“My goal is to promote 100 women before I retire,” she says with a smile. “All I ask in return is that each woman promotes another 100. I’m at number 78 now.”

Krupetsky’s advocacy for equity and inclusion stems from her professional and personal experiences. As someone who always loved technology, she was often one of the few women in the field. At first, she brought a carefully curated version of herself to work – dressing ultra-conservatively and never discussing her personal life. Eventually however, she realized that authenticity is key to getting a seat at the table, so she united the two personas and went on to become a leader in this area.

Krupetsky strongly believes the technology industry holds significant potential to foster positive change because it’s naturally innovative. “Technology is all around us, so it would seem natural for young people to gravitate towards it. What other industry is evolving so fast, in so many exciting ways?” she asks. “Technology is enabling us to accelerate change in ways that impact everyone globally, from climate change to diversity in the workplace. It is the platform to transform the world.”

Krupetsky’s ability to tackle challenges and inspire others isn’t a random occurrence. At age ten, she left her native Ukraine when her parents decided to seek a better life in the United States. At that time Ukraine was part of the former USSR; her father was an accountant, her mother a professor. Things changed when they arrived in the U.S.

In the new world, her mother worked as a housekeeper, while her father studied to remake himself professionally. The recurring motto of her youth was education, education, education. These experiences instilled in her the value of hard work and determination and helped pave the way for her to become a change agent at companies, including Oracle and SAP, in their significant transformative journeys.

Finding the Right Skill Set

For Krupetsky, as head of Global Strategic Segments at SAP, the most important transformational journeys occur when customers digitalize their business. As the chief digital officer of said in a , “We’re not transforming because we have a burning IT platform. We’re transforming because we have a burning desire.”

People who instinctively understand this sentiment are the kind of people Krupetsky wants on her team. Krupetsky was head of the team’s North American business for five years before becoming the global head earlier this year. Phillips 66, the energy giant with over US$100 billion in annual revenue, is a member of 51·çÁ÷Strategic Customer Program and incorporates everything Krupetsky’s organization strives to help customers achieve.

“Our goal is to deliver constant business value for almost 200 strategic customers, and we accomplish that by building bi-directional engagement models,” she explains. “First, we have to understand their business goals and strategies, and then we identify how 51·çÁ÷can help them reach their end-state vision.”

One of her first tasks was to instill a key foundational principle: Clients choose to work with innovation partners that understand their business and provide exceptional value.

In order to deliver on clients’ needs, she needed people who could develop durable relationships, speak the industry language, thoroughly understand technology, and lead large account teams in delivering bi-directional road maps. Krupetsky believes it takes three to five years to really know a client, so she pursued those who could think big for the long term and could engage in meaningful conversations at the C-level. Only by managing the entire life cycle of the client can 51·çÁ÷deliver true business value.

After early success with this strategy, Krupetsky has invested relentlessly in furthering its adoption within the organizations she manages at SAP. In the past, most clients considered 51·çÁ÷as their back-office enterprise resource planning (ERP) software vendor; now, they view 51·çÁ÷as a strategic innovation partner that fundamentally understands their goals and can help them achieve their targets over a multiyear journey.

“We were able to turn the tide by creating a shift toward greater customer intimacy, pivoting from a transactional business relationship to providing meaningful guidance in a high-touch mode,” she says.

Driving Industry-Defining Innovation

More importantly, clients see tremendous outcomes. With the help of the Global Strategic Segments organization at SAP, they can develop the necessary resilience to not only withstand fluctuations, but learn and thrive in the process.

Take the . The company began its digital transformation in 2017, just as the oil and gas industry was recovering from the downturn in previous years. It was the perfect time to invest in new enterprise-wide technology to differentiate itself from rivals. Among other changes, Phillips 66 tapped 51·çÁ÷as a strategic innovation partner, working to create an industry-standard platform built on 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA that has helped the energy leader extract unprecedented value from its hydrocarbon operations and identify cost savings amid today’s pandemic-induced challenges.

The entire sector is under enormous pressure because the coronavirus pandemic has eroded demand and oil prices have fallen. The fact that Phillips 66 is continuing its transformation effort and its significant investment during the ongoing economic turbulence underscores just how important IT modernization initiatives are to the future of the company.

“Phillips 66 is building a system with 51·çÁ÷that may well become the standard across the oil and gas sector and is banking on the advantage of being an early adopter,” Krupetsky explains. Such a standard is an example of the industry-defining innovation resulting from the strategic, two-way relationship between 51·çÁ÷and Phillips 66.

Phillips 66’s strategic investments are designed to ensure that the company emerges from the current crisis stronger than ever, but it is already seeing some benefits. Its transformation initiatives are driving value despite an especially challenging time brought on by the pandemic – be it improving profit margins, reducing operational costs, or avoiding unnecessary expenditures.

Digital transformation is a big job that requires a certain skill set. To be successful, people need mentors and visionary leaders, like Krupetsky, in addition to their own natural talent and customer-focused mindset. While education may have been her childhood motto, when it comes to leading Global Strategic Segments at 51·çÁ÷her winning formula is to understand the client’s business and provide exceptional value. That’s how she and her team support every customer’s innovation journey.

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Even before COVID-19, Accenture’s global IT organization was at the forefront of innovation, providing the infrastructure and services to meet the needs of more than 500,000 employees worldwide. Working remotely has always been natural in consulting, and the company has continuously invested in emerging technologies, infrastructure, and a collaborative culture over the years.

