The 10 Most Influential Women In Tech, 2022.pdf

VOL 11 I ISSUE 05 I 2022
Joanne Thurlow,
Digital Transforma on
Senior Advisor/Partner
Strategy & Transforma on
Consul ng GmbH

ince the dawn of time, when we Homo sapiens established
Sour civilizations, women have worked harder than men to
demonstrate that they are equal in every way, bringing a kind
of transformation to every sector they enter. Women have broken
down gender stereotypes in every profession and sphere of human
affairs, but technology is the sector where they are making their
mark.
Industry comes most easily to them, as they have to struggle to
survive even before they are born amidst the adverse sociocultural
mind blocks and gender-based roadblocks of interpersonal chains.
On the similar lines, in previously male-dominated sectors of
technology, a large number of women are pursuing professional
careers.’
According to a recent IDC report, the percentage of women in
senior-level leadership positions in the IT sector increased from
21% to 24% between 2018 and 2019. Furthermore, despite
enormous challenges, hardships, opposition, obstacles, adversities,
and adversaries, those reaching executive-level positions such as
(CIO, CXO, CTO, CISO, VP, CEO, managerial and directorial levels,
etc.) are increasing in these new normal times of rapid
digitalization and technological advancement. The more admirable
aspect is that organizations in which women hold half (50%) or
more of senior leadership positions enjoy higher job satisfaction,
retention, and equal pay rates.
EDITOR’S NOTE
We Take Our Stake in
Tech; let's Celebrate!

CIOLOOK has created this special edition to commemorate the positive change brought about
by the 10 Most Inﬂuential Women in Tech, 2022, and we have highlighted their enchanting sagas
for your inspiration.
We hope you will join us in celebrating these leaders' achievements, accomplishments, and
success stories by reading and enjoying the following pages!
Abhishek Joshi
Abhishek Joshi

Kenneth Kee
Unleashing AI in Daily
Implementations
24
Janice Rae
Driving Digital Change
32
28
16 20
Industry Intel
Rethinking the Products of
Today for a Tommarrow
46
Marissa Reese
Wood
Building Roadmaps to a
Secure Future
36
Sonny Patel
Delivering Cutting-Edge
Conversational AI Solutions
40

CONTENT
Senior Editor Alan Swann
Executive Editors Abhishek Joshi
DESIGN
Visualizer Dave Bates
Art & Design Director Revati Badkas
Associate Designer Sandeep Tikode
SALES
Vice President Operations Kshitij S.
Senior Sales Manager Prathamesh Tate
Sales Executives Rohit, John
TECHNICAL
Technical Head Amar Sawant
Technical Consultant Victor Collins
November, 2022
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Brief
Company Name
Somya Malviya
Data Analyst
Sonny Patel
SVP of Product &
Engineering,
Conversational
Intelligence
Joanne Thurlow
Senior Advisor/Partner
GroupM is the world’s leading media investment company
responsible for more than $50B in annual media investment.
LivePerson is a leading Conversational AI company creating
digital experiences that are Curiously Human.
Transformation Strategy helps clients to navigate challenging
times by creating and implementing strategies that are built on
a foundation of sustainable innovation.
Strategy & Transformation
Consulting
strategy-transformation.com
Marissa “Reese” Wood
Executive
Director for JPMorgan
J.P. Morgan is a leader in financial services, offering solutions
to clients in more than 100 countries with one of the most
comprehensive global product platforms available.
JPMorgan
jpmorganchase.com
LivePerson
liveperson.com
Harita Gupta
Head of Asia Pacific
at Sutherland
Sutherland is an experience-led digital transformation
company. Its mission is to deliver exceptionally engineered
experiences for customers and employees today that continue
to delight tomorrow.
Sutherland
sutherlandglobal.com
GroupM
groupm.com
Jennifer Lauretta
CTO
360 HealthTech offers health care technological related
consultation to healthcare organizations, institutions and works
on bringing innovative technology.
360 HealthTech Ptv. Ltd.
360healthtech.com
Nick Atkinson
CTO
Visa is a trusted world leader in digital payment technology
that connects and enables individuals, businesses, and
economies to thrive.
Visa
visa.com
Featured Person
Janice Rae
CEO and Founder
TechTalent Academy partners with businesses to identify talent
solutions that directly impact their future growth and success.
TechTalent Academy
techtalent.academy

I focus on working holistically
and consultatively across an
organization to implement a
‘Collaboration &
Integration’ framework that
provides a technical and
functional foundation
for more collaborative and
integrative working across
the business.

Joanne Thurlow
Digital Transformation
SeniorAdvisor/Partner
Strategy & Transformation
Consulting GmbH

oday, women are successfully marking their
Tprominence in any sector, especially in the ever-
evolving industries like Tech; however, there
remains an eminent gap between women in C-level
positions in the same sector. Not being able to take up
space for a very long time in such industries has led to a
deficit in the availability of women with experience who
provide not only diversity but also bring different
perspectives to the table.
Accounting to this and marking a significant presence in
the industry of Tech is Joanne Thurlow, Digital Trans-
formation Senior Advisor/Partner at Strategy &
Transformation Consulting GmbH. Joanne possesses
years of extensive knowledge of today's IT industry and
innovations enabling digital transformation on a global
level. Her primary focus is on digital business transfor-
mation through tech-enabled sustainable solutions.
To know more about her accomplishments and advoca-
cies as a resilient woman in the industry of Tech,
CIOLook had an interview with Joanne.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Briefly describe your professional journey up until
now.
With 25+ years in the tech industry, I have witnessed
the transformation from the Dot.Com of the 90s to
today’s IoT and Industry 4.0. My professional journey
has transformed in parallel, enabling me to break
through many perceived ‘glass ceilings’ enroute.
Originating from Canada, I live and work internation-
ally for/ organizations of all sizes and types on a global
level. I have been in multiple roles, including sales,
support, training, Head of IT, Consultant, Director of
Product & Project management, and ultimately Global
Head of IT within Siemens Energy Solutions – a 1B€
company with a footprint in 40+ countries.
I recently transitioned to a Partner & Senior Advisor
role with Strategy & Transformation Consulting. This
German-based company helps corporations to

