Gökhan CANPOLAT
CIO | IT Leader | Senior Programm and Project Manager
LANGUAGES
English: Fluent, Business
German: Native
French: Fluent, Professional
CONTACT
WORK EXPERIENCE
2023 - to date
IT/OT Transformation - Senior Program Manager
Life Science / Pharma, Basel - Switzerland
Led IT strategy and transformation initiatives for pharma production environments, serving as SPoC between Business, OT, and IT to ensure operational readiness, cybersecurity, and GxP compliance, while supporting the build-up of PMO structures. Drove enterprise infrastructure, workplace, and manufacturing IT programs while strengthening cyber resilience through OT/IT separation and security governance modernization.
2016 - 2019
Cloud Migration & Digital Workplace - Senior Project Manager
Financial Sector, Frankfurt & Luxenburg
Executive lead for the cloud and digital workplace transformation of a regulated financial investment platform, overseeing the migration of a digital investment platform workloads from on-premise to Microsoft Azure. And M365 for modernizing end-user environments to enable scalable growth, operational efficiency, security, and regulatory alignment.
2020 - 2023
Senior Project Manager
Life Science / Pharma, Basel Switzerland
Led a global organizational transformation program impacting 17,000+ users. And directed the development of a regulated platform supporting clinical trial execution.
2018 - 2020
Interim Head of Business IT
MSP for HR, Hamburg & Munich
Rebuilt and restructured a dissolved IT organization, re-establishing reliable Business IT services, assuming budget ownership, and leading a strategic recovery initiative. Led a core business software development project.
2023 - to date
Various Projects / Project Manager
Life Science / Pharma, Basel Switzerland Novartis
Led IT strategy and transformation initiatives for pharma production environments, serving as SPoC between Business, OT, and IT to ensure operational readiness, cybersecurity, and GxP compliance, while supporting the build-up of PMO structures. Drove enterprise infrastructure, workplace, and manufacturing IT programs while strengthening cyber resilience through OT/IT separation and security governance modernization.
2012 - 2013
IT Integration Lead (M&A) / Interim Head of IT
Energy, Gazprom Berlin & Istanbul
IT Lead for Gazprom Germania during a majority acquisition of a Turkish SME gas company, accountable for IT due diligence, post-merger integration, and the establishment of resilient IT services, including full responsibility for infrastructure alignment with the Gazprom group, budget ownership, and leadership of cross-border teams.
2008 - 2012
EU Develeopment Program / I T Manager & Key Expert
European Commission (via GIZ), Cyprus & Brussels
IT Lead and Key Expert for an EU-sponsored economic development program in Northern Part of Cyprus, accountable for IT service governance for European Commission operations and for evaluating, and overseeing strategic IT investments supporting regional economic development.
PROFILE
Gökhan is a business-oriented technology leader with more than 15 years of experience shaping IT/OT strategy, leading digital transformations, and managing enterprise technology organizations in regulated industries. A trusted advisor to executive leadership, he combines deep expertise in IT/OT infrastructures, cloud, and cybersecurity with strong business acumen, governance capabilities, and a proven track record of building and leading international teams, managing multimillion-euro budgets, and ensuring IT delivers measurable business value, operational resilience, and regulatory compliance.
Core Competences
Strategic IT Leadership
Definition and execution of IT strategies, roadmaps, and Target Operating Models
People Leadership
Building and managing teams; fostering servant leadership culture
Business–IT Alignment
Partnering with executives to translate business objectives into technology outcomes
Governance & Compliance
GAMP/GxP/CSV, ITIL, and regulatory frameworks in Pharma & Finance
IT Operations & Service Delivery
Optimization of IT services, vendor and contract management, SLAs
Financial Management
Budgeting, cost control, and resource allocation for large-scale programs
Cybersecurity & Risk Management
Enterprise security strategy, network segmentation, vulnerability remediation
Digital Transformation
Cloud migrations, data center modernization, and enterprise-wide collaboration platforms
Change & Transformation Management
Driving cultural change, agile transformation, and organizational development
CERTIFICATES
- PMP (PMI)
- PRINCE2
- HERME 2022 Advanced
- ITIL v3
- Agile Scrum Master