As the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries accelerate their digital transformation, few voices are more attuned to the intersection of strategy, innovation, and execution than Andrés von der Walde, Senior Director of Customer Engagement & Capabilities at Novo Nordisk. Based in Singapore, Andrés brings a rare blend of commercial discipline and human-centric leadership, driving growth through operational excellence, digital enablement, and cultural transformation. At The MarTech Summit Asia, he will take the stage for a Lightning Talk | [Innovation & Experimentation] Designing a Culture of Test-and-Learn for Continuous Growth, where he will explore how to embed experimentation into organisational culture and scale learnings through agile methodologies, leadership alignment, and cross-functional collaboration.
About Novo Nordisk
Novo Nordisk is a leading global healthcare company founded in 1923 and headquartered in Denmark. With a strong legacy in diabetes care, Novo Nordisk also pioneers solutions for obesity, rare diseases, and other serious chronic conditions. The company is committed to driving innovation across clinical, digital, and commercial functions, delivering better health outcomes through data-driven engagement and human-centric transformation.
Quick Q&A with Andrés von der Walde
Could you please give us a quick introduction of yourself?
I am a Senior Director at Novo Nordisk, based in Singapore, focused on bridging the gap between high-level strategy and on-the-ground execution. My leadership is built on deep commercial discipline (Consulting, Strategy, Operations) with the humanistic perspective required to navigate complex cultural landscapes.
My work is structured around three core pillars:
- Forging the Culture (People): Moving teams from a mindset of “maintenance” to one of “creation” by setting high standards and mastery as the baseline for trust.
- Architecting the Blueprint (Strategy): Designing Go-to-Market models that reflect the structural reality of the market, moving beyond generic templates to craft precise strategies like dynamic segmentation and value-based pricing.
- Building the Commercial Engine (Execution): Engineering the operational infrastructure and digital loops that turn strategy into measurable P&L results.
Why did you choose to participate in this summit?
APAC in Pharma is defined by a Velocity Gap: patients and the ecosystem move at digital speed, while Pharma moves at “compliance” speed. I am here to discuss moving beyond the “Innovation Museum”: a collection of static pilots that look good in annual reports but never change the core commercial engine. Too many organizations are trapped in “Pilot Purgatory”: a state of neither life nor death where projects survive on “positive feedback” but never hit the P&L. This creates an illusion of progress while consuming organizational fuel (talent and budget) without generating the kinetic energy to move the enterprise. I am advocating for the Builders who turn experimentation into Industrial Scale.
As AI becomes increasingly embedded in digital platforms, how do you balance efficiency and personalisation with ethical and regulatory responsibilities, especially in healthcare?
Pharma has been paralyzed by a “Compliance Paradox.” For example, for years, out of regulatory fear, we have forced our sales representatives to act as scribes, prioritizing “Safe & Empty” checkboxes over “Risky & Rich” insights. We have effectively sanitized the truth out of our CRM systems, leaving us with data that is compliant but commercially useless.
I am solving this through the “Clean Water” Mandate. We are moving toward Ambient Intelligence: using secure, consent-based audio capture of field interactions where the AI acts as a censor. It flags and sanitizes non-compliant phrasing before it enters the system. We stop asking Reps to be scribes and allow them to be Editors. By treating AI as the “Waze” Navigator for routine data and compliance, we free our human Pilots to focus on the high-stakes, empathetic conversations that actually move the business.
When designing go-to-market strategies, how do you factor in digital experience platforms as enablers of commercial value, rather than just engagement tools?
I view platforms as the source of Process Power. In a landscape where clinical leads are often bridged by competitors, the digital experience platform becomes the Frictionless Bridge to volume. My GTM strategy focuses on architecting a system where the brand becomes the path of least resistance for the HCP. We don’t just “engage”; we engineer Operational Yield. By capturing digital signals to trigger precise human actions, we ensure the digital spend is a structural lever for sustainable P&L health, not just a marketing expense.
As someone who bridges high-level strategy and execution, what excites you most about where the healthcare and pharma industry is heading over the next few years?
We are moving from “Patient Centricity” – a philosophical term – to “Experience Architecture”. The rise of the Active Patient Agent, who hacks their own journey via digital platforms, forces us to rebuild our commercial chassis. We are no longer just selling molecules; we are managing the Entropy of the patient journey. The next few years will reward the Builders who move away from “Pilot Purgatory” and create industrialized, high-speed systems that can compete with the velocity of the modern Asian market.
Andrés challenges traditional views of innovation in healthcare, urging the industry to move beyond short-term pilots toward scalable systems that genuinely shift commercial outcomes. Whether it is reframing AI’s role in compliance, treating platforms as operational engines, or architecting meaningful experience journeys, his perspective is clear, bold, and deeply relevant. As the APAC market continues to evolve at digital speed, leaders like Andrés are pushing pharma beyond “pilot purgatory” and into a future defined by industrialised, patient-led transformation.
The MarTech Summit Asia @ Singapore – The 7th Edition APAC Flagship
Join us on 10 & 11 March 2026 at Raffles City Convention Centre, Singapore! We’re back with the flagship 7th annual edition of The MarTech Summit Asia, set to welcome 500+ attendees. With a powerful format featuring 4 stages over 2 dynamic days, this year’s summit is designed to fuel both strategic vision and tactical execution.
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Last updated: January 2026