successfully exploit the business potential of
digitization and to actively manage the necessary
changes. I bring my expertise in digital and
sustainability transformations to large multinational
organizations. In parallel, I consult with SMEs facing
similar challenges but limited resources.
I volunteer at local and global community levels as a
Digital Isle of Man (DIOM) Non-Executive Board
Director, LOVE TECH (IOM) charity promoting STEM
to young people and as a global speaker on Women in
Tech, STEM, or tech enablers for digital & sustainability
transformations.
What challenges did you face along the way?
Being a woman in tech continues to be a challenge,
although there has been progressing in reducing the
various biases. I am often one of the few women at the
table. This continues today mostly due to the low
numbers of experienced women at senior and director
levels. I often need to establish myself as more than a
‘tick in the diversity box’.
Working with global teams brings unique dynamics of
differing cultural behaviors, nationalities as well as
management approaches. Navigating this requires
knowledge and sensitivity.
My biggest challenge came in 2006. I made a significant
transformation in my life to realize my goal of working
abroad by moving to the UK. At this time, I had no visa,
job, or professional network. (If it did not work, it was a
one-way ticket back to Canada.) This move required
stepping back in my career to a mid-management level
as I established my professional network and reputa-
tion from scratch to move ahead.
I have since reached the Cx level of management,
secured my first Non-Executive Director role, been
recognized as one of the top 200 Strong Women in IT
(2021), and spoken globally on many relevant topics. I
have lived in the UK, Norway, Germany, and now on the
Isle of Man.
What significant impact have you brought to Transfor-
mations Management?
Transformation impact cuts across individuals, teams,
organizations, industries, and technology used today. I
focus on working holistically and consultatively across
an organization to implement a “Collaboration &
Integration” framework that provides a technical and
functional foundation for more collaborative and
integrative working across the business.
Transformation is challenging in many ways. An
estimated 80% of strategic initiatives fail because of
resistance to change from internal stakeholders.
Organizations will only be successful if they can inspire
their employees to take on the transformation journey
with enthusiasm.
I advocate ultimate success in transformation manage-
ment as empowering and enabling individual employ-
ees through an agile mindset with small teams, a
relatively flat organizational structure, ownership, and
decision-making driven by team leads. Whether an
employee has 3 or 30 years of experience, they bring
equal value.
This approach was realized in 2020. A pending IPO, a
corporate carve-out, physical separation of all IT
systems across 100+ countries, 5000+ applications,
80k employees within a 16-month time frame AND
Our Digital
Transformation Alliance
ensures we can advise
companies holistically
and comprehensively on
digital transformation
and provide flexibility in
expertise to meet each
client’s unique
scenario.

during COVID lockdown. My team (10 leads) had the
responsibility to realize this within the Solutions
business unit and in correlation with central IT teams
driving the carve out across the entire organization.
Speed was of the essence. The scale of effort and
challenge was epic—this agile way of working enabled
success despite the unprecedented level of transforma-
tion in an unprecedented situation.
Tell us about Strategy & Transformation Consulting
and its foundation pillar.
At Strategy & Transformation Consulting, our position-
ing statement is: “Mastering the Digital Age!” We are
an integrated group of companies and offer - with a
total of over 500 employees at worldwide locations -
our customers the conception and implementation of
holistic digitization solutions.
We provide strategic advice on digitization from real
thought leaders with profound methodological knowl-
edge, extensive transformation experience from
successful IT system integrators with many years of
industry experience, a high level of technological
understanding, as well as deep expertise in generating
value from data - the new gold of the 21st century.
Together with our IT systems house Peterson, our
project and transformation expert Tiba, and our
business analytics and artiﬁcial intelligence (AI) think to
tank YaiGlobal; we currently have more than 500
employees. Our headquarters are in Munich. In
addition, we are represented with the group at many
other locations in ASG, Europe, and beyond.
How does Strategy & Transformation Consulting
promote workforce ﬂexibility, and what is your role in
it?
Digital Transformation is crucial to the future of any
organization. The new digital economy goes far beyond
the pure consideration of technology issues and will
trigger a new wave of transformations in the way
We provide strategic
advice on digitization from
real thought leaders with
profoun methodological
knowledge, extensive
transformation experience
from successful
IT system integrators, a
high level of technological
understanding, as well
as deep expertise in
generating value
from data.

