Ravi Rajagopalan

About Ravi Rajagopalan

IT executive with 25+ years of progressive leadership in biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, and global enterprises — specializing in IT strategy and architecture, commercial launch enablement, and ELT-level business partnership.I\'ve built and led IT organizations from the ground up at commercial-stage biopharma companies, directed enterprise-wide technology separations at $30B scale, and managed global IT operations across 15+ countries. My work sits at the intersection of technology and business outcomes — translating commercial strategy into IT roadmaps, governance frameworks, and the platforms that make growth possible.What I bring to a leadership team:Strategic IT leadership — I develop IT strategy, architecture blueprints, and multi-year roadmaps aligned to business priorities, with disciplined portfolio prioritization and budget management. At AbbVie, I directed a 70-member organization through the full technology separation from Abbott Laboratories, delivering six months ahead of schedule within a $30M budget and generating $100M in savings.Commercial biopharma IT depth — At Avanir Pharmaceuticals, I built the entire commercial IT stack from scratch ahead of a national specialty drug launch: Veeva/Salesforce CRM, Snowflake data warehousing, call planning, Master Data Management, and a 21 CFR Part 11-compliant electronic signature platform deployed nationwide. I know what it takes to stand up the technology infrastructure that puts a drug in front of prescribers.Compliance and risk management — I have owned SOX, GxP, GDPR, cybersecurity, and business continuity and disaster recovery frameworks directly — not delegated them. Establishing those controls for a newly independent public company and for a commercial-stage biopharma are core parts of my track record.Vendor and sourcing management — I\'ve managed large vendor ecosystems, negotiated enterprise contracts, and built managed-service models that scale without proportional headcount growth.Team building and talent development — I build IT teams from scratch, develop performance management frameworks, and take genuine satisfaction in growing the next generation of IT leaders.Fluent in English, Bahasa Indonesian, Malay, Malayalam, Tamil, and Japanese. Open to remote roles with travel to key sites.

Experience

1. Senior Director Commercial Business Applications

   Avanir Pharmaceuticals

   Nov 2019 — Present · Orange County, CA, US

   Built the full IT organization from the ground up ahead of a major national specialty drug commercialization. Served as IT business partner to commercial and executive leadership, aligning every technology initiative to launch readiness and post-commercialization growth. IT service portfolio — led a core team of five augmented by a managed-services vendor network, delivering scalable capability across CRM, Call Planning, Speaker Bureau, Snowflake data warehousing, and Master Data Management. Commercial IT stack — architected and deployed Veeva/Salesforce CRM and data platforms directly enabling sales force effectiveness, territory management, and commercial analytics from day one of launch. GxP compliance — designed and launched a nationwide 21 CFR Part 11-compliant Electronic Signature and HCP Meals compliance platform, deployed across the entire field organization. Team building — recruited and built the IT team from scratch; implemented performance metrics and a development culture from day one.

Education

• Northern Illinois University

  MBA, Management

• University of South Australia

  BBus, Marketing

Skills

• Negotiation
• Marketing Management
• Management
• Sales Operations
• Selling to the C-Suite
• Customer Service
• Organizational Development
• Strategy
• IT Strategy
• Leadership
• Management Consulting
• Strategic Selling
• Sales Management
• Advanced Negotiation
• Erp
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Marketing Strategy
• Project Management
• Consultative Selling
• Selling
• Start-Ups
• Process Improvement
• Crucial Conversations
• Crm
• Sdlc
• Strategic Planning
• Change Management
• Program Management
• Blue Ocean Strategy