Having adopted an “anytime, anywhere” approach to how people work and how to serve clients, Accenture was already well positioned when the pandemic forced the rest of the world to set up millions of home offices with just a week or two of notice. What COVID-19 did was increase the demand for scale to reach across continents and into individuals’ homes, creating a new normal.

“We’ve been using technology for some time to transform how we work on a massive scale quickly,” says Prett, who has held various roles at Accenture during the past 25 years. She points out that the company has operated the business for decades as a virtual team with top leaders spread across the globe. The tools to support a collaborative workforce are in place; for example, Accenture is the largest enterprise user of Microsoft Teams in the world.

“Our Teams audio usage [] increased by 282 percent from our typical 350 million minutes per month to nearly 1 billion minutes per month since the crisis began,” wrote Prett in a blog about . Cloud, networking, and collaboration tools are all going to be front and center in meeting the demands of a more flexible workplace in the future. IT organizations must be prepared to scale quickly and adapt dynamically to changing business needs based on global and local conditions.

Enabling and Enriching the Workforce

Prett, who assumed her current role just before the pandemic, sees the events of the year as a blessing in disguise when it comes to transforming the workplace. With basics like security and connectivity already in place, her job now is to enable teams around the globe to collaborate and innovate in non-traditional ways. Meeting the needs of a remote workforce with today’s technology presents both opportunities and challenges.

“Tłó±đre is a difference between enablement and enrichment,” explains Prett, whose job is to do both. A phone is enough to enable people to work remotely; adding video, which allows people to pick up visual nuances, enriches the experience. “A lot has happened since March,” she says. “Social and business do not marry as well in the virtual world as in face-to-face interaction. We’re still figuring out the future landscape, but the majority of people might well choose to continue working from home. What counts is that now, people know they have a choice.”

Accenture aims to deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity, and Prett’s main objective as the company’s CIO is to create the right ecosystem for building proprietary technology to help capture market share.

“We carry the burden for employees,” says Prett. “We give them opportunities to plumb the depths of data, so they can make smart decisions.” According to her, the average Accenture employee might do 100 things per day, of which 20 are done in systems. Having to switch between systems fractures the employee’s experience. The binding factor is data and experience. By unifying the two and providing collaboration hubs, IT helps create a unified experience for employees that is fast, intuitive, and easy.

Words of Advice

Having been in the business for a long time, Prett has had many different leadership roles and plenty of experience managing teams, driving change, and helping customers find solutions to problems. The common thread throughout has been the evolution of technology and its impact on humankind.

“I spent my entire career with tech at the center and have always been fascinated by the way humans interact with technology to deliver outcomes,” she says. She has also been active in Accenture’s diversity and inclusion efforts, working on a range of programs including LGBTQ+ initiatives and the integration of veterans and other non-traditional talent into the workforce.

Because humans are all different, they react differently to different challenges. Prett likes to tell a story to illustrate the value of diversity: while running a workshop in the field a decade ago to figure out a way to build a new system, the team started working on a very complex solution to the challenge. At that point, a junior member who had been quietly taking notes throughout piped up and said, “But that’s not how it works in real life,” forcing the team to rethink their approach. “Everyone has an area of expertise and sees things through a different lens,” Prett explains. “Sharing those viewpoints is what makes diverse teams better at problem solving.”

There are three critical skills Prett recommends for anyone who wants to succeed in the new world of work. The first skill is to remain intellectually curious. Change happens at a rapid rate and no one is going to spoon-feed you what you need to know, so you need to seek it out yourself. The second skill is to remain adaptable. Knowledge of old-world tech is not good enough for the new age. Change is the most dynamic, powerful source of progress, so it’s best to embrace it. And, finally, Prett is a true believer in the power of storytelling and how it can build human resilience.

“Tłó±đre are no schoolbook solutions to the challenges of our times,” she says. “We need to write the stories that will inspire people to change and grow.”

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Frustrated after spending US$1,600 to frame four posters bought on her trip around America’s national parks, Framebridge, which blends e-commerce, logistics, and an intense focus on the customer experience to make custom framing easy on the buyer and the wallet.

Tracey Griffin was brought on board wearing two hats. As chief financial officer (CFO), she represents the Framebridge’s high aspirations and strategizes on how to best spend capital to achieve growth. And as chief operating officer (COO), Griffin is in charge of the operational side and can really roll up her sleeves with the engineering teams.

“I was really excited about coming to Framebridge, because the brand has an enormous potential for growth,” says the executive, who prides herself on coaching and mentoring her teams. Thanks to a background in merchandising, Griffin has a well-rounded approach. “By not putting retail, finance, and operations in separate boxes, it’s easier to eliminate silos and focus on outcomes,” she explains.

What Makes the Framebridge Difference

The company claims it can frame anything, and customers have responded by saying “Let’s Framebridge this or that — demonstrating the power of the brand.

“We can add depth to our frames, so a lot of customers end up getting three-dimensional artwork on their walls,” Griffin explains. “We’ve framed everything from baby shoes to baseball jerseys to doilies and guitar picks. Really, we can frame whatever reflects the things that make you happy.”

As an online business, the company can serve customers anywhere in the country, and the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a surge in orders. Framebridge owns the entire process, with expert framers and designers making everything in its own production facility in Kentucky.

