The 30 most innovative ceos to watch dec 2017

www.insightssuccess.com December 2017

T Business Archives Entrepreneurship Fostering in Emerging Markets

Editorial Desk

The way of business solutions

Editor’s Note

Creativity, an Essential Vocabulary in a CEO’s Dictionary

C

reativity - A Wild Mind and a Disciplined Eye.

When you stroll into creative work environment – you can feel it. There is a buzz noticeable all around; the spaces are often energetically unconventional, and people are enthusiastic and locked in.

Some may deduce that purchasing elegantly designed furniture and organizing an easygoing dresscode constitutes as ‘creativity.’ Think once more.

All companies have innovative people and they ought to be encouraged. Be that as it may, there is an imperative refinement between respecting the incidental out-of-the-box idea and cultivating creativity as a way to deal with working together. Promoting a culture of creativity requires sharpening the abilities of perception and development — for the most part the purview of artists and designers — all through your organization and adjusting core systems to strengthen the creative procedure.

To be fair, creativity flourishes in an environment that encourages disciplined chaos. It begins with your imagination; looking at things or situations from different angles; getting rid of your biased blinders and being open to an array of new opportunities. All the necessary tools needed for observation.

The observation process culminates to the phase of invention. Invention stems from an unconcealed group of ideas. This is the part of chaos that comes under the term ‘disciplined chaos.’ A CEO with creative capability will cause his ideas to run along the open fields, across multiple directions; sowing the seeds of innovation along the way.

Pick any successful or trailblazing CEOs from the past or present, you would find that there is consistent theme existing between all of them – Creativity. It is that distinctive quality that allows CEOs to take risks; that enables one to act; it is what empowers others to break past the established patterns and look at things from a different angle. To sum it up, to survive in this day and age of cut-throat competition where the difference maker is innovation, a CEO needs to be creative and let his mind run along the open field.

Hence, herein, Insights Success has curated a list of “The 30 Most Innovative CEOs To Watch, 2017,” who are waving their creative wand to bring-forward the most innovative and disruptive solution to the industry and leaving a benchmark of leadership for emerging CEOs to follow suit.

Our Cover Story features Rob van Egmond, who has led Quintiq to be an industry leader in planning and optimizing the world’s supply chains. The company solves some of the world’s biggest and most complex planning puzzles under Rob’s able leadership.

He mentions that one of the things that made him successful, which also happens to be a key value of Quintiq, is the freedom to pursue what you believe to be the right solution, without continuously asking for permission. As he says, “It might go wrong, but you need to keep moving forward.” This strategy has proven to work well for Rob. As for his role as a CEO, Rob rightly points out “One of the most exciting things about being CEO is being able to dream about the future.”

Also, make sure to scroll through the articles written by our in-house editorial team and CXO Standpoint’s of some of the leading industry experts to have a brief taste of the sector.

Let’s Start Reading!

Sourav Mukherjee

NTS NT E CO

10

Cover Story

A Leader whose Passion for Technology has DeďŹ ned his Path

38

48

64

72

F Stands for Fear of Failure, F Stands for Moving Forward

Instilling Enhanced Moralities to Become a More Inuential Person

Entrepreneurship Fostering in Emerging Markets

What Turns A Person Into CEO

32 Mentor’s Insights

Backend-As-A-Service for Payments-As-A-Service

20 Leading the Charge On Innovative, 1:1 Personalized Marketing at IRI

62 Overcoming Barriers

How To Overcome Obstacles When Starting Young

22 74

The Leader who Grabbed Hold of an Opportunity and Spearheaded towards Success

Expert’s Views

Significance of Predictive Analytics in Salesforce

24 An Experienced CEO Driven to Succeed

28 An Accomplished Business Leader

30

34 A Passionate Trailblazer who believes in breaking the Shackles of Comfort Zone

An Innovation-Driven Entrepreneur Bringing Value to the Customers

36

42 An IP Broadcast Designer Destined to be a Recognized Industry Leader

An Encouraging Medical Technology Leader

44 A Resilient and Tenacious Mind Defining the New Norm of ‘Never Giving Up’

46 A Visionary Who Set Out to Fill the Technological Voids

52

54

The Scientist Harvesting a Dream for a Billion People

56

A Curious Mind that Captured the Unknown with Passion

60

Being an Agent of Change

68 Innovative Leadership that's Paving the Way for Transformation in the Home Services Market

A Born Leader Driving Growth with Insight and Experience

70 An Award-winning Visionary Saving Millions of Lives

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Senior Editor Anish Miller Managing Editor Sourav Mukherjee Executive Editors Jenny Fernandes Kaustav Roy Assistant Editors Brian Smith Ajit Balkawade Visualiser David King Art & Design Director Amol Kamble Associate Designer Vijaykumar Dudhbhate Co-designer Poonam, John Art & Picture Editor Paul Belin Jayant Khanna Senior Sales Manager Abhijeet Mehra Business Development Manager Peter Collins Marketing Manager John Matthew Business Development Executives Steve, Joe, Alan, Shashank Sales Executives David, Kevin, Mark, Rohit Technical Head Jacob Smile Technical Specialist Amar, Pratiksha Digital Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza Online Marketing Strategist Alina Sege, Shubham Mahadik, Vaibhav K SME-SMO Executives Prashant Chauhan, Uma Dhenge, Gemson, Irfan Research Analyst Chidiebere Moses Circulation Manager Robert, Tanaji Database Management Stella Andrew Technology Consultant David Stokes sales@insightssuccess.com

December, 2017 Corporate Ofces: Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754 Email: info@insightssuccess.com For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com

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COVER STORY

Rob van Egmond CEO Quintiq

THE

30CEO MOST INNOVATIVE TO

WATCH 2017

“One of the most exciting things about being CEO is being able to dream about the future.”

s

COVER STORY

F

rom a historical viewpoint, a leader has always been represented as someone in command or in authority; one who issued directives and enforced their execution from a presiding position, all the while dispensing wisdom, rewards and discipline. But advancing years coupled with evolving technologies and ideology, has changed this perception of a leader, from a business perspective. Today, leadership revolves around a timeless practice of guiding others towards the pursuit of a common goal, outcome or a desired conclusion. One such position or role, where leadership is of paramount importance, is that of a CEO. The Chief Executive Officer shoulders the responsibility of leading the development and executing the longterm objectives of a company.

Using technology to solve problems When it came time to further his education, Rob was undecided about which field of study to enter. After meeting with the Dean and expressing the desire to take on the most challenging courses the university had to offer, Rob was left with a choice between theoretical physics and operations research. Rob chose operations research, which he describes as using technology to solve problems, and the choice would prove to present him countless challenges and opportunities throughout his career.

The start of a new journey After being introduced to Quintiq during its startup years, Rob met with its leaders and founders and realized that the vision and direction of the company aligned with his strengths and passion for solving puzzles using technology. Rob’s first project as a Quintiq specialist was with Jan de Rijk Logistics, which remains one of Quintiq’s longtime customers.

Throughout his journey at the company, Rob’s focus was on making sophisticated technologies useful to the business world. He was instrumental in closing key deals, opening new market opportunities, and identifying valuable growth for its clients. In 2015, Victor Allis, a founder and CEO of Quintiq at the time, named Rob as his successor.

With an unfaltering drive for success, Rob van Egmond is one such individual who is leading the way for his company to stand tall among its contemporaries. His inherent passion for technology and the power of IT led him to become the CEO of Quintiq, which strives to solve some of the world’s biggest and most complex planning puzzles.

An early introduction to technology Growing up, Rob’s interest for technology and anything related to it stemmed from an office computer his father brought home. The computer came with a manual that explained all the rules of the programming language BASIC. He started going through the entire manual and developed an extraordinary interest for the power of technology. Soon after, at the age of 10, he was able to program and rebuild Pacman on that very same office computer. Thus began a lifetime of programming, even writing programs for his teachers in school to use for courses.

Up next, Rob worked in emergency services, where he developed software to help emergency service departments to dispatch the right ambulances and the right police vehicles. “It was basically an assignment puzzle.” Rob followed up that position by joining Quintiq where his career has expanded over the past 15 years.

Life after University Straight out of University, Rob took a position that required him to use mathematics to solve puzzles in the advertising market. He created software to assess how many people would see an advertisement, if it was placed between two specific television programs, or if it was placed into a magazine. Rob wholeheartedly used his programming skills to analyze advertising placements. After some time, he was ready for his next challenge.

Talking about his journey at Quintiq, Rob mentions, “It has been very interesting watching the expansion of the diversity of markets and I enjoy meeting with companies around the globe and working towards solving their puzzles and helping them achieve their goals.” Rob has armed himself with the vision, strategy and management team to lead Quintiq as it continues to grow in an ever-changing market.

Don’t wait for someone else’s permission Rob likes to impart his philosophy of asking for forgiveness instead of for permission when faced with challenges and difficult decisions. “What that

I think for me, the most important trait a leader must have is honesty. But I also think it is important for a leader to have an unrelenting drive to make their company the best.

really means to me is that you must take initiative. Do what you feel is right.”

He mentions that one of the things that made him successful, which also happens to be a key value of Quintiq, is the freedom to pursue what you believe to be the right solution, without continuously asking for permission. As he says, “It might go wrong, but you need to keep moving forward.” This strategy has proven to work well for Rob. Quintiq – Transforming supply chain planning and optimization Since its inception, Quintiq has set the standards in the area of supply chain planning and optimization. The company has reshaped the paradigm by providing software that is a 100% fit to a customer’s needs. Users of other solutions have had to make do with an 80% fit which required users to adjust their processes to the software, instead of the other way around. Quintiq’s first customer is still using the software as

COVER STORY

are more than 95% of all customers. This stands as a testament to the flexibility of the software.

Leveraging the flexibility of Quintiq Being the CEO of a growing company in an ever-changing industry is a challenge that Rob relishes. Rob feels that what makes him unique and successful in his current role is his wide-array of interests and his innate curiosity. Many CEOs only focus on one or two industries. Because of the flexibility of Quintiq’s software and the diversity of its client base, Rob has the opportunity to meet with companies across a wide spectrum of industries. “In a month, I can have meetings with a steel company talking about hot charging, a protein processing company focusing on demand forecasting and carcass optimization, an airline for crew planning, an oil refinery for pipeline scheduling or a retailer trying to optimize their back haul opportunities,” he points out, “And I can say with confidence that Quintiq is the tool to solve all of their puzzles, no matter the complexities.”

“There is no planning puzzle we can’t solve, no business operation we can’t optimize.”

Learning about different industries, what makes each company unique, and the specifics of their planning puzzles, never gets old for Rob. “I guess it is that same curiosity that made me investigate my dad’s computer when I was eight and has defined my direction ever since,” he adds.

Qualities and challenges of a CEO Rob believes that the most important characteristic for any CEO is their unfaltering drive for success coupled with the ability to listen to others. In regards to challenges, he states

that one of the most pressing challenges for a CEO is “Balancing innovation, empowerment and risk taking, with growth targets and regulatory requirements and reporting.

“I have a core belief that taking risks, along with making some mistakes is necessary for innovation so I prioritize keeping this all in balance.”

Change is Good!

There is often a natural tendency among people to think of change as bad. To the contrary, Rob thinks of change as something good, meaning change like a new market, a new organizational structure, or a sense of new leadership. “Of course too much is too much, but generally change is good.”

Over the last 20 years of Quintiq’s existence, there has been a significant change in terms of demand and rising individualism of consumers, which Rob explains as “…they want more of their product at their convenience and in their specifications.” This has put a significant strain on companies to be more agile, reactive, and to have a larger set of SKUs, while at the same time reducing costs. For Quintiq, the prevalence of change has been nothing less than great. “We have not been challenged by the change in consumer behavior. We have actually embraced that. This change that has happened over the last 20 years is precisely what our software is designed to address.”

The road ahead “I think we are on a path, I would say, to become the number one supply chain planning and optimization brand in the world. We set that as a goal and I see the momentum carrying through in 2018,” Rob mentions. Today, the market is ever-changing and complex, and Quintiq is ready to take on the challenge. In the coming years, with the burgeoning support from its parent company, Dassault Systèmes, Quintiq is slated to expand into unexplored market areas, thereby accelerating the adoption of its unique technology into those markets. Rob envisions Quintiq, in the next three years, to become the largest company focused on supply chain planning and optimization.

Advice to budding and emerging entrepreneurs “I would say that if you’re convinced of your idea and your ability to deliver, then go and do it independent of what anyone might say otherwise. There will always be people in the way that will tell you not to do it and that it won’t work.

Do listen carefully to everyone, but if you’re convinced, don’t be dissuaded and move boldly forward,” Rob concludes.

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Quintiq Quintiq.com

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Andrew Appel:

Leading the Charge On Innovative, 1:1 Personalized Marketing at IRI

W

ith today’s media consumption fragmenting at an unprecedented pace, marketers can choose from any number of exciting new platforms to reach their audience, but consumers are being inundated with an endless stream of random ads and promotions. IRI, a leading big data, analytics and insights firm, argues that companies need to become more personalized and precise in how they communicate with consumers and measure how their communications impact consumer behaviors and sales over time. IRI President and CEO Andrew Appel, one of our 30 Most Innovative CEOs to Watch, recognized that the complexity of the advertising ecosystem was creating messaging chaos – companies were spending hundreds of billions of dollars on ads that were poorly targeted, irrelevant and annoying to consumers.

To combat this problem, IRI launched the Personalization Suite, a game-changing capability that enables companies to target their marketing and promotions on a more granular, personalized level. The Suite’s three core solutions are layered on top of IRI’s unparalleled trove of data assets and can optimize the effectiveness of advertising spend on sales by up to 70 percent. “The answer is personalization,” Appel told Insights Success. “At IRI, we are helping companies reach the people who are most interested in their messaging and most likely to buy their products,” said Appel.

or guiding them through new product or market planning, IRI aims to turn data into unique consumer insights that lead to actions.

In turn, IRI leaders are experts in understanding the ways in which the consumer experience is evolving and creating capabilities to help clients navigate it. IRI’s Appel is at his best in the company’s innovative, forward-looking culture – his deep leadership and advisory experience was honed in environments where data-driven decision making and innovation were valued. Appel joined IRI from Aon, where as Chief Operating Officer he led the team responsible for the $5 billion acquisition and integration of Hewitt, solidifying Aon’s leading position in human resource consulting and outsourcing. Earlier in his career, Appel was a senior partner at McKinsey and Company. As a founding member of McKinsey’s Global Business Technology and Operations Practice, Appel led the practice as it grew from 50 to 300 consultants.