leading companies do their business. Due to the large
thematic scope and many starting points, a successful
digital transformation is ultimately only possible with
the cooperation of various experts.
We tackle digitization projects in an integrated manner
with business and IT experts; thus, our consulting
teams are also interdisciplinary. This ensures flexibility
in the workplace.
What is your take on technology's importance, and
how are you leveraging it?
Technology today integrates into almost every part of
our lives. The demand for digitalized services and
enhanced content will continue to increase exponen-
tially. Understanding the technology available today
and in the future is critical for organizations and tech
experts. However, the scope & speed of tech advance-
ments demands a more holistic ecosystem of skills and
partners.
Our Digital Transformation Alliance (DiTrAll) ensures
we can advise companies holistically and comprehen-
sively on digital transformation and provide flexibility
in expertise to meet each client’s unique scenario. We
can confidently leverage the combined knowledge of
the latest technological developments along with their
business impact.
What will be the next significant change in Transfor-
mations Management, and how are you preparing for
it?
Global climate change is impacting the world at an
alarming rate. The need for sustainable solutions has
never been more urgent. Within the next 3-5 years,
organizations will be required to provide reporting on
their ESG targets (Environment, Social & Governance).
At the very core of this is data. Reliable, accessible,
trustworthy data. And that means the technology to
capture, measure, analysis, and report on.
It is here that digital transformation meets climate
change - with sustainable technology solutions at the
center of an organization. I strongly advocate that
today’s IT professionals have the responsibility to work
in tandem with management teams to ensure the IT
environment reflects both digital transformation AND
sustainability technology solutions. Yet, many business
leaders and fewer IT professionals understand the
urgency of this.
With a background in technology as well as the energy
industry, I am actively promoting sustainability through
technology by consulting with clients, knowledge
transfer, and educational speaking events.
What are your goals in the upcoming future?
I am very excited about what the upcoming future will
hold. As a specialist consultant in the digital and
sustainability transformation area, I anticipate this to
be a high-growth topic in the next 5 years. Against this
backdrop, I am striving to be a globally recognized
expert and public speaker in digital and sustainability
transformation by bringing my expertise to a wider
audience.
The current goals are the ‘go live on my personal
website JoThurlow.com in November. Near-term plans
include publishing my first book early next year on
Team Management and expanding my portfolio career
with expanded director roles. The overall target is to be
recognized as a global expert, speaker, and leader in
transformation topics.
What advice would you like to give the next genera-
tion of aspiring business leaders?
Transformation and change are inevitable and will be
constant in your lives. Develop flexibility and confi-
dence to embrace change readily. Thus, becoming a
lifelong learner. Recognize the impact you can have
through sustainable actions to truly impact the world.

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23

Harita Gupta
Head of Asia Paciﬁc
Sutherland
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A
I is a concept that enticed everyone with its
stance as soon as the idea stemmed into the
minds of humankind. It initiated with myths,
developed into rumors, embarked as stories of hope,
and currently, it is at such a stage that it has
proliferated in our lives.
It has entwined in our daily lives to such an extent that
we do not even recognize we are utilizing AI to
conclude our everyday tasks. While AI has been around
for decades, its mainstream adaptation has just been
prospering. Thanks to the forerunners of the industry
that put tireless efforts and work into enhancing the
concept.
Harita Gupta, the Head of Asia Pacific at Sutherland, is
a pioneer in the industry—who provided the push to the
concept in its early stages. Harita has been diligently
involved in the IT industry since her early days. Through
her curiosity and long years of experience, she has
brought notable significance to the AI industry.
In an exclusive interview with CIOLook, Harita let us
know her journey and the reformations she made with
her expertise in the industry.
Brief our audience about your journey as a business
leader to your current position at Sutherland. What
challenges have you had to overcome to reach where
you are today?
My journey in the world of IT started way back in 1984
– when I Post Graduated from IIT Delhi and joined a
Computer Software and Training company called NIIT.
It was the very early days of the industry in India, and
the whole mission was the adoption of IT for Business
and Govt. And all this needed a trained workforce.
I spent my early years in Software development and
Training. Then moved to set up the first Centre of
Excellence for Web technologies – focusing on IBM
WebSphere, Microsoft .Net framework, Ariba and
other platforms. This Technology, Learning and Process
Engineering foundation held me in good stead as I
moved to Microsoft India and then managed Premier
Services for Greater China and India.
Again, the learning was immense, and it was a time
when Microsoft pivoted to focus on Cloud and the
Azure stack with Satya Nadella leading the company. I
was fortunate to be part of the journey.
And then, in 2017 I joined Sutherland – leading the
Global Enterprise business and now as Head of the Asia
Pacific business. It's been a fantastic journey. If I reflect
back on the challenges – I would say that there was an
unconscious bias in the early days – that a woman could
not succeed in the world of Technology and IT. And
multiple times, I dealt with this – but with the
Our AI-Powered Analy cs
Approach leverages organiza ons y
enabling faster-contextualized
decision-making to improve
business outcomes.
25

