State of Readiness: David Mackey; Senior Manager, AbbVie

I invite David Mackey is a senior manager at AbbVie presently responsible for the implementation of the SAP “procure to pay” processes at AbbVie. Previously, he was the Director of Operational Excellence at Pharmacyclics (a subsidiary of AbbVie). In addition to AbbVie, he has had senior leadership roles at Genentech and Roche.

We start the conversation with David’s early days when he was “bitten” by the travel bug, specifically the international travel bug. He was an exchange student to Sweden in high school and to Mexico when at community college.

His first degree was in Geography with an emphasis on international trade from Humboldt State University and he earned his MBA in International Business Trade and Operations from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

His love of travel has guided his professional journey; always seeking and chasing opportunities which would take him near (across the US) and far (everywhere else). Most of this work was found in the pharma/biotech industries. David shares the various companies he has worked for and the assignments he had there; each building on the other and each adding to his ever-increasing variety and scope of his accumulated life’s experiences.

David shares the various companies he has worked for and the assignments he had there; each building on the other and each adding to his ever-increasing variety and scope of his accumulated life’s experiences.

We also spend some time discussing how he and the people who he leads, which are located around the world, have coped during the COVID pandemic. Interestingly, he shares that already being a disbursed workforce, the workings of his team were already purposely designed and configured for working virtually. The conversation then gravitates to post-pandemic business operations, what that may look like, what challenges might be faced, and what may be needed to keep a edge of the team’s knife sharp.

Very interesting stuff. Give a listen here…

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