Top 10 ambitious women in tech 2021 compressed

VOL | ISSUE | 2021
01 02
WOMEN
10
AMBITIOUS
WOMEN
IN TECH 2021
TOP
Leading with
Openness, Integrity
and Resilience
Michelle
Rudnick
DISRUPTIVE MINDSET
MYTHS & TRUTHS
ABOUT WOMEN
IN TECH
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
WOMEN TECH
LEADERS MAKING
WAVES IN THE
INDUSTRY

Imprinting the
Marks of
Success in Tech
omen have really rolled up their sleeves to
Wtake the charge in the technology space.
Winds of change finally seems to have
arrived after watching female leaders thriving in the
sphere of technology.
Until last decade, women were underrepresented in
the technology industry. Last few years have marked a
tremendous revolution, as women with their immense
technical knowledge and strong business acumen have
taken tech startups or well-established businesses to
the new heights.
Women have hugely contributed to the technological
world by opening doors to endless possibilities with
their critical thinking abilities. These contributions
date back to the earliest years of computer science,
when Ada Lovelace with her passion for mathematics
worked with Charles Babbage on his computer called
the Analytical Engine. She is regarded as the world’s
first computer programmer and the first person to see
the full potential of computers that relate to how
computers are used today.
Technology doesn’t ask for the gender to be a part of
the industry; it only demands for technical skills and
know-how. Having women in tech is the drastic
transformation.
There are more such women who in the hat of leaders
are shaping the technological landscape and setting an
example for admiring women tech enthusiasts. In
order to acknowledge their significant contributions,
Insights Success has compiled a list of “Top 10
Ambitious Women in Tech 2021”.
Editor’s Desk

We have featured Michelle Rudnick on the
cover of this edition. Michelle is the President
and acting CEO of PCS, a certified minority &
woman owned business since 1995 driven by
the ideology that wise technology investments
are one of the key elements that enable
organizations’ growth, innovation, and the
power to advance in their industries.
Under the abled leadership of Michelle, PCS is
recognized as leading provider of technology
services to educational institutions, government
agencies, and businesses. Its managed services,
mobility, video solutions, A/V integration,
virtualization, unified communications, and data
infrastructure solutions leverage organization’s
consultative approach, deep technical expertise,
and extensive industry partnerships.
Let’s unveil more alike and inspiring stories of
such ambitious leaders in tech and spread the
word about their contribution in making this
world a better place.
Lastly, you might come across the articles
written by our in-house editorial team and CXO
standpoints of some of the leading industry
experts to have the know-how about the
industry. Make sure to scroll through them,
while flipping through the pages.
Let’s start Reading!
hitesh@insightssuccess.com
Hitesh Dhamani

COVER STORY
ARTICLES
Michelle
Rudnick
LEADING WITH OPENNESS,
INTEGRITY & RESILIENCE
08
Disruptive
Mindset
Myths & Truths About
Women in Tech
24
Industrial
Revolution
Women Tech Leaders Making
Waves in the Industry
36

Catherine Pearce
Helping to Bring Promising
Medicines Forward
16
Karin Lohitnavy
A Passion Driven Leader
28
Nicole Iseppi
Advocating Greater Industry Collaboration &
Increase Efﬁciency in the Global Energy Sector
40
Chaitra Vedullapalli
Helping to Achieve
Economic Prosperity
20
Marne Martin
When an Open Mind
Opens Doors
32
Rhonda Vetere
An Inspiration for Millions
44

sales@insightssuccess.com
January, 2021
Editor-in-Chief
Senior Sales Manager Business Development Manager
Marketing Manager
Technical Head
Technical Specialist Digital Marketing Manager
Research Analyst
Database Management Technology Consultant
Sumita Sarkar
Managing Editor
Anish Miller
Executive Editor
Rohit Chaturvedi
Assistant Editors
Hitesh Dhamani
Visualizer
David King
Art & Design Director
Asha Bange
Associate Designer
Kartik Balapurkar
Kshitij S Peter Collins
John Matthew
Sales Executives
David, Martin, Dharmendra
Business Development Executives
Steve, Joe, Aidan, Irfan
Jacob Smile
Aditya Marry D'Souza
SME-SMO Executive
Amol Wadekar Frank Adams
Circulation Manager
Robert Brown Stella Andrew David Stokes
Kushagra Gupta
Co-designer
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Brief
Company Name
CinRx
cinrx.com
Catherine Pearce
CEO
CinRx is a biotechnology company that leverages its team’s
exceptional industry experience to develop therapeutics in a
novel way that meets the modern paradigm of drug
development.
Karin Lohitnavy
Founder
Midas PR Group
midas-pr.com
Midas provide its clients with bold, tailor-made communication
strategies and deliver results that always exceed expectations.
Co- founder & CMO
Meylah
meylah.com
From demand generation, process automation, and constant
innovation, Meylah can help transform businesses into a digital
powerhouse.
Featured Person
Nicole Iseppi
Managing Director of
Operations & Performance
ENGIE
engie.com
ENGIE is a global benchmark group in low carbon energy and
services.
Carla Bailo
President and CEO
Center for
Automotive Research
cargroup.org
The Center for Automotive Research is involved in the research
of significant issues that relate to the future direction of the
global automotive industry.
Mai Ton
Founder & Owner
EMP HR Consulting
emphrconsulting.com
Through EMP HR Consulting Mai Ton helps various HR
leaders build high performing teams and change the reputation
of HR.
Nazli Azimi
Founder & Chief
Executive Officer
Bioniz
bioniz.com
Bioniz Therapeutics is a private biopharmaceutical company
leading the discovery and development of first-in-class anti-
cytokine therapies to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases
driven by unregulated T-cell biology.
Michelle Rudnick
President & CEO
PC Solutions &
Integration (PCS)
pcsusa.net
Committed to providing customized technology solutions for a
smarter business, PCS offers Innovative Cyber Security,
Desktop Computing, Networking, Data Center Storage, Voice
and Video Premise and Cloud based best-of-breed products.
Marne Martin
President
The IFS Service
Management Business
Unit
ifs.com
IFS develops and delivers enterprise software for customers
around the world who manufacture and distribute goods, build
and maintain assets, and manage service-focused operations.
Rhonda Vetere
EVP Chief
Information Officer
Global C-Suite
Technology Executive
herbalife.com
Herbalife Nutrition is a global nutrition company on a mission
to improve nutritional habits around the world.