as a team, delivering exceptional results to our clients
and their customers. We are committed to the
professional development of each person as they
progress through their career at Sutherland. An
employee is empowered to foster innovation and take
personal risks to improve the organization's service
offerings.
Integrity, Leadership, People, Clients, and
Entrepreneurial Spirit are the 5 core values of
Sutherland. Our culture is built around our core values,
and every employee imbibes the values and lives by
them, reinforcing the commitment towards the
organization. Our values provide us with guidelines to
help us achieve meaningful results. Our corporate
values are signposts to mark the path and outline the
behaviors we are expected to demonstrate in our
dealings with each other, our clients, and the
communities in which we operate; leadership
development and succession plans are tightly
integrated with the culture of our winning behaviors –
100% Accountability, 100% commitment, complete
trust and integrity, debate drives transparency and
excellence and 100% focus on results.
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in
almost every sector. How are you leveraging
technological advancements to make your solutions
resourceful?
At Sutherland, we combine our technical capabilities
with deep industry knowledge along with platforms
such as AI-enabled Chatbots, Self-help/Heal tools, IoT
based monitoring and management tools. These are all
contained in a global delivery model to ensure the
customer/user experience is the best it can possibly be
in today's ever-changing IT landscape. Sutherland
leverages AI-enabled tools and technologies to
transform the workplace and customer experience. Our
AI-Powered Analytics Approach leverages
organizations by enabling faster-contextualized
decision-making to improve business outcomes. Our
omnichannel offer helps to deliver a consistent and
frictionless experience for customers across the full
range of interaction channels, including contact center,
web, mobile, social, kiosks, and stores.
We do this by enabling a single unified view of
customers using cloud-based data warehousing
confidence and support of my leaders in the companies
I worked for its been a great journey.
Tell us something more about Sutherland and its
mission and vision.
Sutherland is a unique digital transformation company.
We are the engine behind the experience giants of
today—the companies best known for the
transformative experiences we deliver. We’ve learned
much of what we know about great experiences by
working with the best.
Like us, the clients we work with care intensely about
the human experiences they provide for customers. We
work with businesses across various industries,
including Banking & Financial Services, Insurance,
Healthcare, Retail, Telecommunications, Media &
Entertainment, Technology, Travel & Hospitality and
Logistics. Our mission is to deliver exceptionally
engineered experiences for customers and employees
today that continue to delight tomorrow.
For over 35 years, we have cared for our customers’
customers, delivering measurable results and
accelerating growth. Our proprietary, AI-based
products and platforms are built using robust IP and
automation.
Enlighten us on how you have impacted the AI
industry through your expertise in the market.
Human-Computer interaction has always been at the
forefront of Technology. Once you simplify this – then
using AI to do a particular task / use Analytics for
insights and prediction based on Data collected/build
tools that are business ready – is really the key.
Implementing AI solutions is hard unless one focuses on
process and process mapping. So, my advice would be –
to focus on the process and build AI solutions around
the use cases.
Describe in detail the values and the work culture that
drives Sutherland.
At Sutherland, we respect our employees and value
their contributions. We are dedicated to creating a
work environment that is professionally challenging
and personally rewarding. We believe in teamwork and,
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technology, market-leading API management and
integration platforms, and Sutherland Connect, our
omnichannel communication platform. We help our
customers progress on their transformation journey by
partnering with businesses to help design, deploy,
integrate, and evolve market-leading technologies.
What change would you like to bring to the AI
industry if given a chance?
I would like to ensure that whenever we implement
something new – which will impact a significant
customer set or population/people – we do a rigorous
impact analysis and security analysis before going live.
And there should be a body like ISO or SEI – which
enables the process to deliver fit for purpose AI with
the appropriate audit framework in place. Otherwise,
we will be unleashing something that may have a
potential negative impact over the coming years.
What, according to you, could be the next significant
change in the AI sector? How is your company
preparing to be a part of that change?
I believe that companies are leveraging the
advancements and are becoming very conscious about
ESG and the implementation of AI. This is resulting in
exponential growth in the aspects of social and
corporate governance as it enables them to become
prominent organizations in the niche.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run,
and what are your future goals for Sutherland?
I envision myself continuing to work with People and
Customers and making them successful. I also want to
be at the forefront of innovation and aspire to get
involved with the startup ecosystem – to learn and
adopt the new Digital Tech.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs
who aspire to venture into the AI sector?
My first advice would be to learn and read about the
opportunities and invest your time in understanding
how to use AI in daily life and at work. And connect the
dots!

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31

Rae
Driving Digital Change
ascinated with finding innovative ways of solving
Fold problems, Janice Rae taught herself Morse
code at eight, later discovering her love for
computers and gaming, naturally progressing into
learning how to code.
At college, while learning code, she came across the
sheer inequality and lack of diversity within tech as she
was only the female in the class, making her feel
awkward and uncomfortable.
Decades later, when Janice pieced together her
experiences, she noticed an opportunity to implement
change with real purpose. Addressing the lack of
diversity that has plagued the tech industry for too
long, being at the sharp end of it, she founded
TechTalent Academy to help support
underrepresented people into great jobs in the tech
industry.
TechTalent Academy strives to change the academy
model by offering free opportunities for
underrepresented people to upskill while providing the
best training levels for tech teams equipped as AWS
and Microsoft partners.
As the CEO & Founder, Janice is pleased to disrupt the
tech industry, shedding light on the lack of diversity and
bringing an end to unconscious bias. The company
supports businesses to create diverse, highly skilled
tech teams through leading-edge tech training and
employment services that directly meet the needs of
tech organisations.
The Early Days
Janice started as a consultant, which was a significant
achievement in itself. Gradually, she began to look at
how she could quantify her knowledge through
accomplishments.
Janice developed a love of learning and realised that it
was transformational. Learning is just like gaining a
superpower.
Taking this newfound love of learning, she fused it with tech
and diversity (her other two passions) and launched
TechTalent Academy to share the in-demand tech skills that
employers are looking for and create career pathways in
tech for underrepresented groups.
She reminisces: I’m a career changer too – I realised I really
wanted to gravitate towards the things that made me
happy which were tech and diversity. I understand why
people want to work in tech, and if you haven’t had the
opportunity to learn or sometimes haven’t had the support
to open a role in tech, it can lead to a situation where you
don’t feel fulfilled or happy in your role. advising on
diversity and inclusion.
Connecting Employers with Tech Talent
TechTalent Academy connects tech employers with
aspiring tech talent. It gives individuals and diverse
We work with tech
organizations to create
a bespoke talent
solution based on their
needs.
““
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Janice Rae,
CEO, and Founder
TechTalent
Academy
33