This combination of vision, forward thinking and deep industry expertise is critical for IRI, a company at the nexus of raw data, advanced technological analysis and actionable insights.

The launch of the IRI Personalization Suite demonstrates Appel’s mission to help IRI’s clients navigate a dynamic and changing consumer landscape. Since Appel joined IRI in 2012, the company has transformed into a leading technology-focused big data insights provider, helping consumer packaged goods, over-the-counter health care organizations, retailers, financial services and media companies grow their businesses.

Collaboration is Key At IRI, collaboration is one of the company’s core values.

Appel and his team are dedicated to working closely with a range of industry and retail leaders to deliver joint solutions, services and access to capabilities, and in turn, expand the breadth of data and insights IRI provides its clients. As a result, IRI clients have unprecedented access to real-time analysis of granular retailer data at scale, which gives marketers a new level of precision and accuracy in advertising.

Leading One of the Original Innovators in Big Data Whether analyzing how to make clients’ assortment, pricing and promotions more profitable, tailoring media strategies,

“IRI’s expansive Partner Ecosystem is one of our greatest assets,” Appel says. “We are differentiated by our state-ofthe-art technology and capabilities, powered by industry

20

December 2017

“

As IRI’s President and CEO, my goal is to ensure that our

organization remains relentlessly

relevant to our clients by leveraging the best and the brightest minds and the most advanced technologies to not only detail how consumer behavior has

Andrew Appel

will change in the future

President & CEO IRI

partnerships with companies like Adobe, comScore, Experian, GfK and Kantar Shopcom, and our unparalleled trove of data assets, harvested in collaboration with several of the world’s top retailers, including Ahold USA and Delhaize America, The Kroger Co., Rite Aid, and Walgreens Boots Alliance.”

Appel’s tremendous momentum in signing up retail partnerships shows no signs of slowing down. IRI recently announced major strategic partnerships with Ahold USA, Delhaize America, and Boots UK, three leading retailers with over 4,400 combined stores. IRI is now the preferred partner of choice for 7 of the top 10 global retailers.

Leadership for a “Re-startup” IRI describes itself as a “re-startup” in that, despite its 35year history, it is both technologically advanced and nimble.

Maintaining that momentum across a global organization takes strong leadership, and, Appel believes, a leader who encourages forward thinking, sets the pace for continuous innovation, and leads by example. “At IRI, we have consistently pushed the boundaries of data science and explored new frontiers, but keeping up that momentum and drive to compete with our own best work can be challenging,” Appel says. “It would be easy to rest on our laurels, but I try to model the high energy, flexibility and

December 2017

market awareness that companies focused on innovation need to succeed.”

Positioning IRI for Continued Success In the midst of historic changes in consumers’ buying behaviors, driven by an explosion of technology and new media formats, one of the most acute issues that IRI’s clients face is the impact of marketing campaigns.

Confident that the shift toward personalized marketing is key for CPG and OTC healthcare companies, Appel attests that “as the dynamic marketing environment continues to evolve, IRI will carry on leading the charge toward 1:1 personalized marketing with unmatched data, proprietary algorithms, leading technology and groundbreaking solutions.” In the years to come, Appel and his team will continue to provide clients with a roadmap to navigate the changing consumer landscape, and the Company will continue to push boundaries in the insights and analysis space to help their clients achieve growth.

21

“

changed, but also predict how it

Arnold Donald: S

tanding at the edge of his retirement phase and working tirelessly for Carnival Corporation for 12 long years, Arnold was all but assured how the rest of his corporate life will pan out at the company. But then the CEO and Chairman of the world’s largest cruise company, Micky Arison, decided to roll out an unanticipated offer on the plate for Arnold. And, thus, began the second chapter of Arnold’s fascinating corporate journey. Though his decision to accept the offer was wrapped with reluctance at first, Arnold Donald eventually realized the significance of the opportunity, and since then he hasn’t looked back.

The Spark that Ignited Fire Arnold learned early on about the importance of education, planning, and hard work. His entrepreneurial journey stemmed from his childhood years, wherein he bought candy’s in bulk quantities and sold them to his older sister at a large markup. By earning multiple degrees, including an MBA, Arnold grabbed the opportunity to work for Monsanto Company, a global manufacturer of the sweetener brands Equal and Canderal. His 20 years at the company culminated in running its largest division and spearheading it towards success.

Following his role as the Chairman of Merisant Company, Arnold served as the CEO of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and then the Executive Leadership Council in Washington D.C. Never to shy away from responsibilities, the passionate businessman served as the member of multiple boards, both for-profit and non-profit organizations. Arnold prioritized his passion to pursue a

22

The Leader who Grabbed Hold of an Opportunity and Spearheaded towards Success

career in business early on, leading him to scale unimaginable heights in his corporate career. He mentions “...I believe we really enjoy what we’re doing when one follows their dreams.”

Grabbing Hold of Opportunities When Micky Arison decided to split the role of Chairman and CEO and offered him to serve as the CEO of the company, Arnold had to ponder over the opportunity for a couple of days. Today, Arnold mentions how he would have regretted if he hadn’t taken up this job as his experience has been anything less than incredible thus far.

“I’m honored that Micky has entrusted me with the company that he and his father built over several decades.

It is a lot of fun to work with such passionate employees who take the responsibility of delivering a great vacation very seriously,” Arnold asserts. One of Arnold’s passion revolves around exploring and discovering the world and meeting new people and gaining new perspectives, one which he is able to do in his role as the CEO of Carnival Corporation. The company creates great vacation experiences for their guests, which would be etched forever in their minds - “is there any better business than that?”

A Company with an Extraordinary Portfolio With a dedicated 120,000 workforce, Carnival Corporation is the world’s largest leisure travel company. Its vast and passionate employee base, spread across 100 countries and above, are focused upon exceeding guest expectations and providing travellers around the globe with extraordinary

December 2017

“I’m a firm believer that you will never have all the answers, but if you ask the right questions to your customers, in our case our guests, and of your employees, and truly listen, then the answers will reveal themselves” — Arnold Donald CEO Carnival Corporation

vacations at an exceptional value, every single day. The company boasts a portfolio of 9 global cruise brands plus a social impact brand, including well-known, iconic cruise lines in North America – Carnival Cruise Line, Cunard, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Seabourn.

Together, Carnivals’ global brands operate a fleet of more than 100 ships, visiting over 700 ports around the world and are providing nearly 12 million guests annually with extraordinary cruise vacations.

It is Arnold’s professional goal to do everything in his ability to help its dedicated employees exceed the guests’ expectations and provide them with the best vacations in the world.

Arnold claims, “If we can continue to do that, our employees will be successful, our guests will be highly satisfied and want to cruise more often, and we will entice more travelers to try cruising for the first time, which will help drive our ongoing performance.”

Fostering Diversity of Thinking A key value throughout Arnold’s career has been fostering the idea of

December 2017

“diversity of thinking.” He believes having an organized workforce centered-around a common objective, irrespective of their differing background and cultural experiences, enables creativity and innovation to flourish. The company’s focus on diversity of thinking drives innovation, which in turn creates new opportunities to continuously exceed guest expectations and expand its business.

Overcoming Complacency and other Challenges With the world quickly evolving with new and emerging innovations and approaches, which are disrupting business models and creating new forms of competition and sometimes entirely new market, one needs to have the ability to look around the corners and continually innovate to stay competitive. This means avoiding complacency and always looking for new ways to achieve your goals.

Arnold advises aspiring entrepreneurs to go after what they are passionate about in life and never be afraid to dream big. He continues, “Challenges will come throughout your career, but

if you are doing something you love, you will have the strength and resolve to overcome issues – and you will have more fun along the way!”

The Future of Continual Expansion Carnival Corporation will continue to innovate around its guest experience and use its brands and global reach to serve its guests better. The passion of its employees in providing its guests with extraordinary vacations has been a key highlight behind the company’s remarkable success and performance.

It is this passion and spirit of Carnival’s employees which is driving and will continue to drive its business forward.

Arnold has instilled a culture of innovation across the organization by collaborating together, learning from each other, and taking advantage of the strong diversity of thinking across the company. “Our ability to continue to drive innovation with our employees will be the key to staying competitive, growing the business and taking a larger share of the overall vacation market,” Arnold concludes.

23

Brock Philp: An Experienced CEO Driven to Succeed

P

ossessing over 15 years of experience in leading multiple industry-specific software companies, Brock Philp is one of the leading transformational CEOs in the software industry. His contributions and efforts as the CEO of Newforma bolstered performance and rebalanced the company while also further solidifying his position as a pioneering leader – a CEO to watch in the B2B technology world. His journey is inspiring. He was only 24 years old when he looked after profit and loss at a company while also pursing his MBA degree taking night classes at the University of Toronto.

Philp shifted in his career path and became an account manager responsible for selling enterprise software to telephone companies. During this job Philp discovered his interest in the business of software, the field he chose to advance his career.

The Start of Something Big While speaking at a business school event, Philp was approached after the presentation by the CEO of Constellation Software, a provider of software and services to vertical markets. Philp was introduced to the business of vertical markets and a recurring revenue model, and life was never the same again. From there, Philp went on to become the CEO of a company that provided software to private clubs such as golf courses, yacht clubs, and dinner clubs. Since then, Philp held several CEO positions at various software companies focused on vertical markets

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Brock Philp CEO Newforma

I’m the CEO who can identify opportunities for organizations and their employees and I work hard with the team to realize those opportunities

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with recurring revenue, eventually joining Newforma.

A Company Dedicated to Improve Project Delivery Newforma is the building and infrastructure industry’s leading project information management (PIM) software company, dedicated to improve project delivery, mitigate risk and reduce firms’ administrative workload. The company pioneered the PIM software category in 2004. To date, more than 1,500 architecture, engineering, and construction companies have used Newforma software on more than 3 million projects across the world.

Newforma provides Project Center and Project Cloud for Construction software. According to Philp, “Our software eases collaboration and simplifies the organization, distribution and access of critical project information (e.g. emails, RFIs and submittals, etc.) while maintaining a full audit trail.” The company integrates information from design, construction, and owner’s teams and provides markup and review tools, which help in saving time while mitigating risk. The software differentiates itself from every other solution in the marketplace by connecting project information silos, indexing data where it resides and managing email; this mitigates risk, promotes best practices, maximizes profitability, and enhances the reputation of the customer.

Jump off a Cliff and Assemble a Plane on the Way Down Philp firmly believes to be a successful CEO, one needs to be willing and able to honestly self-analyze and also surround themselves with the right people. A CEO who thinks that they know everything will fail to get the

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most out of their people and will, most likely, either fail or seriously underperform.

Speaking about the challenges, Philp mentions, “…there is an incredible amount of data available today to digest, and it is coming at an incredibly fast pace. It is a challenge today to sort through that information to determine what is relevant to the business.”

Knowing your Vision and Being Confident About it A few years ago, Philp decided to buy a software company back from institutional investors using private investors. During this time, he realized that there were employees who believed strongly in the company and wanted to invest. According to Philp, these were employees, not savvy investors with cash on hand to make investments. Some needed to decide with their families to make the investment as it would involve mortgaging their home. This was the moment when Philp got a wider-lens perspective of the duty, power, and responsibility of a CEO. For any CEO, he mentions, perseverance is of utmost importance.

It is important to stay motivated, even while facing obstacles, distractions and negative people. Following that, is having a can-do attitude. “Your attitude will affect others and encourage them as well.” The third key value is being honest with yourself and others around you. “Decide what you’re good at, and let others handle the parts they’re good at.” And finally, it is important to have a vision for the end game. “The end game is what you’re trying to accomplish in your career and for the company at the time.

Know what you want that vision to be and be confident in it.”

Thinking about Tomorrow While Being Focused on Today Over the past few years, Newforma has been largely North American-centric in its thinking. Although the company has global offices and global clients, it has been limiting its operations by thinking only of the needs of its clients from the North American perspective. In the next two years, Newforma will develop a global mindset. This would require a cultural change for the company, where it incorporates global needs into all its decisions.

Newforma will also be creating a global support organization with common service level agreements across all locations; as well as sending more of its employees to overseas locations and having the overseas employees to spend time in America.

This will help them understand the needs of its clients better and develop a global organization that solves client problems. To conclude, Philp mentions “Finally, our account management group will better understand the indepth global operations of our customers’ current businesses and future plans, and will grow with them globally.”

Don’t Quit!

I would tell new entrepreneurs that failing doesn’t mean you’re a failure.

Things rarely go right the first time. I would also tell them to get an experienced mentor at the outset. Find someone who has experience taking ideas from concept to commercialization, and not someone who only focuses on sales, marketing, finance or some combination of these areas. You want someone who can help you from start to finish. Finally, I’d like to tell them, “Don’t quit!”

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DEEPAK MITTAL: An Accomplished Business Leader

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he concept of entrepreneurship is in constant flux.

Innovation and research adds to a growing knowledge base which organizations are leveraging to innovate while remaining true to their missions. While any entrepreneur can launch a business, successful entrepreneurship is an ongoing process where profit is the reward for addressing uncertainty and coordinating resources.

The Founder and CEO of xtLytics, Deepak Mittal, is one such accomplished entrepreneur with a proven track record in strategy development, business intelligence, and business development.

Early in his career, Deepak developed large scale software products and build complex algorithms for a number of Fortune 500 clients in healthcare, finance, retail and other industries. Academically, he has a strong background in engineering and data analytics, having graduated from IIT, which is a historically competitive institution. After receiving an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York City, he found himself in the heart of Silicon Alley. He is proud that a number of his peers are leading Fortune 500 companies today.

“Fate loves the fearless,” is Deepak’s favorite quote and it has served him well in moments of self-doubt, especially in the early stages of xtLytics He is supremely fortunate to be surrounded by a competent, devoted and cohesive team in both business and software development.

He says, “It’s the people in our organization that meet the ultimate challenge of disrupting industries and unseating incumbents one day at a time. My goal is to make xtLytics the analytics company of choice for healthcare, life sciences, insurance and marketing and possibly also other industries into which we’re currently considering expanding.”

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Delivering Fast and Uncompromising Services xtLytics currently offers predictive analytics for the healthcare, life sciences and insurance industries, all powered by modern, machine learning algorithms. Some of the company’s noteworthy clients are Columbia University, Promius Pharma, Novartis, and Tufts Medical Center.

Along with predictive analytics, xtLytics also provides powerful data visualization tools that assist and simplify the decision-making process at every level. Their architecture is flexible enough to be easily integrated into existing infrastructure without disrupting business operations, i.e.

