Joe Pohl is a Partner at Jordon Voytek providing outside general counsel services and general business counseling to clients, built upon his experiences as a member of regional, national, and global law firms, the general counsel and CEO of a specialty pharmacy services company and an executive with the venture capital division of a healthcare system. At core, Joe considers himself a problem solver, and enjoys building strong relationships to help clients address challenges and achieve their goals.
Joe began his career working on regulatory and litigation matters as an associate at Babst Calland Clements & Zomnir (1998-2000) and Pepper Hamilton (2000-2002). He subsequently joined Reed Smith, where he spent 14 years, 11 as a Partner, focusing on litigation and dispute resolution, internal/regulatory investigations, and general business counseling, for clients in the financial services, healthcare and manufacturing industries. Joe also completed two secondments (full-time, temporary in-house engagements) of 6 months each with Bank of America’s Global Wealth and Investment Management group and PNC’s government and regulatory enforcement team. In 2016, Joe received an offer from a client, PharmBlue, to become the company’s first General Counsel.
PharmBlue was a privately held specialty pharmacy, providing pharmacy services under the 340B federal drug program to covered healthcare entities serving patients with chronic conditions like retroviruses (HIV, AIDS, and Hepatitis C), mental/behavioral health and pain management. PharmBlue operated nationwide, from 12 pharmacies in PA, AZ, CA, IL, NC, NY, MA, OR, TN and TX.
As General Counsel, Joe served as a member of the executive leadership team and led the company’s legal function on all matters, including contract negotiation, drafting and management, corporate governance, intellectual property oversight, employment, litigation, privacy, real estate, mergers and acquisitions and regulatory counseling and compliance.
The Board promoted Joe to CEO of PharmBlue in 2017, with a mandate to stabilize the organization and return it to a growth trajectory. With the assistance of a leadership team that he assembled, Joe met this challenge, which led to a successful sale of PharmBlue to a private equity firm in 2020.
In 2021, Joe joined UPMC Enterprises, the investment/commercialization arm of UPMC, the largest healthcare system in Pennsylvania. As an Executive in Residence, Joe worked with Enterprises’ Translational Sciences and Digital Solutions teams to provide business leadership and management support to Enterprises’ initiatives and portfolio companies.
Joe earned his B.A., summa cum laude, in Economics and Computer Applications from the University of Notre Dame and received an invitation to Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. At Pitt, Joe served as a Research Editor for the Law Review and achieved Order of the Coif.
Joe is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He is also a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association.
In the community, Joe is a member of the Board of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation, where he serves on the Grants Committee and chairs the Advocacy Committee, in memory of his sister Katie (Pohl) Dopirak, who passed from CJD in 2018.
Joe and his wife Amy, a Partner at Litchfield Cavo, are the proud parents of two daughters and one great dog. In his free time, Joe enjoys skiing, snowboarding, exercising outdoors, cooking, traveling, reading (historical fiction and non-fiction), listening to music (especially live) and spending time with his family.