Alison Davis - CIO, GE Healthcare Life Sciences

What's your proudest work-related achievement of the last 12 months?

This is a difficult question as I have spent much of the last 12 months in transition between my previous and current role, with a three-month career break in between. However, I think that my most significant achievement of the past 12 months is to have recognised when it was right to take a break and create some work/life balance, which let me regather my energies, ready to move on to new challenges.

What's the number one skill today's IT leaders need?

I'm not sure that I can choose between adaptability and resilience. Both are critical to evolving the IT organisation, as we drive and respond to change.

How many people work in IT in your organisation?

I have approximately 120 staff in my immediate team, but there are many more who work across GE, delivering services that we draw on - so this is too complex to answer meaningfully.

What's your top priority for the next 12 months?

GE announced plans on 25 February to sell its biopharma business to Danaher for USD $21.4bn. The biopharma business, which is part of GE Healthcare's Life Sciences division, generated approximately $3bn in revenue last year. The deal will establish the business as a standalone company within Danaher's existing Life Sciences platform and give it access to additional resources to grow. The sale of GE Healthcare Biopharma to Danaher is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory reviews and appropriate consultation processes, and is expected to be complete by 4Q 2019.

This transition will be my top priority for the next 12 months, working with the team to separate IT for the Biopharma business from the Precision Diagnostics business - the other major part of GE Life Sciences - and from GE Healthcare & Corporate systems, while making sure that our IT continues to support a seamless transition for all GE Life Sciences customers and partners.

What's your annual IT budget?

Confidential.