‘Analytics on Demand.’ xtLytics knows they don’t have to settle - not only do they have access to more data sources and bundles than other similar companies, but also superior, self-iterative statistical and machine learning methods. These relatively new data mining methods have been statistically proven to extract significantly better signal, lift and, ultimately, deliver superior actionable insight.

The company’s clients demand quick, concrete and monetizable insights; xtLytics is able to deliver them faster than its competitors.

The Pivotal Moment The convergence of Big Data, cloud computing, machine learning, and data mining methods created the perfect storm. The world of analytics was thrust into a new era.

Having worked with demanding clients for over 20 years and anticipating the challenges of the future, Deepak felt that he was at an inflection point, and ready to ride the wave into the future.

Already familiar with various IT architecture designs, he came up with a model that could easily integrate into almost any legacy system while making the best use of data and offering quick, actionable, unparalleled insights.

The product/market fit was validated relatively quickly for

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the company. Brand name client adoption followed and that is the most reassuring market signal an entrepreneur can hope for.

The Role of a Good CEO According to Deepak, a good CEO should have vision and pragmatism. Ability to look beyond the ‘second bounce of the ball’, into the future that pushes the frontiers of human ingenuity and through pragmatism reverse-engineer his way to the present and then transform that vision into a concrete product. Deepak believes that humility and sensitivity are critical for a successful calibration of these two elements.

Deepak Mittal Founder & CEO xtLytics LLC

“The most pressing challenge is time, also known in our world as ‘shelf life’. The half-life of tech products is getting exponentially shorter. Few companies and CEOs fail because of a lack of funding or incompetent teams, but many do because they can’t deliver the promised future fast enough. This is especially true in our industry where Big Data makes the future constantly available and yet cannot be converted into insights fast enough. I’m proud to say that we’ve been able to meet this challenge better than many larger, better-funded competitors,” he says.

Management is Part Art and Part Science Deepak says that it takes a lot to push him outside his emotional bandwidth. His even-temper has served him well, especially in the beginning when pressure was high, certainty low and the competition grew quickly as addressable markets expanded.

His calm, controlled attitude seeps into other layers of the organization, setting the tone for companywide interactions.

He doesn’t like to micromanage and says that ‘Management is part art and part science’. This approach hasn’t disappointed him so far.

Advice to the Budding Entrepreneurs Deepak is an inspiration to budding entrepreneurs. His advice to them is simple, yet hard to initiate.

He says, “Whenever you’re bogged down by mind-numbing pressure, doubts and fears, get out of your head! Let space seep in between your thoughts! Sounds simple but it’s harder than it sounds. Reach out to friends, children, and people whose paths you wouldn’t necessarily cross as part of your routine. Listen to a violin concerto. I find that these things can change your thought process in unexpected ways

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We help you gain profitable insights from your healthcare and insurance data using our proprietary AI models.

to build that much-needed sensitivity. It’s that sensitivity that makes you aware of subtle, yet imminent changes, fostering new trends and opening up new markets. That’s how innovative companies are born.”

Creating the Future Deepak is always willing to delve into new markets, and brings that trait to xtLytics. The company seeks to unseat incumbents by challenging their arcane models, and to give clients greater control over their own data, while retaining its trademark flexibility and nimble structure.

Deepak empowers his team members and expects them to take full ownership of the end product while reminding them that, ‘There are no passengers on this ship. We’re all crew!’

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Dr. Michael Bertini An Innovation-Driven Entrepreneur Bringing Value to the Customers

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entrepreneurial plunge and, over three decades of persistence, built his own software company.

hange is inevitable. And depending on how you approach it, it can be disruptive or extremely rewarding. To understand disruption in the businesses, one first needs to consider some broader scale changes. A statistical survey shows that, about five decades ago, the average lifespan of a Fortune 500 company was about 60 years. While in 2010, this lifespan decreased to 18 years. Based on statistical analysis, it is estimated that by 2020, three quarters of today’s Fortune 500 companies will no longer exist. Influencing factors driving these disruptions include access to technology, increasing customer expectations (driven by native digital experiences customers meet every day) and a spike in competition from digital native companies that move swiftly to meet customer needs. Promoting a culture of innovation in order to survive in the constantly changing business world is a tenacious leader by the name Dr. Michael Bertini.

The team believes in one basic rule: Get more from your information and you will get more from your business.

Michael emphasizes an understanding of the “user”; helping them with their needs, creating enhanced customer journeys, and helping them to define and utilize TRAVERSE to best fit their needs.

Because he has built a team where the members truly enjoy their work, Michael is confident about the continuing growth of the company through new challenges and opportunities for his employees.

About Michael’s Entrepreneurial Journey As the CEO of Open Systems, Inc. and ProcessPro, Michael Bertini is passionate about fostering a culture that places the customer first.

Bias is the Biggest Challenge to Innovation When businesses and institutions are under pressure to change or innovate, their focus is on people rather than process. They often fail because change and innovation are stifled by cognitive bias. Michael believes that this bias is the biggest challenge to innovation and that creating the right business environment might be the key to changing this.

Michael started his career as a manufacturing engineer in Australia and New Zealand but soon realized he was more interested in technology than engineering. He took the

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Michael saw the need for industry-specific customized ERP solutions that streamlined business processes and provided timely information for critical business decisions. He acquired and took direction of ProcessPro to advance that vision.

ProcessPro develops, sells, implements and supports complete ERP software solutions for companies that execute batch process manufacturing in highly-regulated industries, particularly food, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cannabis, and chemical processing.

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Don’t lose track of the customer; make decisions based on what they need, not what you are comfortable with Dr. Michael Bertini CEO ProcessPro

In a technology company, it is easy to be biased towards the technology your teams understand and with which they are comfortable. Michael advises, “Don’t lose track of the customer; make decisions based on what they need, not what you are comfortable with”. He focuses on getting a broad scope of responses and feedback by reaching out to both existing and potential customers. Simply put, customer-driven innovation always works.

As an entrepreneur, Michael believes in identifying and siezing the opportunities present in the every environment.

“Lead, innovate, motivate, compete, be compassionate, thrive on winning, integrate, avoid bias, don’t take no as an answer unless it makes sense… and remember that it’s trash until its cash,” he adds.

Michael as a Leader Michael takes a strong personal interest in the success of the customers. His team’s primary objective is to help clients to succeed, become more productive and transform their organizations.

He believes that organizations need the right information, provided efficiently to the right people at the right time, to pro-actively adapt to their markets. His vision is to invest and grow vertically-oriented businesses like ProcessPro that can provide significantly more value to customers than a more generic “one size fits all” ERP solution.

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Michael makes sure that the products he offers do not only give one of the best returns on investment in the marketplace to his clients, but also deliver a framework in which any investment a client makes today in adapting the solution is retained with future upgrades. By linking functionally-richer vertical solutions, deep vertical domain expertise and a shared investment in adaptable core technologies and platforms, Michael believes he can promote his customers’ success in a way that few other ERP systems can.

Foreseeing Innovation and Growth Michael is certain that his ventures will expand to at least twice their size in terms of turnover, client base, etc. – need to be a bit more specific what is doubling here in the coming years.

This will entail a significant increase in hiring, transformation and investment, as well as incessant innovation. Michael asserts, “I see myself as a change agent for our organization and our thousands of customers.

I enjoy watching our employees and clients grow as a result of our solutions and practices.”

Innovation is at the core of ProcessPro. The company is set to constantly evolve and optimize its products to best meet the needs of customers and the industries it serves.

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Backend-As-A-Service for Payments-As-A-Service T

he growth of the Fintech ecosystem brought with it an influx of Payment Service Providers (PSP).

These new arrivals are changing the way the industry is serving and interacting with its customers.

Growth Triggers Fresh Challenges

It doesn’t matter if you are a B2C or a B2B company, you are now facing a more informed, savvier Customer/Merchant who is looking not just for the best pricing but for the best value for their money.

This evolution of the customer required the service provider to evolve as well, simply to keep up. Providers have had to consider additional services as part of their value proposition – not always an easy task for companies with limited resources and legacy systems.

At Coriunder, we have been focused on the PSP-As-AStartup (PAAS) approach, where the PSP is changing their strategy and allocating their budgets to become more competitive with newer, more agile providers; this led to another PAAS approach. This one has been around for a while but wasn’t considered as an alternative; PaymentsAs-A-Service. This option paves the way for white label gateway providers that have been enabling the quick setup of a Payment Service Provider without the need of a large technical team and the security certifications that come with it.

The majority of providers are focusing on the large network of acquiring banks and alternative solutions instead of on the flexibility needed for the PSP to build his client base.

But it’s not just about the payments.

Our Solution for the PAAS Dilemma

The market became more accessible to young, fresh brands offering agile and innovative approaches to payments.

Many veteran players have been left to follow their lead or risk losing business. Customers today are looking for faster onboarding, fewer questions and more services offered instantly, from “one-click-checkout” to the ability to login with social networks and even easy ways to share expenses on the go.

Our approach is slightly different; we built a BAAS (Backend-As-A-Service) model that gives our clients tools to manage Customers (Card holders/Users), Merchants, Affiliates and even their own employees. This provides our clients with a way to build apps and services as part of their offering and to manage the billing and “standard” services all within one, PCI Level 1 certified, management suite.

Square Gets it Right Payment Service Provider Square is an excellent example of a PSP who acted quickly to respond to customer demand.

Square started out with their card reader and MPOS, then quickly expanded their services to ecommerce, scheduling and many more options designed to help SMBs (Small Medium Business) expand and scale their own enterprises.

Square’s ease of use has helped thousands of merchants improve revenues and take control of their day to day activity.

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This approach made Payments an “Add-on” to the PSP’s service and not the main service; we see some clients expanding our Merchant Management Portal to allow scheduling and invoicing. Other users are building risk and fraud tools to extend the KYC checks and transactions monitoring they have in place.

We serve as a hub that provides the PSP with the options they need to integrate to every service provider they wish to. Together, they can create intuitive workflows that better December 2017

Mentor’s Insights

Eliad Saporta

Managing Director Coriunder serve their business logic.

BAAS and Fraud Prevention An evolution of a customer comes hand in hand with the evolution of the “Fraudsters.” In many cases, the PSP is left exposed on both fronts; they need to both cater to the customer and combat fraud. Clients adopting BAAS are using the Backend solution to manage both transactions and customers, so they now have the ability to integrate Risk and Fraud tools. In many cases, they can even build their own custom tools to define workflows that help them better mitigate risk and more effectively fight chargebacks and fraud.

We see the struggles of our customers as a shared challenge, so we offer a C2C (Client-to-Client) integration as part of the core functionality, brands can help one other find solutions more quickly. With C2C integration, additional revenue streams can be established, as clients developing new services or expanding to new territories can assist one another with growth and opportunity.

we learned that the PSP market was in dire need of a service like ours. We are now serving Payment Service Providers globally, with partners based in Hong Kong, the United States, Cyprus, Malta, Costa Rica and more. By addressing the needs of this rapidly growing industry and helping clients create innovative custom solutions, BAAS can resolve the dilemma faced by the average PSP. About Coriunder: Coriunder is a Backend-As-A-Service platform for fintech and ecommerce companies. Whatever your services might be, Coriunder provides you with reach management tools to monetize your solution and enables you to expand globally with our Payment optimization tools and a single point of integration for all of your services.

With over 300 available integrations to acquiring banks and service providers, Coriunder is the logical Backend-As-AService for the Payment Service Provider.

When we launched our service we aimed it at startups looking to build their idea on top of our Backend; we soon December 2017

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Ellen Voie:

A Passionate Trailblazer who believes in breaking the Shackles of Comfort Zone

omen trying to enter the trucking industry have long faced cultural and physical barriers. Presently, there are an estimated 200,000 women behind the wheel of big rigs across the U.S, which seems like a lot; however represents less than mere 5 percent of the nearly 4 million-member truck-driver work force. Had Ellen Voie never cared about the women looking to enter the male-dominated trucking industry, the world would still have been waiting for someone like her to change the scenario for the better. But she was not ready to wait for someone else; she took the charge in her own hands and founded Women In Trucking in 2007.

Today, a decade later, the firm is globally recognized and applauded for promoting careers in trucking for women and demolishing barriers that have kept women from joining the driver ranks for so long.

The Foundation that Paved Way for WIT Ellen's journey has taught her everything she needed to, and wasn’t less than a roller coaster. Her childhood roots to a small town in central Wisconsin. From the beginning, she was more interested in understanding engines and learning skills like woodworking and welding, so she took shop class. Because of her training, Ellen was hired by a steel fabrication plant to design material handling equipment, like pallets and racking. Soon, she was offered a position in the traffic department, where she became the Assistant Traffic Manager, and later, after earning a diploma in Traffic & Transportation

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Management, she was promoted to Traffic Manager. Ellen was responsible for all incoming raw materials and outgoing finished products. She learned to read tariffs, audit freight bills, dispatch and much more.

The Journey of Discovering a Platform to Bring Diversity Once she started her family, she used these skills to free-lane as a Transportation Consultant to carriers in central Wisconsin. For 18 years, she licensed and permitted the trucks and kept the trucks and drivers in compliance while she raised two children. Ellen’s (then) husband and she owned a small fleet, which she helped manage while he was on the road.

women in the trucking industry, she decided to start a non-profit organization. She asked female leaders to serve on the board and was fortunate to have an attorney provide all of the legal documentation to form the nonprofit.

Finally, in 2007, the Women In Trucking Association was formed with a simple mission; to increase the percentage of women employed in the trucking industry, address obstacles that might keep women from succeeding, and to celebrate the success of its members. Once it was started, there hasn’t been a single moment of looking back.

Being Resource for Women In the past decade, the firm’s membership has massively grown to include nearly 4,000 members, from around the world. Although most of its members reside in North America, many are in Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, South Africa, and Japan.

At the same time, she also attended the University of Wisconsin and in 1999, she earned her Master’s Degree in Communication, where she completed her thesis research on “The Complex Identities of Women Married to Professional Drivers,” which shows how much passionate she was.

Currently, WIT has an amazing Board of Directors comprised of leaders (men and women) in the trucking industry – from carriers, suppliers, manufacturers, private fleets and more. Apart from that, it has also formed a charitable foundation that provides scholarships to anyone seeking a career in transportation. Last year, the foundation gave away $22,000 in tuition grants.

A year later, Ellen was hired by Trucker Buddy International as the Executive Director of this pen pal program between drivers and elementary classrooms. Later, she managed recruiting and retention programs for Schneider National. It was during this time that Ellen was also working for her Private Pilot’s License, and she belonged to an organization called, “Women in Aviation.”

