Disa Lee Choun is the Director Head of Innovation, Global Clinical Sciences & Operations at UCB. She has emerged as a prominent leader in the healthcare technology sector through her work exploring blockchain applications. Some of her key accomplishments include leading a cross-industry collaboration on blockchain through PhUSE and delivering white papers on how blockchain can be applied in healthcare. She was also recognized as one of the Top 100 Women in Technology in 2018 for her blockchain work. Choun emphasizes determination, learning from others, and persevering towards goals as important traits for success.

1. June 2019
Make your own path,
learn from others, and
persevere your goals.
DisaLee
ChounUsing Technology to Improve Healthcare Services
Innovative Companies
in the Space Industry
Innovating Space
Disruptive Technology and Changing
Trends Influencing Business
Editor’s Choice
Dynamics of Women Participation
in the Ever-changing Modern Workforce
Women Empower

4. She Strived to Thrive
in Tech
he, what is she? It is not only a feminine identity to
Saddress a person but also a symbol of a proven growth
in current business world. Yet, being bounded to
various parameters many shes prevailed in achieving many
milestones en route to success. With Women in Tech, the
first thing that strike to a mind is the substantial growth of
feminine leadership happened in the tech oriented
business world.
Diversity creates business value! This diversity in
technological sector might lead to the emergence of new
silver linings and stars to the volatile technological sector.
Be it Sherly Sandberg, Ginni Rometty or Susan Wojcicki, all
have been witnessed as a great leaders and are dominating
the current technology industry. Being the respective
leaders of Facebook, Youtube, and IBM, these personalities
have set a bench-mark for many to come. Sherly says, and I
quote, “We cannot change what we are not aware of, and
once we are aware, we cannot help but change.” This
statement exemplifies on how one, an individual, could
make a big difference if driven through curiosity. These
shes and many like them, proved the fact that the myth of
meritocracies is exist.
In this special issue, entitled “Women in Tech”, CIO LOOK
tries to focus on such feminine leaders with unique
ideologies and impeccable leadership traits. It features
some of best in their industries who brought a change in
the customary way of practicing businesses. Their firm
EDITOR’S NOTE

5. desire and tireless efforts have contributed in creating positive impact for women to enter into
such disruptive digital sector.
CIO LOOK appreciates contribution of such prolific leaders and brings out to you the June month’s
issue “Women in Tech, 2019”. These women are creating a dent in the universe through unequaled
tech products and solutions.
Women comprise half of the world population and their contribution in every sector is essential for
the overall development. Technology reduces the barriers and offers women solid opportunity to
grow. Better representation of women in technology sector is critical to tap the full potential of
technology and improve various services offered by organizations and businesses. CIO Look
recognizes valuable women contributing largely to technology sector. One such impeccable leader
is Disa Lee Choun, and CIO LOOK feels pride to feature her as a cover of this edition.
Let’s unveil such alike, inspiring interviews and stories of many such significant women business
leaders in this special edition and spread a word about their contribution in making this world a
better place. Also, flip through the CXO standpoints presented by some of the leading industry
experts to taste the glimpse of industrial revolutions.
Enjoy the read….
Bhushan Ghate
“Through determination, comprehension and persistence-
-an emergence of a leader can be justified.”

6. Disa Lee Choun
Using Technology to Improve
Healthcare Services
10
CONTENTS
Cover Story
10
COVER STORY
Editor’s Choice
Disruptive Technology
and Changing Trends
Influencing Business
24
Innovating Space
56
Women Empower
Dynamics of Women
Participation in the
Ever-changing
Modern Workforce
40
Industry Intel
Rethinking
the Products of Today
for a Better Tomorrow
34
Leader’s Desk
Building an
Entrepreneurial
Ecosystem for Women
62
Unbaised Future
Stablishing
Gender Equilibrium
50
Innovative Companies
in the Space Industry

7. Amber Schroader
An Accomplished
Innovave Developer
18
Avril Chester
Passionate about Utilizing
Technology for Good
20
Elizabeth Scott
Empowered and Exemplary
Leader in Technology
26
Kristina Villarini
Reforming a Case for Equality
28

8. Limor Sinay
Transforming Leadership
through Tech
36
Lora Haddock
A Unique Approach for
Right Cause
44
Rupal Asodaria
Empowered and Exemplary
Leader in Technology
52
Victoria Shanks
Driving Financial Services
Technology across Industries
58

11. K. Roy
Editor in Chief
CONTENT
Senior Editor Alan Swann
Managing Editor Bhushan Ghate
Executive Editors Rohit Chaturvedi
Alex Spellman
DESIGN
Visualizer Dave Bates
Art & Design Director Tejas Kulkarni
Associate Designer Kushagra Gupta
SALES
Senior Sales Manager Kshitij S.
Customer Success Manager Jack Ryan
Sales Executives John, Kane, Ajinkya
TECHNICAL
Technical Head Aditya K.
Technical Consultant Victor Collins
CIOLOOK,
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June, 2019
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12. I’ve learned as a
woman sometimes I
need to work harder
and prove myself 110%
“
Disa Lee Choun
Director Head of Innovation,
Global Clinical Sciences
& Operations
UCB

13. Using Technology to Improve
Healthcare Services
W
omen comprise half of the world population and their
contribution in every sector is essential for the overall
development. Technology reduces the barriers and
offers women solid opportunity to grow. Better representation of
women in technology sector is critical to tap the full potential of
technology and improve various services offered by organizations
and businesses.
CIO Look recognizes valuable women contributing largely to
technology sector. One such impeccable leader is Disa Lee
Choun.
Below are the highlights of the interview between Disa Lee Choun and
CIO Look.
Kindly take us through your journey on becoming a proficient
leader.
When I was young, I was shy and lacked self-confidence, but I
thank my mother for cementing the seed that women can be
leaders and women are equal to men. This was significant for me
especially growing up in Central America. My father passed away
when I was very young so my mother had to play the role of both
parents. She sacrificed for her children and for me she was my
hero and role model. My mother believed in me and that's all I
needed to pursue my dreams.
My first job was helping my mother in one of her stores. I learned
the business and became the supervisor. Later, I co-founded an IT
COVER STORY

14. company, providing hardware and
software products and services.
Managing and leading the company
was quite a learning experience and a
big responsibility. From strategizing to
coaching employees to making
courageous decisions affecting the
future of the company, I learned a lot
about being an effective leader. I tried
to mentor our employees to be the
best they could be, reminding them
along the way that it's okay to make
mistakes if we learn from them and
from others.
After completing my pharmacy degree
and Executive MBA, I decided to
pursue my passion in healthcare. I
want to help patients improve their
health through research and find the
cure for diseases, also creating
awareness on disease and prevention.
Later I joined UCB where I've been
fortunate to continue growing as a
manager and a leader. I learned about
managing projects in matrixed
organization and leveraged new skills
to lead without authority. I am also
grateful to the leaders I've worked
with over the years who saw my
potential and gave me the opportunity
to thrive, while allowing me the space
to grow. I gained respect and trust
from my colleagues who believed in
me and in what I was creating. Being
recognized by my peers in the
industry as a top 100 Women in
Technology 2018 for my work in
blockchain, celebrating women in
technology, and encouraging diversity
was a great career highlight.
I am humbled by what I've been able
to accomplish with great colleagues
and leaders around me. Success is not
just hard work, luck, and the right
timing. It's also continuing to have
confidence and persevering to achieve
our goals. If I fall, I get up and do it
again and again. If I don't fight for
myself or I'm afraid to ask or raise my
hand and speak up, no one is going to
do it for me. I am in a place where I am
able to pass on my learnings to others
and encourage people not let their
fear of failure cloud their minds. Take
courageous decisions, pave the way
for others to follow, inspire your team,
and listen.
encourage female colleagues to
attend the courses being offered and
provide the continuous support and
try to motivate women to speak out
when they disagree with decisions
being made and ensure their voices
are being heard. Outside of my day
job, I also volunteer as an Ambassador
for women's academy to support a
cohort of corporate and entrepreneur
women through their academic
learning journey.
Tell us about your activities related
to blockchain that led you to be one
of the Top 100 Women in Technology.
I started to explore blockchain in early
2017. It was an “ah-ha” moment for
me as I saw its potential to accelerate
clinical development process and
improve healthcare. From my vantage
point I could see that this new
disruptive innovation was coming no
matter what. The question was and is
whether we are ready in our
organization and our industry to
embrace it.
I started a cross-industry
collaboration on Blockchain via
PhUSE (Pharmaceutical Users
Software Exchange, a non-profit
organization run by volunteers and
collaborates with FDA, EMA, and
PMDA). I did this not only out of my
own personal interest, but also
because I believe this technology can
empower the patients like me. Some
of the potential uses are to: 1. own my
data; 2. share or not to share my data;
3. make informed decisions about my
health; 4. potentially predict and
diagnose diseases powered by AI
(Artificial Intelligence) and more. The
PhUSE Blockchain workgroup
includes cross-functional
representation from pharmaceutical
companies, vendors, consultants,
academia, professional organizations,
and a government agency. We
delivered a white paper in 2018 to
create awareness about blockchain
and how this technology can apply in
the healthcare and pharmaceutical
industries. Currently we are working
on proofs of concept with various
companies on patient ID, data sharing,
eConsent, labs and genomics, and
architecture. The final deliverable will
What are the vital traits that every
business women should possess?
From my experience, determination
and a desire to succeed are key traits
for business women. Stand by the
choices you make, good or bad, and
learn from your mistakes and move
on. I've learned as a woman
sometimes I need to work harder and
prove myself 110%. I learned this
early in my career when I realized my
male counterparts often were not put
to the same set of tests I was. I found
as a woman, I need to be more vocal,
direct, to make sure I am being heard.
As per your opinion, what roadblocks
or challenges were faced by you in a
corporate business? And how did you
overcome them?
Working in a world of continuous
change is an ongoing challenge.
Managing that change in particular,
when implementing a new solution or
innovation, requires bringing people
earlier on in the process and have the
buy-in from all levels from employees
to managers. Managing through
change has taught me to plan ahead,
get buy in for new ideas, and be clear
about the value the idea will create.
This goes beyond looking for a return
on investment, its understanding your
customer's needs and how a new
solution could help them and tailor
the communication to their needs.
Building a team of champions to help
spread the word and to provide
support to users also helps move
along the change continuum.
Have you in any ways contributed
towards the cause of women
empowerment?
As a female, I always encourage
women to stand up for themselves,
voice their opinions, and support each
other. Within UCB we have an
employee group called Women in
Leadership designed to encourage
more women to enter leadership roles
in the company and further improve
the female/male ratio. It supports
women through training and
workshops such as public speaking,
self-assertiveness, etc. with the aim of
including both women and men. I