MICHELLE
RU NICK
D
COVER STORY
PRESIDENT CEO
&
ALWAYS DELIVER MORE
THAN EXPECTED.
“
LEADING WITH OPENNESS,
INTEGRITY & RESILIENCE

mbitious and exemplary leadership is a key
Acomponent of any organizational success.
Trustworthy and genuinely exemplary leaders are
capable of leading the organization with example. The
passion to use technology to come up with innovative
solutions to the existing problems is the hallmark of a great
technology leader. Tech continues to be a mainly male
dominated industry. Women becoming a part of tech
industry is still considered to be ambitious in certain parts
of the world.
Michelle Rudnick is one such an ambitious woman in tech
industry. She is the President and acting CEO of PCS
which is a certified minority & woman owned business
since 1995 driven by the ideology that wise technology
investments are one of the key elements that enable
organizations’ growth, innovation, and the power to
advance in their industries.
PCS is a leading provider of technology services to
educational institutions, government agencies, and
businesses. Its managed services, mobility, video solutions,
A/V integration, virtualization, unified communications,
and data infrastructure solutions leverage organization’s
consultative approach, deep technical expertise, and
extensive industry partnerships.
Diversified Offering to Customers
One way Michelle has been able to maintain a diversified
offering to attract target customers has been by creating a
new business development group whose sole purpose is to
focus specifically on the new customer base and their needs.
This allows the target customer to get full focus and the
personal attention PCS prides itself in providing everyone
from small, midsize or large customers.
Michelle also keeps PCS diversified to attract customers by
using a Horizontal Diversification Strategy which is to
continually add new products, as well as expanding on its
existing products and services already being offered. PCS
provides transformative IT solutions by leveraging the best
technology solutions for unique needs of customers. PCS
makes business easier and simple to run using technology.
PCS provides technology solutions for a smarter business.
Shaped by Good Impressions
Michelle Rudnick is inspired by Ursula Burns, CEO of
Xerox Corporation 2007-1st African American female CEO
of a Fortune 500 company in history. Ursula Burns came
from a challenging upbringing to lead in Corporate
America. She is also inspired by Ada Lovelace, her work on
how to code a computer using letters and numbers was
published in 1843 under A.A.L locking her place in history
as the 1st computer programmer. She is also influenced by
few books like, The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben
Horowitz and Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis
Bradberry.
A life factor that influenced Michelle and left an impact in
the type of leader she is was when early in her career she
was hired to manage the first U.S office of a European
based software company. After her brief onboarding
training, she was left alone to make daily decisions as the
owner returned to Europe and only visited every 3-4
months. Initially she was terrified almost daily of making a
mistake so she expressed this to her boss on his first visit
back and she can still recall his voice as he said “Michelle,
I’ve invested too much time in you to just simply fire you
over a mistake so stop being scared and maybe you will do
a better job”
COVER STORY

Staying Ahead of IT needs
Michelle’s vision for the company in the next five years is
to continue to discover and go after the latest forms of
technologies to be able to provide its customers the edge by
staying ahead of their IT needs in this fast changing and
ever-evolving industry. She also foresees PCS continuing to
expand and opening more offices outside of the current
Southeast United States locations.
Making Goals a Reality
Michelle believes every leader should possess forward-
thinking vision. She believes that every great leader should
be a dreamer, to one degree or another to have the vision to
make one’s goals a reality. She considers that dedication,
resilience, determination, honesty, trustworthiness, and
commitment to achieve results are important attributes of a
leader. Michelle consider it is essential to lead with
openness, integrity, and sincerity to earn the respect of
one’s staff.
Using AI as a Disruptive Force
Michelle believes AI already is and will continue to be a
disruptive force in the near future. Artificial Intelligence
still remains a lesser-known technology relatively for a fair
number of IT professionals. With the exponential growth in
the field of Digital Marketing, AI definitely looks like a real
driving force for digital platforms and businesses for a
minimum of the next 5 years. All these technologies can
solve problems, predict analysis, forecast trends by
computing data captured over time. For a business, AI
increases the value proposition by turning features like
insights and analytics to productivity stimulants and value
addition.
Positive and Ambitious Approach
Michelle’s personality tends to see positivity in everything
but if she had to pick one thing to describe as a challenge
she had to overcome is that carrying herself in such a
manner that when she walked into a room or a meeting she
should be clearly seen as the CEO of an IT company and
not just a woman.
Michelle always tries to take a positive approach to every
situation that she encounters so the challenging times like
Covid-19 pandemic be faced with the same positive
approach as the rest. Of course, like everyone else this
pandemic situation was very unfamiliar territory for PCS
and her also. She never envisioned the extent of the impact
or the duration of it but nevertheless PCS was up for the
challenges being presented by pandemic to not only for
itself but the entire nation. Sustaining Michelle’s leadership
spirit throughout this period has not been much challenging
Michelle Rudnick
President & CEO
PCS

for her because she is aware that her customers are relying
on her guidance to help them navigate by being able to keep
their businesses operating while also keeping their
employees safe.
Using Creativity for Innovation
Michelle’s future endeavors are directed towards continuing
her collaboration and using her creativity for innovation to
further develop her relationships with customers and vendor
partners in the fast-changing IT industry. She continues to
have ambitious plans for the future, plans that focus on
investing in innovative new technologies and training to
offer breakthrough developments to current and new
customers ahead of my competition. In the near future she
sees herself having successfully spun off at least three
subsidiaries of PCS, which will all be run by someone other
than herself allowing her the opportunity to pursue other
endeavors or seek new ways to shakeup the TECH Industry.
Empowering Each Other
Michelle’s advice to the emerging ambitious women in tech
would be first to have patience with their journey, do not let
ambition blind the path. She also believes it is critical for a
female leader to develop active listening skills and find the
balance between just listening but still having a voice in
discussions among men because Tech continues to be a
mainly male dominated industry. She believes that by
wisely choosing the opportunities to interject to drive the
conversation one can set oneself apart as a valuable,
insightful leader. She advises to remind oneself of what
inspired one to go into Tech so that one never loses the
passion and lastly she recommends not to feel threatened
when encountering another ambitious woman but instead
learn how to empower each other.
Top 10 Ambitious Women in Tech 2021

kimberly Khoury
Paving her Way in Sustainability Development
&
&
The
20
BUSINESSWOMEN
to Watch, 2020
SUCCESSFUL
Most

