Pharmafile Logo
  • - PMLiVE
  • - PMLiVE
  • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
  • CommuniquĂ© 53 Cover Image

Inizio strengthens executive team with new leadership appointments

September 24, 2025 |  

Inizio has appointed Mary-Kate McGarry as Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer and Gavin McShera as Chief Information Officer, strengthening its executive leadership to drive innovation, digital transformation, and Intelligent Commercialization™ across the health and life sciences sector.

MK-Gavin-Inizio

We are proud to announce the strategic appointment of two senior executives to our leadership team – advancing innovation, operational excellence, and digital transformation across the organization. 

Joining the Executive Team are Mary-Kate McGarry as Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer and Gavin McShera as Chief Information Officer. These appointments strengthen our ability to deliver Intelligent Commercialization™ – seamlessly connecting science, technology, and human expertise to unlock value across every stage of the health and life sciences journey. 

Mary-Kate McGarry appointed Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer 

Mary-Kate, who served as Vice President, Global & Corporate Strategy since 2022, now joins the Executive Team as Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer. In this role, she will lead corporate strategy, innovation, global marketing, and brand development. 

Since joining Inizio in 2021, following the merger of UDG Healthcare and Huntsworth, Mary-Kate has played a pivotal role in shaping the integrated corporate strategy and aligning strategic priorities across the business. As Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, she will accelerate our Intelligent Commercialization™ approach – harnessing innovation, strategy realization, and AI-driven transformation, with a focus on: 

  • Advancing strategy realization across the Group 
  • Leading Gen AI platform investment and development 
  • Driving colleague enablement and internal innovation 
  • Strengthening global brand positioning and go-to-market alignment 

Prior to joining Inizio, Mary-Kate built a tenured career in management consulting, working with executive teams across healthcare, financial services, and government sectors to lead large-scale transformation and growth programs. 

Gavin McShera joins the Executive Team as Chief Information Officer 

Gavin McShera, who has served as Inizio’s CIO since 2021, now joins our Executive Team. With three decades of global experience in technology leadership across healthcare, retail, finance, aviation, and the public sector, Gavin continues to oversee our enterprise technology strategy, while playing a broader role in shaping organizational leadership. 

As CIO, Gavin oversees our enterprise technology strategy, focusing on: 

  • Driving innovation through scalable tech infrastructure 
  • Enhancing operational efficiency 
  • Leading Inizio’s global cybersecurity strategy 
  • Promoting a culture of data privacy and security awareness 

Before joining UDG Healthcare in 2021, Gavin served as Group CIO at Applegreen PLC and held roles at Microsoft and as an independent consultant. 

A future-focused leadership team 

With these appointments, we reinforce our commitment to being a market-leading, trusted commercialization partner for health and life sciences companies worldwide. At Inizio, we bring together data, technology, and multidisciplinary expertise to simplify complexity, reduce risk, and deliver consistent value across the commercialization journey. 

Learn more about our leadership team.  

This content was provided by Inizio

Company Details

- PMLiVE

Inizio

Email
Website

 Latest Content from  Inizio 

Video: Strategic engagement case study

Supporting the launch of a global vaccine with a programme of market research and strategic insights

Webcast: The virtual patient: How to use AI-powered conjoint to understand complex treatment decisions

Watch to find out how a combination of virtual patients and artificial intelligence can help you to better understand physicians’ decision making processes.

Research Partnership appoints new CEO

Research Partnership has appointed Gareth Phillips to take over as CEO

Infographic: Therapy Watch Hyperlipidaemia

Our latest infographic offers an introduction to the real-world insights collected by our Hyperlipidaemia study.

Article: The rise of the healthcare influencer

In our latest article for Pharmaphorum Deep Dive, we explore the opportunities and benefits for healthcare companies in the online influencer space.

Personalized Oncology: Calling for a New Kind of Partnership:

In the 1990s, biomarkers were the future of personalized medicine and a “lab on a chip” was the holy grail of understanding patient health. As much as past predictions of...

How to elevate your communications testing with AI powered insights and analytics

Learn about a new behavioural science-led framework incorporating AI technologies that ensures you get a true reflection of how your communications materials are consumed and processed by customers

EVOKE STRENGTHENS LEADERSHIP TEAM IN EUROPE TO DELIVER MORE INTEGRATED CLIENT SOLUTIONS

*Corrina Safeio, promoted to Group Managing Director taking on responsibility for Evoke London and Evoke Mind+Matter *Lee Wales, promoted to Deputy Managing Director at Evoke Mind+Matter UK *Holly Ford, promoted...

Infographic: Therapy Watch Psoriasis

Our PsO infographic offers an introduction to the real-world patient insights collected by our Therapy Watch PsO study.

Article: How behavioural economics can help you build better brand communications

For pharma marketers, accelerating brand performance means maximizing return on investment. Your campaigns need to trigger the right emotions, and the right actions, in your audience.