Our Team

Rich Bagger

Partner and Executive Director

Prior to joining Christie 55 Solutions, Rich Bagger worked in the health sector for over 25 years, including as the senior most global Corporate Affairs executive for two Fortune 500 biopharmaceutical companies. From 2012 through 2019, he was Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Market Access for Celgene Corporation, as well as a member of the company’s Executive Committee. During a 16-year career with Pfizer Inc, Rich served from 2006 to 2009 on Pfizer’s senior most management team as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Public Affairs and Policy. Prior to joining Pfizer, Rich was Assistant General Counsel of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey and before that practiced law with McCarter & English.

Rich has a record of public service that spans more than three decades. From 2012 until 2021, he served as a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where he was Chair of the Finance Committee. He was also Chair of the Gateway Program Development Corporation for 2017. While on a leave of absence from Celgene in 2016, Rich served as Executive Director of Trump for America, responsible for pre-election planning for the Presidential transition.

Rich’s public service also includes two years as Chief of Staff for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, where he was responsible for managing implementation of the Governor’s policy agenda and priorities. He was also elected to serve five terms in the New Jersey General Assembly, where he chaired the Appropriations Committee and was elected by his colleagues as Majority Conference Leader. In 2001, Rich was elected to the New Jersey Senate and served there until 2003. Before his election to the Legislature, he was a Council Member and Mayor of Westfield, New Jersey.

Rich served as Board Chair of the National Pharmaceutical Council for 2019 and is a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he chaired the Global Innovation Policy Center from 2014 to 2018. He is also on the Board of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the Regional Plan Association, as well as the Advisory Board for the Lerner Center for the Study of Pharmaceutical Management at Rutgers University Business School. In addition, Rich serves as an Adjunct Faculty member at Rutgers University and a member of the Board of Directors of Tonix Pharmaceuticals.

He received an A.B. degree from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and a J.D. degree from Rutgers University Law School.