Medhanie Tekeste
Chief Information Officer
Apotex
Medhanie Tekeste is an executive with more than 20 years of IT experience, including more than 14 years of broad-based management in systems development, implementation, and support. He strategically and cost-effectively utilizes technology in alignment with corporate goals. His extensive experience in service delivery in Pharma includes Quality, Manufacturing, and R&D at a global level. He is an influential mentor and thought leader who continuously aligns IT strategy and associated investments with a business plan to deliver ROIs and drive innovation.
Medhanie has extensive Pharmaceutical industry knowledge, including experience in laboratory quality assurance testing and computer systems validation. As Chief Information Officer at Apotex Inc., Medhanie is responsible for delivery of all end-to-end IT global services. This includes Enterprise Architecture, Cloud and Platform Services, Service Design, Agile methodology, Data Architecture, Software Quality Assurance, Security Management, Service Support and Governance, Program Management and Digital Transformation/Innovation.
Previously, as Vice President of IT at Apotex Inc., Medhanie was overseeing the implementation and delivery of IT services with global responsibility for IT operations, Customer Care, Innovation and Digital Transformation/Innovation. Earlier, he rose through the ranks of Apotex Inc., transitioning from IT compliance to management. He began his career as a Chemist in the regulated laboratory testing at Apotex Inc. Medhanie holds a degree in BSC from University of Toronto, and a diploma in Computer Science from DeVry Institute of Technology.
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Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
From Chemist, then different roles in Software Quality assurance and IT roles from development, support, delivery, and management.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
- Have a clear vision and goals aligned to business strategy
- Show passion for the job and the value your team brings to the organization
- Self-awareness based on strong values, understanding the politics, and realizing how these things influence how you execute your ideas
- Surround yourself with the right team with individuals that understand your vision, share your passion, values, and have complementary competencies and experiences to drive/execute a strategy
- Walk the talk, be responsible, take ownership of your commitments
- Create an environment and culture that is highly engaged, rewards high performance and creativity, develops employees, and empowers them with responsibility and accountability
With disruption being a key theme of the past year, where do you see your role as a CIO going in the next 1-2 years?
As a CIO, I see myself driving digital transformation with the business and innovation.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in the role as a CIO?
Use your CIO network to learn and grow. Understand the culture, maturity, and politics in your organization to help your ability to influence and drive your strategy.
Tell us 3 fun facts about yourself.
I love playing soccer. I love music and dancing.
Why did you decide to join an Evanta community?
It was a great way to grow my CIO network, learn and grow. It allows me to exchange ideas with my peers, learn emerging and disruptive technologies for different industry verticals.
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