The company aims to make the framing process simple, beginning with a website that is highly interactive. Customers can upload a picture of the item they want to frame and try out different frames to find the right one. They can also chat with a designer about their ideas. In addition to everyday customers, the company partners with artists, businesses, and designers.

“Our goal is to deliver a highly personal product and experience,” Griffin says. “It’s really all about helping the customer to visualize what they could do with their space.” One testimonial on the website says that Framebridge makes a last-minute idea look like a well-thought-out one.

Reaching New Heights

Framebridge started off as an online endeavor, distinguishing it from older companies that have had to transition their business to include e-commerce. Instead of worrying about finding the right location for stores and attracting enough customers locally, Framebridge focused on honing its concept and establishing a presence that made ordering safe, easy, and as satisfying as possible online.

Now, the company also has stores in Brooklyn, Washington, DC, and Atlanta, and plans to expand its physical presence into other U.S. cities in the coming year.

“Tłó±đ role of technology is fundamental to our business,” says Griffin, whose main task is to provide the foundation for a seamless online experience while enabling flawless supply chain performance when producing, shipping, and delivering the product. Framebridge is an open-sourced, custom platform end-to-end, from discovery to commerce to manufacturing.

Words of Advice

Prior to Framebridge, served as CFO at fashion and lifestyle brand Kendra Scott, and as CFO and COO at Pandora jewelry. She was previously a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, where she focused on retail and consumer goods clients. She also served on the Board of United Negro College Fund (UNCF), currently on the Partnership for Healthier America.

“When I was at McKinsey, my mentor took me to lunch one day and told me I was doing great work, but it wasn’t clear how they could support me to become a partner,” she recalls. “I thought it was enough to perform well, but that moment was a wake-up call for me; I realized I had to be a better advocate for myself!”

Griffin says that women are often not as proactive at advocating for themselves as men. It is important to regularly seek out constructive feedback and act on it, she says, especially in the startup environment, where people work at such a mad pace there can be no time to create a career plan. Her mantra for success is to take 15 minutes every week with your manager and ask, “What’s the one thing I did well this week, and what’s the one thing I need to work on?”

Griffin and the team at Framebridge are on a mission to help people tell their stories by framing the memories they love. They do it with beautiful products, affordable prices, quality craftsmanship, and, of course, an easy, interactive online experience. That’s why customers keep coming back.

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Amid the uncertainty and challenges created by the pandemic, SDG&E has taken many actions to help protect customers and employees, such as providing payment arrangements for customers in need and adding extra precautions for employees in the field.

Compassion Counts

“Our biggest concern is staying connected with customers and employees in the new world of working from home,” says Laura Atkinson, director of the Customer Information Systems Program at SDG&E. “We are using technology to stay connected, but that does not replace personal engagement.”

Atkinson finds people are much more compassionate and understanding during the crisis. Raising two girls as a single mother, surviving cancer, and having a demanding career, she knows how important it is to prioritize what needs to be accomplished — both professionally and personally. “It’s important to give back to others,” she says, referring to her management style. “I talk to my team a lot about balancing their work and home lives.

She goes on to explain that in the past, the office was mostly a nine-to-five operation. At the start of the crisis, the company asked 2,400 employees to work from home and implemented additional measures to keep field staff safe.

“We’ve gone through a big shift since then,” she explains. “Previously, the office was where you went to get work done. Now, we’re highly focused on outcomes and individual employee work flexibility. We have been able to demonstrate how to accomplish our objectives, regardless of physical location.”

These are big changes in the world of utilities, an industry undergoing rapid transformation. Faced with competition from non-traditional energy suppliers, utility companies must address climate change goals, reduce emissions, and support smart city programs as they seek to create value for their customers, communities, and shareholders.

Principles for Transformation

For the last three-and-half years, Atkinson and her team have been busy replacing SDG&E’s 25-year-old customer information system with 51·çÁ÷software. The goals include streamlining business processes, optimizing customer engagement, increasing regulatory responsiveness, and implementing a cloud-based platform for future innovation.

“Tłó±đ first step was to get the entire company to embrace the guiding principles for change,” says Atkinson, who believes that embracing change is key to successfully transform from being a utilities company to becoming an energy service company.

The . First and foremost is customer focus: SDG&E must serve its 3.6 million customers better, faster, and with greater agility. Second is empowerment, because Atkinson’s project team of 400 must make decisions and move at a quicker pace. Third, the team should implement best practices and focus on outcomes. And the fourth principle is “buy over build.”

“Configuring standard 51·çÁ÷functionality is more sustainable than customization,” says the IT expert.

Regardless of the crisis, SDG&E’s transformation will set it apart from most utility companies that operate on a brick-and-mortar philosophy. Previously, employees got their information from bulletin boards. That is no longer the case as work processes are more automated. Digitization also provides greater visibility through the use of dashboards that feed data to all stakeholders, providing a real-time view of the company’s operations.

It is not all work and no play at SDG&E. The team was quick to pivot and adapt to operating in the virtual world. Atkinson says that leaders at all levels within the organization are making a point to reach out directly to individuals to ask how they are doing in these uncertain times, and to help ensure people understand that it is okay to take a break and have some downtime. The team has incorporated fun, light-hearted activities to keep people connected, such as hosting bingo games, virtual happy hours, a drive-by pizza party, and playing Family Feud.