15. Make your own
path, learn from
others, and
persevere your
goals.
“

16. include an App. Additionally, I'm involved in the
Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) Blockchain
Enabled Healthcare, a public-private partnership with
over 10 other pharmaceutical companies focusing on
three domain reference applications of supply chain,
health data marketplace, and clinical trials.
What kind of support was required and gained, by
you, while emerging as a technological forerunner?
UCB is an organization focused on innovation. We are
continuously looking for new ways to improve the
lives of people living with severe diseases. Throughout
my time here, I've had support from our leaders to
explore new innovations. I wasn't put in a box, but had
the room to explore new ideas and new ways of
thinking.
I believe in using technology to benefit human kind
and thinking outside of the box to create value and
drive change. Exploring blockchain stood out as one of
the most disruptive technologies which is why I
wanted to explore its potential uses further. I believe
in UCB's passion to bring value to patients living with
immunological, neurological conditions, and our
continued research into diseases affecting specific
patient populations with unmet needs.
How do you cope up with capricious technological
trends to boost your personal growth?
Technology is part of human evolution. I don't think of
it as capricious, but rather a tool to help us meet our
needs. In this digital era, there are many new
technologies and start-up companies. This new
universe requires continuously evaluating and
identifying the needs of your organization, where new
technology could create the most value, and pushing
forward. Taking the time to learn and research is key in
the ever-evolving world of technology. This is what I
have been doing at UCB, ensuring our approach aligns
with the company's strategy and involve the right
stakeholders who are willing to listen to new, out of
the box ideas. We need to be bold and challenge the
status quo to continue to evolve.
What are your future objectives and where do you
see yourself in the near future?
The future is looking bright. For me there are no limits
especially living in this digital world. My passion is to
have an early adoption of blockchain in the
pharmaceutical and healthcare industries to
accelerate research and to conduct virtual trials. Also
using blockchain coupled with AI and IoT to better
understand diseases and to have an early diagnosis or
prevention is one of the things I'm very interested to
explore.
As a female, I always
encourage women to
stand up for themselves,
voice their opinions, and
support each other.
“ “

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20. Amber
Schroader
An Accomplished Innova ve Developer
E
ntrepreneurs with a touch of innovation are rarely
to be witnessed in today’s scenario. Integrating
technological innovations in most of market-based
business ventures has become more of a requirement
than a want. With a proper balance of technological
inventions, many leaders and business owners can grow
their ventures to heights.
Meet, Amber Schroader, Founder and CEO of Paraben
Corporation, understand need of technology
implementation and has contributed various innovations
through her venture. For past two decades. Amber has
proved herself a driving force for innovation in digital
forensics and is continuing to offer more. She also coined
the concept of “360-degree approach to digital forensics”
for a big-picture consideration of the digital evidence
acquisition process.
CIO LOOK admires such leaders and appreciates their
contribution in evolving the technological sector. It takes
pride in featuring Amber in the special issue entitled
“Women in Tech 2019”.
Here is her story:
She started in the DFIR industry at 14 and really worked
my way up through the field. As someone who is dyslexic
it was great, for her, to find an area where thinking
differently was a benefit. Digital forensics is such a unique
space with a constant change in technology and the need
to be able to solve problems that are not typical.
Amber and her team work hard to look at all digital data
as potential information that people will need to review in
an investigative scenario. Whether, it is civil or criminal
the need to review it and refine it is all part of the
investigative process. They were the first company to
support mobile data back in 2001 and that has been an
area they have maintained strong support with as it has
grown. Over the past few years, the company has spent
the time with cloud and IoT data as well as the digital
landscape is always in a flux.
They always remind themselves of the investigator
perspective. Many companies come into the DFIR arena
to offer technology, yet are not familiar with the work
flow and massive overwhelmed that many of the
investigators experience in the space. Amber always keep
that in mind as she, and her team, make a game plan as
their solutions need to be feasible to be brought up to
speed with any level of investigator with a large variety of
data in days not weeks. Amber always knows that her
company has to be intuitive and easily deployable so it can
work in any workflow.
“You have to be flexible and always have a fresh perspective.
Many times, you get into a set pattern and you expect a lot of
the business world to adjust to that pattern. However, every
day holds a new challenge and you have to approach that
challenge with a fresh perspective each time and be ready to
adjust,” says Amber.
| JUNE 2019 |
18

21. Amber Schroader
Founder & CEO
Paraben Corpora on
Each day is a
new day to
solve a problem.
There were many roadblocks that have come in the way
and some that still exist. When she look at the history of
what the company have overcome it is hard to focus on
just a few. She thinks the biggest one that she can pin
down is being an introvert. One might not think of that as
a business challenge, but when an individual is growing a
business then it can be difficult. Those like her, who came
into business as nerds were not the best at networking.
She understood what she needed to do to build solutions
to problems, but having to grow those solutions through
networking always created a barrier. She worked hard to
fix this with public speeches and lectures and feel that had
made a difference in the reach out to the community with
good information and it shows the company is willing to
work with others. Being shy is not always the easier
barrier for a business leader to overcome.
This is a challenging topic. From her perspective the first
problem comes from trying to identify “merit”. What
qualities and characteristics in a person at merit-able as a
point of judgment? Typically, in today’s culture, merit
means how much money one makes. She would hope to
see a more balanced view of someone’s merit as not just
what someone earns, but what someone is like as well.
The other measure of “merit” comes down to education
where many people who worked there way up in the field
should be ranked just as high as those with formal
education. In fields like technology, she think the second
point impacts things even more where real skills are
required to show true success.
For a nerd like herself, technology disruption is what
keeps it so interesting and exciting. She is always in a state
of learning that is probably the biggest impact on her
personal growth as well as to the growth at Paraben. By
keeping a pulse on trends, she and her team are able to
respond quickly with solutions that can fit into
organization workflows. From simply things like the
security of fitness devices in an organization to collection
of data from the cloud it keeps the team up on trends and
on the solutions to those trends.
My future always holds innovation. As she explores new
areas that need a “forensic” perspective she can see a
myriad of problems that are waiting to be solved. From
IoT cities and the future of their data sharing to personal
endeavors such as evidence collection against animal
cruelty. The world is waiting for new solutions to
problems and a perspective that can move it forward.
Paraben Corpora on
19
| JUNE 2019 |

22. 20
| JUNE 2019 |

23. Avril Chester
Passionate about Utilizing Technology for Good
Don’t compare and
be true to yourself.
T
echnology if utilized properly
has the potential to create the
positive impact in the lives of
many people. CIOLook recognizes
contribution of women in technology.
Avril Chester is one such woman who
is passionate about utilizing
technology for the common good of
the society. She is the Founder & CEO
of Cancer Central. She is utilizing
technology effectively at Cancer
Central to serve the people affected
by cancer. Cancer Central is a brand-
new digital platform created to
provide those affected by cancer with
the help and support they need.
Below are the highlights of the Interview
conducted between Avril Chester and
CIOLook.
Kindly take us through your journey
on becoming a proficient leader.
Graduated from university having
completed a dissertation on cyborgs
with no idea what I was going to do –
cyborgs didn’t exactly exist! Started
on a Graduate Management Scheme,
took a path through Project
when and where they need them.
These services include benefits
advice, insurance products,
counseling, complementary therapy,
respite care, hats, wigs, lingerie,
skincare, financial help, nutrition
advice, local societies or communities,
meals on wheels, books, blogs, forums,
local hospital taxi services and so on –
all based on geographical location and
cancer type to provide individualized
information.
The site is non-exclusive and
independent. It is not tied to or driven
by any charity, not for profit or
business. We exist to give those
affected by cancer, their friends and
family a choice.
Knowing who all these businesses,
charities and communities are is a
challenge. We are always looking for
people to help share the news of
Cancer Central and encourage
providers they know and have used to
register with us for free. Together,
with our audience, we will achieve
diversity of offering.
How do you strategize your game
plans to tackle the competition in the
market?
The key to Cancer Central’s brand is
community and innovation. A new
word to describe this working style is
Cominovation.
Cominovation is not just about
problem solving, it is the complete
process of finding solutions - from
identifying a need, developing ideas,
Management, then Program
Management, then Global Programs,
and followed by Heads of / Functional
roles, including operations, onto IT
Director. This was all through
different industries, permanent and
interim roles. I was diagnosed with
breast cancer in 2015 with treatment
into 2016. During my time off, I
realized the need for Cancer Central
and after a 16-month stint returning
to work as Interim IT Director, I
decided to give Cancer Central my
best shot. I didn’t want to live life
thinking, ‘what if?’
How do you diversify your
organization’s offerings to entice the
target audience?
Launched in October 2018, Cancer
Central is a new digital platform
created to provide those affected by
cancer with the help and support they
need during their cancer journey.
The platform combines a database
with an innovative conversational
search engine to connect people to
the products, services and products,
Cancer Central
Avril Chester
Founder & CEO
—
21
| JUNE 2019 |

