Top 10 Ambitious Women in Tech 2021 January2021 - InsightsSuccess

VOL 01 | ISSUE 02 | 2021

DISRUPTIVE MINDSET MYTHS & TRUTHS ABOUT WOMEN IN TECH

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION WOMEN TECH LEADERS MAKING WAVES IN THE INDUSTRY

Michelle Rudnick

Leading with Openness, Integrity and Resilience

10 TOP

AMBITIOUS

WOMEN IN TECH 2021

Editor’s Desk Imprinting the Marks of Success in Tech

W

omen have really rolled up their sleeves to take the charge in the technology space.

Winds of change finally seems to have arrived after watching female leaders thriving in the sphere of technology.

Until last decade, women were underrepresented in the technology industry. Last few years have marked a tremendous revolution, as women with their immense technical knowledge and strong business acumen have taken tech startups or well-established businesses to the new heights.

Women have hugely contributed to the technological world by opening doors to endless possibilities with their critical thinking abilities. These contributions date back to the earliest years of computer science, when Ada Lovelace with her passion for mathematics worked with Charles Babbage on his computer called the Analytical Engine. She is regarded as the world’s first computer programmer and the first person to see the full potential of computers that relate to how computers are used today.

Technology doesn’t ask for the gender to be a part of the industry; it only demands for technical skills and know-how. Having women in tech is the drastic transformation.

There are more such women who in the hat of leaders are shaping the technological landscape and setting an example for admiring women tech enthusiasts. In order to acknowledge their significant contributions, Insights Success has compiled a list of “Top 10 Ambitious Women in Tech 2021”.

We have featured Michelle Rudnick on the cover of this edition. Michelle is the President and acting CEO of PCS, a certified minority & woman owned business since 1995 driven by the ideology that wise technology investments are one of the key elements that enable organizations’ growth, innovation, and the power to advance in their industries.

Under the abled leadership of Michelle, PCS is recognized as leading provider of technology services to educational institutions, government agencies, and businesses. Its managed services, mobility, video solutions, A/V integration, virtualization, unified communications, and data infrastructure solutions leverage organization’s consultative approach, deep technical expertise, and extensive industry partnerships.

Let’s unveil more alike and inspiring stories of such ambitious leaders in tech and spread the word about their contribution in making this world a better place.

Lastly, you might come across the articles written by our in-house editorial team and CXO standpoints of some of the leading industry experts to have the know-how about the industry. Make sure to scroll through them, while flipping through the pages.

Let’s start Reading!

Hitesh Dhamani

hitesh@insightssuccess.com

COVER STORY

08

Michelle Rudnick

LEADING WITH OPENNESS, INTEGRITY & RESILIENCE

ARTICLES

24

36

Disruptive Mindset

Industrial Revolution

Myths & Truths About Women in Tech

Women Tech Leaders Making Waves in the Industry

16

Catherine Pearce Helping to Bring Promising Medicines Forward

20

Chaitra Vedullapalli Helping to Achieve Economic Prosperity

28 Karin Lohitnavy A Passion Driven Leader

32

Marne Martin When an Open Mind Opens Doors

40

Nicole Iseppi

Advocating Greater Industry Collaboration & Increase Efficiency in the Global Energy Sector

44

Rhonda Vetere An Inspiration for Millions

Editor-in-Chief Sumita Sarkar Managing Editor Anish Miller

Executive Editor

Assistant Editors

Rohit Chaturvedi

Hitesh Dhamani

Visualizer

Art & Design Director

David King

Asha Bange

Associate Designer Kushagra Gupta

Co-designer Kartik Balapurkar

Senior Sales Manager

Business Development Manager

Kshitij S

Peter Collins

Marketing Manager

Sales Executives

John Matthew

David, Martin, Dharmendra

Technical Head

Business Development Executives

Jacob Smile

Steve, Joe, Aidan, Irfan

Technical Specialist Aditya

Digital Marketing Manager Marry D'Souza

SME-SMO Executive Amol Wadekar

Research Analyst Frank Adams

Database Management Stella Andrew

Circulation Manager Robert Brown

Technology Consultant David Stokes

sales@insightssuccess.com January, 2021

Follow us on :

www.facebook.com/insightssuccess/

www.twitter.com/insightssuccess

We are also available on : Copyright © 2021 Insights Success, All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Insights Success.

Reprint rights remain solely with Insights Success.

Featured Person

Company Name

Brief

Carla Bailo President and CEO

Center for Automotive Research cargroup.org

The Center for Automotive Research is involved in the research of significant issues that relate to the future direction of the global automotive industry.

Catherine Pearce CEO

CinRx cinrx.com

CinRx is a biotechnology company that leverages its team’s exceptional industry experience to develop therapeutics in a novel way that meets the modern paradigm of drug development.

Chaitra Vedullapalli Co- founder & CMO

Meylah meylah.com

From demand generation, process automation, and constant innovation, Meylah can help transform businesses into a digital powerhouse.

Karin Lohitnavy Founder

Midas PR Group midas-pr.com

Midas provide its clients with bold, tailor-made communication strategies and deliver results that always exceed expectations.

Mai Ton Founder & Owner

EMP HR Consulting emphrconsulting.com

Through EMP HR Consulting Mai Ton helps various HR leaders build high performing teams and change the reputation of HR.

Marne Martin President

The IFS Service Management Business Unit ifs.com

IFS develops and delivers enterprise software for customers around the world who manufacture and distribute goods, build and maintain assets, and manage service-focused operations.

Michelle Rudnick President & CEO

PC Solutions & Integration (PCS) pcsusa.net

Committed to providing customized technology solutions for a smarter business, PCS offers Innovative Cyber Security, Desktop Computing, Networking, Data Center Storage, Voice and Video Premise and Cloud based best-of-breed products.

