Strategic Problem Solving
Ada YIN (2014) From a Bachelor of Commerce to cognitive science, Ada Yin has channelled her problemsolving capabilities to deliver tangible solutions for business clients. Acknowledging the importance of emotional intelligence in her field, Ada tells us how debating and public speaking at SCEGGS provided her foundational skills to communicate effectively.
Can you tell us a little bit about what you have been up to since graduating in 2014? I studied a Bachelor of Commerce (Liberal Studies) at the University of Sydney majoring in Business Information Systems and Finance. I used the liberal component of my degree to follow my interest about how people and technology intersect. Through this, I attended the University of California San Diego as an exchange student where I studied cognitive science, took a coding class and gained a minor in Economics. My first corporate role was at Microsoft where I worked part-time for just over 18 months while continuing with my studies. At Microsoft, I fell in love with technology’s ability to help people solve problems in innovative and simpler ways. In this role, I started by working in technology strategy in enterprise sales (FinTech), moved onto building solutions with our partner businesses (Education) and rounded out my time in the more deeply technical space of Data and Artificial Intelligence solutions architecture. My desire to understand all the levers that drive a successful business in an industry agnostic way led me into management consulting, which I have now been in for two years. I started in pure strategy at EY-Parthenon (now EY-PJP) but was drawn to the mixture of high-level strategy and complex operational problems Partners in Performance excelled at solving. Since joining I’ve tackled problems across a range of industries and operational areas including Government, Financial Services, Heavy Industry, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and Private Equity. Some of the most memorable of these include conducting the vendor due diligence of an ESG company that sold for $500m, developing emission reduction strategies for heavy emitters, and being on the ground delivering $18.4m in benefits for a mine by optimising their resourcing levels. What led you to your current role at Partners in Performance? Was this something you always wanted to do? I joined Partners in Performance as a Business Analyst a year ago because I wanted to work more 17