24. sourcing support, to delivery. It involves individuals giving
their time, skills and/ or expertise to something they are
passionate about and coming together with like-minded
people to innovate for a common purpose.
Subject matter experts have contributed to everything
from the ideas, suggestions, design, processes, build,
testing, policies, data, and so on. Over 25,000 hours from
200+ individuals and 30+ organizations with major
contributions from TechFINIUM and ROQ have been
donated to date. This is #TechforGood at its finest. We
have partnered with leading corporates such as IBM &
American Express and some of the sharpest minds in the
tech start-up / SME community.
Our cominovation approach sets us apart. It provides
everyone who has been affected by cancer with the
opportunity to use their skill set to help and support.
Our game plan is constant innovation, fresh ideas, and
involvement from the community.
What are the vital traits that every business women
should possess?
Ÿ Stop comparing. We are all different, from our natural
strengths, our personalities, our likes and even our big
toes. Why then do we compare and let ourselves feel
intimidated / doubt ourselves?
Ÿ Be brave. One of my favorite quotes - ‘Courage doesn’t
mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let
fear stop you’ Bethany Hamilton. Give it a go, learn
quickly and have fun along the way.
Ÿ Believe and be you. Ultimately you are the best at
being you. Find your strength, build on that. Write it
down to read when you are having a difficult day,
because these exist and you need to find your own
inner strength to dust yourself off and keep going.
As per your opinion, what roadblocks or challenges were
faced by you in a corporate business? And how did you
overcome them?
Thankfully I look young for my age (I hope that continues),
so when I ran my first technology department mainly full
of men, I was wondering how I could be seen as credible.
Especially as I have a squeaky voice, I bounce and wave my
hands around a lot. This is where I learned very quickly to
just be yourself and realize everyone in the department
including you is like a piece of the car. Someone is the
breaks, another the wheel, the suspension, the
speedometer and so on. Only together does the car not
only move but have terrific fun on the country roads or
race track. I therefore didn’t shy from my weaknesses; I
called them out in front of my team. In technology you
cannot possibly be a subject matter expert in everything,
no-one can (even a male!). Whether it is networking,
infrastructure, analytics, AI, security, development,
collaboration tools, online social delivery etc. be honest
and focus on building a fresh environment, full of trust,
with you unblocking the issues and most probably, dealing
with the politics so that your team can flourish.
What are your insights on “The myth of meritocracy”?
And how it could bring a change in today’s technological
arena?
I don’t think it is a myth; it is too well known and
established. However, with technology becoming more
digital, consumable and accessible you do not need a PHD
in computer science. It is possible and encouraged for non-
technical entrepreneurs to spring board new ideas into
reality.
How do you cope up with capricious technological trends
to boost your personal growth?
Unsure if I understand the question; but it is important to
not get absorbed in current fads. As a Founder & CEO, it is
important to have a voice and be accessible. This is vastly
different from previous decades. It is noticed if you are not
on social media or blogging for example. How will
customers, potential employees and partners decide
whether they wish to do business with you if they do not
know who you are digitally? We have thankfully entered
the wonderful world of value and purpose-based
decisions. The best advancements in technology, has
allowed us to connect more with like-minded people
globally.
What are your future endeavors/objectives and where
do you see yourself in the near future?
Immediate objectives are to secure social impact
investment so that I can recruit a core team and grow the
organization quicker. This will provide the continuous
leadership alongside cominovation. My hopes and dreams
are to eventually go international and develop the
platform for other critical illnesses such as dementia,
stroke, and mental health.
22
| JUNE 2019 |

26. Disruptive Technology
Let us see how trends in technology are changing
businesses.
IOT has begun to change the world around us. It allows the
businesses to access their information virtually, creating a
flexible and global way of accessing data, any place, and
any time. It reduces the cost by maintaining IT system,
rather than purchasing expensive systems and equipment. It
also allows employees to be more flexible in work
practices. Let us see some fields where IOT must be
adapted.
Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are largely paper-
based industry. The pen and paper approach is still followed
largely around the world. Patient’s record sharing is still
done in the traditional way which is time-consuming.
Whereas, real-time monitoring via connected devices can
save lives in an event of a medical emergency. IOT devices
collect and transfer health data and are stores in the cloud.
These data can be shared with a physician or a health firm,
in order to allow them to look at it, regardless of their place,
time or device. Therefore, in an event of an emergency,
patients can contact a doctor who is many kilometers away
with a simple smartphone.
Fleet operators spend a large amount of time, money and
resource in maintaining the safety standards and resource in
maintaining the safety standards and operate at the desired
performance levels. Through various sensors, fleet
companies have access to a vast amount of data. This
information can help the company to make real-time quick
decisions for instant improvements. In fact, these insights
can help in effectively managing the overall supply chain.
Undoubtedly, IOT has set to become the backbone of the
fleet management industry.
Few decades ago, reaching the moon was beyond
imagination. But not today, because technology has
completely changed the world and made it possible.
th
Technological inventions were revolutionized in the 18 and
th
19 century with the steam engine, the telegraph, fiber
optics, typewriter, sewing machine, etc. Later, it changed
the way we communicate on a real-time basis with
telephone, radio, and internet.
Innovations in nanotechnology, biotechnology, and
information technology are already helping to solve
challenges that occur in these sectors. Through the
breakthrough innovations in health services, technology has
been able to improve the lives of poor people in developing
countries.
Manufacturing field is increasingly being automated and
technology driven. Advanced technology and systems such
as automation, nanotechnology, cloud computing, the
Internet of Things, and others are changing the face of
manufacturing to improve business technologies. So, the
adaption of technologies in work will revolutionize the way
it was in the past in the field of manufacturing as well.
Internet of Things
Healthcare
Fleet Management
and Changing Trends
Influencing Business
24
| JUNE 2019 |

27. 75%
75%
75%
In today’s major cities at rush hour, getting
to and from work is a nightmare. Imagine a
world where not only the cars are smart, but
also the street and traffic lights. Public
transportation systems like trains and buses
are connected to individual’s smartphones.
This will help to know the exact time to
leave the houses accordingly. In smart cities,
passengers are already enjoying Wi-Fi and
USB charging stations on public
transportation. Overall, IOT already started
affecting the aspects of our life.
Public Transport Management
Renewable Energy
Will you like earning money on reducing the
use of electricity? Thanks to IOT energy-
saving tools, you can significantly decrease
the numbers in your bills. IOT energy
solutions are sensor-based technology. It
analyses weather and environment
condition, helps automate the management
of wind farms, optimizes maintenance and
thus reduces the cost dramatically. People
(both households and companies) get a
better understanding of their usage habits
and adjusts them accordingly. These system
collects data on electricity consumption in
real-time and helps generate important
insights for environmentalists, researchers,
and conservation strategists. Thus, installing
IOT smart energy device can join the
environmental initiative, cut down on
energy consumption and lessen the
greenhouse effect.
Agriculture
The global population is set to touch 9.6
billion by 2050. So, to feed this much
population, the farming industry must
embrace IOT. Smart farming based on IOT
technology will reduce waste and enhance
productivity. Ranging from the quantity of
fertilizer utilized to the number of journeys
the farm vehicles have made. In IOT based
smart farming a system is built for
monitoring the crop field with the help of
sensors and automating the irrigation
systems. It is highly efficient when
compared with the conventional approach.
Thus, with the population growing rapidly,
the demand can be successfully met, if the
farmers implement agricultural IOT
solutions in a prosperous manner.
Blockchain technology is changing the way we do our day to day
businesses. Companies are starting to work with Blockchain technology
because it gives you privacy along with it is transparent. Let’s see how
blockchain can help to deal with business.
Blockchain Technology
Smart Contracts
Contract is where consent of the parties is involved to agree and interact
with each other. Blockchain technology helps to guarantee the validity of a
transaction through a secure validation mechanism. Industries and
institutions are heavily reliant on contracts, such as insurance, financial
institutions, real estate, construction, entertainment and, law. A smart
contract helps formalize the relationships between people, institutions and
the assets they own. They eliminate the need for trusted third parties and are
self-verifying, self-executing and Tamper resistant.
Blockchain will be an important part of our financial and technological
digital future. It is one of the incredibly creative inventions that technology
has ever seen. So how we use it is up to us, it could indeed transform the
global scenario.
Technology and changing trends in businesses is not something which is
going to happen in the future, it is happening right now. It has already
started affecting a lot of businesses. So businesses have tremendous
opportunity to benefit from such technological advancement. There is no
doubt that technological innovations are largely followed all over the world
and it will revolutionize the businesses.
25
| JUNE 2019 |
Editor’s Choice

28. Elizabeth Scott:
Empowered and Exemplary Leader in Technology
echnology-based organizations need, more than
Tever, women’s talents, skills, abilities, and their
valuable contribution. Women in tech play an
important role in achieving success for technology
oriented organizations.
CIO Look recognizes valuable women contributing largely
to female empowerment in the technology sector. One
such impeccable leader is Elizabeth Scott.
Below is her story,
Elizabeth is the Global Head of Content for YI
Technology, which is headquartered in Shanghai, China.
She is based in San Francisco and works in the Silicon
Valley office. She previously worked at UploadVR as
Director of Social Media and at Google as a Social Media
Strategist. While working, she also co-founded and
successfully exited an e-commerce start-up, called
Startup Drugz, a satirical lifestyle brand for
entrepreneurs. In her spare time, she has also dabbled in
investing in startups and venture capital.
Elizabeth thrives in collaborative, creative and
challenging atmospheres. She has over six years of
experience in content strategy and development,
marketing campaign execution, as well as corporate
messaging and positioning. She has managed teams of up
to 12 full-time employees, in addition to creative
agencies, videographers and independent contractors.
Needless to say, multitasking is one of her specialties.
Elizabeth is an outspoken advocate for survivors of sexual
assault and domestic violence. She has been interviewed
26
| JUNE 2019 |

