Graham, Inc. was founded in 1984 as a woman-owned company by the former owner, Ruth Graham, to provide organizations with the qualified office professionals and Sign Language Interpreters they need. When Nina Martin joined the company in 2012, she began as a Recruiter using her previous experience as a corporate training instructor who taught downsized AT&T employees how to get a new jobs. What she found at Graham was a small business with a big heart. Graham has always believed in growing their people to maximize their potential. Nina quickly worked to serve customers from two angles – requesters who needed professionals and jobseekers who needed good work.

Alongside the dedicated team at Graham, Nina quickly became an expert at fulfilling recruitment, Sign Language, and staffing needs. Using her in-depth knowledge of career transition training to help improve job seeker resumes, coach workers for interviews, and successfully place people in jobs, Nina was promoted to Regional Manager, then Executive Vice President of Operations, and eventually CEO. Six years later, in 2018, when Nina became the majority owner of the company alongside the CFO co-owner, she retook the helm as a woman CEO, leading Graham back to its roots as a hard-working woman-owned small business.

Nina’s story represents the epitome of “promotion from within,” which is a testament to the former owners’ belief in maximizing each person’s leadership potential. Now heading the entire company with an incredible team of workers, contractors, temporary employees, and Sign Language Interpreters, Nina believes Graham can continue its strong tradition of finding the right person for the right job every time. Whether the client is a local small business, a large government agency, or an international non-governmental organization, Graham recruits people with compassion and competence, removing the headache of hiring clients. Nina is committed to fostering exceptional customer experience so that every requester and every worker feels valued and cared for from the first interaction with Graham. Nina is deeply committed to reading and learning about good business leadership and business development from great thinkers. She feels honored every day to lead her team of Graham professionals. She supports her people with the ideology that “family always comes first” – the company’s programs and services can only be delivered successfully if the team is functioning well with the life encouragement and moral support they need outside the office.

Nina is a lifelong learner who constantly reads books by great thinkers and encourages her staff to read and apply their knowledge. She is a true believer in what John Maxwell described as seeing the “seed of success inside others” with a desire to help them reach their potential. For her team at Graham, Nina is humbled by the realization that the future of Graham is a future that her people share. “You and our company share a future!” is something Nina regularly states in All-Hands meetings and individual conversations. For this reason, Nina eagerly strives to work one-on-one with each of her team members to guide their career roadmap so that the shared future will be bright and beautiful.

One of its most significant achievements of Graham is that they were able to shift seamlessly when everything went virtual into having the workers telework remotely for clients. Nina and her team saw that many clients, particularly in the Sign Language interpreting industry, were willing to receive services such as Sign Language interpreting remotely via virtual platforms. For example, it used to be automatically expected that all Sign Language interpreting services for a meeting would take place in person at the site of the meeting. Now, Graham has adapted to allow virtual interpreting so that communication access can be provided online for Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing clients. So many times in the past, if an Interpreter were not available to come in person, the Deaf client would receive no service and be left without communication access.

The future of Graham is inspiring as they just started recruiting IT professionals for NASA, serving a small business partner of theirs that oversees a significant contract worth upwards of $400 million US dollars. On the Sign Language side, right at this moment, Graham is about to start serving a large international corporation with their Sign Language services. “We will be establishing a Coaching and Training program for new Sign Language Interpreters just starting out in the field of interpreting,” elucidates Nina. “For USAID, we are currently gathering resumes of displaced Ukrainians intending to place them in jobs that would help rebuild their country through USAID projects.” WL

Being hard-working, agile, and combining both big picture thinking and detail focus come naturally to Rowena Curlewis, CEO & co-founder of Denomination. The ability to learn quickly, the desire to keep learning, and the continuous sharing of this knowledge across the team ensure that everyone grows together in knowledge, expertise, and confidence. “The enjoyment of what I do: the passion and love for my business and my industry can be infectious, and it encourages positivity and commitment amongst my colleagues.”

Rowena has been an advocate for enhancing women in the professional world and advises them to be true to themselves. “Be heard. There is a general reluctance among women to not speak loudly or confidently enough, or to persuasively argue their point. It’s important that your colleagues, industry peers and clients see that you’re prepared to speak up for your ideas, and for others too.” With this attitude, Rowena has been leading the company to new heights.

