The Managers’ Association of Slovenia presented the award for outstanding achievements in the field of management to Martina Perharič, the CEO of Medis. The Artemis Award is dedicated to those female directors who broke the glass ceiling and took over the highest management function within an organization for the first time. Martina Perharič, PhD, has been the CEO of Medis, a company which specializes in marketing of pharmaceuticals and which is the leading company in this field in the Central and Eastern Europe, since January 2018. Before that she was the director of the Pharmaceutical Division for 17 years.
Empowerment of employees comes first
Because the mission of the company is to enable accessibility of new therapies and medical equipment, Martina believes it is priceless that by expanding of the product portfolio they brought the patients in the region many new, innovative medicines which otherwise they would not have access to for many years. But the most important project in her career is the lifelong development of employees and enrichment of their knowledge. It means a lot to her that despite the growing number of employees, they maintain and strengthen the culture of collaboration and teamwork in the company.
Martina Perharič describes her management style as intuitive. In relationships she believes in authenticity and trust. She is a motivator and a visionary, an example to her employees. At the same time she is also demanding, as she constantly wants from her team to work differently and better. She is an active member of the Slovenian Pharmaceutical Society and the Slovenian Marketing Association.
The foundations of work are professional and moral principles
Martina Perharič puts professionality and morality as the foundation works at Medis. The award of the Managers’ Association of Slovenia, the 2019 Artemis Award, is joining the numerous awards of the Medis company: in 2012 they received the Gold Quill Award and the European Emerald Award for the internet application Idejnica. Medis was nominated for the Slovenian Gazelle Award and was placed among the best employers in the Golden Thread contest.
“After Apollo, Artemis goes to the Moon as well”
This is NASA’s statement from the last year. Artemis is a space programme with which they plan on flying towards the Moon again in 2024. The programme was named after Apollo’s twin sister Artemis, as this time they are planning the first woman to walk the Moon. This is only one of the many news that show us that the limits of our progress are actually only in our heads,
said Martina Perharič.
At Medis we admire medical progress and are grateful for many breakthrough therapeutic discoveries. Because we know that diseases, sadly, do not know the limits, we are working hard to remove these limits for medicines as well. This is why I am extremely proud every time when we succeed in convincing a manufacturer to make a new, frequently the only possible medicine, available also to patients in countries of Central and Eastern Europe,15 of which we are now already covering.
We thus like to pride ourselves on the fact that literally everyone with their good work contributes immensely to the good of the patients. Well, it is especially great to work in a company where we can design our own “flights to the Moon”, where we can dare, where it is not important which gender you are, as long as you have a fair head, diligent hands, a clever mind and a good heart. It is thanks to Medis and my field, pharmacy, that I am standing here today, as I am successful in business where I can help multiple times under one roof: on one hand I help the patients and on the other I help the employees.
And it is precisely our employees that I need to thank specifically. For me the biggest success is to see authentic, enthusiastic, exceptional employees how they respect each other, how they push new things forwards on their own, what excellent leaders they are becoming.
I owe one more thank you, and this one goes to men. Recently I went across the pond to a big meeting of the leading people of our industry where practically only men were present. They say that behind every successful man there is a successful woman. But I add and I am grateful that it was precisely this kind of successful men who always supported me and foremost believed in me, because I could only learn and develop from successful, smart, determined men; the first one was my father, a successful businessman. And the founder of Medis, Tone Strnad, enabled me at Medis to strengthen myself as a business woman, a person, as a leader and as a pharmacist.
And at the end compliments to our dear Slovenia. It is my colleagues, especially those from economically less developed countries, who remind me how lucky us Slovenians are. Yes, it is true, and most of us are probably even aware of this fact, but we still do not talk enough about it. I come from a modest family. Here in Slovenia I had excellent schools and good chances of employment, and of course a bit of luck. But foremost it was here, in our beautiful Slovenia, that I could start a family and at the same time as a woman in a leading role help build a successful international company Medis.
I have always worked as best as I could in a given moment, but it was never for the award. I am therefore even prouder of the received Artemis Award as it shows that the broader society also recognized our, my, contribution, hard work, success. I thank the Managers’ Association of Slovenia from all my heart.
About the Artemis Award
The Managers’ Association of Slovenia presents the Artemis Award to female individuals who broke the glass ceiling and took over the highest management function (the position of the director, the CEO or the president of the executive board) in an economic or non-economic company which has more than 50 employees. She needs to be on this function for at least 12 months, and the company which she leads must conduct business with profit. The presentation of this award is only one in the series of steps with which the Association has been trying for years for a more balanced representation of genders in the highest positions in the economy.