Atkinson is keen on teaching the next generation about the benefits of technology. “We’re living in interesting times,” she says. “We need to listen more carefully in the virtual world, where we can’t always pick up on nuances like body language.”

Her advice to women on a career path in technology is to set priorities, balance personal and professional goals, and learn to say no to certain things. One of her own takeaways from the crisis is the need for a shift in mindset. For example, she questions whether people really need to be physically in the office: “We need to challenge our own measurements. With a greater focus on outcomes, we need to measure the work itself. It’s how you get it done that counts.”

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“Tłó±đ need to shift goods and make home deliveries is greater than ever before,” says Sandy Rapp, the newly appointed CIO of , the largest publicly traded full-service travel center company in the U.S. “Our job is to make sure truckers and all other drivers have everything they need when they stop for a break.”

Two Clicks Away

Technology is playing a key role in making life safer and easier for people on the road. They need to eat, sleep, refuel, and maintain their vehicles. TravelCenters of America makes it hassle-free by providing a range of services including convenience stores, restaurants, truck maintenance, and repair operations along the interstate highways crisscrossing the U.S. and Canada.

The Ohio-based company, set up to be the first 24/7 truck stop chain in the world, also offers its patrons a that saves time and money, and a variety of payment options. Truckers can or showers, order meals, and request maintenance or repair services without getting out of their vehicle – all accomplished with a few clicks on a smartphone.

“Being on the road can be a lonely, tiresome occupation,” Rapp says. “Many of our customers have regular routes, and they build relationships with our staff along the way. We’re their home away from home. They can grab and go or sit down in a full-service restaurant that gives them a feeling of familiarity and comfort.”

As the CIO, Rapp was brought on board to intended to improve operational efficiency and profitability.

Peace-Keeping Mission

Rapp, who has 30 years of experience in software development, consumer products, IT consulting, financial, and manufacturing industries, joined the company in the midst of the pandemic. She has not yet met any of her staff in person.

With an undergraduate degree in liberal arts and an MBA in International Business, Rapp did not set out on a career in technology.

“IT found me,” she explains with a chuckle. “I worked in project management for a time, and often found myself liaising between IT and the business. That experience taught me the need for a well-rounded approach to position the positive impact of IT on the business.”

For Rapp, everything begins with defining purpose. Part of her success stems from her ability to speak in laymen’s terms about technology and to educate IT on business needs. The other part is about finding common ground, an ability that evolved from her undergraduate dream to work for the United Nations to bring peace to warring nations. She believes that using emotional information to guide thinking and behavior and handling interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically go a long way toward getting people to accept change.

Changing the Game

Now, Rapp is playing a vital role in the company’s move to turn its business around. With a new CEO, new CFO, new CIO, and new strategy, for significant organizational change.

Key initiatives include centralized procurement to drive economies of scale in pricing, inform negotiations with vendors, and save on purchasing and operations. Others are focused on cost savings and increased revenues through merchandising in the convenience stores, over-the-road delivery, truck-repair training, and staffing and IT systems.

Rapp explains that these changes require new processes and a new role for IT.

“In the past IT was an order taker. Now, we’re showing the business the art of the possible,” she says. “We can help address societal challenges like the ones posed by the pandemic. We can provide insights, we can speed up the decision making process. We can look for synergies that will lead to better pricing policies or asset management.”

None of this would be possible without a central platform. Rapp views the company’s strategic work with 51·çÁ÷as a key differentiator in maintaining a competitive edge. An end-to-end enterprise solution from 51·çÁ÷allows TravelCenters of America to be sustainable, smart, and innovative for the long term.

Success requires a continuous juggling act between cost savings and innovation. Best practices and cloud capabilities from 51·çÁ÷are important elements when it comes to simplifying TravelCenters of America’s portfolio, responding quickly to business needs, and accelerating change.

Words of Advice

Like many of her peers in the IT world, Rapp believes technology is one of the biggest drivers of change in our lifetime. But it is not enough to develop all the hard skills. She believes the ability to communicate, collaborate, and manage projects skillfully are key success factors for navigating the whirlwind of changes in an increasingly complex world. She encourages young people to be fearless and raise their hands for assignments no one else may want. Influencing others, negotiating win/win outcomes, and opening one’s mind to diverse viewpoints are all essential abilities.

This mindset enables Rapp and the team at TravelCenters of America to make sure business remains open at all times, and that travelers find comfort and during and after the pandemic. After all, they are catering to a nation of travelers and a slew of professional drivers day and night, week after week, mile after mile – TravelCenters of America is in it for the long haul!

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Top image via TravelCenters of America

“Our main challenge now is to protect the privacy and personal time of our people,” says , partner and chief financial officer at Kearney. Today, she is more mindful of how personal circumstances can impact people’s work: Some are lonely, others must deal with kids or live and work in small spaces, and some are coping well.

Strength in Sensitivity

The mental health of employees has become a top priority for Laurens, who is directly responsible for employee welfare. The team decided early on to conduct a survey with clients and employees to get a better understanding of how to apply some of the new habits and learnings to a future landscape.

For example, Laurens believes women in particular may benefit from working out of a home office. “In the consulting world, it’s been a challenge to keep women on board for logistical reasons, like frequent travel and extended stays at client sites,” she explains. “Greater flexibility will allow us to have a more diverse workforce. Less travel will also make it easier to meet sustainability goals.”