groups the skills, confidence, and opportunities they
need to access a career in tech through its industry-
leading tech courses backed by its employability
services.
The company then connects these talented and
certified people with tech employers looking to tackle
the lack of diversity within the industry. Its vision is for
a fair and fit-for-purpose tech industry where everyone
with talent can thrive.
TechTalent is widening and diversifying the tech talent
pool, upskilling and training individuals across
communities from all backgrounds to place them in
tech jobs. It removes unconscious bias from its
selection process, ensuring it only attracts the best and
most diverse tech talent.
Janice mentions, "We've seen first-hand how this benefits
tech employers by following our learners' journey after
graduating from TechTalent Academy and successfully
gaining employment. Tracking their impact and keeping in
touch to measure their progression. We work with
incredible employers who create the roles and support our
students to flourish in their new careers.”
TechTalent's vision is for a tech industry where
everyone with talent can thrive, closing tech skills gaps,
opening up tech opportunities, and bringing more
diversity to the tech industry with each learner who
passes through its Academy doors. Janice asserts,
"These opportunities shouldn't be limited to whether you
went to university or not, where you live, your gender, your
ethnicity, or any other cultural biases we've been ingrained
with. If someone shows promise and talent, they should
have access to the skills and opportunities they need to
succeed.”
Steering the Wheel
Janice believes that the most challenging part is the
hiring process. Hiring great tech talent is difficult;
costly recruitment processes, time-consuming
administration of hiring, not enough talent with the
right tech skills, candidates accepting multiple
offers - the list goes on.
This is where TechTalent comes in. The Attract > Train >
Deploy Model connects organisations with experienced
tech specialists through a highly scalable and
innovative hiring solution for organisations looking to
access experienced tech talent without traditional
overheads. It handles the entire administrative process
of recruiting and training individuals, helping reduce
the risks and costs faced by organisations that want to
grow and improve their technical capabilities rapidly.
What Comes Next?
Janice says, "I'll be in tech forever or as long as they have
me! I have huge plans for TechTalent – we are driven,
ambitious, and keen to grow globally. We're looking to grow
tenfold over the next five years, seeing us in a global space.
That is super exciting for us and a journey we're enjoying.”
Bequeathing Brilliance
Janice advises budding entrepreneurs aspiring to
venture into the tech sector to learn as much as
possible about business beforehand; business coaches
are great for learning the fundamentals. "Look for
someone who has been on the same path as you. Having a
positive mindset is critical; it's not just hard work; there can
be months where you'll be tested beyond what you think is
possible, and being positive will get you through.”
"The key is really to be persistent, consistent, and agile. If
you map out your journey, it will change, giving you a
roadmap of where you're going. That will then help you to
achieve your goals. It will keep you accountable. Having a
business coach will keep you accountable also - all these
things are super important. Being agile is non-negotiable –
you need to keep ahead of what's happening and be ready
to navigate or change course at the drop of a hat (the
pandemic was one of those events!). Positively embracing
these areas makes it second nature and not a burden at all,"
Janice concludes.
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Marissa “Reese” Wood,
Executive Director
JPMorgan
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“Reese” Wood
Building Roadmaps to a Secure Future
s you are browsing the net and looking random
Athings up, do you worry about all the website
cookies that are following you, peering over
your shoulder, and making notes on your weird
behavior online? Nobody likes being tracked, especially
when it can lead to loss of data, money, or even identity.
In 2019, Mozilla Firefox implemented changes in their
browsing protocol which made blocking third-party
cookies and crypto mining a default – and working on
this project with her product team was Marissa “Reese”
Wood.
Reese Wood is a cybersecurity professional with over
thirty years of experience in high-tech industries. She
has just as many years of experience working with
charitable organizations, which she loves just as much
as her 'real job'. Currently, Reese is the Executive
Director for JPMorgan within the Digital Platform
Team. She has a history of managing teams in large
organizations such as JPMorgan or Mozilla Firefox, and
she has been a leader in multiple successful start-ups.
Reese's LinkedIn bio states, “I'm a visionary executive
who delivers the strategy and road maps that align
enterprise goals, investments, and capabilities with
emerging markets and customer needs for high-tech
companies. With the proven ability to develop and
communicate clear direction and goals across functions. I
partner with engineering, business, and external
stakeholders to sustain focus and achieve milestones.” She
laughed when we read that, saying, “I just wanted an
incredibly professional way to say I'm someone who has
worked their fingers to the bone.”
Reese has successfully run her own company providing
cybersecurity consulting and managing entire program
implementations of many large cross-organizational
systems. Organizations and boards that Reese has
served on from a charity standpoint include IDEAS
Worldwide, In the Looking Glass, Colorado Edge
Soccer, Coaches Aid/ASBN, the Denver Rescue Mission,
and others.
From Small Town to Fortune 500
Reese's journey from a small town in the mountains of
Colorado to becoming a leader in one of the largest
financial companies in the world has been an
interesting one. She served clients in a variety of
industries including technology, communications,
financial services, utility, retail, healthcare, insurance,
mining, and cybersecurity; and worked successfully
with some of the best-known Fortune 500 including
Hewlett Packard, Seagate, IBM, Dell, Maxtor, Sony,
Oracle, Newmont Mining, etc.
I'm a visionary executive who
delivers the strategy and
roadmaps that align enterprise
goals, investments, and
capabilities with emerging
markets and customer needs for
high-tech companies.
37

