KITE , A GILEAD COMPANY
CHRIS MCDONALD TITLE : GLOBAL HEAD OF TECHNICAL OPERATIONS
INDUSTRY : BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH
LOCATION : UNITED STATES
Chris McDonald joined Kite in 2018 and currently serves as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Technical Operations .
Prior to joining Kite , Chris was with AstraZeneca , where he was VP & Site Head of Operations for their monoclonal antibody site . Previously , Chris spent 10 years at Novartis Vaccines in positions of increased responsibility , including VP & Site Head of Vaccines Operations , and VP & Global Head of Technical Operations Strategy . In this role Chris was responsible for product life cycle management , long range production planning and manufacturing network strategy for a network operating in eight countries . Prior to his time at Novartis , Chris held various manufacturing and engineering leadership roles at Amgen .
Chris holds a bachelor ’ s degree in computer science from Eastern Michigan University and master ’ s degree in business from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University .
“When you have a large manufacturing network , the sustainability of your facilities is critically important ”
CHRIS MCDONALD GLOBAL HEAD OF TECHNICAL OPERATIONS , KITE
– some in the manufacturing sector might say ‘ kaizen ’ – and is what allows McDonald and the team to continually seek out areas for potential improvement .
“ We ’ ve really got this patient-focused mindset and continually seek out areas for potential improvement , which means that , even though we ’ re doing really well , we can ’ t stop now ,” he adds .
“ Every day we come into work we say ‘ how can we do this better ?’”
Sustainability at the core In 2021 , Gilead made significant strides in the evolution of their environmental sustainability program – all while delivering their innovative medicines . Gilead has a longstanding commitment to reducing greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions , minimising waste generation , conserving water and product stewardship . Gilead
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