Some of the highlights of company’s programs include the creation of a Girl Scout Transportation Patch. To date, over 400 young girls have learned about careers in transportation with the curriculum Ellen developed with the Girl Scouts. Some resources include its “Anti-Harassment Employment Guide,” for carriers who have unrelated individuals working together in a truck for training or team driving purposes.

Since there was no such group for

The firm has a “Recruiting and

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“ Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone” Retention Guide” outlining the research the team has done on what women look for in a carrier and in an industry. However, a fact that has never changed since its inception is that Ellen and her team has been constantly working on a ‘Best Practices’ guide for carriers to showcase companies with a higher percentage of female drivers.

To celebrate the company’s success and honor female professional drivers, WIT has its annual “Salute to Women Behind the Wheel,” in March. It also has a “Distinguished Woman in Logistics” award as well as an “Influential Woman in Trucking” award.

They showcase a different woman each month for their “Member of the Month” program.

Listening to Understand How to Better Serve Ellen feels proud of the partnership they have with the truck manufacturers to influence truck cab design and ergonomics so women can feel as comfortable driving a big rig as her male counterparts. Moreover, they also work with truck stops on safety, security and amenities for women.

Being the CEO of a nonprofit association, the most important characteristic Ellen believes she can have is to listen. She feels listening to her members to understand how to better serve them and help them to be as successful as possible in the trucking industry is of vital importance.

The most important value that has stayed with her all these years is her integrity. “When I started Women In Trucking Association I had to prove that I would use our member’s dues in a responsible way to advance our mission. Our financial and other information is very transparent, as we have nothing to hide. Our members deserve to know how their money is spent,” she explains.

Being the Change of Women Empowerment In 2012, WIT was recognized by the White House for being a “Transportation Innovator Champion of Change.” In 2015, the firm launched its first conference and welcomed 350 attendees to its Accelerate! Conference and Expo. This year, Ellen expects over 500 registered women and men to attend its event to learn how to advance diversity in their companies.

Being the change of women empowerment, Ellen advises women to keep pushing, but not to give up easily. Anyone working in a male dominated environment like the trucking industry will find opposition, from family, friends and peers. But, according to her, it’s important to learn to focus on your chosen career path and ignore those who try to distract you.

Ellen Voie President & CEO Women In Trucking

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As an international association, WIT is often asked for more regional or local connections. Going into the future, Ellen’s goal is to start chapters within states, companies and geographic areas. She believes this will give her members a way to connect in person and to network and learn from one another.

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Ganesh Sabat: T

oday, medical device industry expects highly innovative products at a very fast pace. To sustain this demand in such a fast-paced sector is a tough task to say the least. However, many brands have managed to retain their credibility and their secret to success, is often conveyed by the words of their mentors. Multi-billionaire and the CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz once said, “In this ever-changing society, the most powerful and enduring brands are built from the heart. They are real and sustainable. Their foundations are stronger because they are built with the strength of the human spirit. The companies that are lasting are those that are authentic.” Thus, an ambitious and innovative CEO and his/her team acts as an empowering aspect behind a successful brand. Indian medical device leader, Sahajanand Medical Technologies is one such fortunate company that has both an ambitious CEO and a qualitative human strength to its name. The CEO of the company, Ganesh Sabat, shares his insights about his company’s proliferating success.

Young Dreamer’s Progression A physics graduate who pursued MBA in Finance from Washington University, Ganesh initially served at a legal and finance department in India. He followed that up by joining Sahajanad Medical Technologies (SMT) back in 2010; and within two years, he went on to become the CFO of the company. Six months later, his hard work and perseverance further crowned him as the CEO of the company. Ganesh said, “I have always been a highly passionate person. Even during the most difficult times I

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An Encouraging Medical Technology Leader

never lost my passion, focus or drive. My personal and professional goal syncs well and I want to make SMT a global medical device player; manufacturing high quality products at an affordable price” SMT: A Global medical device Manufacturer from India SMT is a leading developer and manufacturer of minimally invasive coronary stent systems. It has a strong global presence with footprints across 60 countries and counting.

Its products like Tetrilimus, Tetriflex, and Supraflex in the category of drug eluting stents and Flexinnium and Tetrinium in the category of bare metal stents have been globally acknowledged for their superior quality. Its benchmark technology, biodegradable polymer, has proven to be the safest and the most preferred polymer. It achieves a precise drug release and degrades after the drug release, thereby ensuring better safety and efficacy in the PCI procedure, for the patient. SMT is also accounted for manufacturing the thinnest strut thickness stent in the world, with only 60 microns thickness. This innovative product in the cardiovascular segment is supposed to be the best in class amongst the competitors.

Overcoming roadblocks by SMT under Ganesh Sabat’s leadership SMT was going through a challenging period with multitude of problems across the organization. The company under the leadership of Ganesh Sabat started focusing on solving one problem after another and December 2017

“Being open to new ideas, persuasive attitude and showing humility have helped us remove many roadblocks.” ‒ Ganesh Sabat CEO Sahajanand Medical Technologies

witnessed immediate success for most of its efforts. The focus to address challenges upfront generated self–belief among the employees and boosted organizational confidence.

According to Ganesh, creating the vital belief within team members to manufacture globally leading medical devices was a pivotal moment for the organization.

Ganesh claims, “Being open to new ideas, persuasive and showing humility have helped us remove many roadblocks.” Empowering employees to make their own decisions, has made a significant impact, and resulted in surging growth of the company. He further adds, ensuring that the company works as a team, and celebrating each other’s success creates an environment where employees are motivated to overcome any challenges thrown at them. As a leader, we need to ensure faster decision making and build a capable team who can take responsibility to march ahead. Ganesh December 2017

credits his global exposure, strong analytical and rational thinking and background in physics for successfully leading a capable senior team and delivering a global medical device company.

platform. He also suggests entrepreneurs to lead and keep their egos at bay while working with team members.

Essentials for Leading a Platform

SMT as a company is evolving rapidly.

Continuous developments of new products have provided eminent credibility to the brand, and helped in its global expansions. The company is conducting clinical studies which can provide major boosts to its products.

India is awakening to a new dawn of a global medical device player; the products of SMT are acknowledged internationally for its quality, efficiency, and cost-optimizations.

Ganesh as the CEO is eyeing to facilitate the progressive change and drive the company to the elite position.

The medical device world expects new innovative products at break neck speed but innovations are timeconsuming. Bridging the gap between time consuming innovations and ensuring constant growth is the most pressing challenge in the medical industry. Hence, planning the product life cycle and creating relevant future plans helps achieve desired targets.

The successful CEO of SMT recommends a passionate, never say die attitude in budding leaders to stay successful. The passion to build innovative products and teaming up with smart and intelligent individuals, who can perform efficiently, are the most essential aspects for leading a

Future Evolutions in SMT Products

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Exclusive

F Stands for Fear of Failure,

Stands for Moving Forward “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement” - Helen Keller

I

t is easy to light a candle but how can one light the fire itself. Nobody can. One cannot light a fire, rather the fire doesn’t require light as it creates light itself and all it needs are oxygen to breathe, fuel to live and space for the flame to exhale. It doesn’t require appreciation, it grows on its own and burns all the evil or obstacles that come on its way. Still, it has fears, and it faces trouble and ambition to move forward. People light a candle to get a vision in the dark and not to keep it in a closed container or hide it somewhere, where it cannot be seen or of no use. A girl is like a fire, a burning fire, which needs only air to breathe, food to eat, and little space to grow.

There was a time, when as soon as a girl was born into a family, they were taught to be grown up for only two reasons, to become a mother and to take care of their families. They were mostly behind curtains, used as an object of sensuality and was deprived of most facilities like education and freedom. Gone are those days when women were considered to be nothing more than a vessel to carry and a machine to give birth to children. Things are changing now. How long can one keep a burning fire behind the closed doors? Not for long apparently. One day, it will burn everything and break all the barriers. Similarly, women are going against all the odds, breaking through all the challenges and overcoming all the hurdles on their path to success.

From traveling to space to climbing Mt. Everest to winning Nobel, women are excelling in every field they are stepping into. They have crossed all those barbed wires and now they are no longer waiting for men to show them sympathy; rather, they are expecting nothing but the respect that one human being deserves from another. They are giving their best efforts to make a mark on the wall. But it’s no harm in appreciating a woman.

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December 2017

Reports apparently say that women form near about 52 percent of professional jobs even though they are substantially underrepresented in leadership roles. Women represent about 14.6 percent of executive officers, 8.1 percent of top earning members and a mere 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs. Experts suggested that if this goes on, then it is difficult for women to achieve leadership parity even by 2085. Intellectuals all over the world clearly mentioned that it’s not the barriers that are stopping them to succeed. It is their belief, their mindset, and thoughts that are blocking them to move ahead.

What Stands Between a Woman and her Success?

A study among various women revealed some interesting points which are stopping them from taking risks. Some wise men said that it is hard to achieve something if there is no risk involved and every risk is worth, even if one doesn’t succeed, he/she gets to learn. It is presumed that most young women often fear that any mistake in their professional life can cost them to lose the job, reputation, goodwill and success too. Some even believe that taking risk is equivalent to spilling water on a ready-made plan.

The society is still believed to be a patriarchal one and even though women are successfully beating men in every field including wrestling and boxing, they fear men can do better than them. They still believe that men can be stronger leaders with better ideas than women. It is a vague concept that women are less equipped to achieve success than men.

It can be termed as nothing but an inferiority complex.

Family and family matters are of great concern to professional women. They are always filled with the thoughts that what will their families say, what their friends think and what will their loved ones will do. Some even fear that if they decide to start a family or start one, which can create a negative impact on their work. They think that their employer might count them as vulnerable, unmotivated or inefficient after they start having a family.

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“Power’s not given to you, you have to take it.” - Beyoncé Knowles Carter

How Can Women Overcome their Problems?

“Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement,” said Golda Meir.

Nobody else can help a woman to overcome those boundaries that they have created themselves, neither man nor another woman. It is them who themselves can breakthrough that. The most important thing that a woman can do to rule over those problems is stop nagging about the problem and start thinking about the problem and then find a solution. Firstly, the thinking should be changed. As said by the genius Albert Einstein, “No problem can be solved with the same level of consciousness that created it.”

Women must become themselves, believe in themselves, trust their instincts and start embracing their mistakes. Instead of searching for a perfect time and a perfect environment, women should start creating one for themselves which will be healthy for their career progress too. They should even stop waiting for a man to get appreciation, instead women should start appreciating one-another’s work, encourage mentorship and bring in more collaboration. Everybody needs a break and they should also consider taking off pressure sometimes.

“The difference between successful people and others is how long they spend time feeling sorry for themselves,” asserts Barbara Corcoran.

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December 2017

GARY OLSON An IP Broadcast Designer Destined to be a Recognized Industry Leader

‘‘

When asked if it can be done; always answer “YES” and always get it done— don’t get caught!

‘‘

B

uilding any company is the same as building a team, and its CEO is a leader, visionary, coach and deal maker. A good CEO understands their own strengths and surrounds themselves with strong competent people who can collaborate and work together. What differentiates the company from every other company?

Does the company need to raise capital? That’s the CEO! The CEO has the vision, and sets the moral compass as well as the business compass. Meet Gary Olson who advocates that the CEO makes or tears down the company, and believes “I don’t need to know everything; I just need to know who to call!” Principal of GHO Group—an independent consulting firm that specializes in planning and designing media production facilities for broadcast and cable companies, corporations, educational institutions, and cultural organizations—Gary is a thought leader, industry expert, published author and active practitioner in IP based broadcast design.

A Humble Beginning Gary has an eclectic background and is one of the few

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Gary Olson Principal GHO Group LLC

people who has never been a full time employee for anyone else in his professional career. Instead, he has always worked for himself building his own businesses. Gary’s career has been spent solving interesting challenges that typically bring together computer and video technologies.

He was involved with Teletext as it was being introduced in the US. Moreover, he was on the team that created the first interactive satellite video conference network and launched the first satellite business television network. While he was engaged launching a satellite transmission facility and part of the team launching the first video fiber network, he was asked to design a new shopping network.

Gary used this opportunity to start his first company. Along with a smart team, Gary began designing and launching new satellite and television cable networks. In the early days of Internet, the team designed the first live cable news network with a person doing real time on air research. As Gary’s company continued to grow, they received requests from visionaries starting television networks in countries that did not have commercial television, but only state TV.

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They designed and launched the first commercial television in Trinidad and successfully designed, built and launched new national television networks in Czech, Poland, Romania and Slovenia. Each of their projects presented unique technology challenges.

A Renowned Leader in Technology Implementation Gary believes his company attracts visionary thinkers who have interesting new ideas in media and are looking for a technology group that understands and can build their ideas. GHO Group uses its broad experience to benefit its clients, sharing best practices in design, addressing budgets and schedules with special attention to crafting the process to assure best results for its clients’ needs. GHO is a recognized leader in technology implementation. Its design philosophy is based on sustainability and the understanding that this type of opportunity and investment has to be “future-proof.”

GHO has been providing unique, practical and cost-effective solutions to the challenges faced in building new facilities or implementing new technology strategies. GHO builds the bridge between technology and business, working with a new vision and converting it into a reality. The firm manages the expectations of senior management and stakeholders throughout the execution of a project.

The GHO team brings a unique blend of experience to the job: highly skilled professionals with a foundation based on real-world applications. With a portfolio of over US$950M in media based communication, television, telecommunications, and internet

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related technology projects managed, the GHO Team applies risk analysis, program and project management and tight fiscal management to clients’ project.

As a strategic adviser and project portfolio manager, Gary identifies the requirements to achieve the goals and resources that will bring the vision to reality. He works closely with an organization, using their internal resources, preferred service providers and approved contractors. GHO functions as a senior project administrator coordinating the implementation process and strategy.

An Accidental Entrepreneur While one may imagine from whom he draws his inspiration, Gary proudly says it’s from his father. “My father was a small business man. When business was good he would complain how busy he was. When business was bad, he’d complain how bad it was. I once asked “I understand when business is bad, but how can you complain when business is good.” His response was “You will understand when you have your own business!,” Gary recalls.

Gary says he did not choose this path, rather it chose him! There were thoughts that he would continue in the family business until one day the phone rang. Gary was asked to join an innovative program in the NY City high school system, establishing a video production class, teaching and running the studio. “At the end of the school year the phone rang again – and, the phone continued to ring and I kept saying yes. Each call was a new challenge and typically something innovative that had not yet been done,” he adds.

