In this episode of Elevate: Women Leading the Way in Pharma Outsourcing, host Marianne Gissane speaks with Jonina Gudmundsdottir, Chief Executive Officer at Coripharma, about building confidence, leading through growth, and creating high-trust partnerships in the global generics market.

Jonina shares her journey from studying pharmacy in Iceland to becoming employee number seven at Medis, where she helped scale the business from €20 million to over €500 million in revenue. Reflecting on her early exposure to registration, marketing, finance and international deal-making, she describes how working in small, agile environments became the foundation for her leadership philosophy. Drawing on her experience in business development, global licensing and now CEO leadership, Jonina offers practical insight into what it takes to lead with clarity, resilience and confidence in a competitive, highly regulated industry.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

How early cross-functional experience can accelerate leadership readiness
Why trust is the true currency in B2B pharma partnerships
What scaling from entrepreneurial growth to global operations really teaches you
Why mixed-gender teams consistently outperform homogeneous ones
How to build confidence and show up powerfully at the negotiation table
The importance of visibility, networking and claiming your ambition early in your career

“You cannot sit and wait for someone to come to you. You have to be noticeable and flag your ambition.” — Jonina Gudmundsdottir, CEO, Coripharma

Jonina Gudmundsdottir is Chief Executive Officer at Coripharma, where she leads the company’s strategic direction, overseeing development, out-licensing and global supply of high-quality generic medicines. With more than two decades of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, she previously spent 16 years at Medis, playing a pivotal role in international expansion, strategic transactions and long-term global partnerships.

Recognised for her commercial acumen and people-centred leadership style, Jonina combines strategic clarity with a strong belief in trust, balanced teams and long-term relationship building as the foundations of sustainable success in pharma outsourcing.