While Reese was president of Tabernus, it was named
as one of Deloitte and Touche's top 50 Fastest growing
technology companies in Colorado. The company was
later acquired for more than 15x valuation. Her
leadership efforts in assisting the launch of one of
Colorado's most successful IPOs have also left a
significant impact on the technology market in Denver.
When we asked about the biggest challenges she faced
on the way, she graciously states, “When I started in the
high-tech industry, it was 80% men and only 20% women. I
was fortunate to be surrounded by many exceptional people
who were incredibly supportive and helped me steer
through adversity. However, that didn't prevent me from
experiencing all of the stereotypical challenges of being a
young woman in a largely male-dominated industry in the
mid-90s. Things such as sexual harassment, misogyny,
greed, the 'no girls allowed' clubs, etc. were all part of the
culture that has since changed a great deal. Through it all, I
have learned that if you can lean on the true leaders around
you, persevere, hold true to your values, work hard, and
focus on always learning the latest / greatest thing, change
and evolution come. In this case, we've seen such fantastic
growth and shifts in the high-tech field – I love it. I wouldn't
change a thing and am so grateful for the friends that I've
made throughout my career journey.”
Project: Safe and Secure
The culture at JPMorgan is one that supports
innovation and encourages leaders to think out of the
box. The company is also committed to diversity,
environmental sustainability, and community
development. This fosters an environment of
innovation and giving back among the teams of
JPMorgan.
At JPMorgan, Reese and her team have contributed to
major efforts such as Project Bloom which is “a digital
network for JPMorgan clients that will match start-ups
with investors, helping them in fundraising rounds.” She
and her team have also been part of projects that
heavily leverage cyber security advancements, such as
Fusion.
Some of the most interesting and impactful work that
Reese has done was with the Firefox web browser. She
shares, “Working with my product team, we wanted to
really make privacy and security a felt experience. Fast
forward and you'll see a protections dashboard that evolved
from a privacy report that my team and I worked on.
Another incredibly interesting project that my team was
part of was Firefox's initiative to Block Third-Party Tracking
Cookies and Cryptomining by Default.”
Thoughts of a Cyber Expert
We asked Reese, “What is the one change she wishes she
could bring to the industry?” to which, she responded
saying, “If I could change anything it would be to mitigate
the risks associated with remote working. More than ever,
individuals are using their personal devices. It is critical for
the cyber industry to focus on the difficulties of large,
distributed teams. This includes methods for improving
systems, streamlining security controls, ensuring
monitoring without compromising privacy, and (most
importantly) creating a seamless experience for the end
user.”
Talking about future risks in cybersecurity - one of the
most significant areas of focus, according to Reese - is
the Post Quantum Cryptography era. She states, “There
is an opportunity for massive exploitation of data with the
evolution of supercomputers. We are seeing incredible
investments in this area to get ahead of the problem, and I
think that spending is well justified. JPMorgan is getting
ahead of this by building cutting-edge technology and using
a Quantum Key Distribution Network to secure data and
applications.”
Changing the Fray of High-tech
Reese sees herself finishing out her career in high tech.
She loves the challenges and unforeseen things that
come up and make her job interesting. It keeps her
excited about logging in each day. In the longer term,
she looks forward to contributing further to complex
technology problems that haven't yet been seen, seeing
her twins graduate from college, and a home filled with
grandkids.
Her advice for budding cybersecurity entrepreneurs is
– “Dream big! My career has been amazing largely because
of the great people, rapid evolutions, and world-changing
inventions that have come out of high tech. I look forward
to seeing what the next generation brings to the table.”
| November 2022 |
www.ciolook.com
38

I envision myself
delivering AI solutions
that, ﬁrst and foremost,
everyone ﬁnds useful.
Because ultimately, I
think the role of AI is to
free up our time so that
we can use it to do
things we enjoy and are
more meaningful, like
spending time with
friends and family.
| November 2022 |
www.ciolook.com
40

Sonny Patel
Delivering Cutting-Edge Conversational AI Solutions
We don’t ask for directions anymore or memorize the
route to get anywhere. If stranded in an unknown place
without access to the internet, we would inevitably get
lost for hours – leading us to wonder – how did people
do this before? The emergence of technologies like
Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and
others have brought advancements that make life
unfathomable without them. Such are the AI solutions
that Sonny Patel, SVP of Product & Engineering,
Conversational Intelligence at LivePerson wants to
deliver to people.
Sonny is an established tech executive who believes in
building products that have a far-reaching impact. She
loves working with teams that consistently raise the bar
with their results, and she leads a 200+ global, cross-
functional team consisting of developers, product
managers, TPMs, QA & UI/UX professionals across ten
different time zones who do just that Currently, she is
.
pushing the boundaries of human and digital
conversations at LivePerson, with the aim of creating
the world’s best AI-powered conversational platform
that helps brands initiate and maintain warm,
empathetic, and long-lasting relationships with their
customers.
In an exclusive interview with CIOLook, Sonny Patel shared
her STEM journey, her mission to create AI solutions that
change the world, and what she wishes to change about the
IT field.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Brief our audience about your journey as a business
leader up to your current position at LivePerson.
What challenges have you had to overcome to reach
where you are today?
I have been fascinated with computers ever since I got
one as a present in the 90s, and this sparked the
curiosity that led me to pursue both an undergraduate
and a graduate degree in Computer Science and
ultimately turn it into a lifelong career. Over the past
two decades, I have had the opportunity to learn and
grow at some of the world’s best technology
companies: Dell, Microsoft, Amazon and now
LivePerson. It has been an amazing privilege to be
trained by the very best.
During the first few years of my career, I decided that I
wanted more out of it. I wanted to learn more about
building and leading world-class teams, which is the
single-most important skill to harness technology and
build life-changing solutions. About a decade ago, I got
a business degree from UC Berkeley. Since then, I’ve
taken on increasing responsibilities and delivered
consistently against my objectives. As a result, I got the
opportunity to lead teams of increasing size even as I
switched companies.
I started with leading a team of four about 12 years ago,
and now I lead a global, cross-functional organization of
over 200 engineers that helped build LivePerson’s core
platform offering, called the Conversational Cloud. I
have always liked challenging myself, and I feel that
being strategic and resilient helps me deliver results
regardless of the number of distractions that we all face
on a daily basis.
I also thrive when I work with team members with
extraordinary work ethic and high integrity because
such people raise the bar for everyone around them.
For that reason, I am particular about the talent that I
surround myself with.
41