Encouraging and Empowering People Gary believes in recognizing strengths in people and encouraging and empowering their development. This creates a team that solves problems.

Letting go is hard! Someone may do it differently, but different is not wrong.

Talking about one of his memorable incidents, Gary recalls days when his responsibility on a central European project was to help the new local senior management. He explained that a large organization was like a pyramid, if you are at the top you can see what’s happening across the organization and manage. If the pyramid is upside down because the manager is also doing everything, they are crushed by the weight of the organization. His colleagues embraced the concept and went on to become successful managers.

Continuously Reinventing Every Step of the Way When asked to advise the budding entrepreneurs, Gary replies, “Entrepreneurship is doing everything that needs to be done to be successful.

Behaving like an executive when there’s no real business is a recipe for failure. Not all entrepreneurs make good CEO’s. Know your own strengths—maybe the right thing to do is hire one.”

While concluding, Gary says he has been accused of re-inventing GHO and himself every few years. GHO is once again going through change now. This change is moving Gary into artificial intelligence and a new industry sector of Public Safety and National Security.

GHO is applying its extensive media knowledge to an industry overwhelmed by video and struggling to analyze it for useable information in the prevention of incidents and attacks.

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Glenn Trout: N

othing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race, — Calvin Coolidge.

By hanging onto this quote, Glenn Trout, President and CEO of VelocityEHS has shown persistence in everything he has done. His tenacity and never give up attitude has allowed him to reach some rewarding peaks in his career.

An ultimate truth in life is that when you are trying to do something difficult, something that is ultimately worth doing, life gives you a million reasons and excuses to quit. However, if you are to achieve what others have not, then you must hang on until you do. Life threw some challenges at Glenn, but he kept overcoming them, and was surrounded by a team of people who were equally tenacious and unwilling to give up.

It was never a Straight Line!

Like most successful, yet accidental entrepreneurs, Glenn’s business trajectory was never a straight line. He was raised by school teachers, and had no obvious entrepreneurial role model

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A Resilient and Tenacious Mind Dening the New Norm of ‘Never Giving Up’

or mentor. Just three days after graduating from high school, Glenn headed off to Air Force boot camp, which focuses on putting a lot of pressure on people to see how they react under stress, both mentally and physically. While Glenn enjoyed the physical stress, the constant mental pressure was completely new for him.

They would repeatedly test him, on small, simple things, and blow up if he made a mistake to see how he would react.

In hindsight, Glenn sees why this mental pressure was so important. It is critical that people in the Armed Forces perform well under pressure and pay close attention to detail. You must challenge people and train them to do the right things, no matter what the circumstances — potentially even when under fire. It’s something Glenn has kept with him in his professional career. He believes that staying focused and keeping your cool, especially when things get tough, is a strong attribute for any leader.

During Boot Camp, Glenn got the chance to rise from squad leader to squadron commander at the age of 18, with many of the other airmen in his squadron well into their 20’s and 30’s.

That experience gave him the opportunity to lead from a very early age, and taught him the value of relationships. Glenn’s ability to lead was directly tied to his ability to keep the trust and respect of his unit. As

CEO of VelocityEHS, the same is true today.

Perseverance was the Key Glenn went from the Air Force to Miami University in Ohio. After graduating with a degree in marketing, he then joined Mead Paper, participating in the company’s management training program with the goal of someday becoming the CEO. At Mead, Glenn directed a $500 million sales and marketing business unit. When the paper industry declined in the mid-90s, he went back to school to earn an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business.

Glenn then joined Ernst & Young as an Associate Director before taking a leadership role at fobpaper, a division of fob.com, a late-90’s dot-com start up aimed at enabling manufacturers to purchase raw materials over the internet. But then, the dot-com tech bubble burst and the venture firm backing fob.com pulled their money from that effort. However, the firm didn’t lose their faith in Glenn and his management team. As the CEO, Glenn was given a small pool of cash to turn what had been a very small, inconsequential, non-monetized part of the fob.com offering — the electronic management of material safety data sheets (MSDSs) — into a fee-based service called MSDSonline. He took it as a challenge.

December 2017

Glenn Trout

Invest in quality people.

Then be quick to praise, rst to take blame, and relentless in your pursuit of nding the best solutions to problems

President & CEO

VelocityEHS In time, Glenn grew MSDSonline into a six-time Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company, with over 400 employees and an annual growth rate of over 50% for nearly a decade. In 2012, Glenn executed a successful exit for his shareholders with a deal valued at over $53 million in enterprise value, and MSDSonline joined Actua Corporation, a public company that invests in cloud solutions. In 2015, MSDSonline was rebranded under the new name, VelocityEHS, to reflect its wider environment, health, safety (EHS) and sustainability business focus. And in September of 2017, Actua announced the sale of VelocityEHS to CVC Capital Partners, for an undisclosed amount.

Unfortunately, even in today’s age of technology, too many companies still rely on paper, spreadsheets, and other manual processes to manage critical workplace health and safety programs. VelocityEHS has set out to change that by creating cloud based products that help companies reach their EHS goals faster.

A Chuck Yeager quote nicely sums up Glenn’s approach to life and leadership; “You do what you can for as long as you can, and when you finally can’t, you do the next best thing. You back up but you don’t give up.”

A New Dawn Glenn believes that one of the things that keeps VelocityEHS in business is the relentless pressure its customers face from outside forces, including state, federal, international regulations, volatility in their supply chains, and diversifying workforces. And for better or worse, as long as those pressures are there, EHS professionals will always be looking for some way to make identifying risks better, some way to get home to their families just a little bit sooner, some solution that allows them to relax a little more when enjoying a holiday break.

Leading Hundreds of Talented People The VelocityEHS mission is to make workplaces safer and more sustainable. Glenn feels privileged to lead hundreds of talented women and men who’ve made the company’s mission their vocation. His goal for VelocityEHS, by whatever measure you choose, is to be the industry’s number one EHS software company. And it is his job to remove the barriers that could keep the company from achieving it.

Today, VelocityEHS is the largest EHS software company in the world. More than 13,000 companies worldwide, and more than 8 million workers, use its products and services to help them solve their complex compliance and regulatory challenges in simple ways. The VelocityEHS community includes customers from virtually every industry, including over half of the Fortune 1000.

December 2017

The firm’s enterprise-level functionality is affordable for businesses of all sizes, with software and mobile solutions that are renowned for being fast, easy, and engaging — all of which contribute to VelocityEHS’ industry leading customer retention and user adoption rates.

“What we try to do every day is get a little better at understanding the problems our customers have and what would help them be more effective. So we will change along with our customers in ways that matter to them. We do try to anticipate obstacles coming down the road, so we can put solutions in place before our customers need them. But it’s always looking at the horizon from our customer’s perspective,” Glenn concludes.

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Keith Flynn: A Visionary Who Set Out to Fill the Technological Voids

I

nternet of Things no more needs an introduction. When these IoT competencies are instigated in the Industrial and Manufacturing space, it becomes Industrial IoT. In 2010, the vision of connected enterprise via interconnecting industrial assets was fulfilled through the internet when the foundational grounds of Industry 4.0 were laid. IIoT brought with it the advantages of asset optimization, production integration, smart monitoring, remote diagnosis, intelligent decision making, and most importantly, the feature of Predictive Maintenance.

However, to maintain a competitive edge in an everconnected world, businesses needed 24X7 access to their data.

Helping Clients Increase Productivity and Decrease Energy Consumption Within six years of its operation, RtTech Software has gone on to become a leading Industrial App provider; helping global clients in the manufacturing, mining, and power generation industries to increase productivity and decrease energy consumption through operational intelligence.

RtTech Software led by Keith has made its name through industrial-grade analytic apps helping manufacturing companies increase production and eliminate energy wastage with its apps RtDUET and RtEMIS. With a recent focus in Industrial IoT, RtTech’s IoT platform, Cipher is able to provide clients with a drop-in solution to IIoT and the services provided by RtDUET and RtEMIS, without much of the costly hardware.

A successful CEO should position his or her team to thrive in their roles within the organization

Hectic at Times yet an Incredible Journey Having worked in the industry for more than a decade, it became apparent to Keith Flynn that there were significant gaps between industry needs and the available services. He used this opportunity to jump into the market with RtDUET and RtEMIS to fill the void for real-time downtime and energy management solutions.

Thus, RtTech Software was born in 2011. “The prospect of spearheading a new venture with the birth of RtTech Software was one that I jumped all over. It has been hectic at times, but it has been one incredible journey,” Keith states.

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RtDUET is designed to track machine downtime and classify events, with the aim of helping production staff maximize potential output to increase revenue. On the other hand, RtEMIS is an energy management information system that captures information about energy being used by machines and dynamically calculates the target usage to sustain production, identifying areas for energy savings.

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Keith Flynn Founder & CEO RtTech Software A Certified Engineer Turned Entrepreneur Being the Founder and CEO, Keith is an integral part of the development for both RtDUET and RtEMIS. By trade, Keith is a certified Professional Engineer, with a Bachelors’ in Electrical Engineering, as well as a B. Science and Certificate of Applied Science. Though modest regarding his achievements, Keith is also a prestigious Sexton Scholar at Dalhousie University.

With over 20 years of industry experience Keith contributed as a principal partner at ADM Systems Engineering and as the implementation partner at RtTech. This insight helps Keith and his product development team ensure that RtTech’s products integrate the latest technical capabilities and deliver the most effective results for its customers.

Trusting his Team on Every Mode Leading a global firm of his own, Keith believes every CEO needs to be able to fully trust his team. If a CEO has his or her hands in too many pots, so to speak, then they will undoubtedly burn themselves out. Besides, you hired your team for a reason, so trust them to do their jobs and offer support as needed. “This became apparent to me when I would scratch off my action items to bring up during our meetings, and the team would have covered all of these

December 2017

topics even before I had the chance to speak. In several occasions, I was the one taking notes at the end. A successful CEO should position his or her team to thrive in their roles within the organization,” he adds.

Trust in Yourself and Your Team is the Key When asked to advise young entrepreneurs entering the market, Keith asks them not to fear failure. There will be bumps along the road, but that is part of entrepreneurialism.

Leverage your mentors and your team around you and trust the talent within your organization and the quality of your product or services, Keith says.

“We have seen a shift in the industry toward IIoT and we have grabbed our surfboards and are riding the wave. IIoT can narrow the gap between the ‘big guy’ and the ‘little guy’ by providing the same quality of analytic services, but at a fraction of the cost. On top of creating a more competitive manufacturing landscape, we are now able to connect more assets for data collection than before. With more data at hand, clients are able to make increasingly informed business decisions to improve their production and energy efficiency,” Keith shares on the future of industry.

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Editorial Desk

Instilling Enhanced Moralities

to Become a More

Inuential Person T

here is a fast paced evolution going on in the world, and the pace of change is only going to keep on increasing. It is prompting us to rethink everything we do and how we do it – to rethink how we will operate as leaders in the future. This is challenging us to create new systems for success and to learn to lead movements, and to help teams to innovate, to be curious about new solutions.

important. This is not about quantity, but rather like-minded people who know what they want to achieve and how to go about it. It’s about a group of people providing quality thinking; creating new perspectives; pushing you further than you could ever go alone, and also supporting you and taking great pleasure in seeing you succeed.

Developing Decision Making Skills

In this regard, some people seem particularly born to excel.

It seems they are gifted physically, intellectually or artistically, and it seems like they just float to the top. But this is predominantly a misconception. However talented someone is, he or she will still have to develop those talents to achieve a high standard professional position. Each one of us can develop our own skills and talents to propel ourselves into a position of influence.

Building an Evolving Network In an ever changing world, where dreams of change are big and visions of a future, having a real and genuine network of a selected group of people who are working closely together, strategically creating plans to succeed is very

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Every word we speak, every choice and action we take, has the ability to influence people’s decisions. It could be someone next to you or someone halfway across the globe.

One quality that pops out in a top leader’s competency to lead is the ability to decide, be it as a simple thing as to where a meeting to be conducted, to taking strategic decisions like where to invest marketing dollars.

Decisiveness is not an inborn trait; it’s a skill that can only be learned overtime. To gain control over it, one must ponder over their decision-making and recognize weak links in reasoning and spot any biases towards something or someone. While controlling the outcome is difficult, we can at least give a direction to the process that set them in motion.

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Embracing Diversity To see potential in new people and in the collective intelligence is part of the art of influence. It is understood that by working together, we create diverse opportunities, accepting different corporate and entrepreneurial viewpoints and seeing the value of cross-sector relationships. It is about understanding that, it is all about collective good.

Honing Speaking Skills When we talk about most influential personalities, a critical requirement is being a great speaker. Though many influencers operate quite effectively from behind the scenes, the ones with great oratory skills possess a powerful

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leverage over others. You can influence more, if you have the ability, the drive and the courage to speak persuasively.

Every day more and more organizations, corporations, schools and presenters strive to incubate the imagination of the workers, executives and students to push forward their agenda. Yet many give in to their fear of speaking in public and end up closing the door on a fast track to success and influence.

Like many other skills, this one too comes with repetition, practice and persistence. Do not shy away from opportunities, put yourself in front of an audience, gather feedback, make adjustments and repeat. Start from smaller settings and grow from there, there is no limit to where your influence will grow with this skill.

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Throw Complacency out of the Window You are your own competition. So make sure your first competitive audit is done against yourself. Make changes to your end goals, let them evolve with passing time; push yourself to do more and to do it better. Ask questions to yourself, ponder on it. Find the answers to whether you are on the path to success, or you are stuck because of your critics, or maybe it’s your self-doubt creeping into your life. Throw light on your inner-self and you will be enlightened.

A basic Understanding of Current Affairs It becomes difficult to influence others if you can’t continue an intelligent conversation and get stumped on basic topics of tax, elections, markets, unemployment, etc. It is not expected of you to be an expert on these topics, but you do need a basic understanding of them. Influencing someone is about shaping an opinion, an ability to steer conversations into friendly waters. To do this you need to gain everyday knowledge about what’s currently trending. So make it a habit to set aside 20 minutes every day to learn what’s new. Test your knowledge among friends and colleagues and see whether you are able to make well-informed points forward and also able to back it up. Build your knowledge incrementally and you will notice others reaching out to you for information.

Appreciate Technology Influence The 21st century is ruled by social media, with Twitter and Facebook ruling communication technology, and has secured a strong foothold. Businesses are online, and so are the customers and recruiters. If googling yourself produces 30 other people and not you, it is time for you to up your online presence. For most people you come across, your reputation and influence will be perceived through what they can find about you on the internet.

