Speakers :
SVP IT
Medicis
Ralph Loura is Sr. Vice President, Information Technology for Medicis where he is responsible for the company's worldwide use of information technology. In this role, Mr. Loura leads Medicis’ information technology organization and directs the company’s strategic technology initiatives in support of Medicis’ goal of delighting its customers.
Since joining Medicis in 2006, Mr. Loura has been instrumental in transforming the IT organization from a purely service based technical support function to a strong business partner driving value through a myriad of methods including; a successful deployment of the company’s first enterprise class ERP system, (implementing SAP across Finance, Purchasing, Supply-Chain and HR functions), performing vital systems infrastructure improvements, and a series of process improvements designed to enable Medicis’ IT organization to transform its core operations into a strategic competitive advantage for the company.
Prior to joining Medicis, Mr. Loura held a variety of IT executive leadership positions at firms such as Symbol Technologies, Cisco Systems, Lucent Technologies: Bell Labs Research and AT&T Network Systems. Most recently, Mr. Loura served as CIO for Symbol Technologies prior to that company being acquired by Motorola. While in that role he was responsible for overall IT strategy and execution for a $1.7 billion a year enterprise with 5,000+ world wide employees. While at Symbol Mr. Loura led a successful $100 million business transformation initiative which included several large scale SAP implementations, a client services outsourcing initiative, application services and support off-shoring and an enterprise mobility program.
Mr. Loura received a master’s degree in computer science from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s in computer science-mathematics from Saint Joseph's College. Mr. Loura serves on several customer advisory boards, and is involved in furthering the practice of Technology Leadership through a number of CIO councils and peer-based organizations.
Mr. Loura lives in Scottsdale, AZ with his wife and four children.