About

Meltem Özker Gündüz is the legal affairs and compliance director, managing legal and compliance tasks for Novo Nordisk in the Near East Business Area covering Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Ukraine and Afghanistan. When she first joined the company, Özker Gündüz was the only lawyer covering the diverse Near East area. She conducted organisational reviews and ensured there were teams supporting the business in the affiliate countries, as well as a dedicated legal and compliance manager in the regional office. She expanded the legal department to better correspond to the needs of the local branches and demonstrated great professionalism by utilising customer surveys for feedback that would constantly improve the legal services provided. She expertly handed the Dawn Raid from the Competition Authority in Turkey, closing it with no fines and no further investigation. The organisational excellence of the legal department has been recognised by other external bodies too: ‘we received the Ethics Award given by EDMER, the local Ethics Association in Turkey. This has been awarded three years in a row for our efforts to ensure compliance with local laws and implement ethical standards’ she says. She has represented the company at international conferences examining corruption, local legislation challenges in the Middle East and ways to improve transparency. Meltem has also co-authored an article on developments in the pharmaceutical industry, displaying her wealth of experience in the sectors.