On the downside, Laurens has noticed a certain loss of creativity and spontaneity in the virtual environment. It takes more effort to engage with people and connect with other parties outside of the team. Lack of contact also generates a silo mentality, making it even more difficult to break down barriers.

Relocating to Chicago from her native home in France to take on the CFO job helped shape her empathy for employees experiencing change. For Laurens, it was a pivotal moment.

“This was my chance to make my voice heard and move up the ladder,” she recalls, adding that when she moved to the U.S., she lost her entire personal network. “At first, I thought I had to do everything by myself and not show any weakness as a woman. Now I know that asking for help is actually a sign of strength.”

In fact, she asked for an executive coach to help her better juggle the demands of a new job in a new country. She views her coach as a sparring partner for brainstorming. In hindsight, she wishes she had asked for one when she was 30. Asking for help may sound simple, but it’s not—you have to overcome your own insecurities before you can benefit from the give-and-take.

Advice on Going Digital

Kearney started off as a firm of accountants and management engineers in 1926. The common thread since then has been to maintain essential rightness in all interactions with clients and staff.

“Our purpose is to provide our clients with the right balance of expertise and empathy,” she says. “Consulting has always been about idea creation and strategic thinking. Our clients are asking for consulting that will help them transform in a durable manner. They need consultants who can co-create a product with the company’s own teams, who can then onboard it and run with the recommendations.”

In Laurens’ view, the COVID-19 crisis has prompted many companies to accelerate their digital transformations. Now they need to ensure that the transformation sticks. It’s important to build upon the learnings from the crisis. One thing she has noted is that going digital not only allows different ways of working, it also allows analytics to drive the right kind of decision-making, for example, in supply chain management.

“At Kearney, digital is under everything. It’s an enabler of transformation,” she says, adding that digital is embedded in how the company manages projects. “We apply agile methodology in our projects, just like technology companies do. Basically, we pilot small, learn, adjust, and then pilot bigger and launch.”

Addressing the Heart and Mind

As for changing the world of finance and administration, Laurens has learned that people can understand a change intellectually but reject it emotionally.

“You need to speak to the heart and the brain. People want to know what’s in it for them,” she asserts. “You can’t convince a businessperson by talking about tools. You need to address the user experience or the benefits to the business.”

To drive true change, she believes it’s essential to speak the language of your audience. People only care about what is important to them. One skill to develop is the ability to think and act in the interests of the business. Another is to use communication tools that consultants and clients will understand. For example, use visuals instead of spreadsheets to underscore key messages in a report.

When it came to Kearney’s own system overhaul last year, Laurens and her team spent four months developing a business plan to implement 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA and lay out the vision of the finance team they wanted to become. The idea, however, was sparked during a quick chat at the company’s espresso bar with the human resources IT lead, who told Laurens that such an implementation might not cost as much as she thought it would. That got her thinking.

Laurens also believes that people skills are as important as hard skills. “This may sound a bit fluffy coming from someone in finance, but even if you have all the hard facts, you still won’t convince someone to change if their heart is not in it,” says the Kearney CFO, who was selected ˛ú˛âĚýWorking Mother magazine in 2015.

She was also in the large-size private company category by the Chicago chapter of Financial Executives International (FEI) last year, mentioning the implementation in her acceptance speech.

In her eyes, the diversity and the company’s global nature set it apart. With diversity comes empathy, and at Kearney, empathy is half of what is needed for lasting transformation. Expertise is the practical aspect. Together they create change that sticks.

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“Student success is our No. 1 priority,” says Sharon Minnich, vice chancellor for Administration and Finance at Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.

Redesigning for the Future

and enroll more than 100,000 degree-seeking students and others in career-development programs, making it a vital contributor to Pennsylvania’s economy. Collectively, the universities in the system offer .

Minnich was brought on board early last year to help advance the State System’s redesign efforts. In her previous role serving the Governor’s Office of Administration, she implemented a shared service model uniting human resources (HR) and IT to achieve millions in savings for the state, giving her the technical expertise and people skills necessary for the significant task ahead.

The State System’s mission is to provide affordable high-quality public higher education. At a time when universities are financially challenged, the State System must find creative ways to keep institutions vibrant and centered on student success. By using a system approach, the state can expand opportunities for students, position institutions for growth, and meet regional economic as well as workforce needs.

“Tłó±đ pandemic brought a number of challenges to the forefront, and we need to address them,” Minnich says, explaining that there are many uncertainties about the return to campus. “Tłó±đ crisis changed every aspect of our business.”

Higher education is not typically a rapidly changing industry; the culture is deliberative. Before the pandemic, substantive operational changes could take years to implement, but it soon became clear that it was both necessary and possible to adapt quickly.

“We needed to create new models to help the students. We had to give them greater flexibility to help meet their financial and family needs,” says Minnich, who believes these adaptations reflect the models of the future. “We’re planning for students who may not be able to attend the traditional day-to-day class structures. We must adapt to what students want, and they want to have choices.”

One of the greatest challenges facing Minnich and the State System is maintaining the health and mental wellness of students and staff in a remote world. Maintaining engagement is difficult when people are off campus and juggling daily needs. On top of that, the universities had to quickly find ways to carry on business as usual, such as conducting virtual tours of the campus in order to continue attracting new students.

