Sherif Sheta is a turnaround CIO and transformational IT leader who believes that technology has become the competitive advantage, not merely an enabler of business objectives. He specializes in understanding the business imperatives and designing IT strategies in alignment with the business objectives. Sherif believes that technology cannot be looked at in isolation of the other aspects of the business and he insists that it needs to be fit for purpose. It is only successful when it works in tandem with business processes, people and culture. He also believes that cloud computing can be leveraged by CIOs to enable the success and security of their businesses and their own.

Sherif has been the CIO for the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) since 2016. He has achieved a near-zero on-premise IT infrastructure by leveraging a Cloud-first IT strategy. This enabled CCRM to focus its IT investments in initiatives that directly increase the company’s agility and competitiveness in its core business of developing Cell & Gene Therapies (CGT). Because of the mostly cloud landscape, CCRM has been able to limit its internal staffing to roles that focus on business applications and not build up internal infrastructure expertise.