Nazli Azimi Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Bioniz bioniz.com

Bioniz Therapeutics is a private biopharmaceutical company leading the discovery and development of first-in-class anticytokine therapies to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases driven by unregulated T-cell biology.

Nicole Iseppi Managing Director of Operations & Performance

ENGIE engie.com

ENGIE is a global benchmark group in low carbon energy and services.

Rhonda Vetere EVP Chief Information Officer

Global C-Suite Technology Executive herbalife.com

Herbalife Nutrition is a global nutrition company on a mission to improve nutritional habits around the world.

COVER STORY

PRESIDENT & CEO

MICHELLE

RUDNICK LEADING WITH OPENNESS, INTEGRITY & RESILIENCE

“

ALWAYS DELIVER MORE

THAN EXPECTED.

COVER STORY

A

mbitious and exemplary leadership is a key component of any organizational success.

Trustworthy and genuinely exemplary leaders are capable of leading the organization with example. The passion to use technology to come up with innovative solutions to the existing problems is the hallmark of a great technology leader. Tech continues to be a mainly male dominated industry. Women becoming a part of tech industry is still considered to be ambitious in certain parts of the world.

Michelle Rudnick is one such an ambitious woman in tech industry. She is the President and acting CEO of PCS which is a certified minority & woman owned business since 1995 driven by the ideology that wise technology investments are one of the key elements that enable organizations’ growth, innovation, and the power to advance in their industries.

PCS is a leading provider of technology services to educational institutions, government agencies, and businesses. Its managed services, mobility, video solutions, A/V integration, virtualization, unified communications,

and data infrastructure solutions leverage organization’s consultative approach, deep technical expertise, and extensive industry partnerships.

Diversified Offering to Customers One way Michelle has been able to maintain a diversified offering to attract target customers has been by creating a new business development group whose sole purpose is to focus specifically on the new customer base and their needs.

This allows the target customer to get full focus and the personal attention PCS prides itself in providing everyone from small, midsize or large customers.

Michelle also keeps PCS diversified to attract customers by using a Horizontal Diversification Strategy which is to continually add new products, as well as expanding on its existing products and services already being offered. PCS provides transformative IT solutions by leveraging the best technology solutions for unique needs of customers. PCS makes business easier and simple to run using technology.

PCS provides technology solutions for a smarter business.

Shaped by Good Impressions Michelle Rudnick is inspired by Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox Corporation 2007-1st African American female CEO of a Fortune 500 company in history. Ursula Burns came from a challenging upbringing to lead in Corporate America. She is also inspired by Ada Lovelace, her work on how to code a computer using letters and numbers was published in 1843 under A.A.L locking her place in history as the 1st computer programmer. She is also influenced by few books like, The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz and Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry.

A life factor that influenced Michelle and left an impact in the type of leader she is was when early in her career she was hired to manage the first U.S office of a European based software company. After her brief onboarding training, she was left alone to make daily decisions as the owner returned to Europe and only visited every 3-4 months. Initially she was terrified almost daily of making a mistake so she expressed this to her boss on his first visit back and she can still recall his voice as he said “Michelle, I’ve invested too much time in you to just simply fire you over a mistake so stop being scared and maybe you will do a better job”

Michelle Rudnick President & CEO PCS

Staying Ahead of IT needs Michelle’s vision for the company in the next five years is to continue to discover and go after the latest forms of technologies to be able to provide its customers the edge by staying ahead of their IT needs in this fast changing and ever-evolving industry. She also foresees PCS continuing to expand and opening more offices outside of the current Southeast United States locations.

the field of Digital Marketing, AI definitely looks like a real driving force for digital platforms and businesses for a minimum of the next 5 years. All these technologies can solve problems, predict analysis, forecast trends by computing data captured over time. For a business, AI increases the value proposition by turning features like insights and analytics to productivity stimulants and value addition.

Positive and Ambitious Approach

Making Goals a Reality Michelle believes every leader should possess forwardthinking vision. She believes that every great leader should be a dreamer, to one degree or another to have the vision to make one’s goals a reality. She considers that dedication, resilience, determination, honesty, trustworthiness, and commitment to achieve results are important attributes of a leader. Michelle consider it is essential to lead with openness, integrity, and sincerity to earn the respect of one’s staff.

Using AI as a Disruptive Force Michelle believes AI already is and will continue to be a disruptive force in the near future. Artificial Intelligence still remains a lesser-known technology relatively for a fair number of IT professionals. With the exponential growth in

Michelle’s personality tends to see positivity in everything but if she had to pick one thing to describe as a challenge she had to overcome is that carrying herself in such a manner that when she walked into a room or a meeting she should be clearly seen as the CEO of an IT company and not just a woman.

Michelle always tries to take a positive approach to every situation that she encounters so the challenging times like Covid-19 pandemic be faced with the same positive approach as the rest. Of course, like everyone else this pandemic situation was very unfamiliar territory for PCS and her also. She never envisioned the extent of the impact or the duration of it but nevertheless PCS was up for the challenges being presented by pandemic to not only for itself but the entire nation. Sustaining Michelle’s leadership spirit throughout this period has not been much challenging

Top 10 Ambitious Women in Tech 2021

for her because she is aware that her customers are relying on her guidance to help them navigate by being able to keep their businesses operating while also keeping their employees safe.

Using Creativity for Innovation Michelle’s future endeavors are directed towards continuing her collaboration and using her creativity for innovation to further develop her relationships with customers and vendor partners in the fast-changing IT industry. She continues to have ambitious plans for the future, plans that focus on investing in innovative new technologies and training to offer breakthrough developments to current and new customers ahead of my competition. In the near future she sees herself having successfully spun off at least three subsidiaries of PCS, which will all be run by someone other than herself allowing her the opportunity to pursue other endeavors or seek new ways to shakeup the TECH Industry.

