About

Tugabay Ekinli, vice president and associate general counsel legal operations international at GSK believes he has always been very lucky in his career. It was less than a decade ago when he decided to leave his job as a legal manager in a reputable company in Ankara for a temporary contract with Peugeot, Istanbul. Ever since taking that step his career has been on the fast track. He served as the head of legal in Peugeot for one and a half years, until 2007 when he moved to GSK as corporate and legal affairs director. From 2011 to 2012 he served as the general counsel and legal director at 3M and in 2012 he moved back to GSK, where three months ago he was appointed to the role of vice president & associate general counsel. ‘My appointment at GSK legal has been the biggest achievement in my in-house career’, he says. In his current role he has simplified processes within the legal department and he has established best-practice sharing platforms. He is responsible for the legal activities in the MENA region, Commonwealth of Independent States and Russia and he finds the differences within the role as one of the most exciting things about his job: ‘I think it is one of the most complex regions in the world, but also very exciting from a diversity perspective. It is really exciting to see many different countries, cultures, businesses and legal systems. I enjoy recruiting emerging talent from a range of different backgrounds’.