Hello, I'm Tara Graf
I was born and raised in Baltimore, MD. I attended The Catholic High School of Baltimore and graduated in 1995. From there, I attended two large Universities but finally settled into Villa Julie College, now Stevenson University, and pursued my science degree. I focused on both Biology and Chemistry and minored in mathematics and liberal art technologies. I started my Master's Degree at Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) in Counseling Psychology and finished all but the practical hours. I left the program in order to start my validation career and my family.
I married Christopher Graf, who owns and operates his own company, MAC Landscaping, LLC dba Rooted in Nature, and we had two children. Our oldest son, Cullen Graf, attends the John Carroll School and our youngest child, Gabrielle Graf, attends The Catholic High School of Baltimore.
I started my validation experience at a small company called Cambrex, where I learned the basics of thermal mapping, steam sterilization, and GAMP (Good Automation Manufacturing Practices). I began as an entry level validation associate and, after being there for 9 years, ended as a senior validation engineer.
After Cambrex was bought out by Lonza, a very large Contract Manufacturer based on Zurich, I decided to get a new start at VWR. I developed the Validation Division of the company and became the Director of the North American Validation Team. I traveled all over the United States teaching my team how to perform validations on all types of laboratory and manufacturing equipment.
Once VWR decided to outsource all of their calibration and validation services, I decided to go to Transcat and expand their Validation department. My duties there were much like VWR's but I also had the opportunity to work in the analytical validation side of the business. Additionally, I was part of the 4DX team (The 4 Disciplines of Execution) and worked with labs all over the United States and Canada to help solve problems that were preventing our teams from meeting their wildly important goals.
After over 6 years at Transcat, I ended my large corporate career and decided to help out my family business. Less than a year later, I opened this company, Premier Validation Documentation Services, where I can use my 21 years of experience to help companies that have a small issue such as a few questions or the need for guidance on a regulation all the way up to customers that need a full Master Plan written or their Validation Quality system revamped. I have been in every role of validation throughout my career and I have always loved my job. I just want to share my passion and expertise with others.
Thank you,
Tara Graf