Passion for Change

As a first-generation college student, Minnich knows the effort it takes to get a good education and the long-term benefits it can offer. As one of the key leaders of the State System’s redesign efforts, she understands better than anyone the need to connect IT, HR, and the business side of any organization. And as someone who has led large-scale transformational 51·çÁ÷implementations, she also knows all the pieces need to fit together.

“What I love about transforming an organization is seeing how everything comes together to take it to a better place,” she says. In her current role, for example, her goal is to make finance more transparent and change the way people look at the budget. Working with a team from diverse areas, the aim is to create new, sustainable processes that provide a collective view of each university’s financial position so that everyone understands the whole picture.

This requires a change in culture, many conversations, and a lot of interaction. It is imperative to create a safe environment where everyone feels they are being heard, issues are addressed collaboratively, and decisions are communicated clearly.

To illustrate the need for changes in processes, Minnich cites a prior state government procure-to-pay example. What used to take up to 45 days now takes eight. “Tłó±đ process was paper-based,” she explains. “It could be that some relevant documents were on somebody’s desk for days. At first people were afraid of automation, but now it’s second nature.”

Many people forced to work in virtual mode during the crisis were quick to adapt and realize the benefits. Because processes were no longer paper based, they quickly realized that they did not need to come into the office.

Minnich sees technology as a business enabler with a role that is twofold. On one hand, it enables data transparency, which in turn enables better decision-making. Now everyone from the Board of Governors to the leaders of the individual organizations have access to a combination of student and financial data. On the other hand, technology fosters efficiency. Money saved on administrative tasks and through strategic decision-making can be spent on student services and academic activities.

Words of Advice

During her career, Minnich has had some “Aha!” moments that helped her put things into perspective. She recalls a day in 2009 when the state Tax Amnesty Project was launched. Every delinquent taxpayer was sent a letter inviting them to apply for the program. But with no soft launch to ease into the program, the team of 45 state tax agents was swamped with more than 300,000 calls on the first day.

The only way to weather that storm was to take things one day at a time. “You focus on fixing the situation, and moving forward,” she advises.

Her other secret to success is not to apportion blame when things veer off track. It is okay to make mistakes as long as you learn from them, she says. No one is perfect, and sometimes people make the wrong decisions. “You need to focus on the end goal,” Minnich says.

And finally, in these times of uncertainty – just like any other time – she believes it is best to find what you love to do and to seek opportunities that allow you to grow and learn.

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Okusa believes that self-care is something deeply personal. Anyone can elevate their own wellness using food as medicine. Growing up, whenever Okusa felt unwell, instead of giving her pills, her very traditional Japanese mother would give her weird, black, oozy drinks that were broths of mushrooms and herbs. This created a lifelong belief in the power of natural healing.

Okusa’s goal is to digitize the traditional apothecary encounter where you would walk in, show your tongue and eyes, share your health concerns, and get a customized blend of herbs to drink over a period of one or two months.

“This method is considered a long-term solution and not a quick fix,” she explained in a with the Goldman Sachs Alumni Network, describing the purpose of her business.  “That is exactly what we’re doing, but at scale and using data to create forward-looking formulas that are personalized for every customer.”

She believes that in today’s fast-paced environment, people have become accustomed to popping into a large pharmacy or drugstore to pick up pills for their ailments. There is no personal interaction while browsing the aisles looking at hundreds of products that might, or might not, address one’s problem, so there is no guarantee someone will get what they truly need.

“Most people are reluctant to talk about intimate physical details such as sexual issues or constipation, but the state of your health depends on many factors, including age, gender, hormones, and diet,” Okusa explains. “At Apothékary, we give people the opportunity to create a detailed profile online, so that we can customize the right blend for each individual using one of our 25 templates.”

Kick-Starting Growth

Okusa, who lives in Vancouver, started her professional journey at global investment bank Goldman Sachs after undergraduate school. Companies were just starting to rebuild after the financial crisis of 2008 and different companies were at different stages when it came to new growth. She worked with primarily distressed companies and investments, including bus companies and book publishers, gaining experience and helping enterprises understand the plethora of new regulations emerging as a result of the crash.

But she soon realized that her purpose in life lay in an entirely different direction. Okusa decided to leave the financial world and traveled to Mozambique, where she worked on local projects supporting banana farmers with a non-profit called Technoserve. Next, she traveled to Bali and stayed for three months to complete her Ayurveda yoga teaching certification. These experiences helped shape her deep passion for sustainable agriculture, a balanced body and mind, and taking responsibility for personal wellness.

“Tłó±đ expression self-care has completely lost its meaning,” Okusa says. “People associate it with going to the spa. But for us at ApothĂ©kary, it’s about maintaining mental, physical, and spiritual balance.”

Among the products Apothékary offers is , an anti-inflammatory skin care product that reduces redness and signs of aging while promoting gut health. Okusa is accustomed to skepticism when it comes to skincare products. Her approach is to let people find out for themselves if the products work. Before the pandemic, she and her team were opening pop-up shops to drive awareness. Now, they rely mostly on on the Apothékary website as evidence that customers are satisfied with the results.

The Apothékary team itself is a tight-knit group. Six corporate staff, 13 people in production, and a group of contracted researchers and developers create, source, produce, pack, and ship everything themselves. After sales volume spiked 10,000 percent and the company’s fiscal year 2020 budget was achieved in just one month during the worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company is planning a global expansion in the fourth quarter of this year.

Lessons Learned

The crisis confirmed many things that Okusa already knew. For example, people usually step up in a crisis, but leaders must remain attentive to prevent burn out.