I’m proud of my career journey so far, and I want to
acknowledge that I wouldn’t be where I am today if it
weren’t for mentors who were willing to take a bet on
me when the opportunities arose.
Tell us more about your company and its mission and
vision.
For more than 25+ years, LivePerson has been at the
forefront of technology advancements that help
humans and computers communicate with each other.
Rooted in human emotion and powerful AI
understanding, our sights are set on pushing the
boundaries of digital conversations. This vision is built
on a foundation of passionate, driven employees who
embody our mission to create Curiously Human™
digital experiences.
We are honored to be recognized among our peers as
an industry leader. Enterprise brands across the globe
use LivePerson’s AI-powered customer engagement
solutions to have conversations with millions of
consumers as personally as they would with a single
consumer. With our Conversational Cloud, brands can:
• Engage with consumers across the
communication channels they already enjoy
• Gain real-time insight into 100% of conversations
they have with consumers across digital channels
• Automate conversations with Conversational AI,
built on one of the most impressive data sets of
consumer conversations
• Empower agents with AI to drive cost savings and
customer satisfaction
• Connect our capabilities into their backend
systems to bring their full power to their
customers and agents
How are you leveraging technological advancements to
make your solutions even more impactful?
We are a global leader in Conversational AI, the tech
that lets AI communicate with humans through natural-
feeling conversations. Our AI is powered by over 20
years of conversation data we’ve accumulated, helping
thousands of clients, including the world’s largest
brands, a message with consumers at scale. We now
power a billion conversational interactions a month,
giving us a unique dataset for building AI.
Unlike more generalist AIs that aren’t specialized to
handle any one thing, we are laser focused on AI for
customer engagement. We work with the biggest
brands in the world to build the AI and automations
that let them talk to their millions of consumers at
scale.
How have your company’s solutions impacted your
customer brands?
Brands use our Conversational Cloud platform and
Conversational AI to have two-way conversations with
customers based on what they are doing or asking in
real time. This reduces labor-intensive customer care
and personalizes sales interactions. With LivePerson,
brands have reduced customer care costs by up to 50%
and increased annual sales by hundreds of millions of
dollars. We unlock these beneﬁts because our modern
approach to customer engagement runs on AI but feels
Curiously Human™.
When you get into the numbers, LivePerson’s customer
brands have seen up to:
• 2x increases in employee efﬁciency
• 10x conversions vs. traditional digital experiences
• 20% boosts in customer satisfaction
• 90% automation containment rates
• 50% decreases in agent attrition rates
I’m also proud to share that Fast Company recently
named LivePerson the #1 Most Innovative AI Company
in the World. And Aragon Research recently published
a report ranking vendors in the Conversational AI
space, naming LivePerson a Leader!
Describe in detail the values and the work culture that
drives your organization.
At the heart of everything we do, from the way we
connect brands to their customers to how we partner
within our teams, four values guide our growth as
individuals and as a global organization:
1. Dream big: We are agents of change. We solve
problems creatively, all while introducing,
welcoming, and delivering new ideas. We start
with intent, welcome diverse perspectives, and
look to the data to improve outcomes.
| November 2022 |
www.ciolook.com
42

2. Help Others: We advocate for others and
proactively engage to make a difference in the
world. We are team players who approach
every single task and conversation with a
collaborative spirit.
3. Pursue Expertise: We strive to improve—hone
our expertise. We believe that there’s always
room to grow and that the pathway to deeper
understanding comes out of vulnerability.
4. Own it: We are accountable. Period. We see
our work through, prioritize appropriately, act
resiliently, and even say “No” when we need to.
As individuals, we’re empowered to take
charge and become leaders at every stage.
I lean on these values on a daily basis to guide the
decisions I make and to guide how I lead my teams to
achieve our objectives. In particular, I’m a big believer of
taking complete ownership when taking on a
responsibility without worrying about which job duties
fall within my direct responsibilities. This is where
building strong partnerships and trust plays a big role in
being successful.
What change would you like to bring to the IT industry
if given a chance?
I truly wish we had more women leaders in the IT
industry. I know I share the desire for more diversity in
the tech sectors with many of my peers, and it is a
difﬁcult challenge to solve that needs to begin at a high
school level and encourage more girls to take an
interest in STEM.
The other aspect is retaining women in the workforce
so that they don’t leave the industry after spending
years being trained. At every single company I have
worked at, it has been heartening to see that there are
groups of individuals who are passionate about solving
this problem. I have actively participated as much as I
can in recruiting and mentoring more women.
I wish I could wave a magic wand to make the gender
disparity disappear, but realistically it will likely take us
years to ensure we have more women entering and
staying in the workforce. That is why it’s important to
keep shining a light on this problem and working on it
continuously.