Empowering Each Other Michelle’s advice to the emerging ambitious women in tech would be first to have patience with their journey, do not let ambition blind the path. She also believes it is critical for a female leader to develop active listening skills and find the balance between just listening but still having a voice in discussions among men because Tech continues to be a mainly male dominated industry. She believes that by wisely choosing the opportunities to interject to drive the conversation one can set oneself apart as a valuable, insightful leader. She advises to remind oneself of what inspired one to go into Tech so that one never loses the passion and lastly she recommends not to feel threatened when encountering another ambitious woman but instead learn how to empower each other.

& & 20 The

Most

SUCCESSFUL

BUSINESSWOMEN to Watch, 2020

kimberly Khoury

Paving her Way in Sustainability Development

Top 10 Ambitious Women in Tech 2021

S

he is a talented drug-development professional, an impeccable leader, and marketing expert. Meet Catherine Pearce, DHSc, MBAChief Operating Officer at CinRx, whose firm determination and passion helped her in achieve many career milestones in the pharmaceutical industry.

She has more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical clinical development, business development, and R&D at companies including Merck, Ethicon and Medpace. Most recently, she served as the Vice President of Research and Development for New Therapeutic Entities (NTEs) at Teva, where she was responsible for developing over 20 repurposed products across multiple therapeutic areas.

Catherine has co-founded and assembled CinRx’s talented leadership team that has submitted multiple New Drug Applications (NDAs) throughout their careers, overseen hundreds of Investigational New Drug (INDs) applications, as well as Clinical Trial Applications (CTAs), and Investigational Medicinal Product Dossiers (IMPDs). Between the approximately 15 person team, the group has published 36 patents and participated in more than 2300 clinical trials which resulted in 50 approved therapeutics worldwide.

Into the Shoes of Catherine Pearce Catherine started her career in sales and marketing with Hoffman-LaRoche in 1997 and later with Merck, where she launched cardiovascular products in hypertension and lipid management. For 5 years, she served as aClinical Project Director for Phase I-III global studies at a CRO, Medpace, in a variety of therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular, diabetes, nephrology and neuropathic pain studies. She later started the Business Development group in 2007, and subsequently left the company in 2011 to pursue opportunities in life science investment and device development at Ethicon (J&J).

In 2012, she joined Teva as Vice President, R&D, to lead the medical assessments for the newly created New Therapeutic Entities (NTE) team, a group responsible for building a portfolio of drugs through repurposing generic molecules. After successfully helping to add over 22 repurposed molecules to Teva’s R&D portfolio, she left to co-found CinRx Pharma, LLC—a privately held biotech company dedicated to drug development. Being a Chief Operating Officer at CinRx, her daily responsibilities include the overall management of the company and its operations, business development, strategic direction and planning, for CinRx and its subsidiary organizations.

Teachings worth Admiring Catherine acknowledges one of her colleagues, Dr. Jon Isaacsohn, a co-founder and CEO of CinRx, as an influential mentor for over 20 years in this industry. She states

16 | January 2021

www.insightssuccess.com

CATHERINE PEARCE Helping to Bring Promising Medicines Forward

www.insightssuccess.com

January 2021 | 17

that through him, she has been taught the underlying strategies for good clinical trial design and execution, as well as been encouraged to challenge herself professionally. Personally, Catherine sees great learnings growing up with a set of grandparents who taught her that one doesn’t need an education to leave a legacy of kindness that can change people's lives.

She describes herself that as a voracious reader of all media, devoting a substantial time to newspapers and journals daily, including her favorite novels of the past several years which have been memoirs. She thinks and believes that learning about someone else’s journey and seeing life from a different perspective is both inspiring and humbling. She recalls her favorite childhood book series “Valuetales” which had a substantial positive impact on her. Each book featured a notable scientist, inventor, or historical figure that told the story of the embodied value in their work. She made the connection very early that the work is more than just accomplishing a task, but an opportunity to demonstrate your values and add meaning to your life and others.

Serving the Needs Catherine states that in more than one previous role, she needed to create her own job description and department.

Through quoting, “Not having a roadmap, resources, or legacy process necessitates creativity,” she implies that when she started the Business Development Department at Medpace, she didn’t try to copy another system and implement a large-scale initiative on Day 1. Instead, she interviewed customers of Medpace and got a sense of what they wanted to see from the department and how the business might best serve their needs. The slower, systematic, more targeted approach allowed her and her team to set realistic goals and make necessary adjustments in order to grow into an optimized department with the right tools and people.

Embracing the Technology She believes that even though technology is a great enabler, it can also make people particularly lazy and create a “herd” mentality. The key is not to use these tools as a replacement for the ground work that can

18 | January 2021

uncover novelty with scientists and other innovators. She states that human relationships and having conversations face-to-face can really help you piece together seemingly disparate pieces of data which can spark a great idea.

Many times, people just simply don’t ask enough questions from each other because they assume all the answers they need can be “googled”. The biggest advantage she sees to evolving technology is to connect people faster, enabling any conversations.

Advice to Rely On Catherine firmly believes that with working hard anyone can taste the fruitiness of success. She advice every budding leaders to work hard in order to build a team that possess different traits. Maintain a culture of curiosity and go out of your way to celebrate victories, both big and small. “Do not assume that consulting “experts” will be a key to success. I have found that there are people with great, untapped ideas that just have not been called upon,” mentions Catherine.

She also suggests to be surrounded with the people who are smart and will challenge you. “Invite criticism and drop complacency,” she adds. Most importantly, she ask such buds to bring a sense of joy and humor to their work.

“Generally, I think people need to find their own rhythms – and those will change over time. Develop good, healthy physical, emotional, and spiritual habits uniquely right for you and balance will follow,” quotes Catherine.