29. by CNN and featured in The New York Times,
TechCrunch, BuzzFeed, BBC, and many others on the
topic of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. She
served as the President of the Alliance for Sexual Assault
Prevention (ASAP) and was a founding member of Sexual
Assault Peer Advocates (SAPA). She has also been the
PACE mentor when she was in college.
st
YI Technology’s first product was the 1 Generation YI
Action Camera. It was extremely well-received because
of its excellent image quality, well-built form and
high quality for an affordable price. It was nick-
named the “Go Pro Killer”.
Since launching the initial action camera,
YI has widened its product offering
from professional VR Cameras, such as
the YI Halo (made in partnership with
Google VR), to home security cameras
(Best Sellers on Amazon), Dash
Cameras, 4K Action Cameras and even
Mirrorless Digital Cameras.
In November 2018, YI Technology
launched its new, premium brand for the
North American Market and its first
product, the Kami Indoor Camera. Its full
product line will be releasing in coming months
and will allow consumers to have a fully integrated
security system for their homes or businesses that they
can access with the tap of a button on their smartphone.
Its partnership with Microsoft Azure ensures that its
customers’ privacy and footage is secure on the Kami
Cloud.
Elizabeth Scott considers that business women should
possess essential traits such as individuality, openness,
and courage. She believes that women should build up
other women in the workplace instead of tearing each
other down. She strongly believes in being a champion of
women.
Elizabeth says that working with and for corporations has
given her an awareness of the need for continued focus
and attention on inclusion, diversity, championship and
opportunities for women in the workplace. She mentions
that typecasting, conscious and unconscious biases,
discrimination, especially sexual, are only a few of the
challenges that she and other women routinely face.
She states, “It would be easy to describe a myriad of offenses
that I’ve personally experienced and that occur all too often
against women in the workplace. But let’s suffice to say that
as women, we must continue to demand respect and inclusion,
foster the conversation to drive understanding and draw
awareness to what must be done to close the gender pay gap
and disparity in opportunity. The only way to eradicate these
things is to first admit that there is a problem; then progress
can be made to change the way women are treated in the
workforce.”
Elizabeth has made it a priority to surround herself with a
strong network of champions and friends, male
advocates, female peers and leaders—people
who take her outside of her comfort zone.
Personally, she sometimes has to
remind herself that she belongs in
the conversation, in the
boardroom, in the lead. As long
as she overcomes her own
fears and finds her inner
strength and courage,
remembering the challenges
that she has faced, she finds
the energy and strength to
continue to put in the work
that will go towards closing the
gap.
Elizabeth says that meritocracy is
an ideal one should continue to
strive for. She states that the
difference in today’s world is that we
have an opportunity to become more self-
aware of unconscious biases that interfere with
meritocracy from succeeding – particularly in the
workplace.
At the end of the day, the greatest professional
experiences become possible when we are surrounded by
phenomenal colleagues, who not only have an implicit
understanding of excellence in execution, but also bring of
diversity of thought and experience to the table and feel
empowered to express those ideas.
The barrier to leverage technology to build tools and gain
education or “knowledge” is being lowered every day.
Those with less access or privilege are now able to bring
ideas to the market that would have previously been
rejected by historic gatekeepers. Elizabeth Scott is
excited for the next generation of young people who will
be entering the workforce and the women who will lead
us into the future of tech.
27
Rosendin Electric
Women should build
other women up in
the workplace, not
tear them down.
—Elizabeth Scott
Global Head of Content
YI Technology
| JUNE 2019 |

30. Kristina
VillariniReforming a Case for Equality
Kristina Villarini
Digital Director
Lambda Legal
28
| JUNE 2019 |

31. O
urcivilrightsarethebindingsthatallowustohavepoliticalandsocial
freedoms. When they function correctly, they allow an individual to
exist while being free from discrimination. How do we obtain those
rights, and are such rights practiced genuinely free from any discrimination?
Many communities continue to fight for their civil rights and societal
recognition.
Two such well-known communities are LGBTQ+ people and everyone living
with HIV. Society accepts change when a leader they support can portray its
significance. However, what if the leader itself is a part of such a community?
Imaginetheimpactitwouldcreate?
Meet Kristina Villarini, the first ever Digital Director of Lambda Legal in its
46th year of inception. She currently sits as the only queer woman of color
driving messaging for the oldest and largest LGBTQ legal advocacy
organization in the country. As the first dedicated person at the helm of
Lambda Legal's multi-channel digital efforts, Kristina has accomplished many
groundbreaking achievements in the last two years. By empowering Lambda
Legal's clients and attorneys using digital storytelling and building their brand
as ambassadors of LGBTQ and HIV civil rights, Kristina's digital team has
improved the transparency and increased the nimbleness of an organization
thathasservedthesecommunitiesfornearlyhalfacentury.
Belowisherstory:
Herfirstjobwithabitofresponsibilityforotherswasafinanceroleinherearly
20s. She was processing applications for high-net-worth clients for a famous
insurance company in New York. She was pretty good at the execution of the
role,butshelackedtheleadershippartbecauseshehadnoexamplesofhowto
do it well. She was young, and she thought her job was to make people care
about the work. She learned reasonably quickly that good managers and
directors are working for their staff, not the other way around. People have a
lotofreasonswhytheydotheworkthey’redoing,andlearninghowtolistento
her teams and colleagues, allowed her to grow. She quickly learned that if
people are “underperforming” on your watch, one of three things is likely
happening:
Ÿ Theydon'tknowhowtodosomething,
Ÿ Theydon'tknowwhytodosomething,or
Ÿ Theyarenotthepersontodosomething.
So the beginning of her journey was about failing forward while moving
through the many, many stages of a career as a journalist, web developer, and
digital strategist. Ultimately, she understood that if you eliminate those three
challenges for your staff, they respect you, follow you, and trust you to lead
them.
AtLambdaLegal,themissionistomaketheworldmoreequitableforLGBTQ+
people and everyone living with HIV. As a national nonprofit, the company's
offerings are their pro bono legal and public policy work, as well as the "hearts
and mind" work on messaging for public education. Its audience varies from
Never
not
working.
“
29
Lambda Legal
| JUNE 2019 |

32. LGBTQ+ people and everyone living
with HIV to partner organizations
and allies. Her team distills complex
legal casework into something you
can talk about “around the kitchen
t a b l e . ” T h ey s e g m e n t t h o s e
audiences based on interest areas
and curate their content based on
social media platforms across a
variety of distribution efforts. They
are always looking for more
opportunities to inform the public
about why Lambda Legal matters
morethaneverbefore.
As one of the oldest national
nonprofits doing this work, they have
a legitimacy that affords them a bit of
leverage. That is one of their
competitive advantages. "My team
doesn't run the brand's channels
from a scarcity mentality. We know
whoweareandwhatwearetryingto
build and do every day. As Kanye
West said about competing with
himself, 'it is one on no one.'"
However, Kristina is keenly aware
that she is in the attention game.
Every email, every text, every
website, every tweet or Instagram
post that you get that's not from
Lambda Legal, is taking your
attentionawayfromthecompany.
Her vital traits to a successful career
are EQ and grit, because "to be a
cisgender or female-presenting
person in any field is challenging
enough." So Kristina would say that
thick skin and resolve that reminds
you that you're qualified to be in
every room you're in, is critical. A
willingness to stick it out through the
tough times, and the ability to read
the rooms you're in and remain
steady at all times. It's never fair, but
it'snecessary.
The "what's the ROI of digital" conversation was happening when she started
on this path in the early 2000s. Kristina states that many people thought the
digitalbusinessmodelwasnotsustainable.So,howdoyoubuildacareeroutof
somethingpeopleinherentlybelieveisafad?Youproveeveryonewrong.That
is when data and analytics, cultural competence, and grit play out in the public
square. For her, the proof of concept was raising a ton of money on email,
social,andweb.Inanyfield,peoplestarttobelieveyouknowwhatyou'redoing
whenyouexecuteyourstrategywell.Playyourgame,nooneelse’s.
Meritocraciescanonlyworkinaworldwhereeveryonehasequalopportunity
andaccess."Unfortunately,thisisnotourworld,"saysKristina.Sheknowsthat
"workhardandyousucceed"isnotenough,andisn'tthewholestory.Thereare
otherelementsatplay.Sometimesyouneedalittlebitofluck,someonewilling
to take you under his/her/their wing, and your patience. Even then, you’re still
going to have to work harder, faster, and be stronger than everyone else.
FamedwriterandStoicRyanHolidaysaid,“Youdon'thavetobethebest;youjust
have to be harder to destroy.” Patience and kindness would go a long way to
changingallofthetechspace.
30
| JUNE 2019 |

33. She thinks if you think you’re “coping with it,” you've
already lost. She feels lucky to be a part of the
conversations about how and when Lambda Legal shows
up in the digital world, and that may be her job, but it's
also her life. So, she needs to be as informed as possible,
in a way that feels organic to her and her audiences. She
wants to know how people are communicating at all
timesandwhy.Sheenjoystestingtheboundariesofwhat
m e s s a g i n g w o r k s a n d w h a t h e r p e r s o n a l
audience/followers expect, also she enjoys being
surprisedandbeingwrong.Sheisnotromanticaboutany
ofit.
She is looking forward to seeing how the conversations
on data, privacy, and social play out. Those have
implications on where people spend their time, and the
market demands on businesses and brands on those
platforms shift. Kristina's team continues to invest in
paid social and experiments with user acquisition, user-
generated content, and experiential marketing. She is
curious about the rise of intent marketing. She is also
watchinghowvoicesearchimpactshowpeopleconsume
media. One of the projects she worked on last year was
getting the company set up on Alexa/Amazon Pay for
donations via Echo + Echo Dot, and she believes that's a
long game they are playing where the payout potential is
high,andLambdaLegalwasoneofthefirstpeoplethere.
She sees herself continuing to build her digital
infrastructure and surprising folks on what a nonprofit
candointhedigitalspace.
31
| JUNE 2019 |
Lambda Legal

