White House Business Council and Business Forward Gain Insight from Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy

Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy CEO Phil Hagerman was recently invited to participate in a forum on fostering greater opportunity, innovation, and job creation in today’s economy.

Job creation was the focus of a recent business meeting at the White House Business Council with Business Forward earlier this month, and Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy CEO Phil Hagerman was among the business leaders briefing the President’s economic advisors about what the government needs to do to stimulate the economy.

As the nation’s 4th largest specialty pharmacy, Diplomat employs over 700 people—and the company is expected to add about 100 new jobs before the end of the year. “Diplomat’s continued growth has positioned us to be part of the Michigan delegation,” Hagerman, said in a press release.

Hagerman cites government tax incentives as the driving force for being able to create more jobs. “I explained that I had to find the right people here, so we could continue to do business in Michigan,” Hagerman told tctimes.com. He used tax incentives to open Diplomat University, a 2-week workforce training program that readies new hires for the specialty pharmacy field. Diplomat also trains other companies off-site in setting up specialty pharmacy programs.

When asked about Diplomat University in an ABC 12 video, Hagerman said, “I had a chance to talk to the White House Business Council and suggest that they create that kind of funding for companies and help give them the structure to build the kind of educational treatment programs that we have at Diplomat. It’s really moved the needle for us.”

Hagerman said learning of the “VOW to Hire Heroes Act”—legislation that would lower the rate of unemployment among our nation’s veterans—was one of the most important takeaways of the meeting. He told tctimes.com, “This meeting helped me understand I need to be aggressive in the process of hiring. Hiring veterans makes sense because of the value of their military training and their work ethic.”

Phil Hagerman is a Specialty Pharmacy Times Editorial Board member.

The series of roundtables and briefings through Business Forward brought together over 2000 business leaders from 500 cities to share best practices and help the government bring business leaders from the private sector into the policymaking process.

Watch the video below to see Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy CEO Phil Hagerman’s reaction to the forum.