Anne has been with Novo Nordisk for 7 years, in various roles, but always in the IT space. She says that even though she doesn’t see herself as an IT person, this is where she thrives the most.
How did we get here?
Anne’s background doesn’t naturally flow into the world of IT, with a Master’s in English and Intercultural Market Studies. But she started her career in a European IT management consulting firm. „I remember spending a lot of time putting myself down for not understanding the entire context and not being able to dive deeply into various problem statements, so I had to really practice how to strike a good balance between where and when to go deeper into things and when it was okay to just scratch the surface and ask curious questions‟.
From here on, her interest in translating and bridging the technical and the business world developed. She says that this requires „curiosity in terms of the impact IT and digital solutions have on business and users‟.
The Novo Nordisk adventure
After having tried out many different roles in the IT unit of Novo Nordisk, Anne took on a new, international challenge in 2023 – she and her family moved to Bangalore, India, where she is now heading the area responsible for the operations and maintenance of around 80 critical systems supporting clinical trial activities globally. In describing her role, she says: „Our core responsibility is to keep our systems available, healthy and compliant, which is not a trivial undertaking in a regulated industry like pharma. What I really find motivating in my current job is that not only do we have to link what we do to impact business and users, we always have the patients in mind‟.
Motivation above all
„Our ambitions on the ESG and DEI agendas are also part of what makes me jump out of bed in the morning‟. Anne sees her work reflected in Novo Nordisk’s commitment to patients, but also employees. She feels highly empowered to make decisions and take on new initiatives that support the company going forward, as well as her own professional and personal development. The move to India is proof of this: „Living and working in an Indian culture has given me a perspective on work and life that I will bring with me into future roles; never make assumptions, stay curious, be transparent‟.
