2023
Senior Managing Director, CIO Strategy & Governance
ASIAN INTERNATIONAL
Teamwork makes the dream work: why I fell in love with collaboration in America
Education: MBA, Finance, Rutgers University; BS, Finance, Temple University Company Name: Webster Bank Industry: Banking Company CEO: John Ciulla Company Headquarters Location: Stamford, CT Number of Employees: 3,500+ Your Location: New York City, NY Words you live by: “...in matters of feeling and of the heart, too much is always better than too little.” – Jose Saramago Who is your personal hero? Slyvester Mobley – classmate, long-time friend and mentor - founder of Coded by Kids. He’s a pillar of Philadelphia’s technology community who inspired and changed the lives and outlook of many including my own. He made me realize the power of individuals and the meaningful positive impact one can have on many. What book are you reading? Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini, PhD What was your first job? I had my first and hardest job in college when I worked as a server at a wedding catering company. Hats off to all who work in the service industry! Favorite charity: Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) Interests/Hobbies: Kayaking, golfing, reading and art enthusiast Family: Mom and Dad
46
2023 Second Quarter
When I was five, a classmate showed me his Parker ballpoint pen and proudly declared that you can drop it from a plane thousands of feet above ground and it would not incur any damage. When I asked him incredulously how that could be possible, he exclaimed, “That’s the power of German engineering!” He did not realize at the time the pen was manufactured in the United Kingdom and the company was founded by an American. What he did realize at the tender age of five was that he wanted to be an engineer. I, on the other hand, had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. My father’s side of the family wanted to see me in politics and my mother’s side saw being a professor as a respectable goal. I wanted to figure it out for myself, so I came to America. The most resounding observation I had when I started my life here was the prevalence of collaboration and teamwork, and how widely it was encouraged in communities, celebrated in schools, and valued at work - often without compromising individuality. This was so different from the competitive pressure I felt amongst my peers back home. When you are part of a team – regardless of the social economic background, ethnicity, and beliefs – you work towards a common goal that unites us all. Teamwork and collaboration have guided me throughout my career. In college, it was a teammate who saw me struggling in literature class and lent me her CliffsNotes so I could keep up with the reading requirements and still make contributions to our project. Some years later, a teammate at work noticed I seemed to gravitate towards systems thinking before I learned its definition and recommended that I venture into project and portfolio management. I did just that and went on to lead projects anywhere from a single user interface development to global enterprise implementations. There were countless times when I was stuck on solving a problem and a teammate offered a different approach, alternative point of view, challenged the underlying assumption or completely changed the way things were done, which ended up driving immeasurable benefits for the organization. Of course, there were hurdles along the way, but when I felt the roadblocks were insurmountable I needed to look no further than the people next me and be reinvigorated by their grit and determination. I draw inspiration and find mentors from my teams for support, guidance, ideas, and resiliency – all the building blocks that led me to my current role as head of IT Strategy and Governance at Webster Bank. I like to think that I am still growing up with endless possibilities ahead, and the journey will be incredible with the amazing people that surround me. My friend with the Parker pen found his way to the states as well and became an engineer just as he envisioned at five years old, except he did not end up working at a German engineering company, but an American one called Apple.
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AWARD
Samantha Yang