CinRx’s Future through Catherine’s Eyes Catherine states that the short-term goals at CinRx are to prove the value of the model. She and her team believe that there is a better, more efficient and cost-effective way to bring meaningful medicines to patients. Within 5 years, they would like to have current CinRx companies grown their respective pipelines with additional in-license activities while also establishing 1-2 NewCo’s every year in an “evergreen” approach.

www.insightssuccess.com

Chaitra

Vedullapalli Helping to Achieve Economic Prosperity

C

haitra Vedullapalli the Co- founder and CMO of Meylah is recognized as an Influential Business Leader with a passion to enable digital equity and access to achieve economic prosperity in our communities.

Vedullapalli is also the Co-Founder & President of Women in Cloud, sits on many boards and drives global conversations with the United Nations and top corporations throughout the U.S. In an interview with Insights Success, the spokesperson of Meylah shares the journey of Chaitra and the company.

Below are the highlights of the interview; Give a brief overview of your background and Chaitra's role in Meylah.

Chaitra Vedullapalli is originally from India and moved to the United States 25 years ago with her husband Ram Vedullapalli. She did electrical engineering from RVCE in India and has worked with tech giants like Oracle and Microsoft before starting her own business, Meylah Corporation, partnering with her husband.

Chaitra is the Co- founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Meylah. As the CMO she is often responsible for business development, client management as well as the marketing and PR coordination. She is regularly keeping track of social media handles and other PR activities. She also ideates several products for Meylah. Speaker Engage is one of her brainchild to transform the events industry to adopt cloud technologies.

20 | January 2021

How do you diversify your solutions that appeal to your target audience?

Meylah's mission is to help companies access the digital economy. A lot of our efforts are focused on working with corporations and their channels to ignite local economic development leveraging technologies, communities and programs. We work with customers to drive digital transformation with cloud & AI technologies. We leverage blue ocean business model thinking to design and develop solutions that create access to digital economy and reduce cost of doing business. During this progress, we spend a lot of time accessing what solutions actually will become sticky and develop diverse solutions to address market needs.

Describe some of the vital attributes that every businesswoman should possess.

“I was at Oracle when my mentor, Bronwyn Hasting, now EVP at SAP said a person who leads from the back and ensures everyone is taken care of is a True Leader. She also said you can say you are a leader when you have created leaders who have created leaders. That resonated with my philosophy of serving, influencing and partnering with people to lead change. I believe every leader comes with their own set of traits and brings in their perspective through their experiences. Hence a “great leader” is subjective. However, I believe there are certain leadership traits that make a leader stand out in the crowd:

www.insightssuccess.com

Top 10 Ambitious Women in Tech 2021

Chaitra Vedullapalli Co- founder CMO

www.insightssuccess.com

January 2021 | 21

Open, transparent, over communicate, learning and putting myself in others shoes.

1. Coachability: Being coachable empowers the people around you to learn and grow. Being coachable allows you to be vulnerable with people and resolve obstacles easily.

2. Feedback Resilience: Being able to take all kinds of feedback without getting triggered is crucial in leading change. I believe when you receive feedback you are getting a gift from others and they are helping to see your own blind spots that you can see.

3. Ego Management: As you rise to the top, your ego becomes bigger and bigger. Ability for you to manage your ego and your emotions will serve you well. Kindness is the antidote for ego slaying.

4. Access Enabler: I believe that every leader priority must be to enable access for their employees, customers and partners to realize their potential. I believe in creating economic access and have dedicated my life to this cause.”

Chaitra Vedullapalli What were the past experiences, achievements or lessons that shaped Chaitra 's journey? What were some of the primal challenges and roadblocks that you guys faced during the initial phase of Chaitra Vedullapalli 's journey?

Although, in current times, women are given opportunities to rise, the power of influence is not showered upon women. This makes it extremely difficult for women leaders to gain economic access and power to make an impact in society. When women do not have economic

22 | January 2021

power or the ability to influence decisions they cannot truly lead their organization and create impact.

Chaitra has been very vocal about roadblocks she faced as a female tech entrepreneur during the early days of Meylah.

She says, “I constantly noticed in the tech industry but I was surrounded by men in channel related initiatives, in customer and investor meetings and industry events.

Women were not well represented to make decisions or provide inputs to shape the narrative around equity and access. I struggled to figure out how to drive consistent growth for our business. I noticed that I was silently becoming a part of the system that did not embrace inclusion. Gender bias was real and was affecting many women business owners in the tech industry.”

But Chaitra is a problem solver, and her solution to the obstacles she faced was to build Women in Cloud, a community-led, economic development initiative to accelerating societal impact through female tech entrepreneurs with the colossal goal of generating over $1B in global economic access by 2030. She has also been a huge believer that contributing to the community will create a larger than life impact. Chaitra brings her beliefs into the company and personally propagates it to her employees.

This helps them grow personally and professionally.

Collective action and collective growth is her mantra and she practices what she preaches.

Where does Chaitra Vedullapalli sees herself in the near future and how will you catalyze the change?

Creating an inclusive economy through the technology sector is one of the core missions. Chaitra's passion lies around building technology solutions that create equal access for economic opportunities. When you look at her portfolio of bold ideas, it focuses on 4 core areas 1. Developing economic development solutions using modern technologies 2. Removing language bias from public and private contracting practices 3. Public policy and advocacy to create equal access to entrepreneurial opportunities 4.Closely work with United Nations and Corporations to launch campaigns and solutions to solve global goals.

www.insightssuccess.com

24 | January 2021

www.insightssuccess.com

Disruptive Mindset

Myths & Truths About

WOMEN T

ech continues to be a male-dominated industry.

While there are many myths and truth about women in technology like these, we will put light more on such myths and truth in this article.

While this is a truth that tech is a male-dominated industry.

The reasons are gender diversity, gender inequalities, and the absence of a tech educational environment for women.

“Diverse companies perform better, hire better talent, have more engaged employees, and retain workers better than companies that do not focus on diversity and inclusion McKinsey Report”.

