Homegrown talent takes helm of Franklin Lakes-based Becton

Vincent Forlenza was one of 10 MBAs recruited by Becton, Dickinson and Co. in 1980 for a management training program. The goal was to recruit and train people for successful careers at BD.

"And it did work out that way for me," said Forlenza, who this month became the chief executive officer of BD, a medical technology company based in Franklin Lakes with 30,000 employees worldwide.

Forlenza, 58, an Allendale resident, quickly advanced to various leadership positions at BD, after his earlier jobs included a stint in Grenoble, France, working in strategic planning and in the hypodermic needle business for BD Europe.

He later commuted between his home in Allendale and California as head of the BD Biosciences division. As president and chief operating officer he oversaw BD's three business segments — BD Medical, BD Diagnostics and BD Biosciences.

Forlenza, 58, was born in East Orange and grew up in Sea Girt. He and his wife, Ellen, have two daughters. He is chairman of The Valley Hospital board of trustees, and in his spare time he enjoys playing acoustic guitar, golfing and bicycle riding. (Interview edited and condensed.)

The first thing was the industry we're in. When I was coming out of [the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania], I was looking at two different industries — one was health care and the other was in the environmental sciences area. I chose health care, and I was happy I did because you can get up every day and do something good for patients. The second piece is you do it with technology. I like that interface between business and technology. I was very fortunate when I moved into BD that I had the chance to do business development roles and strategic planning roles that often have a big component of product planning. I liked the sciences I was involved with, I liked the purpose of the work, and I liked the people I was working with.

BD is a very collegial company. It's a company that runs a worldwide matrix of businesses, functions and regions, and for this to work you have to be able to work well with one another. It's an "and also" culture instead of an "either or." How are we going to get together, drive to consensus and get to a better solution? And that's something I enjoy.

Remote testing has been more an issue for us in the developing world. In the developing world, the idea is to make the products much simpler to use, so they can be taken out of the cities and into rural areas, for example, for HIV testing or [tuberculosis] testing. On the device side of the business, needles and syringes, we're working with pharmaceutical partners in creating self-injection products, auto-injectors. Instead of having to go into the doctor's office to get the injection, you can do it at home and you can do it yourself. So you've dropped the cost of the entire system.

For me and for the company, the biggest challenge is to increase our innovation capacity. These markets are changing very rapidly because of the pressures on health care systems worldwide. So you have markets changing rapidly and technology that's also changing fairly rapidly. While we have a good new-product development pipeline, with a series of new products that are coming out in all three of our businesses, the challenge is to increase that flow and do it in the context of a deeper understanding of the customer and how they're changing to make sure that we are targeting the right set of needs.

Student stabs 37 classmates with hypodermic needle in Puerto Rico

A 14-year-old girl went on a playground rampage with a hypodermic needle, stabbing 37 classmates, Puerto Rican officials said Thursday.

“She would stab one, run, stab another, run, like it was some sort of joke,” Education Secretary Jesus Rivera Sanchez said about Tuesday’s lunchtime attack on 12- to 14-year-olds at the Jose de Choudens middle school in the southern coastal town of Arroyo.

Health Department spokeswoman Margarita Casalduc said it was unclear if the syringe contained anything and further tests were needed to determine if it was contaminated. But the victims, accompanied by their shaken parents, gathered at a convention center to be tested for HIV and hepatitis C and to be given preventive medications.

Sanchez said counselors also were helping the victims and their parents.

Social workers were interviewing the alleged attacker to try to determine a motive, Justice Department spokesman Fidel Rodriguez said. He said no charges had yet been filed, but officials said she had been suspended from school.

Rivera said the girl first told investigators she found the syringe, but later said she stole an unused one while visiting a relative at a hospital and had planned to pierce her ear with it. He said it was not clear why she decided to attack her classmates.

A woman who answered the phone at the school said the director, Gloria Ramos, was not available for comment.

Elementary school students pricked with hypodermic needle

Two Lynn elementary school students have been asked to seek medical attention after they were both pricked with a hypodermic needle in class.

Lynn Superintendent of Schools Dr. Catherine Latham said that one of the students found the discarded needle while walking to school.

According to Latham the 2nd-grader at the Tracy School in Lynn pricked his friend while "pretending to give him a flu shot," and then pricked himself when he put the needle away.

School Administrators didn't find out about it until the next day when a concerned parent notified the teacher.

The needle has been recovered.

The students are not expected to face any legal or disciplinary action.

Police: Springs robber armed with hypodermic needle

A man threatened a convenience story clerk with a hypodermic needle early Saturday

morning before fleeing the store with cash and cigarettes, Colorado Springs police

report.

Police say the man pulled the needle just after 3 a.m. at a 7-11 store in the 100

block of South Nevada Avenue before demanding cash.

The clerk avoided injury by handing over the money and the smokes, police said.

The robber with the odd weapon fled into the night, eluding police who used a tracking

dog to hunt him.

On Wed. March 2, 2011 at approximately 4:50 pm, Jackson Police Officers responded to the parking lot of Glory’s Market on West Commodore Blvd. after an off duty New Jersey State Trooper notified police headquarters that he had observed a person in a vehicle using a hypodermic needle and appearing to inject narcotics.

     Officers arrived on scene and discovered a male and female in a vehicle parked in the parking lot.  During the investigation, officers recovered a hypodermic syringe on the male subject.  The female subject was discovered to have an outstanding warrant for her arrest.  A search was conducted of the vehicle and ten decks of heroin were recovered.

     It was discovered that a third subject had gone into the market and run out another exit prior to Jackson Officers arriving on scene.  A check of the area was done for this subject after it was reported he was seen running onto the Interstate 195 on ramp  but he was not located although he was identified.

     Christopher Carsen, age 25 of Murdock Place, Jackson.  Mr. Carsen was charged with Possession of Heroin and Possession of Hypodermic Syringes.  Bail was set by Judge Daniel Sahin at $35,000/ no ten percent option.  He was lodged in Ocean County Jail.

     Nicole Gibson, age 23 of Madison Court, Brick.  Ms. Gibson was charged with Possession of Heroin and Obstructing.  Bail was set at $35,000/ no ten percent option by Judge Daniel Sahin.  She also had an outstanding warrant for $15,000 out of Monmouth County for a previous narcotics charge. She was lodged in Ocean County Jail.

     Brandon Bisignano, age 24 of West Pleasant Grove Road, Jackson.  Mr.

Bisignano was located at his residence the following day.  He was charged with Possession of Heroin and Obstructing. Bail was set at $35,000/ no ten percent option by Judge Daniel Sahin.  Bisignano was lodged in Ocean County Jail.

     The arrests at Glory’s Market parking lot were made by Officers Louis Notare and Keith Hood and they were assisted by Sgt. Donald Clark.

     The arrest of Bisignano the following day was made by Officers Wayne Olejarz and Colin Menafra.