36. Rethinking
the Products of Today
for a Better Tomorrow
Celia Pool
Co-Founder
DAME
34
| JUNE 2019 |

37. The world is finally waking up to
the single-use plastic crisis.
Over the last 10 years we have
created more plastic than the whole of
the last century combined. Half of the
plastic we create is used just once, and
then thrown away, taking 500 years to
decompose. By 2050, the oceans are
predicted to contain more plastic than
fish. The plastic crisis is now too big
for recycling alone to fix.
Global governments, businesses and
consumers need to collaborate quickly
to make impactful change before it’s
too late. However, change is difficult
when environmentally damaging habits
have become so entrenched and often
appear more financially appealing.
Technology is helping in this fight.
Reusable water bottles are now
widespread, and apps that help you
locate drinking water refill stations are
now emerging. At the same time,
reusable coffee cup technology is
addressing the half a trillion disposable
coffee cups discarded every year. Such
items are gaining increasing social
currency with consumers, who are
keen to display them as markers of
their environmental conscience. This
revolution is encouraging, but what
about the products that people aren’t so
willing to talk about?
100 billion menstrual products are
thrown away globally every year.
These are single-use, mostly made of
plastic and cannot be recycled. You can
choose not to have a coffee, you cannot
choose not to have a period. Reusable
options (e.g. menstrual cups, cloth
pads) have been on the market for
decades, yet the adoption rate has been
slow. The primary barrier to entry is
the fear of habit change.
So how do we bring about a
revolution? The answer is keep it
simple. And take time to consider
consumer psychology. As humans, we
abhor change. We are creatures drawn
towards the comfort of the known. By
keeping habit change to a minimum,
consumers are much more likely to
adopt a new idea.
This was our philosophy at DAME
when we created the world’s first
reusable tampon applicator. We
ensured the design was familiar and
intuitive, so women did not have to
compromise on their convenient,
established rituals. We knew that
hygiene could be a significant barrier
to entry, so we worked with leading
micro-biologists and medical engineers
and used the best medical grade, anti-
microbial materials on the market. As a
result, the consumer only must rinse
the applicator in cold water after use to
keep it clean. Simple steps, minimal
habit change.
However, it is challenging to tackle an
issue that has such little awareness.
Menstruation has historically been
shrouded in shame, fear and discretion.
It is not a topic openly talked about.
This is a problem with feminine care as
a whole: it is frequently dismissed and
the women trying to address it are
critically underfunded. In 2017 female
founders got 2% of the $85 billion VC
investment pot. About 8% of partners
at the top British VC firms are women.
According to Harvard Business
Review, stereotypes about female
entrepreneurs persist: women are
overly cautious, shy away from
growth, have insufficient resources and
consequently their ventures
underperform. Yet there is no
performance data to support these
stereotypes.
How are products used by women
supposed to change in line with human
and environmental needs, when they
aren’t given appropriate recognition or
have women involved in all stages of
the process? Women need to be given
more of a voice if we are to create
meaningful change. The world of AI is
already highlighting the need to
diverse away from male, white,
Western coders if we are to avoid
unconscious bias in the robots of
tomorrow. Amazon had to abandon an
AI recruitment tool that was
discriminating against women, instead
favoring prospects who mirrored
Amazon’s existing male engineer
workforce. At DAME women have
been involved in every stage of the
journey, not as a token gesture but as
an absolute necessity.
However, our overarching business
strategy goes beyond issues of
inclusivity to incorporate a wider
mission. DAME was founded on the
belief that business can be used as a
force for good. We use this core value
to guide every decision we make in the
business, bringing great clarity to our
route forward. By communicating our
genuine and authentic commitment to
this mission, we hope that our message
will quickly be picked up by those
eager to join a movement for change.
To date, we have seen this happen not
only with our consumers and the press,
but with employees. People are
increasingly drawn to companies doing
good. 75% of millennials would take a
pay cut to work at a socially
responsible company.
All this strengthens our resolve at
DAME to continue to tackle critical
problems that are not openly
acknowledged, that are significantly
underfunded, and that have historically
been controlled by giant monopolies.
Today we are focusing on menstrual
products, but our vision is to
revolutionize the entire bathroom.
These are big mountains, but having
strong guiding principles makes the
navigation much easier.”
-Words by Celia Pool
Co-Founder of DAME
For more information visit
wearedame.co
“
35
| JUNE 2019 |
Industry Intel

38. Just do it.“ “
36
| JUNE 2019 |

39. Transforming Leadership through Tech
Akamai is the globally distributed intelligent edge platform
that surrounds everything, from the enterprise to the cloud,
so customers and businesses can be fast, smart, and secure.
It keeps decisions, apps and experiences closer to users
than anyone and attacks & threats far away. It allows
companies to easily manage security across all devices and
locations. This commitment to security is trusted by 18 of
the largest asset managers, 12 of the top insurers, and 8 of
the top financial technology companies. Whether it is
middle of the afternoon or the middle of the night, it is
supported by unmatched customer service and 24/7/365
monitoring. It has 20 years of experience and a team of
more than 1900 experts supporting with strategic
expertise, comprehensive outsourcing, proactive
monitoring, and responsive troubleshooting.
About Akamai
Akamai
37
| JUNE 2019 |

40. ince the beginning of the 20th century,
Stechnologies have acquired a growing relevance
in modern societies. As technology becomes more
and more intrinsic in our everyday lives, companies
need to transform businesses. The demand for a new
type of leadership presents an opportunity for women
to become the change agent in the organization and
move towards more senior leadership positions. Limor
Sinay is one such enthusiastic tech leader with
extensive experience in enterprise software delivery,
operations, and product management. She is a Senior
Manager at Akamai Technologies which deals in cloud
and enterprise solutions. She is also experienced in
managing enterprise accounts across primary
industries: Financial, Healthcare, Communication,
Retail, Oil & Gas, Manufacturing, and Legal.
Early in her career, she believed leadership was about
seniority and title and sought to become a VP/C-level or
member of a founding team. She moved from Israel to
the US in pursuit of her MBA at MIT Sloan, with the
goal of getting the credentials to become a future
business leader. For her, today, leadership is about
influence, impact and ability to drive change. In
addition, she loves spending time mentoring young
women leaders as they navigate their opportunities,
challenges, and careers.
Below is her story,
Limor has studied her MBA from MIT Sloan in 2004.
Out of school, as an entrepreneur at heart, she helped
grow start-up companies off the ground and found her
way into the executive team of a smaller company. As
life would have it, the timing was not always right for
her. The demands of the executive suite coupled with 3
girls under the age of 5 did not work for her. While she
made the conscious choice to take some steps back title
wise in order to enjoy those precious years, she found
out that leadership comes from within regardless of
title or role.
While there were many business challenges throughout
her career: downturns in economy, legislative impact to
the business, bankruptcy, high employee turnover,
cutting significant costs where the only choice is cutting
people’s livelihood, new competitive pressures on
successful business and more, her toughest challenge
of all was her family journey through her husband’s
cancer while working.
The most important skill throughout this and any
challenge she has faced was keeping positive and asking
for help. Help from family, help from colleagues, help
from her boss, help from the community, help from
teachers, help from the school. The list goes on. “If you
are open and honest about your challenge, whatever it may
be, you keep a positive outlook and you ask for help,
99/100 people around you will be there. You just need to
ask,” says Limor. By stating the above statement, she
suggests that a person must have a bold and honest
way to deal with the challenges.
As she works in the technology industry, it is crucial for
her to stay on top of technology trends and genuinely
understand where the company has the potential to
provide future business value. She measures her
personal growth by her personal learning more than
anything else. More she learns, more she has a solid
opinion to bring to the table. To learn, she’ll go to
reputable industry reports and courses. For example,
her latest course was on Blockchain use cases provided
by MIT online executive education. She genuinely
enjoyed learning about new ideas and strives to get
recommendations from people she looks up to.
“Just do it” is probably her favorite tagline and her style
too. She’d rather go fast, get it wrong and adapt than
debate for endless hours on the path forward. It makes
the decisions fast based on the data available, rather
than chase down every detail in every angle. This
approach is not appropriate for every industry, but it
works for her. She also says, every woman should have
an opinion and not be afraid to share it. It is vital to
chase those decisions and activities you are passionate
about with rigor.
She is a big believer in a customer first approach. She
says, meet with your customers often, listen to them
more than you talk to them and good things will
happen. This is also very much aligned with Akamai’s
core values as a company. It cares about how it can
make the customers successful through the company’s
digital transformations. If the customers are successful,
the company will be as well.
38
| JUNE 2019 |

42. Participation in the Ever-changing
Modern Workforce
Dynamics of
40
| JUNE 2019 |

43. G
one are the days when women were stereotyped
to a certain set of skills and professions,
restricting them from exploring the world of
endless opportunities. Today, women have announced
their arrival in many fields of the business world.
Therefore, it seems more important than ever before to
recognize female contributions in every profession.
Fighting through biased work culture in favour of male
dominance, women have conquered the unconquered on
the account of their distinct calibre and predilections. In
the times when the world female participation rate is to
the dispiriting levels of around 67% and pay-off rate of
about 63%, achievements by women go-getters are
praiseworthy.
Listening capabilities is one of the
distinguishing aspects of feminine species as compared to
their male counterparts. Instilling and pursuing ones
thoughts is undoubtedly important for effective working.
But being a better listener is something that can make a
difference as studies show that the customer values and
trusts the firms if they perceive that they are being
listened to by the firms. With inherent caring and
affectionate traits, women outclass men when it comes to
understanding critical demands of the customers.
Emotional Intelligence (EI) - the ability to identify and
manage one’s own emotions as well as the emotions of
others - is an essential skill when it comes to dealing with
a diverse class of consumers. Women are naturally gifted
with higher EI making them better suited for pressure
situations and avoiding counter-productive decisions
while keeping emotions in check.
Emotional Intelligence encompasses two major
dimensions – awareness of one’s self and awareness of
others. Both the attributes are very much significant for
the survival and success of any organisation. Self-
awareness involves being familiar with trigger points and
behavioural traits when put to the test. This, in turn, helps
to modulate impulses avoiding conclusions which are
harmful for the welfare of business. In addition to self-
awareness, an awareness of others is equally critical in
business. Analysing and decoding non-verbal
communication – that amounts to 93% of the message –
eventually benefits in convincing and converting a lead
into a client.
Collaboration, and not the cutthroat competition, is the
modern era’s principle virtue to achieve success. Many
endeavours which seem to be beyond the bounds of
possibility can be attained by combining efforts from
different resources, channels and departments. Further,
collaborating products with consumer experience are
enormously important. It leads to crafting the best
solutions for customer’s pain points and compelling value
propositions that reflect their overall business objectives.
Multiple studies have found that women prefer to work in
teams, while men prefer to work alone. An unfaltering
affinity towards collaboration primes women to garner
success in different fields of business which gives them an
edge over others.
Increased profitability can be a motivating factor for
many firms to hire more pool of female talents as many
studies support the fact. Statistical research shows that
Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation
of women on boards financially outperform companies
with the lowest representation of women on boards.
Moreover, gender-diverse teams have higher sales and
profits compared to male-dominated teams, and a recent
Gallup study found that gender-diverse business units
have higher average revenue than less diverse business
units.
Trust over female leaders is an attribute which needs to
be reciprocated while making the choice. More American
workers perceive female executives as honest and ethical
than male executives. Pew’s “Women and Leadership”
surveyed Americans in 2015 and found that 34% say
women are better at this, while only 3% say men are
better at it (64% say there’s no difference).
While it’s unclear whether this means women are actually
more honest, it’s a subtle reminder of how tangled some
business decisions can be. Leaders are often tasked with
choosing between options that aren’t black and white,
ethically speaking, and the capacity to lead honestly is
important to the entire company’s success and job
satisfaction.
Not to mention, increased job satisfaction and
organizational dedication to cite positive and meaningful
business culture are the added advantages feminine
employees carry to the organisation.
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| JUNE 2019 |
Women Empower