Women in tech or any other fields have the power of bringing change in the world and making this world a better place to live. The attributes they carry like listening and treating everyone with respect is an open truth of a leader.

A lot of efforts are focused on working to drive digital transformation with cloud and AI technologies. Women will need a lot of time to develop these diverse solutions addressing market needs. Women in tech believe in taking all kinds of feedback as a gift which is crucial in leading change. Ultimately, they have the ability to manage their emotions which is another truth.

Problem-Solvers Gender bias is real and affecting many women business owners in the tech industry. This makes it extremely

www.insightssuccess.com

IN

TECH

difficult for women in tech to gain opportunities and to make an impact in society. When women do not have the power or ability to influence decisions, they cannot truly lead the organization. Although women are given opportunities to rise, they are not well represented to make decisions or provide inputs in driving the growth of the business. They struggle to figure out to embrace and become a part of the system as they are surrounded by men in tech-related industries.

But, women are problem-solvers, and passionate to build technology solutions that create equal access for economic opportunities using modern technologies. Being a leader, they remove the language bias (like replacing the word ‘guys’ with ‘folks’ or team) and put it into practice.

An Empathetic Approach Even though technology can make things easy and convenient, it connects people faster, enabling any conversations from any part of the world. Women can maintain human relationships and have conversations faceto-face which can really help to make an individual connect and create a bond among the employees.

To maintain a culture of a hard-working group and a culture of curiosity is a key to success. There are people with great untapped ideas that need to be valued in the organization.

Women in tech know that being surrounded by smart and January 2021 | 25

challenging people builds a sense of joy and humor in the work.

technologically advanced women is what we want in this next phase of digital evolution.

A Disruptive Mindset & Female-Oriented Workplace

Creating a female-oriented culture workplace can give the energy which cannot be stopped. It is vital to build a culture full of like-minded women techs which attract more innovation and agile decision making in the organization.

Relying on women that have a deep understanding of the challenges is important in building a great organization.

Today, there are more myths than truths about women in tech. But people do not know that women leaders can also go outside their comfort zone, and know that they can do wonders in tech.

Keeping an innovative and disruptive mindset goes through many journeys while keeping wide thinking, as it brings a great amount of growth and opportunity ahead. It is worth appreciating that women embrace this complexity of the technology which is full of challenges. Women in tech are always passionate about transforming businesses via technology, as there is no better time than now for women leaders to transform digitally.

There can be many more myths, but one thing is sure that women in tech are agile in their ways of working to adopt new processes and technology. Male-dominated thinkers are beginning to understand that women are no longer an option but a part of the ecosystem now. Myths and Truths about Women is what we have always had, and now

26 | January 2021

Let’s Prioritize Winning as a Team If we have to measure or judge such myths and truths, we should do it by measuring the performance and the integrity of the women in tech. This will ensure us that promoting and empowering women in tech can really make a difference in the world. While no organization or person is perfect, but effectiveness in these areas is the ultimate success of the organization.

We can always do better than these myths and truths; nothing can please us more than to see women shine and rise in tech. There is really no person alone who is successful completely by himself. Just like a sports team, we should prioritize winning as a team.

www.insightssuccess.com

KARIN LOHITNAVY A Passion Driven Leader

W

ith the abundance of high-quality organizations, it is paramount to make yours stand out. Public relations (PR) strategies effectively communicate your business model as well as its credibility to the public. With over 15 years of public relations experience, you could call Karin Lohitnavy, Founder of Midas PR Group an expert in the field.

Whatever the industry, or niche audience, Midas PR always has a unique plan for you. Under Karin's leadership, a team of enthusiastic executives leave their long-lasting Midas Touch on the brand they work beside.

languages, the polyglot did not yet speak Thai upon arrival in Thailand. However, Karin rose to and succeeded at the challenge of building business and personal relations in a new country and a different language. Being receptive to foreign cultures and customs helped Karin develop meaningful relationships with colleagues and clients from all nations. She also met her husband Tony, who is Thai. Together, they navigated through the obstacles that non-BOI companies faced. He always had her back and further supported Karin by positioning her at the forefront of Midas PR, and himself as the Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Preceding Wisdom, Succeeding Journey Karin attributes her quick-wit and proactive mindset to her plethora of experiences over many countries.

Holding a degree in Social and Political Sciences from the prestigious University of Strasbourg, and having worked in Luxembourg the founder of Midas PR synergises her theoretical and valuable experience which, then helped lay a foundation in Thailand.

Throughout her experience, Karin understood that in comparison to other business communication strategies, the Return of Investment (ROI) on Public Relations activities were more ambiguous. Thus, in 2007, Karin's vision of a PR company that delivers measurable results came true in the form of Midas PR. With an almost clairvoyant understanding of trends, Karin actively works to understand the social and political atmosphere as well. Though already fluent in 8

28 | January 2021

Variegating Solutions Midas PR's success over the past 13 years shows a consistent winning streak. The storytelling approach that Karin's team applies to help their clients maximize media coverage and raise awareness through public relations always deliver tangible results. She always thinks out of the box to create unique communication strategies, and encourages her team to do the same. She has solutions for almost everything from corporate positioning or keeping the buzz going around your brand.

Chearanee Chittasevi, former editor in Chief of Cosmopolitan Magazine and Callum Laing, with whom she co-founded Bangkok Young Professionals, inspired her and helped her build a strong network. People call Karin a Master Connector because of her vast contact base and her ability to use her international panache. For

www.insightssuccess.com

Top 10 Ambitious Women in Tech 2021

www.insightssuccess.com

January 2021 | 29

30 | January 2021

www.insightssuccess.com

those who have met Karin, it would not be a surprise that such a positive, confident and passionate individual runs a successful PR agency.

