Meet the transformational CIOs who are currently leading their businesses into the digital future.
Explore their most important initiatives, leadership goals, and how they see their roles evolving in the near future.
This time, in CIO Insights, we feature Ludovic Tranholm Otterbein from Zealand.
Trust is the foundation of transformation
As VP, Head of IT at Zealand Pharma, Ludovic Tranholm Otterbein has transformed IT from a tactical function into a strategic business partner in just two years. His approach proves that bold change only works when people feel safe, trusted, and included.
In just 24 months, Ludovic Tranholm Otterbein has led a comprehensive rebuild of Zealand Pharma’s IT infrastructure, significantly enhanced its cybersecurity capabilities, and repositioned the department as a true business enabler. This rapid transformation – executed while the company experienced significant growth – demonstrates how trust can elevate an IT organization from operational support to strategic partnership.
“From day one, I was committed to establishing trust by empowering the team to make more decisions independently. Within this culture of trust, we expanded from six in 2023 to 28 team members today and increased our budget by 50 percent year-on-year, matching our ambitious transformation goals.”
We have been very bold in our choices
A key fuel for Ludovic is his strong background in pharma and the drive to make the world healthier:
“Zealand Pharma’s purpose and ambition are to change lives with next-generation peptide therapeutics and be the world’s best peptide drug discovery and development company. Achieving this requires boldness – a quality that defines our organizational culture.”
This boldness has translated into a comprehensive IT transformation executed in distinct phases: from securing stable operations and building cyber resilience to establishing business partnerships and leveraging cloud, data analytics, and AI.
“When I arrived, IT was primarily operations-focused with minimal business engagement. My vision was to evolve into a true business partner, but I recognized that before claiming a strategic role, we needed to strengthen our technological and security foundations.”
Strengthening the IT foundations meant completely rebuilding infrastructure, networks, and data centers with security by design. Ludovic has had a supportive executive team and board who backed his vision, but proposing to overhaul an entire infrastructure while maintaining uninterrupted operations required tremendous courage from everyone involved. The scope of this initial phase was extraordinary.
“Building a new foundation isn’t just about technology, it’s about bringing people along on the journey. We had to be honest about the scale of change and reassure everyone that we would get there together. But we did scare people at first.”
“Zealanders are the first line of our defense”
The foundational infrastructure transformation took 18 months, with cyber resilience developed as a parallel and complementary initiative:
“We’ve built strong technological defenses, but our approach to cyber security is fundamentally about positive engagement. Zealanders are our first line of defense – we involve them through gamification, training, and recognition programs that have transformed security from a technical issue to a company-wide priority.”
This people-centric security strategy has become a key bridge between IT and the broader organization:
“Our cybersecurity approach helped us build unexpected connections with the business. We established quarterly awards, with our corporate management actively participating and our COO serving as a security ambassador. This engagement not only strengthened our defenses but also established a foundation of trust that opened doors to more strategic conversations.”
The success of this approach demonstrated how technical initiatives, when designed with people in mind, can transform IT’s relationship with the business – setting the stage for IT’s evolution from support function to strategic partner.
Trust gave us a seat at the table of strategic decisions
During the transformation, the role of IT was fundamentally reshaped. The strengthened Business IT team transformed the application landscape from systems that were often unfit for purpose to an efficient ecosystem supporting various business units’ digital transformations.
“For many team members, this entire transformation presented numerous new experiences – from managing relationships with strategic vendors to adopting new technologies. They’ve risen admirably to these challenges and should take tremendous pride in what they’ve accomplished.”
The results are evident in employee satisfaction:
“Our IT team’s satisfaction scores have transformed from low to very high in just two years. This success comes from providing greater autonomy instead of micromanagement, establishing clear vision with leadership support, and creating an environment where we have fun while delivering recognized value to our stakeholders.”
More strategic changes are underway, particularly in advanced data analytics and AI, but Ludovic and his team have chosen to approach these from their newly strengthened foundation:
“Prioritizing advanced data analytics & AI before stabilizing our foundation would have been strategically unsound. Our approach has been to systematically assess the capabilities needed based on overall organization needs and long-term success, addressing fundamental business requirements first, and now building our advanced data analytics & AI capabilities from a position of strength.”
The team is now equipped to support business enablement through data-driven insights.
“Data and AI represent the next frontier for us. We’ve established the right foundation, and now we’re positioned to truly accelerate business value creation. I anticipate this becoming our fastest-growing capability over the coming months.”
The role of the CIO is evolving, but for Ludovic, titles matter less than impact:
“I value my connection to Zealand Pharma’s board, which enables me to provide regular updates and ensure alignment on our IT strategy. Combined with my direct access to the corporate management, this arrangement provides the visibility and influence needed to drive change. I sometimes reflect on whether being part of corporate management would have accelerated our transformation – I’m not convinced it would have. While I’m passionate about advancing my vision and influencing strategic direction, my current role offers the right balance and provides the necessary focus.”
Looking ahead, Ludovic sees opportunities to expand his influence beyond Zealand Pharma:
“Looking ahead, I’m interested in serving on additional boards. My experience has equipped me to contribute meaningfully to pharma and biotech organizations seeking to efficiently build secure, enabling business environments – with particular emphasis on both security and enablement.”
As technology becomes increasingly inseparable from business strategy, Ludovic believes the CIO role will continue to evolve:
“The next evolution for IT leaders will be about becoming true business strategists who happen to have technology expertise. In our industry, this means understanding how digital capabilities can accelerate core business objectives while maintaining the highest standards of data integrity and security.”
As a leader you need to have emotional intelligence
For now, Ludovic is focused on Zealand Pharma, where he continues to evolve the leadership values that have guided him from the start:
“For me, team happiness is paramount, emerging when people have clear direction, meaningful purpose, engaging colleagues and leaders, and genuine enjoyment in their work. Critically important is psychological safety – an environment where team members feel empowered to challenge ideas, question leadership, and raise difficult issues.”
This approach requires a specific leadership mindset:
“Leaders must develop emotional intelligence and sensitivity to people’s needs. I strive to be present, curious, and attentive, while recognizing that everyone faces personal challenges. When team members feel comfortable acknowledging these moments, it confirms we’ve created a truly safe environment for everyone, regardless of their role.”
One such psychologically safe space Ludovic highlights is the CIO Transformation Board:
“The CIO Transformation Board provides invaluable knowledge sharing and inspiration. Despite our diverse industries and contexts, we share a common ambition: to elevate IT’s contribution to business success. This unified purpose resonates deeply with my vision for IT at Zealand Pharma.”
“Leaders must develop emotional intelligence and sensitivity to people’s needs.”
The CIO Transformation Board
In the Danish ICT Industry Association (IT-Branchen), we have the CIO Transformation Board, which brings together the most visionary CIOs from Denmark’s large and medium-sized companies. These are CIOs from businesses where digitalization is a strategic part of the business — but where there is also a desire to do more than just digitalize.
We aim not only to highlight Denmark’s most talented CIOs and share experiences and best practices across industries, but also to set the agenda in the media and with politicians regarding Denmark’s and the business sector’s digital future.
The CIO Transformation Board is created for those who also want to help find the new balance between people and technology. For those who have a stance and want to help influence our green transition, address the skills shortage, and strengthen growth in Denmark.
