What’s your coffee order?

I don’t drink coffee… Yeah… I know… How is it that live in the coffee capital of the world, but don’t drink it? I’m one of those weird ones. Orange juice is always on the cards for me though!

Tell us about your time so far at Northern Health?

Everything is very new to me. I used to work in the recruitment industry, so jumping into health has definitely taken me out of my comfort zone. I love a challenge though, so I’m actually enjoying this time of discovery.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Busy, busy, busy!!!

My calendar is packed with meetings from the moment I sit on my chair in the morning, to the time I leave to go home in the evening. I’m trying to absorb as much information as possible. I’ve been meeting with a lot of people in the hospital and also with my team to get to know them all. That’s pretty much taking all of my time at the moment.

The team is currently working on 29 in-flight projects that will add new functionalities to the hospital and also increase our cyber security. We are dealing with all kinds of activities; from setting up new equipment for our users to digging in the ground to implement new data lines. It is pretty impressive the amount of work these guys push on a daily basis.

How has COVID-19 impacted your work?

I switched from having all my team with me every day to having to have calls over Microsoft Teams, just to know how they were doing. In IT, we are very comfortable working remotely. We do it very often as many of the tasks we do don’t require us to be on-site. But moving from working remotely from time to time to every single day was a bit of a challenge. It’s crazy how much I missed the human interaction with my team when it disappeared from one day to another. On the positive side of things, COVID-19 helped me put things into perspective and adjust my priorities around what matters the most, like my friends and family.

Can you tell us about your career before Northern Health?

I worked in the recruitment industry for over 12 years. I started back in Madrid, Spain which is where I’m originally from. I spent four years there and, after that, my company globalised the IT department and opened positions everywhere in the world. I saw an opportunity I liked in Melbourne, applied for it and got selected to come here. After that, I moved over a few different roles and I ended up being the CIO for ANZ. What a journey!

What would people be most surprised to know about you?

I own a groodle called  Logan. He is a ‘COVID baby’ and demands a lot of attention- but he also reminds me there is life outside work!