Each individual is different, and even though every person possess diverse talents and skills, they need to work and enhance them; even the ones who are gifted and float through to corporate heights. The world is moving rapidly, and if you continue to sit still you might inevitably come to an influential standstill.

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December 2017

Ramesh Hariharan: The Scientist Harvesting a Dream for a Billion People

W

e often hear of cutting edge technology successes in the west. It is however rare to find a company out of India that can push the envelope in the west while also making an impact on the billions in India. Indeed, it is rare to capture the sight of someone who dares to dream of cutting edge science and of providing hope to the world of a billion people around him. One such visionary is Dr. Ramesh Hariharan, a former computer scientist and bioinformatician who worked as a professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) before teaming up with his colleagues to change the way universities operate in India, forever.

The Humble Beginnings of a Revolution While pursuing his PhD thesis at New York University, Dr. Hariharan designed new algorithms for processing large numbers of character sequences, e.g., those in the human genome. He then returned to India to the Indian Institute of Science with the goal of building a research program that would combine large scale computing and biology. This early work and a collaboration with three other dynamic and likeminded colleagues then led to a historic chapter for all Indian universities as this group convinced IISc to allow them to setup a business enterprise, Strand Life Sciences. This was a historic event – the very first time that a public university in India allowed its faculty to spin off a company and hold equity in that company. Since then the team at Strand has grown to more than 200 strong and the algorithms and tools it has built have played a role in numerous research discoveries. Over 20,000 publications in literature cite these tools.

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The Real Revolution The real revolution began when Dr. Hariharan and the team at Strand took their successful record of enabling scientific discoveries and started using the same tools for the betterment of human health. India, a country of a billion people, has a huge burden of genetic disease. Roughly 1 in a 100 individuals suffers on account of a serious genetic mutation.

Such individuals often go from pillar to post to obtain a diagnosis, which often remains elusive for years or decades at end. The advent of large scale genomic sequencing in the west offered such patients a way to shorten this diagnostic odyssey.

However, the costs of genome sequencing and the handling of the large amounts of data generated remained very high, in fact prohibitive for most Indian patients. This is where the team at Strand came in. With its extensive experience in algorithms and tools for processing genome sequences and its strong expertise in molecular biology, Strand was able to optimize this process in multiple ways and offer a diagnosis to a large fraction of the patients at a fraction of the costs in the west.

Dr. Hariharan and the team at Strand continue to optimize these processes further and also build the next generation of cutting-edge products that will help understand the basis for each individual’s cancer, help determine personalized treatment, as well as help track the efficacy of this treatment via non-invasive blood draws as opposed to invasive biopsies.

Over the next several years, these methods can be key in reducing the rapidly rising mortality and morbidity of cancer in India.

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A Book That Captures this Fascinating Experience Dr. Hariharan’s experience of using computational algorithms to benefit patients, and in particular, the experience of scouring a patient’s genome to determine the mutation at the heart of the problem, has been captured in a book titled “Genomic Quirks.” This book is published by IISc Press and uses a sampling of Strand’s patient referrals to illustrate the intense, frenetic activity that goes into providing a patient with a diagnosis, which Dr. Hariharan calls the genomics war room. An excerpt from his book..

Ramesh Hariharan CEO Strand Life Sciences

“Impacting Lives through Precision Medicine” India’s Beacon of Hope Dr. Hariharan has been recognized with some of the highest honors among innovators around the world. He was awarded the Dewang Mehta Award for Innovation in Information Technology by the Government of India in 2002 for creating India’s first handheld computer device, the Simputer, one of seven individuals in the country chosen for this honor. He was featured in the MIT Technology review’s ’Top 100 Young Innovators’ list in 2002 and became a fellow of both the Indian Academy of Science and the Indian National Academy of Engineering.

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In this genomics war room, molecular biologists in lab coats or their robot equivalents, scurry around transferring samples from one receptacle to another. In this process, genomic molecules are extracted from the patient’s sample, chopped into small fragments and subjected to a multitude of manipulations. Eventually, the genome sequence comes out, but rather indirectly – in the form of millions to billions of tiny fragment sequences that amount to gigabytes of data. Highperformance computers then piece these fragments back together, like a jigsaw puzzle. A comparison between this assembled jigsaw and that for a normal person yields a long list of variants, i.e., characters that are likely suspects.

Computers then scour vast amounts of biomedical literature for information that helps zoom-in on the most relevant of these suspects, typically a handful in number. Finally, trained geneticists rack their brains to identify the ones that hold a clue to the patient’s condition. If all goes well, one or two clear candidates emerge and are reported back to the doctor. But things don’t always go well…

The Journey Has Just Begun Strand was built on a solid foundation led by the guidance of its earlier CEO and co-founder, Dr. Vijay Chandru, and Dr. Hariharan, as well as the energy of its more than 200 employees. Building on the strengths of its interdisciplinary team of scientists, bioinformaticians, and medical professionals, Strand continues to expand its suite of tools and products for research as well as for medical impact. Strand’s list of customers and partners includes leading academic labs, instrument companies, diagnostic companies, and pharmaceutical companies. Strand’s footprint of laboratories in India is growing to cover a far greater geographical spread as Strand’s image as the most scientifically trustworthy and reliable company continues to strengthen.

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Rashmi Varma: A Curious Mind that Captured the Unknown with Passion

O

ne of the most intriguing and fascinating creatures of nature is a lightning bug. When the world is lost in the darkness of night, rest of the animal kingdom changes their vision to adjust to the dark. On the other hand, the lightning bug ďŹ nds a light within to wander with a purpose amidst the darkest times to move forward with untamed and unperturbed passion towards its pursuit.

Some human beings are living embodiment of the illustrious path carved by a lightning bug. One such inspiring and fascinating personality in the business world is Rashmi Varma. Her curiosity and passion to seek the light as a way of life defy the societal norms of seeking a shelter in dark to inspire people all over the world.

The Journey of an Original Young Mind Rashmi was born and brought up in the ancient land of India. As she started walking the path of a higher purpose, she was educated simultaneously in the best of both the Eastern and the Western world. She was educated in the best missionary and convent schools in India while learning a more salient education in Yoga, secular principles, the Indian culture through her caring family. It is often said that the truly special ones often carve out their own path through their industrious nature to be successful. Similarly, Rashmi displayed a keen knack for learning about technology through independent scientiďŹ c experiments at a young age.

Rashmi Varma CEO DreamBig

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At a young age, Rashmi set herself apart by aiming to discover alien life in the universe. Her young mind was overwhelmed by the desire to communicate with other life forms. Consequently, she devoted herself to understanding

December 2017

Allow yourself to transform as radio technology to build her own antennas and radios. She would run scientific experiments to understand the inner intricate workings of electrical circuits. Being creative and dreaming up larger than life ideas was a constant fuel to her imagination. However, she probably learned the most important lesson for a child to learn at a young age on her own – Curiosity, passion, and sacrifice are sacrosanct of building a beautiful world within.

When the Lightning Finally Struck Rashmi was an enthusiastic learner from childhood; however, her journey did not meet with the ultimate destiny until she put in years of hard work. During school, she opted for Music, Literature, Mathematics, and Physics as she was passionate about them. It was only until years later that she was able to apply herself as a telecom engineer to begin her career. Rashmi, driven by her curious mind and natural instincts rose through the corporate ladder quickly.

She moved up higher positions in various organizations only to be able to reach a clear understanding of the role of technology in today’s society. It was then that she realized that students in classrooms are lagging behind in development and support from their schools to form a deeper and richer understanding of technology. Her kids were her guiding inspiration. It was then that she decided to venture into entrepreneurship and form her first company iCode. iCode brought computer and technology education to K12 space. iCode was a starting point of a long and rewarding journey for Rashmi. She had tasted success after bearing the brunt of learning the crux of technology matters by working in the industry. After iCode, new challenges became the order of the day for Rashmi. Later, she started Ooventiy, a firm offering consulting services to client companies who specialized in the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is a wide area of development as it serves smart cities projects, Industries, Logistics, Healthcare among others. Her expertise in the area and her potential to do something big for the clients did not go unnoticed or unappreciated.

Ooventiy was quickly acquired and eventually merged with United Softech. Rashmi did not stop with the successful merger of her company. She moved on to combine her childhood dreams with her real understanding of the world.

Today, she works on DreamBig project, which takes a look at the knowledge infrastructure we take for granted every day, from a fresh and original perspective.

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many times as needed to completely realize your potential and purpose in this universe

Lessons Learned and Earned from Experience Rashmi Varma has learned many things from practical scientific experiments, quality education and the ultimate experience of trials and failures. Today, she has reached the understanding that the business world, and the CEOs driving them, require different worldviews to be successful.

However, there is one common thing that everyone must learn. Rashmi believes that communicating and connecting should be the core values of a company. According to her, it is important for all team members to understand the ‘why’ at every step of their process. Knowing the why builds a real value and output of organization which directly impacts the momentum, and lifts an entire team to a new level.

Rashmi also believes that during her past experiences, it was transparency in communication and leading by example that helped her find solutions in the most difficult situations. Similarly, she also finds the organizational Japanese practices of five ‘whys’ very appealing to run an organization and offers solutions to employees as well as clients.

Rashmi has led her life with lessons that are simple and actionable. Through these lessons, she has found immense motivation, both intrinsic and extrinsic. She advises young entrepreneurs to build a strong network of experienced mentors to steer and guide their company. After all, there is a lot of value attached to information, but one can be swept away with an ocean of knowledge without the actual experience of learning how to swim. Rashmi is following her own advice to build a great team at work. She hopes to build a product based startup that would serve the world in a meaningful manner. If everything goes according to the plan – the lightning bug would continue to emit light and illuminate a dark road to make the world a better place.

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was appointed as the President and CEO of PPI, a PEMEX affiliate that provides international procurement services for PEMEX and its subsidiaries.

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ne of history’s greatest minds, Albert Einstein, once defined insanity as “doing something over and over again and expecting different results.” If you want different results, better results, you must innovate and there is no shortcut for it.

Thinking outside the box helps find new and better ways to solve problems, as well as to become more efficient.

Hard times will many a times force you to innovate, but it will also prevent you from doing it. However, during a crisis, unsuccessful innovation could lead to the end of a company. In this sense, to pursue innovative projects in terms of time, feasibility, cost-benefit, and processes becomes a pressing challenge for any leadership team.

Sometimes you have very few data to decide, some other times you get too much data, but most of the time it boils down to following – your gut.

Salvador Escobedo, President and CEO at PEMEX Procurement International Inc., (PPI) is one such leader who has been the change agent everyone wants to see, while thinking outside the box and staying true to his gut.

A Journey Worth Remembering Boasting two Master’s degree, one in Economics from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and another in Public Administration from Columbia University in the City of New York, Salvador has worked for over 10 years

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in the public sector specializing in finance, budget optimization, financial management, and economic development. He has held several positions in the Mexican Ministry of Finance, focusing on issues such as financial inclusion, budget analysis, public policy, and financial management. He has also served as the General Manager for Financial Strategy at the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), the largest health institution in Latin America and the most important social security agency in Mexico. During his time there, Salvador developed new infrastructure financing schemes and innovative procurement models for health care services, which eventually contributed in saving over five hundred million dollars in 2015, as well as to expand and improve health services around the country.

Developing Innovative Procurement Strategies After serving in different government agencies and gaining a broad understanding of the public sector in Mexico, he transitioned to Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) — the Mexican National Oil Company and the eighth largest oil company in the world.

Serving as the Deputy Director for Procurement Strategy, Salvador developed innovative procurement strategies, which helped the company save over a billion dollars in 2016. For such reasons, in May 2017, Salvador

PPI began its operations in 1994 as Integrated Trade Systems in Houston, Texas. Most of the technology required by the PEMEX Group is not produced in Mexico, thereby creating a great dependence on imported goods and services. PPI was incorporated to be more efficient and competitive by providing comprehensive supply chain management. Its location in the world’s oil & gas capital has helped PPI to develop over two hundred long-term partnership agreements since its inception and to have contractual relationships with over 1,700 suppliers in the oil & gas industry. PPI’s flexibility and adaptability have allowed it to continue generating value for the PEMEX Group, as well as the degree of maturity of the business model, which rests on five main pillars: Connecting supply chain process with the demand, Management of the relationship with stakeholders, Management of supply chain, Support to the procurement operations, and Management of the business.

Attempting to Generate Better Conditions Salvador believes public service and attempting to generate better conditions in Mexico have always been his vocation. “After the oil crisis, I was fortunate to be part of a highly qualified group selected to help PEMEX navigate the crisis and become more efficient, productive, and profitable. Working for PEMEX, and later as CEO in one of its affiliates, made me realize the enormous December 2017

My goal is to contribute to the creation of opportunities for economic development

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contribution companies, public or private, can make in a country by creating jobs, paying taxes, developing high quality products and services; and overall, generating opportunities for economic development. This experience helped me decide to pursue an executive career in the oil and gas sector and to make my contribution from this industry,” Salvador affirms.

When asked about the key values that helped him travel the leadership road innovatively and successfully, Salvador said, results orientation, leadership, commitment, persistence, and hard word are the key values that helped him overcome the roadblocks.

An Incident that Made Positive Impact Due to the oil and gas industry’s crisis and other internal factors, the necessity to maintain PPI as PEMEX’s affiliate was questioned, and how could Salvador know that it would, one day, become one of the most memorable incidents of his life. The crisis generated a high level of uncertainty and fear among the staff, and it was within this context that he was appointed CEO, with the specific objective of increasing operations and December 2017

Salvador Escobedo President & CEO PEMEX Procurement International Inc

value to the stakeholders to keep the company up and running.

“The first challenge I faced to save the company, was switching the staff’s frame of mind and mindset by generating a positive work environment and getting everyone on board towards the objective. I planned a strategic envisioning retreat for all the staff where everyone’s ideas were listened to and included in our new business plan,” Salvador says. For him, adopting this participatory approach was essential to bring the team together and generating a sense of ownership. His approach bore fruit for PPI as it made a very positive impact on the work environment noticeably increasing productivity.

Salvador’s Advice for Young Entrepreneurs We are living in a highly competitive world, where new products are developed and services are improved every day. My advice to the entrepreneurs entering into the market is to never stop being creative and innovative. The only way to have a chance in this highly competitive world is to think outside the box. To

make what already exists better, more efficient or more practical; and to be one-step ahead of what the industry needs and demands in order to develop new products accordingly.