Denomination was born in 2002 by co-founders Margaret Nolan and Rowena Curlewis. At the time, most design agencies specialized in a discipline, e.g., packaging, environmental, rather than an industry. “We were of the opinion that specializing in a single industry would fast-track the company’s reputation as an expert in that chosen field,” says Rowena. “Choosing an industry that matched both their experience, expertise and passion was easy: the drinks industry had played a big role in both of our careers to date, and this is where our love lay.”

Denomination’s global footprint has provided Rowena with amazing opportunities to absorb and understand the differences and similarities between cultures within the context of the drinks industry. “Whilst many of the fundamentals remain the same, the nuances of winemaking, viticultural methods and practices, consumer behaviour and retail networks become really clear when you’re able to observe them first-hand,” adds the steadfast leader. “We also (pre COVID) attend all of the major drinks trade shows globally including Prowein, VinExpo, Luxe Pack, London Wine Fair, and Women of the Vine & Spirit.” This ensures that Denomination is exposed to emerging trends and can identify those trends that their clients should capitalize on.

Caroline Thomson-Hill is managing director of Accolade Wines Europe, one of the major players in the European wine industry, and commissioned Denomination to redesign the UK’s #2 wine brand – Echo Falls. Launched in 2002, it had enjoyed significant success as an accessible, unpretentious gateway to wine for consumers who are new to the category. However, the brand had lost its way, and consumers had started to view the brand as cheap and lacking cohesion. It was also facing losses in distribution. Denomination’s redesign of Echo Falls had immediate results in terms of retailer uptake and sales growth.

Denomination believes that the development of a clear brand positioning is the first key step in ensuring that every touchpoint of a brand has a consistent tone of voice and personality. Once the positioning has been determined, creating the brand idea and its execution is far more targeted. “We can assess all creative, from packaging to point of sale to advertising, as to whether it aligns to the brand’s positioning: its essence, tone of voice and personality attributes,” says Rowena. “As we specialize in an industry (drinks), and not a design discipline, our creative team are able to turn their collective hands to many different disciplines.” However, the core of their business remains brand identity and packaging, and the other touchpoints branch from there are then always consistent and true to the core brand idea.

The company will also be expanding its sustainability consultancy side as they see the need for an independent agency to provide objective information to clients on all aspects of sustainable packaging, free from any industry-specific bias. “We will also be ‘walking the walk’ in terms of sustainable practices within our own business. We have committed to be Climate Neutral and will receive our certification in April 2021,” says Rowena. “I will continue lecturing through webinars and conferences on sustainability in drinks packaging in order to help shift practices and attitudes.”IE

Denomination

Management

Rowena Curlewis
CEO & co-founder

Description

At Denomination, we create original and successful drinks brands. Our designs are successful in the market: consumers love them. We offer the complete package: not just labels but brand and creative strategy, innovation, naming, copywriting, gifting, point of sale, brand movies, the list goes on. Whilst we work for many drinks brands, no two are the same. The breadth and diversity of our work is what sets us apart.

Mark Mader, President & CEO, Smartsheet Inc.

In the first article of this series, I posited that a meaningful strategy for accomplishing collaborative work in the cloud can only be achieved by thinking more holistically than has traditionally been the case. The reality is that work collaboration that drives competitive advantage is a multi-faceted endeavor. It requires the adoption of multiple best-of-breed solutions across five categories of collaboration – Create, Store & Sync, Communicate, Reference, and the rapidly emerging category of Manage. Investing in each creates a composite that unlocks unprecedented value – a “new possible” where previously unimaginable levels of collaboration, automation, and insight are achieved.

The New Possible Simply put, when a new possible becomes reality, it fundamentally redefines what can be achieved and who can achieve it. Remember when video content and editing was exclusively done by pros? Today, tens of millions of producers exist, using little more than their phones and readily available software. Game, changed.