44. However, the journey is not all merry go round every time.
Hindrances – seen, unseen – are there to check the
unrelenting zeal of women aspirants to thrive in the
industry. These obstructions need to be pointed out and
rectified to create an environment that fuels women
empowerment.
Lack of confidence, according to many experts, is one
prime reason women tend to question themselves and
doubt their worthiness. In order to advance, they must
coach their inner critics.
Out-speak and define what women want professionally if
they want to get succeeded. Too often they don’t know or
rely upon others to define it for them.
“Building relationships with those in positions of
leadership is critical,” Susan Brady, executive vice
president of Linkage Inc. says. “Put down the to-do list
long enough to connect with decision makers across the
organization, and help them understand who you are and
what you bring to the table.”
Women are generally uneasy about asking for what they
want. They must stop thinking about what they need as a
self-serving request. They must develop the courage and
fortitude to stand up and ask for what they want.
While proving value, women tend to overcompensate in
order to demonstrate that they are adding value. Instead
of doing it all alone, change the paradigm and track to
encourage others to take on more responsibility, thus
enabling them to scale and multiply their own impact.
Not to forget, biased work culture and regional barriers
are the crucial obstacles in the road of women work
participation. But, today women are breaking these
shackles and coming out boldly to be a part of economic
processes shouldering their male counterparts.
There has been obvious progress in achieving gender
equality around the world over the past two decades:
more girls are attending school, more women are working
and are being elected to public offices, more women hold
management positions, and the situation involving
women’s legal as well as social rights have also improved.
However, a great deal still remains to be done to achieve
equal outcomes for women and men. Recognizing
women’s abilities, the values they bring to the
organisation, the transformation they achieve as far as
work environment is concerned, and considering
monetary benefits associated with the female work
participation, corporate sector need to welcome their
emergence with open arms. No future is far where male-
dominated workplaces will be a tale of extinct, we believe.
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46. 44
| JUNE 2019 |

47. Lora
HaddockA U n i q u e A p p r o a c h f o r R i g h t C a u s e
I
n an interview conducted by CIO LOOK, Lora Haddock—Founder &
CEO, Lora DiCarlo exemplifies how she is rebooting orgasms. Her firm
desire to bring out a change in the customary way of business has
driven her establishing a venture that inherently reform the definition
of hands-free vaginal robotic massager. Let us have a look over a
memorandum of such a disruptive leader.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Kindly take us through your journey on becoming a proficient leader.
I’ve always been a creative person, working in various industries searching for
the right space to express my inventive side. I’ve worked in almost every
industry from publishing, food and beverage, and healthcare to get through
college, until I was awarded a full ride scholarship as a Naval Midshipman U.S.
Navy in 2008 and was accepted as a Cadet at the Norwich University Nursing
program. But in 2009, my mother encountered some serious health problems,
and I had to leave the Navy with an honorable discharge to become her full-
time caretaker. In 2013, after working at a startup brewery for three years, I
decided to continue my career in healthcare by co-enrolling at Portland State
University and Portland Community College, commencing a pre-med
program. I’m an “anatomy geek” and became fascinated with psychological,
physiological, and anatomical aspects of the female orgasm. While being a
student and working full time in healthcare and business management
positions, I was developing my concept. I spent three years doing physiological
research, gathering anatomical data from hundreds of women, and developing
functional product specifications. I found my calling the day that I founded
Lora DiCarlo
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| JUNE 2019 |

48. Lora DiCarlo. I’ve grown and learned from each field that
I’ve worked in and since founding Lora DiCarlo in October
2017, my journey towards launching a new women's
health product has only just begun.
How do you diversify your organization’s offerings to
entice the target audience?
We design, build, and market consumer electronics for
women and people with vaginas’ sexual health. We are
building the first lifestyle consumer brand for socially
active and empowered women and non-binary folks in our
category. Our first product, Osé, empowers the user to
explore the possibilities of their own pleasure. It will
enhance the experience of those women who already
have a variety of sex toys and create new experiences for
the women who do not. Education is the biggest step
towards empowering women to learn about their own
bodies and normalizing self-pleasure. From there, Lora
DiCarlo will offer a variety of specific products that will
meet the various types of orgasms people have. The
industry currently only offers vibration and with a new
product like Osé, we intend to learn from our customers;
what works best and develop a product based on those
needs. Our offerings are based on our customers’
enticements. Osé is only the beginning of the journey
towards self-awareness, de-stigmatization of femme
pleasure, and the rest of our offerings will be based on our
target audience’s pleasure preferences.
How do you strategize your game plans to tackle the
competition in the market?
Our game plan is to simply be ourselves: a diverse group
of folks who want more from the sex tech industry; to
create products for everyone and remove the shame
associated with pleasure. Our social mission is to fight for
gender equity and we aim to empower women and people
with vaginas and normalize self-pleasure. We’ve built a
company whose values are Respect, Integrity, and
Empowerment and every single one of our decisions are
measured against these values. Tech finds its place in
every single element of our lives and we know that
diversity is essential to creating products that are
accessible for all people, not just a privileged few. When
product design is driven by a homogeneous group of
people, then the tech that is created is increasingly out of
touch with many of its users. This goes for everything
from algorithms to pleasure products. Biases inform
everything that we make, which is why safe inclusion,
diversity, and representation of all types of people in tech,
is so crucial.
What are the vital traits that every business woman
should possess?
An only individual that stands in the way of determination
and knowledge is oneself. Impostor syndrome is a hurdle
for nearly every female I’ve ever met, but that’s all it is, a
hurdle, something to be confronted and moved beyond.
People will try to deter you, sometimes deliberately and
that’s when you push harder. That’s when you find allies
and you surround yourself with them. Find folks that get
you, that get your drive, those that get your mission and
turn them into your supporters, your allies, and your
warriors. We as femmes often think that if we are to
succeed, then we are to do it alone; that notion could not
be further from the truth. Build o a team, create a
following, inspire others with your passion,
determination, and knowledge and they will lift you up.
Days, months, and years will undulate with highs and
lows; some days will make you want to curl into a ball and
cry and other glorious days you may feel as though no one
can touch you. Just remember to stand your ground to
fight the good fight because you do belong here. These
allies will counsel you, follow you, work for you, fight for
you, and eventually, when you are given the official title of
leader you’ll already be in that headspace, then those
allies will become the building blocks of your greatest
venture. Whatever happens, don’t give up because you
never know when you’ll have an opportunity to change
the world and we need more changemakers.
What are your insights on “The myth of meritocracy”?
And how it could bring a change in today’s technological
arena?
There has never been a better time to prove “The myth of
meritocracy”: Wealthy parents are being held
accountable for using bribery and fraud to get their
children into Ivy League schools, data shows huge
disparities between white and nonwhite students
regarding access to opportunities, and male-led start-ups
receive 96% of all venture capital funding - the list goes on
and on. As for our experience regarding the myth of
meritocracy, I knew being a female CEO in Tech would
mean more obstacles to overcome but I had no idea just
how quickly they would surface. Before the CTA restored
our Consumer Electronics Show award in Robotics and
Innovation, they took it away from us for being indecent,
immoral, obscene, and profane. In the past, CES has
banned other female owned sex toy companies from even
attending their conference. CES is the “Global Stage for
Innovation” which I think most would consider a literal
technological arena where female CEOs have been
banned from existing in the same space as men.
Meritocracy would have you believe that the white males,
making up 65% of the tech industry, made it there
because they worked harder, but the reality is that
women, POC, and LGBTQ folks are quite literally excluded
from a worldwide space of tech and innovation. Hopefully,
there is a glimmer on the horizon and the tech industry, as
well as other industries where misogyny and gender bias
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49. is systemic (which is basically every industry), will see the light along with the
Consumer Technology Association.
How do you cope [up] with capricious technological trends to boost your
personal growth?
I think we’re at the edge of the revolution in pleasure and wellness products,
and a lot of that is specifically related to who is making them. Previously it was
mostly male CEOs, designers, and engineers designing products for vaginas.
Now we’re seeing a shift away from that model, with more women, gender-
nonconforming, and LGBTQ+ people taking charge and designing products that
actually work for us. We’ve received so much positive support throughout this
entire experience, from people of all genders and backgrounds. What we’ve
found is that there is so much space for change within tech and society in
general. People want to see more of them represented in the products they use
and the brands that they see.
What are your future endeavors/objectives and where do you see yourself in
the near future?
For Lora DiCarlo, we’re continuing the movement. We know there are so many
issues with bias and sexism in tech and business, as well as stigma around
sexuality. What we want is to make a tangible change in the world. We’re
striving for a world where folks can feel empowered and can help lift other
people up. We want to make sure more diverse people have their place in tech
and business. Our Marketing and Sales Director, Sarah Brown, likes to describe
our product roadmap as an interstate, rather than a road – so we have a huge
amount of products in the pipeline. We’ll be officially launching Osé in fall of
2019, and we have several products focused on couples, we’re also really
interested in VR, so lots and lots of wonderful things coming.
Embrace inclusivity; surround yourself
with brilliant and capable individuals
that are different from you, and then
ask them to challenge you. I promise
it will be worth your while.
““
““
—Lora Haddock
Founder & CEO
47
Lora DiCarlo
| JUNE 2019 |

