March 22, 2023
Diana Sierra
Vice President, Contract Pharmacy Partnership Operations
Managing relationships with retail and specialty pharmacies under contract with covered entities is a challenging business these days, what with the ever-rising number of restrictions manufacturers are placing on sales of 340B drugs. For more than a decade, Diana Sierra has been at the center of those relationships with Sentry Data Systems, now The Craneware Group.
“Yesterday I led two customer calls and had the opportunity to chat with a contract pharmacy about their experience working with us,” she said. “I was able to meet with most of my team members at least once, devoted time to reviewing performance reports, collaborated with other departments via email, and held impromptu meetings with several colleagues. I led a call with another third-party administrator to streamline a customer integration.
“This is a typical day sprinkled with a few fires during the month to keep it interesting.”
Sierra is Vice President of Contract Pharmacy Partnership Operations for The Craneware Group. It’s a role she describes as “a support role for both customers and pharmacy partners on matters related to optimizing Sentrex,” our 340B contract pharmacy management platform.
Sierra first joined Sentry in 2010, lured by its best-in-class reputation among 340B software vendors, having previously worked for a competitor. In her first year on the job, the company signed more than 500 contract pharmacies, she said.
Over the years, she worked her way up the ranks of the contract pharmacy operations to her current position. She cherishes the relationships she’s made with customers and pharmacy partners.
“The most important and favorite part of my job is getting on a call with a customer and being able to guide them to a successful outcome or feeling of satisfaction. That’s enough for me,” she said.
“Also, the relationships I have with my customers. I’ve always had a relationship with the pharmacies, but I had very close relationships that I developed early on with some long-term customers that we still have today.”
Sierra was born and raised in The Bronx, New York. Her parents hail from Puerto Rico. She holds a master’s degrees in public health with a focus in maternal and child health from Columbia University and a bachelor’s in biology from Cornell.
Before she worked in 340B, Sierra worked in community nonprofits in New York City and Miami and for the Puerto Rico Department of Health.
“My early career choices were all centered on service and serving others in a direct customer service role or in service to the community,” she said. “My previous career as a public health professional in maternal and child health prepared me for a career in 340B, where patients come first and priorities center around care for the indigent and underserved.”
Outside of work, Sierra has a love of theater and travels regularly to New York to see Broadway shows — her favorites include “Wicked,” which she’s seen eight times in various cities, “Phantom of the Opera,” “American Buffalo,” and “The Music Man.” She counts the late former Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a role model and says the three words that best describe her are loyal, tenacious and resilient.
If she could have any superpower, it would be the power to heal. And if she weren’t working in 340B? She’d be a clinical psychologist — which is fitting considering her outlook on customer service.
“One of the things that I really focus on with my customers and my pharmacy partners is making sure that when we hang up the phone and our conversation is done, they’re feeling good about that conversation that they had with us,” Sierra said. “Whether it was about an issue, or challenge or something positive, what matters is how people feel when you walk away. Because that’s what people will remember most.”