Wagner, Andrea

Andrea’s success can be attributed to self determination and perseverance. She was born  and raised in Indiana and was on her own at the  age of sixteen. Andrea believed education was  the key to success, and she succeeded in going  to college, majoring in chemistry, while working  fulltime. Andrea continued her education obtaining  a Masters in Analytical Chemistry and a Doctorate  in Environmental Health and Toxicology. During  her undergraduate and graduate schooling, she  had three children and two marriages.  

Her first professional job was at Tufts University  to head up a new center in the chemistry  department. She continued this work and  expanded into a role with United States  Environmental Protection Agency and a school  consortium with NJIT, Princeton, Stanford, RICE,  Tufts, and MIT. She conducted trainings and wrote  programs for scientists where she discovered her  natural gift for communicating complex scientific  information.  

Andrea supported and encouraged her husband to  begin a start-up in pharmaceutical manufacturing.  For three years she became the primary support  for their family of five. In 2001 she joined his  company in hopes that her skills coupled with  her husbands could accelerate the company’s  growth. Their combined abilities increased  sales over the 9-year period to $22 million with 130 employees. The company sold in 2010,  after which she worked with other companies  in the pharmaceutical industry while pursing  investments, and even performed a 6-month stint  as a chemistry teacher for a local high school. 

In July of 2014, at the age of 49, Andrea and  two other investors signed onto founding a new  company: Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing (BSM).  On the day of closing the financing, she was  diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer.  This did not deter her, and today, BSM employs  nearly 200 people and has been recognized by  several organizations for its incredible growth  and success. The company consistently exceeds  its annual sales goal and brought in over $50  million of sales orders in 2021 with 2022  targeting 60 million. Andrea currently serves  as the Chief Technical Officer at BSM, where  she closely monitors the coordination of the  engineering, quality control, sales and marketing,  HR and project management teams to meet the  constantly changing customer requirements and  critical deadlines. 

Outside of work she remains active through daily exercise, yoga, hiking, and biking. She especially  loves running and has run several marathons  throughout her life – twice qualifying for the  renowned Boston Marathon. She is an avid quilter  and creates a hand-made baby blanket for every  expecting parent at Berkshire Sterile. She is now  working on the twentieth quilt since the business  was created! As a display of the importance of  balancing a family life with high achieving careers,  the lobby at BSM has photos of each “Berkshire  Baby” in a company branded, employee-signed  onesie and laying on their home-made quilt.  Additionally, Andrea put in place an on-site non profit daycare run by the local town to aid BSM  parents and assist the community offering them  free rent.  

Andrea’s largest legacy to date are her children.  Her son, the first, graduated with honors in  math from West Point and went on to become  a Captain and Apache Pilot prior to leaving the  military and now works as a Senior Validation  Engineering and IT head. He is married to  a wonderful man and has given her the first  grandchild. Her eldest daughter graduated with a  BS in applied math from Marist and is extremely  successful as a sales manager at BSM. While her  youngest daughter obtained a BS in chemistry  from Bowdoin, though incredibly gifted as an  artist, works in marketing combining her scientific  training with her artist ability creating powerful  messages in science.  

Andrea looks forward to her next mission in life,  during which she hopes to impact many women  in business. Her strongest desire is to create  a Private Equity fund to assist women-owned  businesses and to grow and develop the women  leaders at the helm. With additional funding and  support from successful women entrepreneurs  like Andrea, women leaders can shatter the glass  ceiling, close the gender gap, and succeed in  management across all industries.