S
he is a talented drug-development professional, an impeccable leader, and
marketing expert. Meet Catherine Pearce, DHSc, MBAChief Operating
Officer at CinRx, whose firm determination and passion helped her in achieve
many career milestones in the pharmaceutical industry.
She has more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical clinical development,
business development, and R&D at companies including Merck, Ethicon and
Medpace. Most recently, she served as the Vice President of Research and
Development for New Therapeutic Entities (NTEs) at Teva, where she was
responsible for developing over 20 repurposed products across multiple therapeutic
areas.
Catherine has co-founded and assembled CinRx’s talented leadership team that has
submitted multiple New Drug Applications (NDAs) throughout their careers,
overseen hundreds of Investigational New Drug (INDs) applications, as well as
Clinical Trial Applications (CTAs), and Investigational Medicinal Product Dossiers
(IMPDs). Between the approximately 15 person team, the group has published 36
patents and participated in more than 2300 clinical trials which resulted in 50
approved therapeutics worldwide.
Into the Shoes of Catherine Pearce
Catherine started her career in sales and marketing with Hoffman-LaRoche in 1997
and later with Merck, where she launched cardiovascular products in hypertension
and lipid management. For 5 years, she served as aClinical Project Director for Phase
I-III global studies at a CRO, Medpace, in a variety of therapeutic areas, including
cardiovascular, diabetes, nephrology and neuropathic pain studies. She later started
the Business Development group in 2007, and subsequently left the company in 2011
to pursue opportunities in life science investment and device development at Ethicon
(J&J).
In 2012, she joined Teva as Vice President, R&D, to lead the medical assessments for
the newly created New Therapeutic Entities (NTE) team, a group responsible for
building a portfolio of drugs through repurposing generic molecules. After
successfully helping to add over 22 repurposed molecules to Teva’s R&D portfolio,
she left to co-found CinRx Pharma, LLC—a privately held biotech company
dedicated to drug development. Being a Chief Operating Officer at CinRx, her daily
responsibilities include the overall management of the company and its operations,
business development, strategic direction and planning, for CinRx and its subsidiary
organizations.
Teachings worth Admiring
Catherine acknowledges one of her colleagues, Dr. Jon Isaacsohn, a co-founder and
CEO of CinRx, as an influential mentor for over 20 years in this industry. She states
16 | January 2021 www.insightssuccess.com

CATHERINE
PEARCE
Helping to Bring Promising Medicines Forward
17
|
January 2021
www.insightssuccess.com

that through him, she has been taught the underlying
strategies for good clinical trial design and execution, as
well as been encouraged to challenge herself
professionally. Personally, Catherine sees great learnings
growing up with a set of grandparents who taught her
that one doesn’t need an education to leave a legacy of
kindness that can change people's lives.
She describes herself that as a voracious reader of all
media, devoting a substantial time to newspapers and
journals daily, including her favorite novels of the past
several years which have been memoirs. She thinks and
believes that learning about someone else’s journey and
seeing life from a different perspective is both inspiring
and humbling. She recalls her favorite childhood book
series “Valuetales” which had a substantial positive
impact on her. Each book featured a notable scientist,
inventor, or historical figure that told the story of the
embodied value in their work. She made the connection
very early that the work is more than just accomplishing
a task, but an opportunity to demonstrate your values and
add meaning to your life and others.
Serving the Needs
Catherine states that in more than one previous role, she
needed to create her own job description and department.
Through quoting, “Not having a roadmap, resources, or
legacy process necessitates creativity,” she implies that
when she started the Business Development Department
at Medpace, she didn’t try to copy another system and
implement a large-scale initiative on Day 1. Instead, she
interviewed customers of Medpace and got a sense of
what they wanted to see from the department and how
the business might best serve their needs. The slower,
systematic, more targeted approach allowed her and her
team to set realistic goals and make necessary
adjustments in order to grow into an optimized
department with the right tools and people.
Embracing the Technology
She believes that even though technology is a great
enabler, it can also make people particularly lazy and
create a “herd” mentality. The key is not to use these
tools as a replacement for the ground work that can
uncover novelty with scientists and other innovators. She
states that human relationships and having conversations
face-to-face can really help you piece together seemingly
disparate pieces of data which can spark a great idea.
Many times, people just simply don’t ask enough
questions from each other because they assume all the
answers they need can be “googled”. The biggest
advantage she sees to evolving technology is to connect
people faster, enabling any conversations.
Advice to Rely On
Catherine firmly believes that with working hard anyone
can taste the fruitiness of success. She advice every
budding leaders to work hard in order to build a team that
possess different traits. Maintain a culture of curiosity and
go out of your way to celebrate victories, both big and
small. “Do not assume that consulting “experts” will be a
key to success. I have found that there are people with
great, untapped ideas that just have not been called
upon,” mentions Catherine.
She also suggests to be surrounded with the people who
are smart and will challenge you. “Invite criticism and
drop complacency,” she adds. Most importantly, she ask
such buds to bring a sense of joy and humor to their
work.
“Generally, I think people need to find their own rhythms
– and those will change over time. Develop good, healthy
physical, emotional, and spiritual habits uniquely right
for you and balance will follow,” quotes Catherine.
CinRx’s Future through Catherine’s Eyes
Catherine states that the short-term goals at CinRx are to
prove the value of the model. She and her team believe
that there is a better, more efficient and cost-effective way
to bring meaningful medicines to patients. Within 5 years,
they would like to have current CinRx companies grown
their respective pipelines with additional in-license
activities while also establishing 1-2 NewCo’s every year
in an “evergreen” approach.