I contend that we’re now at a point when that kind of breakthrough exists for collaborative work in a way that it never could in the pre-cloud world. This new possible for collaborative work has become the new reality, by graduating from merely producing, storing, and talking about work – to actively managing it. When management is coupled with conversation and content, it improves accountability, accuracy, and speed, and yields unprecedented visibility into the work as it’s being done, and the value that can be derived from it. Collaborative software that enables enterprise teams to manage their work in a self-directed, no-code manner is doing for business operations and productivity what the iPhone did for video production. Information workers rejoice!

2. AI technologies can improve the working lives of Southeast Asians.
AI is essential to most forms of automation, from machine learning to robotics. And automated equipment and computer systems can be used to perform many of the activities that human workers do today, including repetitive and physically stressful tasks. That would free humans to concentrate on work requiring creativity and thought.

A Framework for Success
Here are the five core categories that, when fully and effectively deployed, enable organizations to fully realize their potential to undertake collaborative work in the cloud. Note that the walls between each are permeable – although an application’s primary purpose exists in but one category, that does not preclude it from having relevance in one or more of the others.

Create: Applications that aid users in the creation of content or digital assets, often shared, sometimes co-authored. (Think: Google Docs, Office 365, Adobe Creative Cloud, and others)With more than a billion people having used such software to document, plan, or design, the capability to create digital content is the most immediately understood of the five categories. A core tenet of this category is the freedom it provides its users. These applications enable nearly limitless potential to arrange, format, capture, and produce. With that freedom, however, comes somewhat of a lawless territory. The absence of “collaboration guardrails” can lead to inconsistency in how information is stored, uncertainty by collaborators of how they should complete work, and a lack of business process enforcement — which places the burden of information and process management squarely on the shoulders of information owners and collaborators.

The cost, frustration, and latency that results from relying solely on human oversight has been well documented, and has reached new heights in an era where more “cooks in the kitchen” through sharing is creating more challenges than ever before.

Store & Sync:
Applications that enable users to organize, access, secure, and share files. (Think: Box, OneDrive, Dropbox, and others)Content, once created, needs to be stored and synchronized. Performance, regulation, and risk mitigation are all contributing factors to why the storage and management of digital assets is a category that is alive and well. The pre-cloud analog was your c:\drive or your corporate fileshare. The latter was collaborative in the sense that you could provide access to multiple people. The new generation platforms greatly improve the accessibility, permission management, and, in some cases, auditability of digital assets. These platforms aren’t known for their role in creating digital content, but rather housing it, securing it, and regulating its distribution.

Communicate:
Applications that facilitate text, voice, and video from one person or group to another, often feed-based, and searchable. (Think: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, Google Hangouts, and others)It’s remarkable to think how far things have come since the days when nearly all digital communications were conducted using email. In recent years, video conferencing, threaded messaging, group messaging, team spaces, and team channels, in which people share and comment on content, experiences and best practices, have leapt onto the scene and continue to produce new market entrants. Why is communication so attractive to innovators looking to develop software? Simple. Because communication is fundamental to information workers and the ways in which they want to collaborate with others. To some degree, one hundred percent of all people MUST communicate. Not optional. As such, the temptation of a large total addressable market remains alluring to technology innovators.

Communication solutions principally solve for conveying, and in many cases, storing information. They are optimized for notification and managing the continuous flow of sentiment, ideas, decisions, and targeted status. They, like solutions in the Create category, have virtually no guard rails for content quality or consistency, making it difficult to delineate valuable signal from a sea of noise when looking at communications en masse. As one tech CEO recently stated, communication solutions are like effective radios, but are not ideal at providing GPS information that can help you determine where you are or where you need to go next.

Reference:
Applications that create structured websites that people reference for knowledge, instruction, and navigation. (Think: SharePoint, Confluence, Google Sites, and others)While I include Reference as one of the five categories, it’s included mainly because of its close association with collaboration over the years. With respect to my categorization, I’d say it’s very much on the bubble because while the median enterprise employee might regularly access information from such a tool, far fewer contribute, and even fewer still (think less than 1%) actually create new assets on these platforms (without IT involvement) to accomplish the work for which they’re accountable.

