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CIG strengthens senior leadership team

Communications International Group (CIG) has strengthened its senior leadership team with a number of new appointments.

CIG strengthens senior leadership team
Felim O’Brien: “Having successfully come through the turmoil of Covid we find ourselves faced with a raft of new opportunities."

Communications International Group says respected publishing industry director Ian Gerrard has been appointed as chief operating officer. He will report directly to chief executive Felim O’Brien.

Ian brings many years of senior management and publishing expertise to the table and has held board positions in several public media companies, says the publisher, including United Business Media plc, Mirror Group plc and EMAP.

The publisher has also named Professor Rob Darracott FRPharmS as the group’s first director of policy and external affairs.

Rob’s career encompasses senior leadership positions in the UK and internationally, including at the Department of Health, Alliance UniChem and in national pharmacy associations. He is a former chief executive of the Company Chemists’ Association and of Pharmacy Voice and was director of corporate strategic development at the RPSGB.

Rob was a member of the research team that developed what became the New Medicine Service and he co-chaired the Government review into pharmacists’ professional training that recommended the five-year integrated degree. He has been honorary professor at the Nottingham School of Pharmacy since 2013 and is also a fellow of the RPS.

CIG has also appointed former Cegedim Rx managing director Simon Driver as a board advisor as the group looks to increase its investment and capability in digital communications, including the expansion of its Pharmacy Network platform.

Simon has extensive experience in IT and software systems within UK pharma, the last ten of which were spent as the head of one of Europe’s leading pharmacy systems suppliers, where he developed the first electronic prescription messaging service for the UK market.

Simon will be working with the newly designated chief information & technology officer Pete Robins, who joined CIG in 2021 from a main board director position at Vianet Group plc to manage the Pharmacy Network. Pete has extensive software development experience, having started his career with Deutsche Bank in London.

Announcing the new appointments CIG chief executive Felim O’Brien said: “Having successfully come through the turmoil of Covid we find ourselves faced with a raft of new opportunities. I see now as the perfect time to build for the future, expand outside our traditional geographical areas, develop resilience and embrace new areas. These key appointments are the first steps in spearheading that strategic effort, with more news to come as we move forward into 2023.”

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