Watkins, Anthony

From 2014 until his retirement in 2024, Tony provided financial leadership for Versiti, Inc. and its five affiliated blood centers, playing a critical role in helping drive Versiti’s growth during that time. Tony’s areas of responsibility included leadership for Finance, Supply Chain, Corporate Development, Information Services, Facilities, Project Management and Continuous Improvement functions of Versiti and its affiliates. In 2024, Tony received the Tibor Greenwalt Award for significant contributions to Versiti’s mission.

Tony and his teams brought value to Versiti by effectively deploying resources through investment and strong fiscal management to drive both organic and inorganic growth. As the leader of Versiti’s corporate development activities, Tony oversaw the acquisition and integration of three affiliate blood centers, as well as acquiring four small clinical trials services businesses to establish Versiti’s services in that area. Most recently, Tony shepherded the financing and Versiti Board approval of an $80 million expansion of the Versiti Blood Research Institute, including securing debt financing and state of Wisconsin funding, and project managing the detailed design development.

Prior to joining Versiti, Tony had over 25 years of experience leading areas of Finance, Supply Chain, and Corporate Development, primarily in the pharmaceuticals industry. Tony’s last role prior to joining Versiti was as Vice President, Global Purchasing and Supplier Management at Baxter Healthcare Corporation. Tony also served as VP, Finance for Baxter’s Hemophilia and Biotherapeutics business lines and VP, Biosciences Manufacturing. Prior to Baxter, Tony held various leadership roles at Pfizer Inc. and Eli Lilly & Company, including a stint as CFO and Director, Finance for Lilly China in Shanghai, where Tony helped Lilly’s China affiliate win the Asian Affiliate and Financial Leader of the Year awards for the first time. Prior to that role, Tony also led a team that partnered with Eli Lilly & Company’s Diabetes Research organization to identify, acquire and build compound libraries to treat obesity and diabetes, including early versions of GLP-1 agonists, that would later lead to Lilly’s successful commercialization of drugs in this area. Tony also worked with Lilly Research to secure over twenty-five partnerships and acquisitions encompassing the scope of drug discovery from target identification to pre-clinical testing.

Tony received his bachelor’s (in Math and Economics) and master’s degrees (Industrial Relations) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as an MBA from the University of Chicago’s School of Business.