“Most of us at Apothékary have a 360-degree work-life experience because we love what we do and do what we love,” says Okusa. “It’s natural for us to blend work and leisure, but we must still create boundaries between home and work.”

The pandemic also highlighted the need to make fast decisions. Technology played a key part, for example, in fine-tuning the fulfillment strategy. Okusa did not envision changes happening so quickly. For her, the crisis was an opportunity to accelerate the decision-making process. “We had to react quickly on all fronts, from recruiting and hiring to expanding production and managing business channels,” she explains.

Words of Advice

As an experienced entrepreneur, she believes success depends on surrounding yourself with good people. Like with the body, it is also important not to feed the mind with junk. Her advice to young people: Be mindful of what you read and watch on the Internet. Don’t give in to negative feelings; instead, take things one day at a time and don’t take criticism personally. Okusa’s values are rooted in Buddhist traditions. Death is a real thing, and she is convinced that if you come to peace with that thought, then you free your mind to focus on living in a positive way.

“Tłó±đ landscape of the future will just get more complicated,” says the entrepreneur, who also founded a women-owned juice drink company called , which delivers fresh, locally sourced juice in glass bottles directly to the customer’s doorstep. So it makes sense to take care of yourself and your environment on your personal and professional journey.

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Quoting former Intel CEO Andy Grove, Deskus reminds us that a corporation is a living organism; it must continue to shed its skin. Methods, focus, and values all have to change. The sum total of those changes is transformation.

Spanning Business and Technical Realms

The movement toward becoming digital was catalyzed by the convergence of new technology, like the cloud, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI). Together, these technologies have the power to transform a company and unlock significant value, but it requires the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business.

Intel’s new portfolio requires an entirely new set of organizational capabilities, which are being systematically built and scaled over time. Some, such as scalable infrastructure, tools, and improved data architectures, will be foundational. Others, like becoming a magnet for the best talent in data science, will differentiate Intel in the marketplace.

Task at Hand

Reflecting on the role of CIO, Deskus sees a clear evolution from her early years, when technology was used to drive productivity and reliability as well as reduce costs, to the present, where technology and data are disrupting businesses and industries to fuel growth and differentiation.

“Today, CIOs can be influential change agents driving innovation, differentiated customer experience, and new ways to work,” says the industry veteran, who has been CIO for global companies like HP, Timex, and Ingersoll Rand over her 33-year career.

Deskus has had opportunities for other roles but always gravitated to being a CIO. “I’ve been uncomfortable at times and have had to take risks to drive change, but I love the constant learning, solving complex problems, and the opportunities to drive change.”

Deskus sees the emergence of data as a transformational force in an era where an explosion of devices permeates all our interactions. Stores, hospitals, manufacturing plants, and even automobiles are becoming factories of data, making it the driver of a massive change. That data must be moved, stored, and processed faster and more securely than ever before. Intel is playing a pivotal role in unleashing the potential of data to unlock value for people, business, and society on a global scale.

Avoiding Data Chaos

If an organization wants to transform, its data architecture, operating model, compliance, and security must be integrated. An ideal way to bring them all together is a sound enterprise data strategy that articulates a vision for being data-centric, promotes a data-oriented culture, and creates “data as a service” to let employees easily access the quality data they need. Without such a strategy, Deskus believes IT organizations will be continually organizing “data chaos.”

“Due to the pandemic, technology has changed from a convenience to a necessity,” Deskus says. With that comes a greater demand for consumers to have personalized digital experiences that require smart, connected devices and advanced technologies, like AI and machine learning.

Intel, which views 51·çÁ÷as a strategic partner that brings capabilities for standardizing and integration so the company can make better and faster decisions, is leveraging AI to rigorously analyze and validate vast amounts of data.

Efficient data analysis provides insights that aid human judgment and help identify new markets, products, and product features. This process is critical to predicting and understanding rapidly changing market conditions as well as the new types of consumer dynamics and behaviors that are essential in today’s digital economy. For example, AI allows Intel to optimize pricing, demand, and supply for increased forecasting accuracy and greater revenue. This in turn leads to better customer experiences.

Moving Forward

The pandemic has not impacted Intel’s transformational journey, and the company remains committed to its plans. Top priorities during the pandemic have been to keep employees safe and run operations with minimal disruption to customers. When the pandemic hit, Intel suddenly had more than 100,000 employees working remotely, along with its contingent workers and ecosystem partners.

Intel’s IT team had to push beyond its comfort zone to respond rapidly, even if there were concerns and imperfect solutions, and work in phases toward more permanent solutions. Deskus’ main concern was to match the pandemic’s pace and focus on transformation at the same time.

Although Deskus had previously dealt with crises, such as being in the aerospace industry during 9/11 and in the oil and gas industry during one of the worst downturns, the global magnitude and speed of COVID-19 presented different challenges.

“One of the biggest challenges for anyone moving into a new role during the pandemic is that you don’t get to connect in person to build trust and confidence,” she says, adding that while a crisis can bring people together, it can also speed up the learning curve. “Even during the crisis, you have to move forward, so you make adjustments and adapt to new ways.”

Adapting is where Deskus excels. Often still finding herself the only woman in the room, she is committed to advancing women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and role modeling her journey to the C-suite.