52. Ineke Kooistra is the CEO of YoungCapital, a leading Dutch recruitment agency, since
2013. She has been working in the recruitment and secondment branches for 25 years.
Additionally, she has also set up and expanded various specializations within the IT
staffing market. Her role as the CEO of the company is to get people moving, motivate
them and coach them.
Together with three male founders, she directs a predominantly female management
team and 1,300 employees, of which 80 percent is also female. This is pure coincidence,
because Ineke doesn’t believe in selecting her employees based on gender.
About the Author
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53. Establishing
E uilibr um
At the top
“It’s all about finding someone’s strengths. Women don’t
outperform men and vice versa. But I won’t deny that it
takes a lot of discipline to stay at the top as a woman,”
Ineke expresses. Just like men, women have a lot of
qualities that match perfectly with a leadership role. It’s
important that leadership comes from the heart. And you
need to have the intention to help others grow and make
them better through your role. I call it Servant Leadership.
If you want to make your company a success, you need to
be of service to the company and its people. This has
nothing to do with gender or background.
That’s why a quota for women at the top is completely
nonsense, according to me. All women who really want to
reach the top, will find a way to break through that glass
ceiling. No bias in the world will stop a woman on a
mission to reach that top position. But it’s wrong to think
that anyone with the right capabilities – man or woman –
can work anywhere they want. There should be a match
between your personality, the company’s values and its
culture. And sometimes it’s just a case of pure luck. Being
at the right place at the right time. If this match doesn’t
come naturally, it’s just not meant to be.
But if there is a perfect match between you as a leader and a
company, it’s the first positive step, in my opinion. It’s still
a lot of work. Having all that responsibility takes a lot out
of you. You shouldn’t be afraid to make choices, and that
also means saying no to certain activities in your personal
life.
I am a mother of two and am not home every day. My
husband and I have been able to make it work. I notice that
a lot of women still find it difficult. But you can’t run a
company part time. You need to dare to go full in. Those
doubts often appear during the initial job interview. Women
say “I want to be a director, but I still have children that I
need to bring to school. Is that possible?” As if there are no
male CEOs that bring their kids to school. The big
difference is that men don’t ask these kinds of questions.
They just do it!
Balance
It’s all about balance. Recently, I attended a forum on
female leadership, where I talked about my role as a CEO.
In the audience, were female students who were just about
to graduate. When the moderator asked which of them
wanted the same job as me, only three of the four hundred
students raised their hands. The moderator was shocked,
and asked the audience what was going on. “She works too
much”, was the answer. “And we also want to be able to go
to parties, exercise and have a social life.” That shocked me
a little. It’s not that I don’t do anything else besides work.
My downtime, social life and work activities are just one
big mix. It’s true that I’m constantly thinking about work.
But I also allow myself to go for a run in the morning or see
my hairdresser during the week. To me, it’s just one full
week in which I can do a lot.
Did I have this go-getter mentality as a child, since I
already knew I wanted to one day reach the top? I think so.
But, at the same time, all the things I hoped for as a child
didn’t come true. What I got is a lot better. I definitely don’t
regret the choices that I’ve made. I started a family, got
married, and am the CEO of a young and ambitious
company. I should therefore be the last person to decide
whether or not one should have a leadership position based
on a ’home situation’. How you combine the two is up to
you. And yes, that takes a lot of discipline. But if you have
natural leadership qualities, I believe everything is going to
be alright.
The key to achieving this? As a female – or male – leader,
you need to learn to let go and prioritise. Just do your best
and focus on making things better for other people.
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| JUNE 2019 |
Unbaised Future

54. RUPAL
ASODARIAOn a Verge to Create a Difference
becoming an official entrepreneur, she
was working for one High Tech IT
company in San Francisco. However,
she truly believes that nothing fails in
life, she used all life learning lessons to
start e-commerce business without
any prior knowledge in this industry.
She is confident that the knowledge
and experiences which she gained will
definitely inspire someone to try new
thingstopursuetheirdreams.
They say necessity is the mother of
invention and it truly was in her case.
®
The NursElet Nursing Bracelet idea
was born from her real life challenges.
S h e i s a h u g e a d v o c a t e o f
breastfeeding and when she was
feeding her second child a little over 3
years ago, she noticed that she started
developing back pain and neck strain
because of improper posture while
trying to keep her shirt from falling
onto the baby. As a mother of two little
boys,sheknewtherewasademandfor
I
t takes strong determination and
courage to come up with a new
venture that might and have
created a dent in the universe. An
innovative personality understands
the requirement of a betterment in
societies as well as markets, and offers
a unique products to rely on. One such
leader standing tall is Rupal Asodaria,
Inventor&FounderofNursElet.
CIO LOOK admire such avid leaders
and appreciate their contribution in
evolvingthetechandbusinesssectors.
And feels pride to feature Rupal in its
special issue, entitled "Women in Tech,
2019".
Hereisherstory:
It took lot of sleepless nights, tons of
hard work, patience, trial and errors,
f a i l u r e s , a c h i e v e m e n t s , a n d
frustrations. In the end, determination
gothertowhereshe'snowandsheisso
proud of it. She comes from an
entrepreneurial family, and she
believes that the real experience of
watching her family hustling and
making it happen helped her to stay
positive and move forward. Also,
leadershipistheskillthatonecanlearn
along the way with right attitude and
environment. Every day is a learning
day. By discipline, she is a software
engineer. She did her Masters of
Science in New York City. Before
I live by this quote
from Walt Disney
“If you can dream it,
you can do it.”
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| JUNE 2019 |

55. NursElet®
53
| JUNE 2019 |

56. ®
her innovative product NursElet in
themarket.
After receiving amazing response
from all around the world on
®
NursElet , the company streamlined
its process and also expanded its
product selections to offer some more
must have baby essentials to their
clients to simplify the early and the
most important years of parenting.
After all, parenting is the journey, not
thedestination.
"You own your own story and none can
better tell than yourself," says Rupal.
Major benefit to own your story is that
nobody can steal it! It's your asset. She
suggests that one must make sure to
tell his/her story effectively. She
believes, people just don't buy
products but they invest in you, your
story, and your brand. For her,
customer service is number one top
p r i o r i t y s i n c e t h e b e g i n n i n g .
Community support is very important
to grow all together. Her mantra these
days, take one step at a time and keep
your eyes on your prize. Finding your
tribe and making a connection with
those who can understand your ideas
andyourvisionmakesyoupowerful.
Women, inherently, are deeply
powerful – but to realize their full
p o w e r, t h e y n e e d t o m a s t e r
independence. Self-confidence is the
best accessory that any woman can
wear.Rupalbelievesthateverywoman
has a great stamina and flexibility to
bounce back from various situations
including failures. She also believes
generally, women have a special ability
to manage tasks efficiently even under
stressfulsituations.
To run a business itself is challenging.
It's very hard to define just one big
obstacle as whenever an obstacle
(small or big) comes, it feels like it's the
biggest but once you get used to it, it's
easy to understand and react to it.
There's a solution for everything if you
look hard enough! When you're
starting something new, you'll hit the
roadblocks and challenges. However
there are many resources available to
help you navigate those challenges.
She thinks those challenges and
roadblocks make one powerful.
Working with corporate culture
requires great responsibility,
managementskills.Itteachesalifelong
lessonofrelationshipaswell.
When she received her very first BIG
order in the beginning, it was blessings
as well as a biggest challenge she had
never felt before. Thoughtful planning
and proper management helped her to
narrow down her tasks. With her
family support, she overcame from the
biggest challenge she believed she had
ones and delivered her order on time.
She learned that the challenge was
disguised blessings and taught her to
have better manufacturing planning
for efficient delivery system. So glad
that early on, she learned this
importantlesson.
In addition, Rupal states, merit should
be based on talent, effort, and
achievement, rather than factors such
as heredity or wealth, sexuality,
gender, age or race. Meritocracy is an
idealoneshouldcontinuetostrivefor.
In today's technology arena, it's
possible for anyone to express their
point of view, wisdom or knowledge
with right tool and education system.
This system can develop equal
opportunities for under privileged
individuals who were otherwise left
behind. This is so exciting news for
entireeco-system.
When technology is changing so
quickly,onemustneedtotryandadopt
new changes to stay in the game. You
don't need to be a perfectionist but
progressing towards your goal is
important. Adopt new habits and work
on yourself every day, the best master
piece you can own. Always be vigilant
to your surroundings and never afraid
to learn new things. Slowly but surely,
you'llgetthere.
She would say no success is overnight
success. It takes a great amount of
persistence and efforts to make it
possible. She has been working on
some secret projects for a while. She
can'twaittosharewhentimearrives.
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| JUNE 2019 |