Word of Advice for Women Entrepreneurs Karin always approaches life with a quote from Hannibal in mind, “Aut inveniam viam aut faciam”, which translates to “I shall either find a way or make one.” In addition to having goals, it is vital to create a productive and plausible plan to achieve them. Karin intends to expand her company on a large scale, meaning a bigger team and more clients. To ensure that the Midas PR team stays fully equipped to provide clients with the best work, Karin encourages them to attend relevant workshops. She also makes sure to do this, herself.

Karin heartily wants to tell all the women entrepreneurs that believe in themselves and not compromise on their value. Success comes from within you. Find a support system of like-minded people who will push you to be the best version of yourself. Following and doing what you love is paramount when setting up a new business–it demands your passion and lots of energy. So, prioritize your health and maintain a balanced life. Never forget that a healthy mind lives in a healthy body.

www.insightssuccess.com

January 2021 | 31

Marne Martin When an Open Mind Opens Doors

I

f you're the kind of person who's not afraid to step outside of your comfort zone, life-changing possibilities can be found in each new chapter, in each new job, and with new people that come into our lives. 's life took a Marne Martin different track when, rather than going back home to the West after college, she chose a career in international business—a choice she has not regretted for one second. “Life can work in wondrous ways if we allow ourselves to be open to change and put in the hard work,” Marne asserts. She adds, “My Grandfather used to tease Marne asserts. She adds me that the first words I said were “me can do it” and while my grammar has changed over the years, that drive is one that has remained.”

Marne is President of the IFS Service Management Business Unit, which provides solutions to service organizations all over the world. Her mission is to elevate the service management software business within IFS, as it continues to be a crucial strategic growth driver for the entire company. It is her responsibility to ensure the entire portfolio of IFS's service management solutions provides customers with the business value they expect from a global industry leader in field service management software. She also takes an active role in M&As, driving accretive value to IFS and often serves as the CEO for the integration period post acquisitions, most recently with WorkWave and now with Astea International. Prior to IFS, Marne served as CEO and led the executive leadership team at ServicePower Plc., an international field service management software company. Her career originally started in the telco sector launching and developing international businesses.

Entrepreneurship is a Mindset Marne believes that being entrepreneurial is a mindset, whether you are driving innovation as a founder or as a profession working for shareholders. Entrepreneurs have to go through so many changes throughout their business journeys and keeping an open mind can open the doors to

32 | January 2021

an immense amount of growth and opportunity that lie ahead. Navigating change can be a difficult and complex task, but one that is essential to advancing a business's priorities.

When Business and Technology Combine According to Marne, the world we are living in is connected and complex. It is critical that companies embrace this complexity and look to invest in the right talent and technology that first and foremost is targeted at addressing business challenges. Marne is passionate about transforming businesses via technology, as she believes that there is no better time than now for companies to digitally transform and their sta ffto think in agile ways to adapt and adopt new processes and technology. Service companies today are beginning to understand that 'business as usual' is no longer an option. As they embrace technology at an everincreasing rate to enable their business growth, they create new ways of engaging with customers, employees and their ecosystems. People and experiences are what we have always had, and now automation and efficiency are what most businesses want in this next phase of service evolution. But automation and efficiency can't replace the life-blood and energy that makes a company great.

It is essential to build an innovative work culture that attracts like-minded employees. According to Marne, a culture that prizes innovation and agile decision making with a conviction of customer-focus are among the important building blocks that puts employees on the offense vs. the defense. For her, there is a great advantage in relying on employees that have a deep understanding of their customers and the challenges they face. This enriched understanding can lead to customer empathy and relationships that span years and generations of products.

Marne's team measures itself on performance related to collaboration, decision-based learning and integrative decision making. This ensures that the company has a constant stream of feedback that helps promote

www.insightssuccess.com

www.insightssuccess.com

January 2021 | 33

Top 10 Ambitious Women in Tech 2021 transparency, and also empowers its employees to really make a difference in its customers' lives by addressing key challenges they are facing. “While no company or person will ever be perfect, resourcefulness needs creativity, a supportive atmosphere, and a lack of categorical or process rigidity that prevents it,” says Marne.

Imparting Wisdom Talking about leadership, management and mentorship, Marne asserts, “Leadership is about how you model it, how you inspire it, and how you grow. As leaders, our effectiveness in these three areas most often sets the trajectory related to talent recruitment and retention, and I am 100 percent convinced that talent is the number one driver impacting the ultimate success of a company or an initiative. We need to inspire and motivate people, and not be afraid to make the hard decisions, which requires selfactualization, vision, drive and the humility to be open to change. Every day I think about what I can do better, and

34 | January 2021

nothing pleases me more than to see people shine and develop around me. We want to not only be a beacon of light, but also to be the multiplier effect by uplifting all those we touch or influence.”

Marne advises emerging leaders not to run out of cash.

Furthermore, she adds, “I have seen more great ideas and concepts never achieve what they could due to lack of funding than any other reason. My emotional or spiritual side would be to never lose your passion as it is passion that customers and early-stage investors want to see. My business advice is to analyze what you and your company need to be to be successful in terms of talent around you, and make sure you prioritize having that talent by your side. There is really no founder that was successful solely as an individual. There is always a team of at least a few others. A sports team or an orchestra even with a solo act is still never alone as it is together the wins or great music is achieved.”

www.insightssuccess.com

E

very great leader is once a dreamer. You can call yourself a leader when you have created leaders who have created leaders. The key important attributes of a leader are Dedication, resilience, determination, honesty, trustworthiness, and commitment to achieve results.

In this fast-changing and ever-evolving industry, technology is a disruptive force for digital platforms.

Investing in new and advanced technologies keeps us th ahead of the competition. We are living in the 4 Industrial Revolution which is the Digital Revolution.

It is critical for a female leader to develop active tech skills because tech continues to be a mainly maledominated industry.