competition in this space is intense. I envision myself
delivering AI solutions that, first and foremost,
everyone finds useful. I want to spend my time building
solutions that make people say, “what did we do before
we had this?” Because ultimately, I think the role of AI is
to free up our time so that we can use it to do things we
enjoy and are more meaningful, like spending time with
friends and family.
At LivePerson, we are currently building solutions
focused on customer engagement. However, in the
future, the same technology that we are building could
be expanded to solve problems in other sectors. That’s
very exciting.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs
who aspire to venture into the IT sector?
My advice for entrepreneurs or anyone setting off on a
new career journey is to find your personal sources of
motivation. What is the thing that makes you so happy
that it keeps you going when you inevitably have some
hard days? This may take a few years and might involve
experimenting with distinct roles, technology areas and
companies. But the time spent learning about your own
interests and motivations is well worth the investment.
First, what motivates each of us will be vastly different,
so there isn’t a standard answer that fits us all. Second,
if the motivation is purely extrinsic, it fades really fast,
especially on days that are challenging. It took a good
chunk of a decade for me to realize what I like the best
about my job and what keeps me going. I make sure that
no matter what new role I take, I spend more time doing
things that fulfill me.
What, according to you, could be the next notable
change in the AI sector? How is your company
preparing to be a part of that change?
We have a real opportunity to utilize AI to overcome
some of the limitations in human decision-making that
have proven to be extremely difficult to eradicate - such
as subconscious bias.
We know that subconscious bias impacts many
decisions that we as humans make on a daily basis and
this, in turn, has broad implications on our society.
These could be decisions about school admissions,
hiring for jobs or credit card applications. Imagine if AI
could help us make all of these decisions - we’d then
have the opportunity to build a truly bias-free world
and give everyone an equal chance at achieving success.
This idea is extraordinarily enticing, and this is an
excellent opportunity to showcase the potential AI can
have on our lives. It does, however, require that the
underlying data that we use to power the AI needs to
be as free from bias as possible in order for us to build
and use data models to power better decision-making.
For this reason, I’m very proud that LivePerson is a
founding member of EqualAI, a nonprofit organization
focused on reducing unconscious bias in the
development and use of artificial intelligence. Together
with leaders and experts across business, technology,
and government, we are developing standards and
tools, as well as identifying regulatory and legislative
solutions, to increase awareness and reduce bias.
Where do you envision yourself to be eventually, and
what are your future goals for LivePerson?
I believe we are still scratching the surface when it
comes to how we utilize AI in our daily lives. The
applications are really endless, and because of that, the
| November 2022 |
www.ciolook.com
44

Celia Pool
Co-founder
DAME
| November 2022 |
www.ciolook.com
46

T
he world is finally waking up to
the single-use plastic crisis.
Over the last 10 years we have
created more plastic than the whole of
the last century combined. Half of the
plastic we create is used just once, and
then thrown away, taking 500 years to
decompose. By 2050, the oceans are
predicted to contain more plastic than
fish. The plastic crisis is now too big for
recycling alone to fix.
Global governments, businesses and
consumers need to collaborate quickly
to make impactful change before it’s
too late. However, change is difficult
when environmentally damaging
habits have become so entrenched and
often appear more financially
appealing.
Technology is helping in this fight.
Reusable water bottles are now
widespread, and apps that help you
locate drinking water refill stations are
now emerging. At the same time,
reusable coffee cup technology is
addressing the half a trillion
disposable coffee cups discarded
every year. Such items are gaining
increasing social currency with
consumers, who are keen to display
them as markers of their
environmental conscience. This
revolution is encouraging, but what
about the products that people aren’t
so willing to talk about?
100 billion menstrual products are
thrown away globally every year.
These are single-use, mostly made of
plastic and cannot be recycled. You can
choose not to have a coffee, you
cannot choose not to have a period.
Reusable options (e.g. menstrual cups,
cloth pads) have been on the market
for decades, yet the adoption rate has
been slow. The primary barrier to
entry is the fear of habit change.
So how do we bring about a
revolution? The answer is keep it
simple. And take time to consider
consumer psychology. As humans, we
abhor change. We are creatures drawn
towards the comfort of the known. By
keeping habit change to a minimum,
consumers are much more likely to
adopt a new idea.
This was our philosophy at DAME
when we created the world’s first
reusable tampon applicator. We
ensured the design was familiar and
intuitive, so women did not have to
compromise on their convenient,
established rituals. We knew that
hygiene could be a significant barrier
to entry, so we worked with leading
micro-biologists and medical
engineers and used the best medical
grade, anti-microbial materials on the
market. As a result, the consumer only
must rinse the applicator in cold water
after use to keep it clean. Simple steps,
minimal habit change.
However, it is challenging to tackle an
issue that has such little awareness.
Menstruation has historically been
shrouded in shame, fear and
discretion. It is not a topic openly
talked about. This is a problem with
feminine care as a whole: it is
frequently dismissed and the women
trying to address it are critically
underfunded. In 2017 female founders
got 2% of the $85 billion VC
investment pot. About 8% of partners
at the top British VC firms are women.
According to Harvard Business
Review, stereotypes about female
entrepreneurs persist: women are
overly cautious, shy away from
growth, have insufficient resources
and consequently their ventures
underperform. Yet there is no
performance data to support these
stereotypes.
How are products used by women
supposed to change in line with human
and environmental needs, when they
aren’t given appropriate recognition or
have women involved in all stages of
the process? Women need to be given
more of a voice if we are to create
meaningful change. The world of AI is
already highlighting the need to
diverse away from male, white,
Western coders if we are to avoid
unconscious bias in the robots of
tomorrow. Amazon had to abandon an
AI recruitment tool that was
discriminating against women, instead
favoring prospects who mirrored
Amazon’s existing male engineer
workforce. At DAME women have
been involved in every stage of the
journey, not as a token gesture but as
an absolute necessity.
However, our overarching business
strategy goes beyond issues of
inclusivity to incorporate a wider
mission. DAME was founded on the
belief that business can be used as a
force for good. We use this core value
to guide every decision we make in the
business, bringing great clarity to our
route forward. By communicating our
genuine and authentic commitment to
this mission, we hope that our
message will quickly be picked up by
those eager to join a movement for
change. To date, we have seen this
happen not only with our consumers
and the press, but with employees.
People are increasingly drawn to
companies doing good. 75% of
millennials would take a pay cut to
work at a socially responsible
company.
All this strengthens our resolve at
DAME to continue to tackle critical
problems that are not openly
acknowledged, that are significantly
underfunded, and that have
historically been controlled by giant
monopolies. Today we are focusing on
menstrual products, but our vision is
to revolutionize the entire bathroom.
These are big mountains, but having
strong guiding principles makes the
navigation much easier.
-Words by Celia Pool
Co-founder of DAME
For more information visit
wearedame.co
Industry Intel
47

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