Chaitra
Vedullapalli
Helping to Achieve
Economic Prosperity
haitra Vedullapalli the Co- founder and CMO of
CMeylah is recognized as an Influential Business
Leader with a passion to enable digital equity and
access to achieve economic prosperity in our communities.
Vedullapalli is also the Co-Founder & President of Women
in Cloud, sits on many boards and drives global
conversations with the United Nations and top corporations
throughout the U.S.
In an interview with Insights Success, the spokesperson of
Meylah shares the journey of Chaitra and the company.
Below are the highlights of the interview;
Give a brief overview of your background and Chaitra's
role in Meylah.
Chaitra Vedullapalli is originally from India and moved to
the United States 25 years ago with her husband Ram
Vedullapalli. She did electrical engineering from RVCE in
India and has worked with tech giants like Oracle and
Microsoft before starting her own business, Meylah
Corporation, partnering with her husband.
Chaitra is the Co- founder and Chief Marketing Officer of
Meylah. As the CMO she is often responsible for business
development, client management as well as the marketing
and PR coordination. She is regularly keeping track of
social media handles and other PR activities. She also
ideates several products for Meylah. Speaker Engage is one
of her brainchild to transform the events industry to adopt
cloud technologies.
How do you diversify your solutions that appeal to your
target audience?
Meylah's mission is to help companies access the digital
economy. A lot of our efforts are focused on working with
corporations and their channels to ignite local economic
development leveraging technologies, communities and
programs. We work with customers to drive digital
transformation with cloud & AI technologies. We leverage
blue ocean business model thinking to design and develop
solutions that create access to digital economy and reduce
cost of doing business. During this progress, we spend a lot
of time accessing what solutions actually will become
sticky and develop diverse solutions to address market
needs.
Describe some of the vital attributes that every
businesswoman should possess.
“I was at Oracle when my mentor, Bronwyn Hasting, now
EVP at SAP said a person who leads from the back and
ensures everyone is taken care of is a True Leader. She also
said you can say you are a leader when you have created
leaders who have created leaders. That resonated with my
philosophy of serving, influencing and partnering with
people to lead change. I believe every leader comes with
their own set of traits and brings in their perspective
through their experiences. Hence a “great leader” is
subjective. However, I believe there are certain leadership
traits that make a leader stand out in the crowd:

Co- founder
CMO
21
|
January 2021

Open,
transparent, over
communicate,
learning and
putting myself in
others shoes.
1. Coachability: Being coachable empowers the people
around you to learn and grow. Being coachable allows you
to be vulnerable with people and resolve obstacles easily.
2. Feedback Resilience: Being able to take all kinds of
feedback without getting triggered is crucial in leading
change. I believe when you receive feedback you are
getting a gift from others and they are helping to see your
own blind spots that you can see.
3. Ego Management: As you rise to the top, your ego
becomes bigger and bigger. Ability for you to manage your
ego and your emotions will serve you well. Kindness is the
antidote for ego slaying.
4. Access Enabler: I believe that every leader priority must
be to enable access for their employees, customers and
partners to realize their potential. I believe in creating
economic access and have dedicated my life to this cause.”
What were the past experiences, achievements or lessons
that shaped Chaitra 's journey? What were some of the
primal challenges and roadblocks that you guys faced
during the initial phase of Chaitra Vedullapalli 's
journey?
Although, in current times, women are given opportunities
to rise, the power of influence is not showered upon
women. This makes it extremely difficult for women
leaders to gain economic access and power to make an
impact in society. When women do not have economic
power or the ability to influence decisions they cannot truly
lead their organization and create impact.
Chaitra has been very vocal about roadblocks she faced as a
female tech entrepreneur during the early days of Meylah.
She says, “I constantly noticed in the tech industry but I
was surrounded by men in channel related initiatives, in
customer and investor meetings and industry events.
Women were not well represented to make decisions or
provide inputs to shape the narrative around equity and
access. I struggled to figure out how to drive consistent
growth for our business. I noticed that I was silently
becoming a part of the system that did not embrace
inclusion. Gender bias was real and was affecting many
women business owners in the tech industry.”
But Chaitra is a problem solver, and her solution to the
obstacles she faced was to build Women in Cloud, a
community-led, economic development initiative to
accelerating societal impact through female tech
entrepreneurs with the colossal goal of generating over $1B
in global economic access by 2030. She has also been a
huge believer that contributing to the community will create
a larger than life impact. Chaitra brings her beliefs into the
company and personally propagates it to her employees.
This helps them grow personally and professionally.
Collective action and collective growth is her mantra and
she practices what she preaches.
Where does Chaitra Vedullapalli sees herself in the near
future and how will you catalyze the change?
Creating an inclusive economy through the technology
sector is one of the core missions. Chaitra's passion lies
around building technology solutions that create equal
access for economic opportunities. When you look at her
portfolio of bold ideas, it focuses on 4 core areas
1. Developing economic development solutions using
modern technologies
2. Removing language bias from public and private
contracting practices
3. Public policy and advocacy to create equal access to
entrepreneurial opportunities
4.Closely work with United Nations and Corporations to
launch campaigns and solutions to solve global goals.