Manage:Applications that enable visibility, action, status, and automation for collaborative projects or processes.For years, actually decades, people – and as a result, most businesses (including major enterprises) – have managed important work using office docs like Excel. And those same people have communicated about that work by sending it around, as attachments, in email. In recent years, the volume and velocity at which these office docs and their associated communications have been created has reached a dizzying – many would say unsustainable – pace.

For those of us with a front row seat to the new possible of collaborative work in the cloud, it is amazing to realize that – to a great extent – the old, manual, office doc way of organizing and getting work done has persisted, despite a recognition that the approach is fraught with risk in today’s high-volume, high-velocity world. Clearly, we believe there is a better way.

The Manage element of collaborating on work in the cloud is more than a forklift upgrade of something you used to do using pre-cloud software. It’s fundamentally new and it is transformative. In my next post, I will take a deeper look at the core tenets that bind this next-gen collaborative work management framework together – Track, Report, Scale – and will provide my thoughts on the fourth element – the holy grail long sought by information workers, IT leaders, and line-of-business owners alike – no-code Automation. In the meantime, I welcome your thoughts on this subject and encourage you to comment as appropriate.

Ina Behrendt is the kind of ‘brain’ that constantly scans, questions, and tries to evolve for the better, more productive and effective, more innovative, more human-centered, and most importantly, strives for solutions and ideas that are generated and implemented in an organic way that feels natural and right to the whole environment. “Taking challenges for solving problems, to create something for the better, is deep in my roots and part of my DNA. It’s just important that it comes out organically and evolves over time – prototype and beta-tested step by step to take everyone with you on this new journey.”

Armed with experience in the most influential digital creative agencies like R/GA, New York, inventors of Nike+ and Razorfish Australia, Ina is the Chief Innovation Officer for the INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CREATIVE INNOVATIONS – Miami Ad School Europe, where she is leading the school in regards of the digital transformation through innovative diploma programs, like Creative Technology and re-inventing the educational system for the digital age.

To help current and future business leaders regarding the rapid change, she is also driving the Professional Advanced Training, boot camps, and summits offering.

Miami Ad School Europe is one out of a global network of 15 schools around the world and has built its reputation over 25 years, as one of the world’s most awarded schools in higher education in the creative and marketing industry and is well known for producing outstanding creative graduates who are ready to work from the first day on the job. This school’s unique educational concept pairs realistic training – taught by well-known, practicing industry professionals – and hands-on, real-world experience. While still in school, Miami Ad School students may intern to choose dozens of the best global agencies and companies. This diverse approach has made their students the most awarded on the planet.

Miami Ad School is this place of infinite possibilities, collaboration, the discovery of challenge, and inspiration. The school is a refuge for the misfit, for the iconoclast, for the passion for the inventor and the visionary – a network of magic and writing, drawing, seeing, seeking and making and doing – a community that accelerates your dreams, where you become part of a global family, where everyone thinks like you and unlike you. This place is “The Place you go to, become who you are meant to be’.

Ina has also co-founded the‚ Women in Technology initiative in Sydney, Australia, a comprehensive and innovative program designed to address the gender imbalance in the STEM fields by nurturing, educating, and providing employment opportunities for women, together and initiated with her Managing Director, feminist, Doug Chapman. Their mission was to shake up the Tech World’ by addressing gender-imbalance in the digital- and tech industry. Women in Technology aimed to push for a culture change in this field through addressing digital industry gender issues with a major national program launch. The program’s key pillars are education and employment with young women in high school and tertiary institutions exposed to panels, experts, workshops, and mentors.

Women in Tech, partnered up, for example with General Assembly, hosting panel discussions, to explore, & how to shake up the tech world’. Internships and grad programs are a core part of the program, collaborating with other like-minded organizations and groups such as GirlsGeek, Miami Ad School, and the University of Sydney. It also encompasses the more experienced end of the market with senior and managing roles also targeted to benefit from the program. “It’s important to give women more confidence and opportunities in the industry, particularly when it comes to knowing how to advance their careers.”

