Arif Tahir

Arif Tahir is the current Country President & GM of Novartis in Pakistan. Arif has over 17 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry.

Arif started their career as a Marketing Manager at Stiefel Dermatology, a GSK company. Arif was responsible for brand development, key external expert management, and initiating expert channel marketing. Arif also managed the portfolio and planned and executed ATL and BTL promotional activities.

In 2010, Arif joined Johnson & Johnson as the Country Manager for Pakistan & Afghanistan. Arif was responsible for providing strategic leadership to J&J Medical Devices which includes its Global Surgery and Global Orthopaedics companies DePuySynthes, Ethicon, and Cordis. Arif was also accountable for Pakistan P&L management and commercial business GTM model and growth delivery.

In 2015, Arif left Johnson & Johnson to join GSK as the Channel Management Director - Emerging Markets (Tier 1). In this role, they were the regional commercial trade channel lead for Tier 1 Emerging Markets - Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, India, Russia, and Vietnam.

Arif has a proven track record of delivering growth and is an expert in developing go-to-market models, managing P&Ls, and leading large teams. Arif's extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry makes him the perfect candidate for the Country President & GM role at Novartis in Pakistan.

Arif Tahir has a background in engineering and industrial management from the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST). Arif also has an MBA in marketing from the Institute of Business Administration. Tahir is currently enrolled in IMD's Leading in Context Program for organizational leadership. Arif also has several certifications from LinkedIn in areas such as artificial intelligence, coaching and developing employees, critical thinking, and learning design thinking.

Arif Tahir reports to Marie-France Tschudin, President, Novartis Pharmaceuticals.