Myths & Truths About
WOMEN IN TECH
ech continues to be a male-dominated industry.
TWhile there are many myths and truth about
women in technology like these, we will put light
more on such myths and truth in this article.
While this is a truth that tech is a male-dominated industry.
The reasons are gender diversity, gender inequalities, and
the absence of a tech educational environment for women.
“Diverse companies perform better, hire better talent, have
more engaged employees, and retain workers better than
companies that do not focus on diversity and inclusion -
McKinsey Report”.
Women in tech or any other fields have the power of
bringing change in the world and making this world a better
place to live. The attributes they carry like listening and
treating everyone with respect is an open truth of a leader.
A lot of efforts are focused on working to drive digital
transformation with cloud and AI technologies. Women will
need a lot of time to develop these diverse solutions
addressing market needs. Women in tech believe in taking
all kinds of feedback as a gift which is crucial in leading
change. Ultimately, they have the ability to manage their
emotions which is another truth.
Problem-Solvers
Gender bias is real and affecting many women business
owners in the tech industry. This makes it extremely
difficult for women in tech to gain opportunities and to
make an impact in society. When women do not have the
power or ability to influence decisions, they cannot truly
lead the organization. Although women are given
opportunities to rise, they are not well represented to make
decisions or provide inputs in driving the growth of the
business. They struggle to figure out to embrace and
become a part of the system as they are surrounded by men
in tech-related industries.
But, women are problem-solvers, and passionate to build
technology solutions that create equal access for economic
opportunities using modern technologies. Being a leader,
they remove the language bias (like replacing the word
‘guys’ with ‘folks’ or team) and put it into practice.
An Empathetic Approach
Even though technology can make things easy and
convenient, it connects people faster, enabling any
conversations from any part of the world. Women can
maintain human relationships and have conversations face-
to-face which can really help to make an individual connect
and create a bond among the employees.
To maintain a culture of a hard-working group and a culture
of curiosity is a key to success. There are people with great
untapped ideas that need to be valued in the organization.
Women in tech know that being surrounded by smart and
Disruptive Mindset
25
|
January 2021

challenging people builds a sense of joy and humor in the
work.
A Disruptive Mindset & Female-Oriented Workplace
Today, there are more myths than truths about women in
tech. But people do not know that women leaders can also
go outside their comfort zone, and know that they can do
wonders in tech.
Keeping an innovative and disruptive mindset goes through
many journeys while keeping wide thinking, as it brings a
great amount of growth and opportunity ahead. It is worth
appreciating that women embrace this complexity of the
technology which is full of challenges. Women in tech are
always passionate about transforming businesses via
technology, as there is no better time than now for women
leaders to transform digitally.
There can be many more myths, but one thing is sure that
women in tech are agile in their ways of working to adopt
new processes and technology. Male-dominated thinkers
are beginning to understand that women are no longer an
option but a part of the ecosystem now. Myths and Truths
about Women is what we have always had, and now
technologically advanced women is what we want in this
next phase of digital evolution.
Creating a female-oriented culture workplace can give the
energy which cannot be stopped. It is vital to build a culture
full of like-minded women techs which attract more
innovation and agile decision making in the organization.
Relying on women that have a deep understanding of the
challenges is important in building a great organization.
Let’s Prioritize Winning as a Team
If we have to measure or judge such myths and truths, we
should do it by measuring the performance and the integrity
of the women in tech. This will ensure us that promoting
and empowering women in tech can really make a
diﬀerence in the world. While no organization or person is
perfect, but eﬀectiveness in these areas is the ultimate
success of the organization.
We can always do better than these myths and truths;
nothing can please us more than to see women shine and
rise in tech. There is really no person alone who is
successful completely by himself. Just like a sports team,
we should prioritize winning as a team.

With the abundance of high-quality
organizations, it is paramount to make yours
stand out. Public relations (PR) strategies
effectively communicate your business model as well as
its credibility to the public. With over 15 years of public
relations experience, you could call Karin Lohitnavy,
Founder of Midas PR Group an expert in the field.
Whatever the industry, or niche audience, Midas PR
always has a unique plan for you. Under Karin's
leadership, a team of enthusiastic executives leave their
long-lasting Midas Touch on the brand they work beside.
Preceding Wisdom, Succeeding Journey
Karin attributes her quick-wit and proactive mindset to
her plethora of experiences over many countries.
Holding a degree in Social and Political Sciences from
the prestigious University of Strasbourg, and having
worked in Luxembourg the founder of Midas PR
synergises her theoretical and valuable experience
which, then helped lay a foundation in Thailand.
Throughout her experience, Karin understood that in
comparison to other business communication strategies,
the Return of Investment (ROI) on Public Relations
activities were more ambiguous. Thus, in 2007, Karin's
vision of a PR company that delivers measurable results
came true in the form of Midas PR.
With an almost clairvoyant understanding of trends,
Karin actively works to understand the social and
political atmosphere as well. Though already fluent in 8
languages, the polyglot did not yet speak Thai upon
arrival in Thailand. However, Karin rose to and
succeeded at the challenge of building business and
personal relations in a new country and a different
language. Being receptive to foreign cultures and
customs helped Karin develop meaningful relationships
with colleagues and clients from all nations. She also
met her husband Tony, who is Thai. Together, they
navigated through the obstacles that non-BOI companies
faced. He always had her back and further supported
Karin by positioning her at the forefront of Midas PR,
and himself as the Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Variegating Solutions
Midas PR's success over the past 13 years shows a
consistent winning streak. The storytelling approach that
Karin's team applies to help their clients maximize media
coverage and raise awareness through public relations
always deliver tangible results. She always thinks out of
the box to create unique communication strategies, and
encourages her team to do the same. She has solutions
for almost everything from corporate positioning or
keeping the buzz going around your brand.
Chearanee Chittasevi, former editor in Chief of
Cosmopolitan Magazine and Callum Laing, with whom
she co-founded Bangkok Young Professionals, inspired
her and helped her build a strong network. People call
Karin a Master Connector because of her vast contact
base and her ability to use her international panache. For
KARIN
LOHITNAVY
A Passion Driven Leader

