Nichole’s liberal arts and social sciences education is an unlikely foundation for a career in IT. But “life is what happens …while you’re busy making other plans”*. Necessity had her reading user guides and technical manuals to build websites and implement a back-office server for small non-profits. Little did she know it was the start of “being IT”.

In the early-2000s (2000s), Nichole combined communications and stakeholder management skills with some of this early technical exploration and joined Medtronic’s first SAP implementation. During her 15 years there, she was able to work across the globe, touching nearly every business unit, whether it was on SAP transformations, systems integrations and implementations for new Acquisitions, or leading IT for manufacturing operations. Nichole found many ways to continue her IT journey, while learning the Medical Device landscape.

In 2018, she joined Abbott’s Nutrition division as VP IT and moved into a Consumer Package Goods industry, a radically different opportunity. With multiple internal and external partners, the Nutrition IT team worked alongside their business to build capabilities and leverage CRM and commercial technologies, transforming how Nutrition reached customers. Her most recent adventure in Abbott is a move back to the Medical Devices division. With her IT team and partners, Nichole is working to further Abbott’s mission -“Live your best life, now and in the future.”

Nichole holds a BA (with Honors) in Literature from Victoria University of Wellington, and an MS in Learning and Organizational Change from Northwestern University, IL. She still considers herself a “kiwi” from New Zealand but called the US Midwest (MN and IL) home for around two decades. Nichole currently lives in Northern California, with her spouse and the dog she has not met yet.

*https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/05/06/other-plans/. Lennon said it in a song. It was first said by others in the same or a different form.