Michael Bonitati, a 2021 graduate of Watson's Master of Public Affairs (MPA) program, discovered that in addition to receiving an excellent education in the MPA program, Watson's culture of mentorship also has distinct advantages.
Bonitati found a job with CVS Health even before graduating from the program, thanks partly to Joshua Cambria, a 2016 MPA graduate. Cambria had reached out to the MPA's Associate Director of Professional Development and Alumni Engagement, Benjamin Chalot because he was looking to hire a network operations performance analytics manager at CVS. Chalot promptly circulated the job opportunity to MPA students he knew were interested in data analytics, including Bonitati.
Cambria said he has found Watson MPA students to be "great candidates for professional positions. They are able to write well and have a good understanding of statistics," he said.
He also sees advantages to the connection for the potential employee. "It can be hard to know if an employer is a good fit for you unless you have the added layer of a personal touch from someone who already works there," said Cambria. "I have no qualms about reaching out to Watson, where there are qualified candidates and Watson staff to connect me with them," he said. "That recruiting process benefits by lifting the interviewing veil and making it more accessible."
Once at CVS, Bonitati found Cambria to be an excellent manager. "He was the perfect blend of supporting me and allowing me to develop and explore on my own. He provided direction and enabled me to flourish and grow," said Bonitati.
Bonitati's time working directly with Cambria was short-lived. He was recently promoted to senior manager in brand contracting for CVS Health. Cambria can take some credit for that promotion. After he was approached about the open position by a colleague, Cambria immediately thought of Bonitati. "When his current manager reached out to me, I knew that Michael was ready for this opportunity. He's a talented coder and analyst," said Cambria, "though I knew I would be 'shooting myself in the foot' by losing him to another team."
"Joshua had asked me several times about my professional interests," said Bonitati, "Once he learned about the new opportunity, he thought I'd be a good fit for it, and he knew the manager…He supported me every step of the way, helped me grow in my position, and facilitated my promotion while knowing that he would have to backfill my position," he said.
Cambria is no stranger to how valuable connections made through the MPA program can be. Not only did Watson's connections help him land his first post-MPA position at Freedman Healthcare, but he has also been responsible for connecting no fewer than four MPA alumni — Macy Daly, a 2019 MPA program graduate, Pearson Potts and Gabriela Arredondo-Santisteban, both 2017 graduates, and Bonitati — with career positions.
"Mentorship is invaluable," said Bonitati, "especially in today's highly interconnected world. I wouldn't have had either of these opportunities without having earned my MPA at Watson. I can't stress enough the value of Joshua's mentoring and having the support of someone who had gone through the same MPA program that I did, which created a level of familiarity." He also noted that Cambria's deep knowledge of the relevant subject matter and ability to understand and address new challenges quickly helped him succeed in his own job.
In his position with CVS Health, Bonitati found business opportunities by streamlining processes for prescriptions rejected by insurance providers, reducing friction and roadblocks that prevent patients from getting their needed medications and serving as a one-stop shop providing data and business solutions to other teams. In his new role, Bonitati will work with pharmaceutical manufacturers to design programs that reduce co-pays and the cost of prescriptions and negotiate better rebates and discounts from manufacturers.
Nearly a decade after earning his MPA, Cambria still appreciates the positive impact that degree has had on his career. "My year at Watson was transformative. I graduated from an Italian university with an undergraduate degree in political science and Italian literature. My writing style was long, messy, and very European," he said. "At Watson, I learned how to write concisely." And, although he'd never been inclined to study quantitative data, Cambria said, "I fell in love with it. I learned advanced statistics and how to code in Python. I still use those skills today. The hard skills get you in the door, and the soft skills keep you there."
Watson's MPA's "data specialization was good for learning hard skills around coding, and policy analysis classes helped me break things down into their component pieces and put them back together, with a focus on engineering a solution or looking at a landscape and identifying opportunities or deficiencies," said Bonitati. Those skills, he added, are quite helpful in his work building persuasive presentations to CVS Health executives and negotiating with pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Working for market leader CVS Health appeals to Bonitati. "You know they're on the cutting edge of what's happening in their market sector, and my team supports other CVS Health teams," he said, "Whatever challenge or problem exists, there is a team here working to solve it."