical Director for Women's Health. A board-certified physician with subspecialty training in cardiology, she has extensive knowledge and expertise in the areas of women's health, disease management program development, and clinical care for underserved and geriatric populations. She is on the Board of Directors of the Aetna Foundation and a member of the Dean's Circle at Cornell University Medical College. Other leadership positions held include member of the Council on Concerns of Women Physicians of the National Medical Association, founding Board member of the National Business Group on Health's Institute on Obesity, and a member of the Corporate Advisory Council for the Society of Women's Health Research.

Dr. Pegus earned her M.D. degree from Cornell University Medical College, and her MPH degree from Columbia University School of Public Health.

Steven LaMonte, Vice President,
Global Innovation, Johnson & Johnson Group of Consumer Companies

Before assuming his current position, Steven LaMonte was Vice President, Integrated Growth Solutions and Northern Latin America, Pfizer Consumer Health Care, the over-the-counter component of Pfizer, which is the world's largest research based pharmaceutical company. His portfolio at Pfizer Consumer Health Care included such well known products as Benadryl, Listerine, Listerine Pocket Paks, Neosporin, Rolaids, Sudafed, Visine and Zantac, and a broad range of animal health products.

Prior to joining Pfizer, Mr. LaMonte was Vice President and General Manager of Colgate Palmolive’s US Personal Care Business. Prior to Colgate he played a key leadership role as Senior Vice President in building Schering Plough Healthcare Products, US OTC and Personal Care franchises, managing this $1.3 billion consumer products division. In that capacity, he managed the Footcare(Dr. Scholl’s, Lotrimin, and Tinactin), Suncare (Coppertone and Bain de Soleil), and OTC (Claritin, Afrin, Coricidin, A&D lotion, and Drixoral) business units. Other prior positions held include Director of Marketing, Nestle Foods Corporation, and Senior Marketing Manager at both Nescafe Coffee and Progresso Quality Foods.

Past outside affiliations held included Board memberships at: Consumer HealthCare Products Association, and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Sun Safety Alliance; also Advisory Board member, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Advance Team; and Member of Management Committee, Association on National Advertisers.

Mr. LaMonte earned his BS degree in Marketing Summa Cum Laude from Manhattan College in New York City.

Phyllis A. Anderson, M.S.
Co-Founder and Administrative Associate of Health Power; Co-Founder and Vice President of AMRON, Inc.; and former science educator.

Phyllis Anderson has had a rich professional career in science education. From 1962 until 2000, she was on the science faculty of Howard B. Mattlin Middle School in Nassau County, Long Island, NY. During a sabbatical, she conducted an in-depth study of middle schools in the mid-Atlantic and midwestern regions of the U.S., resulting in a variety of recommendations for the Plainview-Old Bethpage School District. Prior to joining Mattlin's faculty, she was Chairperson of the combined Science and Mathematics Departments of a countywide (Fauqiuer, VA) secondary school system. Of special note, while teaching full time, Ms. Anderson played a key role as Co-Founder, along with her sister, Norma J. Goodwin, M.D. and her mother, Helen J. Goodwin, Ph.D., of two corporations: AMRON Management Consultants (AMRON), a consulting firm specializing in , health, and Health Watch, a non-profit organization committed to multicultural health improvement.

Ms. Anderson earned her B.S. degree in Biology from Virginia State University, and her Master's degree in Education from Long Island University.