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|
January 2021

those who have met Karin, it would not be a surprise that
such a positive, conﬁdent and passionate individual runs
a successful PR agency.
Word of Advice for Women Entrepreneurs
Karin always approaches life with a quote from Hannibal
in mind, “Aut inveniam viam aut faciam”, which
translates to “I shall either ﬁnd a way or make one.” In
addition to having goals, it is vital to create a productive
and plausible plan to achieve them. Karin intends to
expand her company on a large scale, meaning a bigger
team and more clients. To ensure that the Midas PR team
stays fully equipped to provide clients with the best
work, Karin encourages them to attend relevant
workshops. She also makes sure to do this, herself.
Karin heartily wants to tell all the women entrepreneurs
that believe in themselves and not compromise on their
value. Success comes from within you. Find a support
system of like-minded people who will push you to be
the best version of yourself. Following and doing what
you love is paramount when setting up a new business–it
demands your passion and lots of energy. So, prioritize
your health and maintain a balanced life. Never forget
that a healthy mind lives in a healthy body.
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|
January 2021

Marne Martin
When an Open Mind Opens Doors
f you're the kind of person who's not afraid to step
Ioutside of your comfort zone, life-changing
possibilities can be found in each new chapter, in each
new job, and with new people that come into our lives. 's
life took a Marne Martin different track when, rather than
going back home to the West after college, she chose a
career in international business—a choice she has not
regretted for one second. “Life can work in wondrous ways
if we allow ourselves to be open to change and put in the
hard work,” Marne asserts. She adds, “My Grandfather
used to tease Marne asserts. She adds me that the first
words I said were “me can do it” and while my grammar
has changed over the years, that drive is one that has
remained.”
Marne is President of the IFS Service Management
Business Unit, which provides solutions to service
organizations all over the world. Her mission is to elevate
the service management software business within IFS, as it
continues to be a crucial strategic growth driver for the
entire company. It is her responsibility to ensure the entire
portfolio of IFS's service management solutions provides
customers with the business value they expect from a global
industry leader in field service management software. She
also takes an active role in M&As, driving accretive value
to IFS and often serves as the CEO for the integration
period post acquisitions, most recently with WorkWave and
now with Astea International. Prior to IFS, Marne served as
CEO and led the executive leadership team at ServicePower
Plc., an international field service management software
company. Her career originally started in the telco sector
launching and developing international businesses.
Entrepreneurship is a Mindset
Marne believes that being entrepreneurial is a mindset,
whether you are driving innovation as a founder or as a
profession working for shareholders. Entrepreneurs have to
go through so many changes throughout their business
journeys and keeping an open mind can open the doors to
an immense amount of growth and opportunity that lie
ahead. Navigating change can be a difficult and complex
task, but one that is essential to advancing a business's
priorities.
When Business and Technology Combine
According to Marne, the world we are living in is
connected and complex. It is critical that companies
embrace this complexity and look to invest in the right
talent and technology that first and foremost is targeted at
addressing business challenges. Marne is passionate about
transforming businesses via technology, as she believes that
there is no better time than now for companies to digitally
transform and their sta ffto think in agile ways to adapt and
adopt new processes and technology. Service companies
today are beginning to understand that 'business as usual' is
no longer an option. As they embrace technology at an
everincreasing rate to enable their business growth, they
create new ways of engaging with customers, employees
and their ecosystems. People and experiences are what we
have always had, and now automation and efficiency are
what most businesses want in this next phase of service
evolution. But automation and efficiency can't replace the
life-blood and energy that makes a company great.
It is essential to build an innovative work culture that
attracts like-minded employees. According to Marne, a
culture that prizes innovation and agile decision making
with a conviction of customer-focus are among the
important building blocks that puts employees on the
offense vs. the defense. For her, there is a great advantage in
relying on employees that have a deep understanding of
their customers and the challenges they face. This enriched
understanding can lead to customer empathy and
relationships that span years and generations of products.
Marne's team measures itself on performance related to
collaboration, decision-based learning and integrative
decision making. This ensures that the company has a
constant stream of feedback that helps promote

33
|
January 2021

transparency, and also empowers its employees to really
make a difference in its customers' lives by addressing key
challenges they are facing. “While no company or person
will ever be perfect, resourcefulness needs creativity, a
supportive atmosphere, and a lack of categorical or process
rigidity that prevents it,” says Marne.
Imparting Wisdom
Talking about leadership, management and mentorship,
Marne asserts, “Leadership is about how you model it, how
you inspire it, and how you grow. As leaders, our
effectiveness in these three areas most often sets the
trajectory related to talent recruitment and retention, and I
am 100 percent convinced that talent is the number one
driver impacting the ultimate success of a company or an
initiative. We need to inspire and motivate people, and not
be afraid to make the hard decisions, which requires self-
actualization, vision, drive and the humility to be open to
change. Every day I think about what I can do better, and
nothing pleases me more than to see people shine and
develop around me. We want to not only be a beacon of
light, but also to be the multiplier effect by uplifting all
those we touch or influence.”
Marne advises emerging leaders not to run out of cash.
Furthermore, she adds, “I have seen more great ideas and
concepts never achieve what they could due to lack of
funding than any other reason. My emotional or spiritual
side would be to never lose your passion as it is passion
that customers and early-stage investors want to see. My
business advice is to analyze what you and your company
need to be to be successful in terms of talent around you,
and make sure you prioritize having that talent by your
side. There is really no founder that was successful solely as
an individual. There is always a team of at least a few
others. A sports team or an orchestra even with a solo act is
still never alone as it is together the wins or great music is
achieved.”

