Dr. Dirk Holtkamp

Vietnam TechOps Head, STADA Pymepharco

Dr. Dirk Holtkamp is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive with over 15 years of experience across global operations, quality management, and site leadership. He currently serves as Vietnam TechOps Head at STADA Pymepharco, based in Tuy Hoa, Dak Lak – where he oversees manufacturing operations and drives strategic initiatives to enhance production excellence and market responsiveness.

Dirk began his pharmaceutical career in Quality Control and first joined STADA in 2012. Over nearly 7 years in STADA’s Global Quality function, he built a strong connection with the Vietnam-based STADA Pymepharco, contributing significantly to the site’s successful attainment of its first EU-GMP certification in 2013. After a leadership tenure at MSD, Dirk returned to STADA in 2020 to lead the integration of Vietnamese production facilities into the Group’s global network.

Prior to his current role in Vietnam at STADA Pymepharco, Dirk held multiple senior positions at STADA Group, including Site Head of Bad Vilbel Production Site, Senior Director of Operations Germany, and Managing Director of Mobilat Produktions GmbH. His broad international experience also includes oversight responsibilities as Cluster Head Germany/Austria ad interim.

As a key member of the STADA Pymepharco Executive Committee, Dirk plays a vital role in advancing initiatives that improve operational efficiency – focusing on cost of goods (COG) reduction, inventory optimization, and process excellence. Through close collaboration with ComOps and TechOps teams, he ensures commercial and technical objectives are fully aligned to deliver high-quality medicines to patients in Vietnam and across Europe.

Dirk holds a Ph.D. in Medical and Pharmaceutical Chemistry and a pharmacy degree from Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (Christian Albrecht University of Kiel), with additional academic experience at Flinders University in Australia.

Driven by the site vision “To be the best technical operations organization in the Vietnam pharmaceutical industry, top performance driven by outstanding people,” Dirk continues to leverage his leadership and deep technical expertise to strengthen Vietnam’s role as a manufacturing hub within the STADA Group.