Ina advises the budding entrepreneurs never to stop learning, observing, and collaborating. To develop new products and offers and business models, foster collaboration with partners and experts to gain for the better. It’s always a WE – never just a ME, so empower people and collaborate to help them achieve their best through your leadership and shine a light on them. “Always stay nimble and go with the time and technology progress,” she adds. “Try out and fail, as you’ll learn from it and become better. It helps to start small, prototype and beta-test – but think big!”IE

Leena Parwani, Managing Partner, Lets Plan Here, believes in solving problems with a clear intention to help people benefit from insurance. Educating the client and allowing them to decide for themselves is her working style and the most significant benefit of working with her. She likes her customers to make informed decisions and gain confidence in their financial matters. She is confident, strong and a supportive backbone of the team. Her innovative and curious qualities help her find the new gaps in the market and expand her business by filling those gaps.

According to Leena, each female business owner is a complete boss herself. “I commend them for how far they’ve come and support them no matter what. I believe that in today’s day and age, female business owners need to have an authoritative presence along with confidence to let the world know that they are here to stay,” she says. “Of course, everyone makes mistakes along the way but what makes you stronger is the persistence and willingness to learn and move ahead. I push them constantly to upgrade their skills to grow in life.”

Leena’s team is her replica in many ways that they know the standards of service to the clients as each one has learned directly from the Managing Partner. “They are my army who knows how to get things done in favor of client. I always believe that the more freedom and learning my team has access to, the better they perform. I wish that all of them become successful in all avenues of life, and hence, they are encouraged to do so.”

For Leena, there is no benchmark as such for finding success. “You feel that having money is success? Good for you! If you feel that having a family is success? Amazing! For me, having freedom, stability and opportunities to use my skills is all that I consider as success,” she explains. “Being financially free, being able to cultivate deep and meaningful relationships and being able to lead a life of joy, is my success. Milestones will keep coming, and I will keep celebrating them.” With this confidence, Leena has been surging ahead of the competition with her steadfast leadership.

Lets Plan Here Financial Services was instituted with a sole resolution—helping clients to create wealth with the help of effective and tailor-made financial planning services. The brains behind Lets Plan Here make sure that clients get goal-oriented financial recommendations to attain their dream promptly. The fusion of technology and high-end tools in their decision-making process is the cornerstone that makes them stand out in the market.

Lets Plan Here’s solution-based methodology helps clients plan their financial goals and choose the most lucrative investment avenue to park their hard-earned money. “We help our clients in the Middle East to prosper with a definite goal,” says Leena. “We at Lets Plan Here are specialists at what we offer to our valued clients. And we measure our success only with respect to our clients’ satisfaction. If their financial goals and aspirations are fulfilled, we take it as our achievement.”

The company’s proficiency in providing a comprehensive study on risk assessment and financial planning gives birth to effective investment options. It results in bringing out better financial plans and efficient wealth creation. Out of several special lines such as estate planning insurance, which focuses on addressing third generation syndrome, health insurance for Sr. Citizens, or corporate health insurance, Lets Plan Here has succeeded in educating people on how insurance benefits can save their lifetime wealth.

Leena and her team’s goal is to add value to one million lives in the next 5 years and grow their team organically. They are working on creating a product for retirement visa holders in terms of their health insurance, and cost-effective plans for that age group. “UAE is inviting new expats and offering ease for setting up businesses and making attractive offers to live here, while not to forget that this country is sharia complained. Therefore, right insurance becomes important to protect business and family and we constantly growing,” adds Leena. “We have expanded license in various countries, and we plan to expand here as well because of the new inflow of businesspeople.” WL

Jennifer Nardicchio joined Element in 2020 after many years as a marketing leader in the automotive industry. In her short time at Element so far she has transformed the structure and functionality of the marketing department, effectively centralizing the marketing team to allow all of Element’s business segments and their many new acquisitions access to the same marketing resources. Her efforts have helped to ensure that branding is consistent across the Americas and that Element’s many geographically separated laboratories have proper marketing support. Jennifer notes, “My goal is to establish a marketing center of excellence, that delivers great support and customer service to all our business units in the Americas”.

