Daniel Mandoli was initiated as a national honorary brother of Delta Sigma Pi in January 2020 in St. Louis during the second Presidents’ Academy. Brother Mandoli received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan with majors in accounting and organizational psychology. Dan will tell you he worked three jobs through college to pay for his own education. He did graduate studies in computer science at Syracuse University. His schooling shaped the direction of his interests and his career. 

Now Brother Mandoli is a transformational health care executive specializing in pharmacy services with over 24 years of experience and a “reputation for building strong teams, transforming organizations, and delivering exceptional business results.” He has spent the last five years transforming a pharmacy operations team from silo-centered goals to enterprise and patient-focused, delivering ratings in member experience and home delivery pharmacy. 

CORDANT

In October 2020 Brother Mandoli became the new pharmacy services president for Cordant Health Solutions®. Cordant is a leader in providing innovative tools for monitoring patients in behavioral health programs.  

"The opioid epidemic has been devastating to families, communities and those who have loved ones with this disease," said Mandoli. "Cordant has a unique and differentiated model that combines lab, pharmacy and analytics to deliver actionable data to clinicians. While other organizations focus on one portion of this model, we bring all three together to support those who need it most and help addiction treatment patients reclaim their lives."

He’s living in St. Louis and working virtually like many of us.  He started at Cordant with four pharmacies and has grown it to eight in the first year with a goal of 14 by next summer.  "We are excited to have Dan join Cordant," said Sue Sommer, Cordant's CEO and president. "Cordant is committed to customer satisfaction and supporting patients affected by substance use disorder. Dan's expertise in agile business integration will further our goals of bringing evidence-based solutions to more communities."

EXPRESS SCRIPTS

Previously Brother Mandoli worked for Express Scripts for 24 years. He navigated a rapidly growing company and was involved in the growth of mail-order pharmacy concentrating on customer experience. He also led Express Scripts' home delivery operations and customer service, ranked No. 1 for home delivery pharmacy and member services.

He started by running analytics within the sales organization and eventually worked his way up to GM/COO of the largest specialty pharmacy and home delivery pharmacy in the country, where he focused on customer retention, employee engagement, and improved quality and accuracy.

For five years he hosted 20-25 interns each year. He purposefully targeted business, industrial engineering, and analytic students. While they each had their own separate mentors, they were on Dan’s team. The students were put on team projects already in progress that directly impacted Dan’s initiatives and goals to provide better customer options for mail order prescriptions. Since it was practical experience on real projects, Dan boasts his success rate for his interns with a 98% offer rate from Express Scripts. 

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Brother Mandoli has supported educational programs throughout his career. He has been an active supporter of the Logos School, Arch Grants and the United Way. Brother Mandoli has worked with “College Bound-St. Louis” for over 10 years and has been on their Board of Directors for four years. Mandoli believes education is the key to any transformation, “The statistics are overwhelming… there is a significant difference.”   

College Bound is an organization that is empowering students from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve bachelor's degrees and successful careers. Their multi-year commitments begin when the students are in high school and continue through college and graduation, helping with job applications, interviewing and more. It’s the hands-on direct impact that appeals to Mandoli.

GETTING INVOLVED WITH DSP – PRESIDENTS’ ACADEMY

In addition to his professional career, Delta Sigma Pi noticed Mandoli’s work with high school and college students. He has spoken at the University of Michigan and Washington University in St. Louis and looks forward to future opportunities to speak at more schools and reaching out to our Delta Sigma Pi chapters (once the pandemic dissipates).

At the 2020 Presidents’ Academy, Dan was able to speak directly to our collegiate brothers. He encouraged them in his keynote to find mentors, to continue asking questions, to keep learning, and to volunteer for the hardest projects. “Your career is often formed based on how you fix problems. There is a lot of pressure from the business world, but you learn as you go. It takes a lot of courage but stepping up in a crisis will get you recognized.”

He encouraged them to stick to their principles, start with the end in mind, find coaches who will give honest feedback and outline what being a true leader means. Mandoli feels strongly about fostering others growth, providing good role models, and sharing experiences and applicable resources. He encourages everyone to “ask an insatiable number of questions” and to “keep asking why.”  Rewarding past behaviors often creates resistance to change. “But you have to keep moving forward because that’s how change happens.”

While Dan Mandoli worked hard to pay for all his own schooling and to make the most of his education, he has also found it important to return what he learned to other students needing additional support to better succeed. He places importance on growth, change, courage, and service to others.

While proud of his work and accomplishments, Brother Mandoli is more proud of his family.  He has been married for over 25 years and has two kids. The oldest recently graduated from college and is currently involved with “Teach for America”, teaching eighth grade math in inner-city Dallas. His youngest is preparing to graduate high school, runs cross-country, and is excited for her first year of college. Service runs in the family, but he’ll give all the credit to his wife.

Brother Mandoli is optimistic to volunteer more with Delta Sigma Pi. “It’s important to continually develop your networking community.”  We also look forward to building our relationship with this dynamic business leader. 

By: Beth Losik, Baker (KS)