Continuing to Provide International Procurement Solutions Salvador believes due to the energy reform put in place in Mexico four years ago, the energy sector will grow significantly in the next couple of decades. New companies, national and international, private and public, are now able to participate along the entire value chain in the oil and gas industry, and the entire energy sector in Mexico.

“I expect PPI will grow in the same direction, providing international procurement solutions not only to PEMEX and its subsidiaries, but also to other companies. First, through PEMEX’s strategic partnerships, and later directly to multiple companies operating in Mexico. Afterwards, we will work to expand our services to the entire energy sector, not only oil and gas, providing international procurement solutions to companies such as the National Electricity Company.”

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Steve Cowan:

leader is expected to be a lot of things. More often than not, he is the epitome of all the expectations that everyone else cannot be, held accountable often by the same people. Human expectations are not fair and neither is the undue pressure that accompanies it as baggage. However, some people are born to turn expectations into opportunities and the pressure into unparalleled fervor. Such leaders navigate the sea of expectations successfully to sail the boat of life towards the boundless horizon of a perfect future. At the end of a long and hard working day, these people are cherished and valued no matter what. These leaders are treasured regardless of whether anyone on their team realizes what lies ahead in the big blue ocean – because they know they can always count on someone to lead.

A Natural Instinct Sharpened By Education

A Born Leader Driving Growth with Insight and Experience

Steve Cowan is one such natural born leader. His seamless energy and positive attitude makes him an instant favorite among business leaders. Steve understood at an early age that he wanted to lead and followed his gut instinct with the most applicable degree of Bachelors and Masters in Business Administration. He studied at Wilfrid Laurier University during his undergraduate degree and attended the prestigious Schulich School of Business for his postgraduate education. It was always clear to Steve that his place in life was carved out to be a leader and he never fell short of his own expectations.

A Business Philosophy That Drives the Raw Instinct Steve built his professional life with a rock solid philosophy. His focus has always been to put forth the best effort and get things done the right way. He is currently the President and CEO of Jonas Construction Group, which offers a top-of-the-line business management and accounting software to clients. At Jonas Construction, Steve drives his team with positivity to achieve the main goal of continually growing and improving the business. His feat is exceptional as his education did not carve out a straightforward path for him to lead a team of technology experts.

A Glimpse of Success is All that is Ever Needed Steve has learned from his many challenging experiences as a professional to gain useful insights at every step of his career. He found a job as a business analyst in the software

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The core value that has helped me overcome any roadblocks or challenges in my career is not being afraid to take risks.

Steve Cowan President & CEO Jonas Construction Software industry after his graduation. Steve overturned what may have seemed like a pure coincidence of fate to others, into a priceless opportunity. He made himself at home in the software industry and worked relentlessly to build the foundations of great software products. He worked at software companies that aided telecommunications, payroll management and ultimately at the Jonas Group, which at the time, built websites for golf courses. That opportunity came his way 12 years ago, and today, Steve leads the Jonas Group as the CEO to steer the company’s ship towards a prosperous future.

A Vision that Unleashes Passion The Jonas Construction Group today offers a software suite that helps construction companies perform job costing, accounting, project management, service management, as well as document and drawing management. This software can be used on any device. In order to build such a comprehensive product, Steve took an unconventional path.

He allowed his team of members to experiment and take risks. He selected an outstanding bunch of people and put in place processes that granted his team full autonomy in good faith. Steve believes that this is the way forward to meet the December 2017

competitive software industry head-on. Software can easily become outdated in a highly innovative market, which is why Steve guides and mentors employees to adopt a fearless attitude towards failure.

A Road of Certain Uncertainties That Lies Ahead Today, Jonas Construction Software offers two main product lines. These product lines are: Enterprise and Premier. These products are designed to help businesses improve productivity and increase profitability. Over a thousand companies across North America leverage Jonas Construction Software to manage their day-to-day operations. Steve led the company through one of their most successful years in 2017, which is an impressive feat, especially within the construction industry. Steve continues to learn and keep an open mind, and is focused on continually surrounding himself with a group of strong individuals at all times. At the top of his career success, Steve understands and remembers that a good leader is as good as his ability to spot and eliminate a weakness time and again, every day.

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Overcoming Barriers

How To Overcome Obstacles When Starting Young

About the Author Eugene Cheng is Partner & Creative Lead at HighSpark a company that provides presentation design services and consultancy to Fortune 500 companies. He also mentors for a video production company: MotionSauce

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t was stated in a BNP Paribas Global Entrepreneurs report surveying 2,600 entrepreneurs based in 18 countries, that millennials are launching more than two times more businesses versus their older counterparts. Time are changing and the inevitable rise of the 20-something CXOs will follow, whether we like it or not.

That said, starting young also comes bundled with its own set of unique challenges. For wide-eyed millennials entering the world of business, this can prove to be daunting and at times overwhelming.

Back when my partner and I first started HighSpark, a company that provides presentation design services and skills training, it was by no means a walk in the park. Here are some obstacles we faced along the way and how we overcame them:

1.You will be underestimated Would you trust your business with someone that is two-times younger?

Not an easy answer is it?

Our struggle initially was to get experienced or senior business owners to trust a couple of teenagers trying to help them in communications.

Naturally, we got plenty of objections ranging from disbelief : “What makes you qualified?” to outright rejection “We can’t work with you, you’re too young”.

It was only after a year into the business that we were finally figured out how to get past this obstacle: Credible references from past clients.

Perception is almost as important as actually being able to deliver. Having someone else toot your horn for you can be invaluable when you’re starting out young. No doubt it’ll be harder versus already having professional clout as a more experienced professional, but the lessons you learn December 2017

will be inherently more valuable.

Another great way is to work with other experts to cover areas where you falter. In our case, we collaborated with experts in sales training and public speaking to provide more holistic solutions. That way, by association, you quickly appear more trustworthy.

2. You will feel like you’re missing out Entrepreneurship is a lonely, risky road less travelled. When you’re younger, you can stomach more risk, but it might be tougher to be doing something that goes against what the rest of your peers are doing.

In our case, my partner and I started the business at the expense of further education at the time - we didn’t go to college. On the flip side, about 80% of our peers were heading to university, graduating and finding employment.

There were numerous instances where we were genuinely uncertain about whether our business would be profitable enough to justify our sacrifices. Peers our age were already progressing in their careers, while we were still trying to determine if we made the right decision to do this.

The old proverb, “show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are,” rings true here.

Surrounding yourself with like-minded people going through the same struggles is a great way to manage selfdoubt and accelerate your learning in the process. Just remember that no one ever did anything special by being like everyone else and that the risks you take now can pay off handsomely in the future.

3. You will never truly ‘know what

everyone else has got life figured out except you and your team.

The truth is that even the most seasoned entrepreneurs (young or old) feel unsure at times. Heck, even entrepreneurs that are doing well might constantly have a case of impostor syndrome. When we consistently entertain thoughts of self-doubt, these thoughts can manifest into paralysis where we end up worrying more than doing anything productive.

A simple solution as renowned marketing expert Seth Godin often says is to ‘Start Shipping’. Don’t fear making mistakes because you will definitely run into obstacles along the way.

The Business Insider recently reported on a 6-year old boy that makes $11 Million a year on Youtube reviewing toys on his channel: Ryan ToysReview.

It really goes to show what one can accomplish when applying yourself correctly and silencing any feelings of inadequacy.

Whether you’re a CEO in your fifties or a startup founder in your twenties, sometimes the best thing to do is to hunker down and tread along your planned path rather than worry if you're making the wrong decisions.

Starting young can be an advantage if you use it right. Don’t be bogged down by things that you can control, but instead focus on: 1. Building solid relationships and developing your credo 2. Grow through osmosis by surrounding yourself with outstanding people 3. Focus on ‘shipping’ and the steps ahead.

you’re doing’ With news outlets reporting successful fundraising rounds in the millions and new startup stories on the press every other day, it can sometimes seem like

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rom decades, the entrepreneurship and emerging markets research floods have converged. Emerging markets are now providing an opportunity to examine entrepreneurship in different contexts and forms, and the markets are often distinct from developed countries, particularly those in the West, by way of culture, economic development and political institutions.

Emerging market countries are invariably complex. On the one hand, they are starting later and often with fewer resources than more established industrial economies. On the other contrary, they often have unmet societal needs that can offer tremendous opportunities to the companies that position themselves properly. Often, those are the companies that have not yet been born.

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Opportunities of Entrepreneurs in Emerging Markets The wealth of opportunities and problems to solve are an advantage, but generating innovative ideas that go beyond the criterion is not so easy. It can be hard to convince people that they can do something different and unique, but when you add the layer of scarce resources and limited ability to rebound for failure that brings about a caution that limits a venture ability to scale. Entrepreneurs have to understand the context where they’re building, how to make things work on next to nothing for a long time, and that they have to become revenue positive as quickly as possible.

In some parts of the world where there are caste systems and religious and cultural barriers, there are often more December 2017

Business Archives creators and that there is a great thirst among the next generation of young people everywhere to drive their own future. More and more resources are being focused on this pent-up demand, and it is the other revolution called ‘The Entrepreneurship Revolution.’

Women Entrepreneurs Breaking Through Barriers There has to be a system where people are allowed to have ideas and execute them. Women can see what the problem is but are they empowered to solve those problems for themselves and their families, or village or beyond their village? One of the really critical challenges that women face is the lack of access to traditional networks in education, training, financing as compared with what’s available to men. So women-owned businesses have found great opportunities within cooperative organizations where they buy and sell from each other.

They’ve recognized that while they are waiting for Walmart to discover what they already know, that their companies offer the highest quality or quickest turnaround. They are already operating in a successful network with other women. They know what they need from each other and present a potentially big market right there.

Every place has a unique cultural perspective that entrepreneurs can tap into and build on to bring something new. The beauty of being a woman in an emerging-market country is that they are starting to see huge macroeconomic reforms that not only make it easier for venture capitalists to come in but also for foreigners to come in and invest.

Scaling Businesses barriers to entry for women to rise in corporations.

Therefore, the choice to be an entrepreneur is easier; it is often one of the only options.

Entrepreneurship Fitting into the Economic Development Picture There is a colossal opportunity to launch a business in any number of areas since nothing is yet entrenched. Where there are greater challenges, there are greater opportunities to innovate and come up with unique solutions and to address challenges that no one has even thought of.

Many governments, as well as multilateral organizations around the world, are recognizing that entrepreneurs are job

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Often, there are incredible programs out there for entrepreneurship and incredible opportunities, but there is an information gap. That information is not marketed to the people who need it in order to apply for a contract or sell to a company. So no one gets the information, and opportunities pass. Governments have come to realize that they cannot possibly meet their economic needs that are providing enough government or industrial jobs for young people without promoting entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurial mindset. The experience of most of the entrepreneurs with the government is not positive then whether it’s taxes, regulatory barriers, licensing or processes that are esoteric and difficult. Minimizing or eliminating those barriers helps.

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Often it will be in partnership with the private sector, by facilitating and incentivizing investors or banks. They can get involved directly by engaging small businesses through the procurement process. In almost every country, the single biggest procurement source is the government. So if the government commits to set aside part of that for small businesses, which will become a huge market.

Governments can add incentives like tax credits to increase investment. They can promote stability, IP rights, and price transparency. And they can focus on more efficient transportation that will help small businesses’ potential to grow.

Countries that are eager to keep up their economic growth are very interested in having successful women in the workforce and in making sure that those women not only have the necessary education but are also getting the type of funding that’s going to allow them to start companies and scale them up.

The emerging markets are known for its manufacturing dexterity, and the service industry is expeditiously developing.

The ethnic groups are an entrepreneurial source both in emerging markets and among emerging market entrepreneurs in host markets. Different conceptual lenses may explain ethnic entrepreneurship in emerging markets, including institutional and business group theories as well as the resource-based view, and so further our understanding of entrepreneurship in emerging markets. We are looking forward and hoping that the research on emerging markets and entrepreneurship will continue to develop.

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December 2017

Steve Upshaw: Innovative Leadership that's Paving the Way for Transformation in the Home Services Market

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he pursuit of innovation is a constant challenge in today’s increasingly competitive marketplace, particularly for organizational leadership. Leaders need to create a culture that fosters experimentation and risk-taking. This not only begins with real, active and consistent CEO commitment, it also takes time and development of the right talent to help drive the mindset throughout the organization. In addition, having realistic expectations and avoiding analysis paralysis are critical.

One particular leader who is fostering digital innovation to redefine terms in the home services industry is Steve Upshaw, CEO of Cross Country Home Services (CCHS). Steve is a dynamic and multifaceted C-suite executive with significant international business expertise, and a track record of driving revenue and profitability in consumer services, as well as complete business transformation, with a focus on advancements in human capital, revenue diversification, cultural evolution, innovation, and technology.

Steve joined CCHS, a leading provider of warranty, repair, and maintenance services, with more than two decades of leadership experience, including his most recent roles as President of Affinion Group and CEO of Customer Engagement Solutions, a business unit of Affinion. During his time at Affinion, Steve successfully opened new geographies and launched new products and lines of business in the U.S and abroad.

A quote that perfectly resonates with the characteristics of this leading CEO is, “If you want to be great and successful,

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Thinking about the leadership challenges I've faced over the years, determination, optimism and authenticity are core values that always seem to resonate and serve me well

choose people who are great and successful and walk side by side with them.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Becoming the Preeminent Player in the Home Services Market Founded in 1978, CCHS is responsible for establishing some of the industry’s best-known home warranty and maintenance brands, including TotalProtect Home Warranty and HMS Home Warranty. CCHS develops and maintains meaningful partnerships across a variety of industries including financial, retail, insurance, real estate and utilities.

The company also markets direct-to-consumer, with the end

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launched the first Amazon Alexa Skill in the home warranty market, Home Service Manager, in response to the increase demand from customers for smart homes. In addition, CCHS unveiled ServiceBench, a field service management platform designed to support a seamless end-to-end customer experience.

Considering Steve’s previous experiences, he was an ideal fit for the CEO position at CCHS. Working in consumer services since the age of sixteen, Steve garnered the passion to seek solutions that meet customers’ needs while working to make them feel good about the experience. Years later, he saw the potential to drive CCHS forward and transform the more than 35-year-old company with “great bones” and extraordinary growth potential into something really special in the industry. While talking about the ideal qualities that a transformational CEO should possess, Steve said, “I believe having the clarity of vision or purpose is most important. One must be absolutely clear about what they want to achieve, and why, in order to successfully steer and rally an organization.”