Element provides product and materials testing and certification services, along with advisory support, to a wide range of industries in verticals such as aerospace and defense, connected technologies, life sciences, transportation, industrials, and environmental monitoring. It tests everything from jet engines to electric car batteries, hearing aids to 5G devices, hand sanitizers, water, and food products at its hundreds of facilities throughout the world. Element collaborates with all parts of the supply chain to ensure that products fulfill manufacturer specifications and are fit for use in the marketplace. Additionally, Element offers a variety of services, ranging from consulting to custom testing, to assist manufacturers in understanding and meeting the regulatory standards that apply to their products.

“Just as in the real estate industry, ‘location’ is everything, at Element it’s all about the ‘people’. Our technicians are at the forefront of their respective scientific fields, and I want to empower the marketing team to be on the cutting edge of marketing industry trends.”

One of the most interesting factors of Element’s marketing is showcasing its specialists’ thought leadership and trustworthiness. Element employs the industry’s most experienced engineers and technicians, and Jennifer Nardicchio and her marketing team are responsible for proactively communicating Element’s expertise to potential clients across all verticals in a clear and straightforward manner. Both teams work hand in hand to exemplify the company’s purpose of “making tomorrow safer than today.” Element’s aim is to deliver the right message to the right individuals at the right moment. They achieve this by utilizing media that is at the forefront of the marketing industry, along with periodicals, tradeshows, email, social media channels, and pay-per-click advertising. Element relies on its marketing team to create campaigns that connect with a diverse client base. As such, it is critical that the marketing organization is aligned with internal thought leaders to ensure key messages are communicated properly and understood by their technical audience.

“Just as in the real estate industry, ‘location’ is everything, at Element it’s all about the ‘people’”, said Jennifer. Of course, machinery and computer programs are used in Element’s services, but the technicians and engineers with truly cutting-edge technical knowledge who understand how to execute these tests and analyze the results are invaluable. “Element’s ability to be a full-service partner for manufacturers is another major differentiator,” comments Nardicchio. Within its own labs around the world, Element can test a wide range of products, materials, and systems, and provide advisory support for regulatory and compliance testing. It enables Element to work end-to-end with customers throughout the entire product development process, as well as test a wide range of goods for the same manufacturer. Element is also involved in the testing of first responder equipment, such as those used by EMTs, police officers, and firefighters. During the pandemic, Element even assisted in the efficacy testing for disinfectants and hand sanitizers against COVID-19. Element is well-positioned to fulfill future market needs, so they continue to innovate and enhance new technologies before they reach the wider public.

“People are our most important asset,” Jennifer says, “and their feelings and expectations really matter to me. It is important to me to spend regular time with team members at all levels to learn about what is working well, what they enjoy most about their roles, and where we have the opportunity to grow. This includes everything from internal resources like equipment and advanced software to external resources like training from experts in the marketplace. Implementing these efforts and advancements will help keep the team on the forefront of the latest processes and marketing channels and inspire personal development.” Jennifer Nardicchio always keeps a positive attitude and looks at a challenge as an opportunity. Jennifer’s broad vision has set the pace for her team to be recognized as the marketing center of excellence, whose members work every day to showcase the future of the Element Materials Technology brand. IEWL

Silvia Graciela Tenazinha, Head of Commercial Banking and Wealth Management Santander Argentina is part of a team transforming Santander, and she is proud to be part of that team. “The main challenge is to transform a Santander of products into a Santander of customers. It is to turn the organization around so that everything is focused on the customer and not on the product. This seems very easy to say, but it implies a change of DNA,” says Silvia, who works with her team to take the bank to new heights.

Silvia is passionate about purposeful technological advances. “Why do I think this? Because I see in technology the potential to improve the quality of people’s lives. I firmly believe that technology enables new ways of doing things. Technology gives us opportunities. Digitalization brings us closer to people, their stories, their projects and their dreams,” she explains.

“Behind figures there are top stories…. What do I mean by these stories? The protagonists do everything to progress and we want to support them. It is a fact: technology equalizes opportunities. Today, access to information is within everyone’s reach. Let’s build on this by helping people and businesses thrive.”

Banco Santander Argentina is the largest bank in Argentina and what they do has a significant impact on the market. Santander is a leader and has a unique positioning. But they always have to go one step further, and there is always an opportunity to improve their understanding of what the customer wants and needs. “It is a path that started some time ago and that we are outlining day by day, and it never ends, and improvement is continuous. We are a reference in the Argentine financial market, which implies that we have and want to be pioneers in many areas, helping to advance and consolidate the financial system. That is our hallmark.”