Words of Advice

The uphill battle women face is real, and even more difficult for women of color, Deskus’ advice is to set yourself apart to be recognized. “You have to be willing to take risks, such as speaking up for yourself in a meeting or pushing for a promotion. You have to step out of your comfort zone,” she says, stressing that it is important to have the people around you — mentors, managers, or others you see as leaders — invest in your journey to help you achieve your goals.

“I’m very passionate about connecting young girls to STEM careers,” says the IT expert, who has been mentoring girls and women for years. “If we don’t generate interest and belief with girls that they can be as good in math and science as boys between grades four to six, we lose them. I encourage everyone to get involved in their communities to help connect girls with technology, math, and science.”

Deskus would like to see the next generation get excited about technology. “It’s one of the biggest drivers of change in our lifetime. The impact that technology has made in advancing the way we live, work, and play has been phenomenal and will continue.”

To Deskus, a career in technology can mean limitless potential to drive unprecedented change in every industry. She also points out that it is highly transferrable from different industries and businesses. Among the important skills to develop are being a lifelong learner and change agent, as well as a great communicator and collaborator, and having a deep understanding of your business.

Deskus concludes that technology innovations are constant and moving in faster cycles, so you have to take every opportunity to stay current and relevant. Not only do you have to learn and embrace new ways, but you often must be the driver of change — as she has been doing for more than three decades.

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The fact that they all also refer to the “safety of our homes” is not lost on , chief marketing officer (CMO) at SiriusXM, the Boosted by , the largest ad-supported audio entertainment streaming service in the U.S. now reaches more than 100 million people with its audio products.

“B±đ´Ú´Ç°ů±đ COVID-19, our two brands were distinctly different,” Karkos says, explaining that SiriusXM originally was meant to be heard in the car as people spent their time driving around, busy with daily activities during the week. West Coast-based Pandora offers listeners a more laid-back experience across a variety of devices throughout the workday grind and into the fun of the weekend.

“People are home all the time now, they’re not driving around,” says Karkos. “Social distancing and home offices have blurred the lines between our weekday and weekend lives. We need to rethink what these new listening experiences mean for our brands.”

Reality Check

Karkos had been in her role for only six months when the crisis struck. For her, that COVID-19 commercial compilation hits the nail on the head. Coming on board to lead two diverse, geographically dispersed teams requires strong leadership in the best of times, but the challenge now is to find totally fresh ways of doing things in order to eliminate platitudes and maintain brand relevance.

“We decided we need to stay true to our purpose,” she explains. “Our job is not to protect people; we’re an entertainment company.”

That’s not to say that there is no great purpose in entertainment. Especially in difficult times, people need music, sports, and distractions as much as they need news, information, and access to the opinions of leaders and experts.

For Karkos and her team, the question is how to balance these needs, how to “own the home” in this new stay-safe scenario. Among the questions they are asking themselves: What is the role of home entertainment? What do people want to listen to? Do they want to lean in and listen, or lean out to escape? And of course, will people keep paying for long-term subscriptions?

Interpreting the Facts

The answers to these questions are found in the data.

As one of the largest music streaming businesses in the U.S., Pandora has a massive pool of listening data. Individual music tastes vary immensely. The richness of data at its disposal enables the company to optimize and curate the listening experience.

“We use analytics to understand the trends,” explains Karkos, who believes her mission is to help drive business growth. “It’s not up to the brand to tell people what to listen to; we listen to what they’re telling us through their preferences.”

As SiriusXM CMO, Karkos is keenly aware that the brand is also the mirror of the company culture. The purpose of the business stems from the needs of the people they serve. She believes that today, marketers are also technologists and they need to understand both human resources and IT if they are to really understand the culture behind the brand.

Leading Through Engagement at SiriusXM

Employee engagement begins with understanding the emotional responses of people who are there to achieve the company’s objectives. Karkos realized early on that people were anxious about the acquisition and how the two very diverse brands would be affected.

“We’re still in the early days of bringing the cultures together,” she shares. “That’s an important consideration as you evaluate bringing the brands themselves together.”

During her 27-year career, coaching, mentoring and meeting people face to face to build relationship trust were key elements of her leadership style. COVID-19 has changed all that.

“I try to be very mindful of how different employees are dealing with the virtual environment,” she says. “I don’t have children of my own, for example, but I certainly can empathize with someone who is juggling work and home schooling.”

But there is more to it than that. After weeks of giving colleagues a glimpse into their private worlds, people are weary of screens.

“We have to balance our humanity and business,” says the executive, who has tried a variety of ways to counter the stress of virtual work. “We have video-free days, and I’ve suggested make-up free days — but people didn’t seem to go for that one!”

In any case, leading a team of 200 during the coronavirus crisis requires plenty of creativity, empathy, and people skills.

Words of Advice

Karkos did not reach her position in life and at SiriusXM without learning some lessons, which she is happy to share. The most important one is not to get in the way of your own success. Starting out at a small agency in Maine, she recalls a day when she had to give a presentation to the company president. When she finished, he just nodded and said okay; he did not say “well done” or “good job.”

“It was a bit of a slap in the face to realize that what meant so much to me was just another meeting for him,” Karkos says. “After some reflection, I realized that you never know the context the other person is coming from. I had no idea what was going on in his world, I was so wrapped up in my own.”

Her advice is to define your own expectations up front: Do you need a quick win, a fast in and out, recognition, or a strategic decision? Then get over yourself and get the job done!

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