very great leader is once a dreamer. You can
Ecall yourself a leader when you have created
leaders who have created leaders. The key
important attributes of a leader are Dedication,
resilience, determination, honesty, trustworthiness,
and commitment to achieve results.
In this fast-changing and ever-evolving industry,
technology is a disruptive force for digital platforms.
Investing in new and advanced technologies keeps us
th
ahead of the competition. We are living in the 4
Industrial Revolution which is the Digital Revolution.
It is critical for a female leader to develop active tech
skills because tech continues to be a mainly male-
dominated industry.
The speed of the Digital Revolution is accelerating,
and women today need to more than ever adapt to the
times constantly. Leadership in technology is about
how you model it, how you inspire it, and how you
grow. Women in technology inspire and motivates the
team with vision, and the humility to be open to
change. Businesswomen possess a forward-thinking
vision and lead with openness, integrity, and sincerity.
A Culture of Curiosity
Women Tech Leaders today do not feel threatened
when encountering tech, instead they learn how to
empower each other. Tech women entrepreneurs are
coachable to learn and grow. Being coachable allows
them to be vulnerable to technology and resolve
obstacles easily. The best way to deal with this
situation is to maintain a culture of curiosity; it is a
key to success. Ultimately, by working hard anyone
can taste the fruit of success.
It is important that businesswomen embrace this
complexity and invests in addressing business
challenges. There can be no better time for women to
digitally transform and look for talent and technology
in the team. Businesswomen have found their agile
ways to adapt to the staff and creating new ways of
engaging in the ecosystems.
It becomes equally important to build an innovative
culture that thinks and acts embracing technology in
this phase of evolution. There is always an added
advantage in relying on employees that hold a deep
understanding of the technological requirements and
the challenges.
Creating an Innovative Environment
In a male-dominated industry, gender-bias is real and
affecting women in the tech industry. Markets today
drive digital transformation with cloud and AI
technologies. Creating an environment of innovative
and disruptive solutions will create a lot of economic
opportunities.
It is really a great tool-enabler, as it connects human
relationships faster, enabling any conversations from
far distances. As we adopt technology, businesses will
grow at an ever-increasing rate. The pandemic is
offering opportunities for women in tech. This
outbreak is creating a demand and new chance for
women’s workforce to join the tech industry. As of
2015, women hold only 25 percent of computing
roles, according to data from the NCWIT (National
Centre for Women and Information Technology). With
these numbers it is clear that women working in tech
are starting to have a positive impact in senior
leadership in tech.
Surpassing All the Challenges
One thing is clear that women hold a big innovative
future in tech. With their grit and determination
surpassing all the challenges in their way. They are
here to stay and make an impact. It is upon us now,
how we see to it. It would be our responsibility to
make a way, and create a culture of diverse working
environment.
Finally, no matter how good the technology is or how
it brings the revolution in the world. It is in our hands
how we make the use of it. Be it AI, Cloud
Computing, or Internet of Things (IoT) it will be
considered only good when we make a proper use of it
for the human development. As far as women in tech
is considered, they hold a prime responsibility of
building a society of tech by employee retention and
being disruptive.
Women in tech need to find their own rhythms
maintaining a balance between tech and leadership
within an organization.

Women
Tech Leaders
Making Waves
in the Industry
Industrial Revolution
37
|
January 2021

Nicole
Iseppi
Advocating Greater Industry Collaboration &
Increase Efficiency in the Global Energy Sector
very successful person has his/her own success
Estories, which are often shaped by continuous chain
of experiences. In an interview with Insights
Success, the of Managing Director of ENGIE,Nicole
Iseppi, has shared her success story, experiences,
challenges and the story about her early start in the
energy/infrastructure sector. Thus, providing key
ingredients of success for emerging entrepreneurs.
Below are highlights of the interview conducted between
Nicole Iseppi and Insights Success:
What initially drew you to studying and practicing law?
I always enjoyed public speaking, communicating with
people and solving problems and therefore, law offered a
way to develop initial skills and knowledge that can be used
to pursue such core drivers (especially my constant intrigue
for problem solving). As I am a strong believer there is a
solution to everything…we just (at times) need to think a
little deeper and out of the box to find the best solution for
some specific challenging situations. Plus, I grew up in a
household where my father was very entrepreneurial and
self-employed (he ran his own company) and therefore
having such exposure since an early age to being
commercial, made me want to go into the
commercial/business sector to be part of offering solutions
to solve current problems and challenges we face.
In what way has your experience helped you in your
career since then and the work you do at present?
Having the privilege to begin my first decade of my career
journey at a leading infrastructure law firm and then at a
global leading financial institution (including, having the
rare opportunity to also be appointed as lead adviser on the
implementation of a new international green financial
institution), in terms of both opportunities, training and also
access to the minds and experience of such high caliber and
leading professionals – allowed me the best opportunity to
excel from the beginning and learn my core craft. I am a
strong believer as we progress through this world we should
always remember where we come from and be grateful for
the opportunities and amazing people we meet and learn