Steve Upshaw CEO Cross Country Home Services goal being to offer home management solutions that empower homeowners and give them peace of mind. When talking about the company’s strategic goals, Steve noted, “We want to meet and exceed our consumer’s needs with laser-like focus on value and experience.”

Steve has been serving CCHS as CEO for more than two years, and remains focused on transforming the company into the pre-eminent player in the home services market.

The pivotal moment for him at CCHS was knowing the organization was ready for transformational change. Since that time, Steve has successfully leveraged the diverse executive team at CCHS, leading them to their shared goal of expanding beyond the core home warranty business with innovative, technology driven solutions to build their service offerings. This includes the use of a broader uber-like transactional model to appeal to a wider consumer base.

CCHS has experienced double-digit growth annually since 2014, and this year under Steve’s guidance, the company has commenced several key technology-driven advancements as part of its long-term growth and transformation strategy. For example, the company

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Advice to the Potential Entrepreneurs Steve suggests that ambitious and rising entrepreneurs ask some of the questions that he asks himself including, “Are you passionate about your idea or venture? I mean, absolutely obsessed with the belief in yourself and the ability to turn your passion into a reality.” Steve encourages potential leaders to be thorough in their selfevaluation and rely on friends, family, and advisors who demonstrate an ability to provide the unvarnished truth.

And he said, “Ultimately, I love encouraging bold risktakers to follow their dreams.”

Taking Steps to Achieve a New Vision While in the midst of an organizational, digital and cultural evolution, Steve and his team are excited about the short and long-term future. He is leading the company to work on a corporate re-branding strategy to reflect a more contemporary, tech-forward organization with a broadened vision. He also anticipates innovation in the company’s service offerings and expansion of its distribution channels, as well as transformation in customer engagement as CCHS aggressively leverages technology and implements a paradigm shift in the way they deliver value to their network of expert service professionals. Steve concluded the conversation about the company’s plans by stating, “We’ll execute our bold agenda by leaning into our highperformance culture efforts and building strong associate engagement.”

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Photo ©: Hannes Heinzer

Vincent Forster Co-founder & CEO Versantis

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he liver is the largest organ in human body and plays a significant role in the detoxification of metabolic slag. In case of liver failure, these toxic wastes accumulate rapidly in the body and endanger the lives of patients. As of today, there are no treatments to save patients from acute liver diseases, whether it is for alcohol, drug, hepatitis, obesity, or diabetes. This has made current standards of care ineffective—in acute cases, unsafe, and often not available on-time.

Vincent Forster, co-founded Versantis with an aim of developing a new generation of effective medicines and reliable diagnostics that would revolutionize the care of patients with liver diseases. Since its formation, Versantis –

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An Award-winning Visionary Saving Millions of Lives a Swiss pharmaceutical startup company – has been committed to the translation of life-saving therapies for acute hepatic diseases of high unmet medical needs.

Before the formation of Versantis, Vincent completed an award-winning doctoral research in Pharmaceutical Sciences at ETH Zurich. During his tenure in the Drug Delivery Laboratory headed by Prof. Leroux, he coinvented and developed the technology platform from which Versantis’ proprietary pharmaceutical products were derived. His pioneering scientific contributions generated several international patents; were published in eminent journals such as Science Translational Medicine, and led to him being awarded by the prestigious Phoenix Group and Pfizer Research awards. Prior to that, Vincent carried out a diverse and global background education in Life Sciences and Biomedical Engineering at EPFL Lausanne and UCSD San Diego, wherein he focused on the unification of multiple medical technologies to design tools and models for improving patient care.

Working on a Bigger Picture!

Since the medical world is becoming ever-more interdisciplinary, Vincent’s goal is to work a bigger picture by coalescing advances across multiple disciplines to promote the development of novel therapies and improve the global healthcare system. In fact, this is in a nutshell the

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story behind Versantis’ main asset where technologies from different fields where combined to devise a straightforward, yet extremely efficient, medical product which answers the depriving needs of patients suffering from severe liver disease.

Versantis’s lead candidate, VS-01 has the potential to fill the medical gap between preventive drugs and liver transplantations, and has received Orphan Drug Designations from both the FDA and EMA. This program is the first treatment for acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), a life-threatening condition of high unmet medical need and alarming mortality rate. Vincent plans to rapidly broaden his company’s scope in this field with a family of products embracing less severe indications such as hepatic encephalopathy and complications of cirrhosis.

Translating the Fruit of Academic to the Market At the peak of his career, Vincent is about to achieve what he always promoted — linking entrepreneurial to scientific mindsets to translate the fruit of academic research to the market. He believes this translation is challenging and requires a solid and versatile set of skills. “I don’t think anyone is born entrepreneur or CEO and I truly believe that with the right balance of commitment, motivation, and perseverance, everyone can build and grow a successful venture,” Vincent asserts.

Three years back, Vincent seized this opportunity motivated by the perspective to save the lives of patients with liver deficiencies. He was knowingly taking a large step outside of his comfort zone and it’s not something he regrets today, not for a second. He says, “The daily problem-solving and the constant learning are getting me out of bed every morning!”

Milestones along the Way There were two pivotal moments in the decision-making process. During Vincent’s tenure at ETH, they invented and developed an unconventional technology, with clinical potential in several fields of high unmet medical needs.

Although starting Versantis seemed to be the obvious avenue, Vincent mentions, he was neither a business expert nor a medical doctor to evaluate the need and demand for such products. The filing of their first patent was the first step towards making this venture into a reality, but then what clearly kicked the project off the ground was Versantis’s first contracted market study based on a dozen of international KOLs interviews which validated the medical needs and pharmaceutical interest towards the company’s technology. Since then, milestones succeeded one another rapidly thanks to the commitment of its co-founder Meriam Kabbaj who has catered predominantly in it. Versantis grew its business and medical advisory

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We are committed to the translation of life-saving therapies for acute hepatic diseases, where the medical need is dramatically high. network, advanced the technology to industrial-scale manufacturing, proved its efficacy in gold-standard models, and very soon was awarded with several international entrepreneurial prizes recognizing the sound business proposition of the company.

Building a Strong Network of Collaborators since the Beginning Vincent is a strong believer of ’time is money.’ This naïve saying is especially true in Biotechnology where capital need is extremely high and products must navigate through time-consuming regulatory hurdles to reach marketing approval and enjoy what remains from their patents protection period. “This puts biotech executives under pressure to be creative every step of the way in order to design a lean, condensed, and cost-efficient development strategy. Executive teams of small biotech startups must be able to plan proactively and juggle between different fields with external partners to successfully climb every step on the way to success. This is exactly what we have fostered at Versantis from the start; we have successfully built a trusted network of collaborators, together achieved milestones in a timely fashion, and now with two Orphan Drug Designations granted to our lead product, we can plan on a lean clinical development,” Vincent adds.

Fostering New Ideas and Driving the Development Last March, Versantis successfully raised a Series A of $4.5m with outstanding partners such as Redalpine Venture Capital and Healthequity. But raising money is only the beginning, now Versantis’ team is on the clock to advance its lead product to the first-in-human clinical trial.

Simultaneously, Versantis continuously fosters new ideas and drives the development of its follow-on products VS-02 and TS-01, with which Versantis will stand out as an innovational leader in hepatology. Its pipeline embraces all stages of hepatic encephalopathy and aims at increasing the life expectancy and quality of these patients which have been so far neglected by the drug development industry.

Vincent aims, “…in 5 years from now, these patients will be diagnosed, saved, and supported with our products.”

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WHAT TURNS A PERSON INTO

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CEO

hat makes you think that when you order a team of hundred people to do a certain job, they will do exactly what you say? Why do you think all of them should follow you? Why should each one of them risk their professional life on you? Even if they follow you what are the chances you are taking them on the right path?

Everyone dreams to become a leader, a successful leader.

But very few strive to be the one. Learning in same school, earning the same degrees, playing the same sports, still very few of them become leader and the rest of them become followers. Every employee in a company is at the most suitable designation, if it is true, what makes a CEO to command everyone? The leadership quality is the most mandatory thing, but it takes many more qualities than that.

Courage is other important thing, but for being a CEO, many other professional skills are in charged. The following are few underrated but crucial attributes required to become a CEO or to hire a CEO for the company.

Decision Maker: Every successful CEO will agree that making a decision becomes very difficult when everything depends on your words. Deciding which strategy to follow, which deal to close and what should be on the priority list,

DECISION

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becomes a million times harder when everyone is counting on you. Handling the pressure and keeping the senses on its peak are important at those times.

Realistic: Many people think that a CEO must be optimistic, but very exceptional people will understand that, irrespective of how well one has studied pros and cons, there always remains some probability of failure. One must keep that in mind, so that he could choose the best strategy and must also be equipped with a plan he would be using it when hit by failure. Hence, being realistic rather than being optimistic adds more chances in becoming a successful CEO. Neutrality: The most important and most forbidden quality nowadays is emotional neutrality. People, who believe in, ‘if you think it’s going to work, it will work,’ are most likely to fall. Deciding that you need to start a company or lead a bunch of people in the spell of rage has probability of regretting their decisions after the effect of the spell. Also as a saying for Godfather goes- ‘never involve your emotions in business, it affects your judgment,’ one must be able to think above what he feels about the outcome. One must be calm enough to observe the market, patient enough to acquire the required skills and wise enough to start the journey when the market needs him most.

Risk Taking Factor: Here is another controversial thing they say about entrepreneurs - sometimes they need to risk everything. This sentence is partially true, because knowing the meaning of ‘Risk’ is very important here. If people think that, “If the result of an act depends purely on ‘fortune’, it is called risk,” then people are not using “Risk” with the context of business. Maximizing the probability of wining and hoping that everything will go according to the calculation and executing the act is “taking Risk.” As winning is never guaranteed, risk taking factor affects December 2017

CEO Thoughts

greatly on the success of a CEO. Hence, taking risk is mandatory but great business people never risk everything, that’s why it’s called Business, not Gambling. A good strategist always keeps his assets safe to use during the calamities.

Judgment: Having a good judgment is as important as having leadership qualities. And the secret to make the judgment better is to learn continuously.

The success of a CEO is measured by two parameters- what people in the market thinks about him and what people in his own company thinks of him. The above qualities are December 2017

enough to make the company successful and win the respect of people in the market. But for the people of the company, with the above materialistic characteristics, having 3 C’s is very important - Credibility, Competence and Caring. People must trust you, your words and your way of doing business. Even if things go wrong, people must be by your side instead blaming you. ‘Having good relations is the key to have good to gain the 3 C’s. As the saying from ‘House of Cards,’ goes, “Generosity is some kind of Power,” you must be generous enough to make the people believe in you.

“Give Respect and Take Respect,” is the secret to gain Respect. Loyalty of people is the most difficult and highest of the medal a Leader can achieve. As people follow leader in all aspects, loyalty is also a quality that people acquire from the leader. For that the CEO must be loyal to the company, to its people and to his work, because of this, irrespective of the success company gets, the CEO wins the loyalty of his people. Also, promoting loyalty is another kind of skills which includes- respecting and promoting old employees, fulfilling personal demands of employees, celebrating success of company with all employees, giving credits to all, etc.

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SigniďŹ cance of Predictive Analytics in Salesforce

Lennard Stoever

Co-founder & CEO minubo

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December 2017

Expert’s View

redictive Analytics have become the “big thing” in the retail industry and I agree, they can be an important and powerful tool for brands and retailers. Why? First of all, they enable commerce organizations to work in a more efficient way in every area of their business and second of all, they improve the quality of their decisionmaking processes.

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Why Predictive Analytics are no Panacea Though

Benefits of Predictive Analytics

And here’s why: Predictive analytics are only as good as the data they work with. And that is usually the key aspect in which brands and retailers have a lot of catching-up to do. Especially when it comes to linking customers with their full touchpoint history – not just online, but also in the physical store environment, in the call center and more – into a logical and comprehensive data warehouse.

Creating the source data pool predictive analytics can rely on is the key to unlock the great potential of this tool.

Especially the potential for efficiency improvement makes predictive analytics so interesting and valuable for the retail business. Time is money in today’s competitive environment – so there is a legitimate reason to deal with this subject.

Analytics and analyzing data sets or rather looking for specific patterns within the data often results in timeconsuming and in some cases repetitive tasks. With the use of predictive analytics, patterns within the data can be identified automatically and there is no need for employees of the commerce organization to search for them manually. All the analytical effort can be focuses on understanding the patterns and translating them into action.

And even with that, predictive analytics can provide a boost for an efficient working environment: Employees of commerce organizations are provided with far easier access to the findings of the analyzed data sets.

Predictive analytics facilitate findings in a way that makes it easier for everyone in the company to understand what the data shows – no need to be a data scientist or a statistics expert anymore to actually make use of the data and reach operational excellence.

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But there is a big “But” – predictive analytics are able to solve several problems, but they’re not a panacea.

They are a great tool for commerce organizations to improve certain processes, but it would be too easy to think that a “machine” can always make the best business decisions.

A Solution for Salesforce Companies Also in the Salesforce eco-system, we see that Salesforce retailers struggle heavily with that challenge. They’re simply lacking a solution that helps them get those basics right before they should even think about predictive analytics. And as Salesforce itself doesn’t come with a solution for this and companies usually don’t have the necessary knowledge in-house, they’re depending on solution providers specialized on Salesforce companies who help them out.

At this point, minubo enters the game. minubo, certified Salesforce partner since 2014, creates a holistic omnichannel database and makes the data accessible for all user groups: Data

from Salesforce, order management, webtracking as well as POS data is collected and integrated into a full omni-channel data warehouse according to the logic of a best practice commerce data model. Ultimately, it’s made available in an Analytics & Insights App comprising various data insights tools like a flexible customer segmentation, a web pivot and a proactive insights stream and, via a feed API, enables intelligent automation with direct connection e.g. to email marketing systems.

With that, minubo enables true data transparency and allows commerce organizations to be fast-paced and efficient in order to gain strategic and operational excellence. All in all, it actually offers crucial advantages in any business context: Mistakes are detected and can be eliminated, but also positive trends become visible and can be strengthened. These insights enable commerce organizations to recognize and capitalize on the full potential of their business model as well as to closely monitor the success of new strategies and processes – which in my opinion should be the key use case of any analytics project, may it wear the label “predictive” or not.

Our Vision And actually, against this background, our analytics vision doesn’t wear a label like that at all – it’s focused on what we envision our customers to achieve with our solution, the minubo Commerce Intelligence Suite: We want to enable all teams within the commerce organization to make smart day-to-day decisions relying on one holistic database. In short, we put our vision into one simple term: data democracy!

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