The speed of the Digital Revolution is accelerating, and women today need to more than ever adapt to the times constantly. Leadership in technology is about how you model it, how you inspire it, and how you grow. Women in technology inspire and motivates the team with vision, and the humility to be open to change. Businesswomen possess a forward-thinking vision and lead with openness, integrity, and sincerity.

A Culture of Curiosity Women Tech Leaders today do not feel threatened when encountering tech, instead they learn how to empower each other. Tech women entrepreneurs are coachable to learn and grow. Being coachable allows them to be vulnerable to technology and resolve obstacles easily. The best way to deal with this situation is to maintain a culture of curiosity; it is a key to success. Ultimately, by working hard anyone can taste the fruit of success.

It is important that businesswomen embrace this complexity and invests in addressing business challenges. There can be no better time for women to digitally transform and look for talent and technology in the team. Businesswomen have found their agile ways to adapt to the staff and creating new ways of engaging in the ecosystems.

It becomes equally important to build an innovative culture that thinks and acts embracing technology in this phase of evolution. There is always an added advantage in relying on employees that hold a deep understanding of the technological requirements and the challenges.

36 | January 2021

Creating an Innovative Environment In a male-dominated industry, gender-bias is real and affecting women in the tech industry. Markets today drive digital transformation with cloud and AI technologies. Creating an environment of innovative and disruptive solutions will create a lot of economic opportunities.

It is really a great tool-enabler, as it connects human relationships faster, enabling any conversations from far distances. As we adopt technology, businesses will grow at an ever-increasing rate. The pandemic is offering opportunities for women in tech. This outbreak is creating a demand and new chance for women’s workforce to join the tech industry. As of 2015, women hold only 25 percent of computing roles, according to data from the NCWIT (National Centre for Women and Information Technology). With these numbers it is clear that women working in tech are starting to have a positive impact in senior leadership in tech.

Surpassing All the Challenges One thing is clear that women hold a big innovative future in tech. With their grit and determination surpassing all the challenges in their way. They are here to stay and make an impact. It is upon us now, how we see to it. It would be our responsibility to make a way, and create a culture of diverse working environment.

Finally, no matter how good the technology is or how it brings the revolution in the world. It is in our hands how we make the use of it. Be it AI, Cloud Computing, or Internet of Things (IoT) it will be considered only good when we make a proper use of it for the human development. As far as women in tech is considered, they hold a prime responsibility of building a society of tech by employee retention and being disruptive.

Women in tech need to find their own rhythms maintaining a balance between tech and leadership within an organization.

www.insightssuccess.com

Industrial Revolution

Women Tech Leaders Making Waves in the

www.insightssuccess.com

Industry January 2021 | 37

Nicole

Iseppi Advocating Greater Industry Collaboration & Increase Efficiency in the Global Energy Sector

E

very successful person has his/her own success stories, which are often shaped by continuous chain of experiences. In an interview with Insights Success, the of Managing Director of ENGIE,Nicole Iseppi, has shared her success story, experiences, challenges and the story about her early start in the energy/infrastructure sector. Thus, providing key ingredients of success for emerging entrepreneurs.

Below are highlights of the interview conducted between Nicole Iseppi and Insights Success: What initially drew you to studying and practicing law?

I always enjoyed public speaking, communicating with people and solving problems and therefore, law offered a way to develop initial skills and knowledge that can be used to pursue such core drivers (especially my constant intrigue for problem solving). As I am a strong believer there is a solution to everything…we just (at times) need to think a little deeper and out of the box to find the best solution for some specific challenging situations. Plus, I grew up in a

40 | January 2021

household where my father was very entrepreneurial and self-employed (he ran his own company) and therefore having such exposure since an early age to being commercial, made me want to go into the commercial/business sector to be part of offering solutions to solve current problems and challenges we face.

In what way has your experience helped you in your career since then and the work you do at present?

Having the privilege to begin my first decade of my career journey at a leading infrastructure law firm and then at a global leading financial institution (including, having the rare opportunity to also be appointed as lead adviser on the implementation of a new international green financial institution), in terms of both opportunities, training and also access to the minds and experience of such high caliber and leading professionals – allowed me the best opportunity to excel from the beginning and learn my core craft. I am a strong believer as we progress through this world we should always remember where we come from and be grateful for the opportunities and amazing people we meet and learn

www.insightssuccess.com

Top 10 Ambitious Women in Tech 2021

Nicole Iseppi Managing Director ENGIE

www.insightssuccess.com

January 2021 | 41

can cope with some of the challenges it faces due to climate change?

It is the ability & wilingness to work hard and have the determination to achieve and make positive contributions, that will overcome any challenge that life may impose on you.

from – as they all steer us and develop us to be the person we are today and for tomorrow.

How would you describe the experience of living and working overseas?

Interesting, as a young student I always aspired and hoped to have the opportunity to travel and discover more of the world. However, had you told me at such younger years that I would end up travelling the world to work in the international arena and be kindly respected by my energy and finance peers as a global expert – I think I would have been a little surprised. However – It has been one of the best opportunities both professionally and personally and would highly recommend it to all. It has led to my success today and the person I am today. I am a strong believer that we should immense our self into new cultures, new opportunities and meet new people to share our thoughts & experiences, to constantly re-develop our thought process to strive for further improved solutions to any challenge.

Having the ability to travel for work – allows us to grow both intellectually and personally. Having that first overseas opportunity to work in Tokyo and since then having the opportunity to live and work in multiple cities around the globe (from Australia, Asia, Middle East to Europe) – has allowed me additional opportunities through my career, which I am very grateful of.

What are some of the changes and developments taking place in the industry that excite you the most? Do you feel hopeful about the future in terms of how the world

42 | January 2021

I am an optimistic person – so I do feel hopeful for the future. If we actively aim to address the core issues in a collobrative manner and are open to thinking out of the box and being constantly more innovative, we can find a solution to these challenges.

One of the biggest global challenges currently is how we all progress through this current global energy transition.