Nicole Iseppi
Managing Director
ENGIE
41
|
January 2021

from – as they all steer us and develop us to be the person
we are today and for tomorrow.
How would you describe the experience of living and
working overseas?
Interesting, as a young student I always aspired and hoped
to have the opportunity to travel and discover more of the
world. However, had you told me at such younger years
that I would end up travelling the world to work in the
international arena and be kindly respected by my energy
and finance peers as a global expert – I think I would have
been a little surprised. However – It has been one of the
best opportunities both professionally and personally and
would highly recommend it to all. It has led to my success
today and the person I am today. I am a strong believer that
we should immense our self into new cultures, new
opportunities and meet new people to share our thoughts &
experiences, to constantly re-develop our thought process to
strive for further improved solutions to any challenge.
Having the ability to travel for work – allows us to grow
both intellectually and personally. Having that first
overseas opportunity to work in Tokyo and since then
having the opportunity to live and work in multiple cities
around the globe (from Australia, Asia, Middle East to
Europe) – has allowed me additional opportunities through
my career, which I am very grateful of.
What are some of the changes and developments taking
place in the industry that excite you the most? Do you
feel hopeful about the future in terms of how the world
can cope with some of the challenges it faces due to
climate change?
I am an optimistic person – so I do feel hopeful for the
future. If we actively aim to address the core issues in a
collobrative manner and are open to thinking out of the box
and being constantly more innovative, we can find a
solution to these challenges.
One of the biggest global challenges currently is how we all
progress through this current global energy transition.
However, I am of the view that this transition (although it
may of started specifically within the global energy sector)
is no longer exclusively limited to the energy sector only. In
fact, when I speak at international conferences, including a
proud opportunity to be asked in the past to speak at the
G20 Infrastructure Meeting, as an industry expert – I
express the view that we are now at the start of a new
industrial revolution. A revolution that can be described at
least within the global energy sector as a new “3D World”.
That is – a future of more “Decentralised” energy; a future
focused on “Decarbonisation” and a more “Digitalised”
future society. The speed of change is accelerating, and one
needs to more than ever, constantly re-adapt and move with
the times. Such challenge and opportunity I find ever more
exciting – especially in my passion and pursuit for problem
solving. We have many exciting opportunities ahead and the
best way to address many of them, is to collaborate more
within the industry in order to push the boundaries of what
is possible and the ability to innovate more (at all levels of
the value chain) – to achieve more efficiency and higher
quality levels of output.
What are the greatest challenges you've encountered in
the course of your career, and how did you overcome
them?
I think the way the modern world functions, does not matter
what industry or profession we work in, we constantly face
change and disruption. Which raises the challenge of how
do you best lead in times of disruption. My best advice in
terms of any challenge – and it is something I have done
since an early start of my career. Is that if a job is worth
doing it is worth doing properly. And we just have to be
persistent and constantly look for greater efficiency,
improvements and ability to innovate & include more
diversity at all levels of the organization and value chain. It
is one's ability to work hard and have the determination to
achieve and make positive contributions, that will overcome
any challenge that life may impose on us. My advice is,
just gather all your courage and most of all, believe in
yourself. Back yourself to achieve and make sure you have
a good support network around you to collaborate and share
thoughts, and most of all, make the best of every
opportunity.
It is the ability & wilingness
to work hard and have the
determination to achieve
and make positive
contributions, that will
overcome any challenge that
life may impose on you.

Rhonda
Vetere
An Inspiration for Millions

Into the Glimpse of Rhonda's Life
Rhonda Vetere is globally renowned C-Suite leader,
passionate global technology icon, two-time author, and
corporate athlete. She is also known for being a change
agent, digital transformation leader, global leader. Rhonda
Vetere has worked across industries as a global executive
and change agent at Herbalife Nutrition, Santander Bank,
Pamplona Capital Management PE, Estée Lauder
Companies, AIG, HP Enterprise Services, Barclays /
Lehman, Bank One / JPMorgan Chase, CompuServe,
UUNET, MCI, and Worldcom. A two-time author, Vetere
ﬁrst co-wrote the HP special edition book, Enterprise
Service Management for Dummies. Her second book, Grit
& Grind, was published in 2019. She has lived and worked
internationally – in New York, Hong Kong, Singapore,
London, Mumbai, and across India – and has managed
Meet Rhonda Vetere, a two time author as
well as a global C-suite leader, who has
exceptionally contributed in the evolution of
business sector and inspired many budding
personalities out there. Moreover, she is an
also a two time author and a true Corporate
Athlete.
She has been also recognized as one of Most
Powerful Women in Technology along with a
two-time author, irrespective of spearheading
corporate initiatives around the world,
competing in another IRONMAN 70.3 mile
triathlon, or mentoring students & athletes
globally in STEM through sports.
Insights Success admires Rhonda's
commitment to work and takes pride in
featuring such leaders in its special edition,
“Top 10 Ambitious Women in Tech 2021.” In
the interview, Rhonda expresses her journey
which portrays application of her unique
ideologies.
45
|
January 2021

teams of up to 20,000 people. Her role at Estée Lauder
Companies included global leadership across 162 countries
and running the technology & operations team. She
spearheaded the transformation of the IT capabilities
foundation into a digital environment at record industry
pace, without business disruption, around the world – while
saving $28 million a year. A dynamic leader both at work
and play, Vetere is constantly training for and competing in
events – over 70 races so far, including triathlons,
halfmarathons, marathons, and IRONMAN 70.3 triathlons
(single-day races that consist of a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile
bicycle ride, and a marathon 13.1-mile run). In 2018,
Rhonda participated in the first-ever womenonly run across
the Serengeti wilderness, and she returned in 2019 to do it
again — all 55 miles. Rhonda is a member of the New York
Road Runners (NYRR) and Winged Foot Golf Club, and
encourages her friends and associates to pursue active,
healthy lifestyles as an integral part of career success and
improving performance.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
What people, what books, what life factors have
influenced and impacted you?
My Mom is the largest impact in my life, growing up as an
only child and watching her work two jobs impacted me. I
knew at an early age I wanted to make this world a better
place and bring unity and strong bonds in my life. Also, not
seeing a lot of female mentors growing up in the business
world, inspired me to push myself stronger to make this
world a better place and be a role model for others. My best
friend, I have known since I was three years old and I
believe heavily in strong relationships in life.
What are some of the vital attributes, in your opinion,
that every leader should possess?
The ten principles in my Grit and Grind Book. Listen, Treat
everyone with respect and how you would like to be
treated, openly communicate, be humble and learn every
day. Be a servant leader daily.
How do you maintain balance between your professional
& personal life?
Managing large global teams throughout my career, I use
triathlons as my outlet and my workout time to think
without technology in front of me.
As a Director and leader, describe a challenge you
overcame.
As a leader, I overcame being one of the youngest, female
Managing Directors in the Finance Sector in my career- I
didn't know it at the time but it was told to me several times
20 years ago and I didn't realize what that meant at the time.
Do you think women feel intimidated in business?
This is coming to light more and more with the world
events- in my career, I haven't felt intimidated and have
been true to myself. However, I do think this is a hot topic
now that I am reflecting on how to help others daily.
Is there anything you wish you had done differently?
I hoped to start a global mentoring program formally earlier
for the technology Industry.
What specific advice would you have for young women
who would like to become an entrepreneur?
I would like to advice many upcoming leaders that, Don't
give up, get a mentor and don't lose sight of your dream,
surround yourself with people that prop you up and not tear
you down.
Open,
transparent, over
communicate,
learning and
putting myself in
others shoes.

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