58. hat do we call an area that is not limited to a
Wsingle planet and has no physical boundaries?
We call it the era of the emerging space
resource industry. As humans, we became a spacefaring
species 60 years ago when Russia launched Sputnik, the
world’s first artificial satellite. We are the only species to
achieve this milestone in the 4.5 billion year history of the
earth. Later, the space industry began to develop after
World War II, as rockets and satellites later found civilian
purpose.
Today, companies around the world are in transportation,
energy sector, construction, hospitality, real estate, etc.
and they are looking for their next growth opportunity.
Space is quickly becoming a place where the industries
that power our global economy have started conducting
business. Future developments in the space industries
include space tourism, satellite manufacturing, and the
launch industry. In recent years, however, private
spaceflight is becoming reality in the space industry.
Of course, these private companies also compete against
each other and it could be argued that a new space race
has begun. But while with an element of competition, the
success of the past decades shows that is possible to
collaborate in space. For example, NASA a major
government agency has relied on privately operated
launch services like SpaxeX for its satellite launches. The
original space race began from the ideas and skills of
visionary theoretical engineers like Robert. H. Goddard,
Wernher von Braun, and Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky, etc.
Today, space endeavors are propelled by a new generation
of entrepreneurs including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and
Robert Branson. There are some more major players and
innovative companies with the vision of space exploration
and are as follows:
SpaceX- SpaceX was founded in 2002 and has reached
worldwide popularity with their historic milestones in
space exploration. It is already the world’s most high-
profile commercial spacecraft company. The aim of
SpaceX is to revolutionize the space technology, with the
goal of enabling people to live on other planets. Its
success has been worth appreciating. Falcon 9 launch
vehicle and Dragon Spacecraft are some of its milestones.
Dragon Spacecraft has helped with regular resupply
missions for NASA space stations.
Blue Origin- It was founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, the
technological retail entrepreneur and CEO of Amazon,
aims to launch people in space. It is fully reusable, vertical
takeoff vertical landing (VVTL) space vehicle. Though its
goal is different from that of SpaceX, it targets the Space
tourism industry. It is focusing on commercially available,
suborbital human spaceflight and has developed a vertical
launch vehicle (new shepherd) for it. New shepherd is
56
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59. named after the Mercury astronaut Alan Shepherd, the
first American Astronaut to go in Space. It is designed to
take astronauts and research payloads past the Karman
line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.
Boeing- Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace company
and leading manufacturer in space and security systems.
Throughout the last 50 years, Boeing has been integral in
every major endeavor to escape earth’s gravity. The
satellite industry has made the headlines since the launch
of its first Mercury capsule to the current ISS
(International Space Station).
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is the most powerful
rocket ever built. Boeing is the prime contractor for the
SLS design development, test, and production of the
launch vehicle. SLS is the world’s only super heavy rocket
capable of transporting astronauts to deep space. NASA is
setting its eyes on the exploration of Mars with the help of
Boeing technology. Boeing has successfully launched all of
NASA’s Mars probes and rovers aboard Delta 11 launch
vehicles. Recently Boeing engineer designed a spacesuit
to protect astronauts from dust, radiation and other
hazards when exploring the surface of moon and mars.
Sierra Nevada Corporation- Selected by NASA, SNC’s
Dream Chaser spacecraft is a multi-mission space utility
vehicle. It used for transporting crew and cargo to LEO
(Low Earth Orbit) destinations such as ISS (International
Space Station). The system is designed to deliver up to
5,500 kg of pressurized and unpressurized cargo to the
space station under the CRS (Commercial Resupply
Service)-2 contract. It will carry supplies like food, water,
& science experiments and returns to earth with a gentle
runway landing. The spacecraft is selected by NASA to
provide a minimum of 6 cargo missions to and from the
space station by 2021. Sierra Nevada Corporation is
making solid progress and likely to stay a key player in the
private space company.
Northrop Grumman Corporation- NGC is a leader in
science and exploration in space for more than 60 years.
Thiokol Chemical Company, now part of NGC developed
the world’s first reusable space shuttle program in the
late 1970s.
Contribution to NASA: July 20, 1969, was a historic day
when the world watched, astronaut Neil Armstrong took
mankind’s first steps on the moon. The success of NASA’s
Apollo 11 mission is still remembered and celebrated.
Several heritage companies of NGC are recognized for
the vital role they played in the achievement of the Apollo
11 mission. NGC designed, assembled, integrated and
tested the Lunar Module (LM) of the Apollo program.
NASA’s Northrop Grumman built Chandra X-ray
Observatory and it continues to produce data that
enables astronomers to make extraordinary discoveries.
Launched in 1999, Chandra has found evidence for a
significant new class of supernova. It has also uncovered
evidence of a powerful outburst from the giant black hole
at the Milky Way’s center.
NASA has a long tradition of utilizing Northrop
Grumman’s spacecraft, including the Spirit and
Opportunity rovers that landed on Mars in 2004. The
rovers will help guide the Mars as it investigates the
viability of microbial life on the planet now or in the past.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will play an
important role in studying planetary systems. NGC is the
prime contractor for building the dreams of Webb
technology. The telescope will be sensitive to infrared
light which will enable it to understand an era of the
universe just a few million years after the Big Bang.
Made in Space- MIS is the space-based manufacturing
company, dedicated to making of reliable Additive
manufacturing equipment and fiber optics (MIS Fiber) for
Space. Additive manufacturing is also known as 3D
Printing and is transforming the industry. It can
manufacture larger and more complex objects faster, with
finer precision and with multiple aerospace grade
materials. MIS Fiber Optics, on the other hand, is
produced without crystals that affect signal loss. Later,
these crystals provide superior data transmission
capabilities, high-speed internet as well as enhancing
technologies in space.
Virgin Galactic- Virgin Galactic is a spaceflight company
founded in 2004 by British entrepreneur Sir Richard
Branson. It is developing commercial space crafts and
aims to provide suborbital spaceflights to space tourists.
VG uses a larger, four-engine jet plane that carries
passengers into space. It is similar in design to a private
plane. These private space firms seem to have different
interests in the space race, but actually, these companies
share the same goals.
Looking at the future, there will be a need for laws,
regulation, and controlling authority to govern space
exploration. It will be necessary to have firm and well-
understood protocols in the event space crashing, while
there are serious issues around the safety of astronauts
as well. At the moment, the UN’s Outer Space Affairs is
responsible for promoting international cooperation in
the peaceful uses of outer space. Perhaps, the entry of the
private sector into space exploration will contribute to
the growth of the economy as valuable targets for
investment. However, it will be interesting to see how
healthy competition opens up in the development of the
Space Era for Citizens.
57
Innova ng Space
| JUNE 2019 |

60. Victoria
Shanks
T
he Myth of Meritocracy has been practiced since the early ages
of civilization. Being rewarded for what one is worthy, without
any discrimination, seems a legit and correct way to admire an
individual’s competence. It can witnessed the world is filled with such
exemplary individuals who attained successful statures. Meet one such
individual with unique skill sets and ideologies, Victoria Shanks. With
over 20 years of experience within Financial Services Technology, she
serves as an Executive Director of First Derivatives & Global Head of
Kx Services.
CIO LOOK admires such leaders and their exemplary contribution in
evolving financial sectors. It takes pride to feature Victoria, an adherent
leader in its special issue “Women in Tech, 2019.
Here is her story
When she joined First Derivatives (FD), the company was only a small
team of 5 people. Since then, the company has grown at an astounding
pace and now has nearly 3,000 employees across the globe. She grew
with the company and as a result, leadership and responsibility
naturally evolved. Her role changes over the years, from office manager
Driving Financial Services Technology across Industries
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61. “Under-promise
and over-deliver.”
First Deriva ves
Victoria Shanks
Execu ve Director
First Deriva ves
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62. to financial engineer to Executive Director, which is
where she is today. She has around 500 employees
under practice areas she is directly responsible for, and
having been an on-site consultant herself for several
years, she has the knowledge and experience to lead
her team to success.
FD’s key foundations have always been focused on
understanding the business domain of financial services
as well as the technology needs. It may sound simplistic,
but that is still a key differentiator. Her company’s
training and graduate program is second to none, which
offers young employees a fast track on their career and
develops their skill set. The core assets of any
consulting organization are the knowledge and
experience of its staff and they have invested in a
program to ensure their clients are provided with
consistent and optimum service.
She quotes and I highlight, “We know what we are good
at—delivery!” At First Derivatives, she and her team
focus on their sweet spots. If a competitor is better
suited to the opportunity then they are honest and
advised as such. Their best sales people are ex
customers who have used their services and products
in a suitable manner. She also quotes, “Never over
promise”. She promotes what the company does best,
which continues to lead to repeat business. They focus
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63. on their strengths and maintain excellent client
relationships. She also states that every business
woman out there must possess certain vital traits to
grow—honesty, flexibility and the ability to listen.
Throughout the course of her career, Victoria faced
many obstacles. Her biggest professional challenges
came when the company was also facing challenges -
there have been upturns and downturns in the wider
business as the industry has changed over the years. As
a company, they focused on their key strengths and
worked within the changing environment to really
develop the NearShore and Regulatory business, which
allowed them to offer key skills in lower cost locations.
The flexibility to adapt meant they actually had their
biggest period of growth after the 2007-2008 crisis.
She thinks, in general, the key to overcoming challenges
is flexibility and being able to adapt to the volatile
changes.
As the technology landscape is constantly evolving, the
new trends are emerging at an incredible rate. By
observing the market and listening to what clients and
industry peers are saying/doing, she tries to keep up
with the major trends in the industry. Not only is this
important for her personal career but for the business.
It is also important to pass the knowledge of these
trends on to the wider company and ensure people who
work for the company are also up-to-date with new
technology trends. At FD, the training program is
flexible and they are able to adapt and step up the
training to meet the needs of the environment.
Moreover, she fully believes in being rewarded for the
ability. Well-trained talent with the right work ethic will
naturally result in high-performance and impressive
achievements. In today’s technical arena, if you have a
natural capability you can rise up the ranks and be
rewarded with key responsibilities and interesting
work much faster than in a traditional work setting. At
FD, she presents opportunities for her employees
across the lines of business to succeed - “You have the
support to orchestrate your own destiny, and if you
have the ability, FD will recognize and reward.”
Victoria continues to see her objectives focused on
supporting her team on the journey of growth. The
expansion FD has made now into new business
verticals is hugely exciting, but the core business will
remain the focus; she says, “Keep your core strong and
the branches will grow.” So it’s really more of the same
but bigger, better and more varied.
She has also been playing a key role in driving the Cloud
initiative within FD and Kx, her software division.
Naturally, there is a strategic focus on the importance
of Cloud and ensuring the team is delivering the best
service, so she will continue to be heavily involved in
this area as well.
First Deriva ves
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