However, I am of the view that this transition (although it may of started specifically within the global energy sector) is no longer exclusively limited to the energy sector only. In fact, when I speak at international conferences, including a proud opportunity to be asked in the past to speak at the G20 Infrastructure Meeting, as an industry expert – I express the view that we are now at the start of a new industrial revolution. A revolution that can be described at least within the global energy sector as a new “3D World”.

That is – a future of more “Decentralised” energy; a future focused on “Decarbonisation” and a more “Digitalised” future society. The speed of change is accelerating, and one needs to more than ever, constantly re-adapt and move with the times. Such challenge and opportunity I find ever more exciting – especially in my passion and pursuit for problem solving. We have many exciting opportunities ahead and the best way to address many of them, is to collaborate more within the industry in order to push the boundaries of what is possible and the ability to innovate more (at all levels of the value chain) – to achieve more efficiency and higher quality levels of output.

What are the greatest challenges you've encountered in the course of your career, and how did you overcome them?

I think the way the modern world functions, does not matter what industry or profession we work in, we constantly face change and disruption. Which raises the challenge of how do you best lead in times of disruption. My best advice in terms of any challenge – and it is something I have done since an early start of my career. Is that if a job is worth doing it is worth doing properly. And we just have to be persistent and constantly look for greater efficiency, improvements and ability to innovate & include more diversity at all levels of the organization and value chain. It is one's ability to work hard and have the determination to achieve and make positive contributions, that will overcome any challenge that life may impose on us. My advice is, just gather all your courage and most of all, believe in yourself. Back yourself to achieve and make sure you have a good support network around you to collaborate and share thoughts, and most of all, make the best of every opportunity.

www.insightssuccess.com

Rhonda Vetere An Inspiration for Millions 44 | January 2021

www.insightssuccess.com

Top 10 Ambitious Women in Tech 2021

Into the Glimpse of Rhonda's Life

Meet Rhonda Vetere, a two time author as well as a global C-suite leader, who has exceptionally contributed in the evolution of business sector and inspired many budding personalities out there. Moreover, she is an also a two time author and a true Corporate Athlete.

She has been also recognized as one of Most Powerful Women in Technology along with a two-time author, irrespective of spearheading corporate initiatives around the world, competing in another IRONMAN 70.3 mile triathlon, or mentoring students & athletes globally in STEM through sports.

Rhonda Vetere is globally renowned C-Suite leader, passionate global technology icon, two-time author, and corporate athlete. She is also known for being a change agent, digital transformation leader, global leader. Rhonda Vetere has worked across industries as a global executive and change agent at Herbalife Nutrition, Santander Bank, Pamplona Capital Management PE, Estée Lauder Companies, AIG, HP Enterprise Services, Barclays / Lehman, Bank One / JPMorgan Chase, CompuServe, UUNET, MCI, and Worldcom. A two-time author, Vetere first co-wrote the HP special edition book, Enterprise Service Management for Dummies. Her second book, Grit & Grind, was published in 2019. She has lived and worked internationally – in New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Mumbai, and across India – and has managed

Insights Success admires Rhonda's commitment to work and takes pride in featuring such leaders in its special edition, “Top 10 Ambitious Women in Tech 2021.” In the interview, Rhonda expresses her journey which portrays application of her unique ideologies.

www.insightssuccess.com

January 2021 | 45

teams of up to 20,000 people. Her role at Estée Lauder Companies included global leadership across 162 countries and running the technology & operations team. She spearheaded the transformation of the IT capabilities foundation into a digital environment at record industry pace, without business disruption, around the world – while saving $28 million a year. A dynamic leader both at work and play, Vetere is constantly training for and competing in events – over 70 races so far, including triathlons, halfmarathons, marathons, and IRONMAN 70.3 triathlons (single-day races that consist of a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bicycle ride, and a marathon 13.1-mile run). In 2018, Rhonda participated in the first-ever womenonly run across the Serengeti wilderness, and she returned in 2019 to do it again — all 55 miles. Rhonda is a member of the New York Road Runners (NYRR) and Winged Foot Golf Club, and encourages her friends and associates to pursue active, healthy lifestyles as an integral part of career success and improving performance.

Below are the highlights of the interview: What people, what books, what life factors have influenced and impacted you?

My Mom is the largest impact in my life, growing up as an only child and watching her work two jobs impacted me. I

knew at an early age I wanted to make this world a better place and bring unity and strong bonds in my life. Also, not seeing a lot of female mentors growing up in the business world, inspired me to push myself stronger to make this world a better place and be a role model for others. My best friend, I have known since I was three years old and I believe heavily in strong relationships in life.

What are some of the vital attributes, in your opinion, that every leader should possess?

The ten principles in my Grit and Grind Book. Listen, Treat everyone with respect and how you would like to be treated, openly communicate, be humble and learn every day. Be a servant leader daily.

How do you maintain balance between your professional & personal life?

Managing large global teams throughout my career, I use triathlons as my outlet and my workout time to think without technology in front of me.

As a Director and leader, describe a challenge you overcame.

As a leader, I overcame being one of the youngest, female Managing Directors in the Finance Sector in my career- I didn't know it at the time but it was told to me several times 20 years ago and I didn't realize what that meant at the time.

Do you think women feel intimidated in business?

Open, transparent, over communicate, learning and putting myself in others shoes.

46 | January 2021

This is coming to light more and more with the world events- in my career, I haven't felt intimidated and have been true to myself. However, I do think this is a hot topic now that I am reflecting on how to help others daily.

Is there anything you wish you had done differently?

I hoped to start a global mentoring program formally earlier for the technology Industry.

What specific advice would you have for young women who would like to become an entrepreneur?

I would like to advice many upcoming leaders that, Don't give up, get a mentor and don't lose sight of your dream, surround yourself with people that prop you up and not tear you down.

www.insightssuccess.com