Silvia is inspiring and empowering team members to become great leaders of tomorrow. “Our world has changed a lot, and the ways of working are no longer the same as years ago. We left behind the work in silos with agile work methodologies and gave way to work in cells. We believe in “netarchy” over hierarchy, and it is important because an agile company has empowered leaders who work in a horizontal format.”

She is building closer leadership when horizontal teams are connected to the needs of both employees and the customers. According to her, a leader is not a boss. A leader helps develop the best talent of each member of their team, making each one shine and perform at their best. High-performance teams generally do not have many individual stars but have a team based on trust, commitment, mystique, fun, and gain success. “Success is a continuous work of overcoming and learning. It is a journey that begins but does not end and that is the most fun. It is a path, not a goal. If we define that someone is successful, they have managed to do a task that they love, that they do with commitment and leave a mark. It is not about your position, but it is about doing it with passion and, therefore, with motivation.”

The 20 years of experience in the sector has allowed Silvia to investigate, study, learn and apply technology for the good of business and, above all, of people. “We believe in the culture of learning through error. We encourage people to do, make mistakes and learn.” One of the objectives is the participation of women in the labor market. The pandemic produced a severe setback in this issue, more than anything else because the country went back to work at home without outside help in many cases, so the bank had to combine work with care and domestic tasks.

“Today, 56% of women in Argentina are heads of household, that is to say that they are the main income of their household and this is a great responsibility and with the pandemic, in many cases this has been accentuated,” says Silvia. “A lot of progress has been made, there are many companies socially committed to this and we lose a lot of talent if we do not incorporate the female vision to our businesses. Additionally, women incorporated into the labor world help to eliminate toxic social elements (domestic violence, abuse, among other issues).” WL

When Paula Provoznik was hired by Palo Alto Hills Golf & Country Club in September of 2018, the Board of Directors was enacting a plan to transform the club facilities, golf course, and programming, but they also wanted to create systemic change from the top down with management. They wanted a new approach to behind-the-scenes operations that would carry through to create a tangible and more meaningful member experience with measurable outcomes. “Though I was coming from another country club where I had handled communications, operations and programing, I’d never been on the sales side of the operation so the Member Services, role was new for me,” says Paula. “What I was able to bring, however, was experience leading a club through a major $15 million renovation while maintaining high member engagement and satisfaction. So, I was brought on to bridge that transition in management while also taking the opportunity that change provided to create a new culture of service delivery for our members.”

“I’m successful if the club is successful, and the club is successful if the members are happy.”

Paula’s focus has always been on the member experience and doing everything they can to go above and beyond, providing members and clients what they need before they know they need it. For example, during the pandemic and the renovation when golf was limited or unavailable, they enhanced other amenities to keep members engaged and connected to our community. Nearly four years later, the management team has been reconfigured, and the team is powerful and dedicated to working together and doing what’s best for the membership.

“We have a Management in Development Program at PAH that attracts a lot of young staff who are new to the industry and it’s been really inspiring to work with them and share the knowledge I have, which is instinctive at this point,” adds Paula. “I’m a member of the Club Managers Association of America, which is a great network for all club managers, but especially for women in the industry. The organization is generous with resources to help women take the lead and it provides a forum to network with other women, which also provides me with opportunities to collaborate with these women in our industry. Private clubs are such a male-driven environment that it’s very important to ensure that women feel supported and appreciated.”

Apart from enhancing the visibility of women in the sector, Paula leads by example and works side-by-side with her team members to show them how to deliver a high level of service. “I have always possessed a servant leader mentality which is what lead me to this industry and my role to develop talent, showing them to think about not just the details but the bigger picture – that’s where we can be creative and showcase leadership by integrating new amenities holistically. We create programming for all members of the family at the same time so we can provide something for everyone no matter what the interest or their level in any activity.” Armed with such a strong ideology, Paula has attained immense success.

“I encourage everyone to enjoy their work. I love what I do because it is about the team and we get to celebrate our successes with the members. When you work at a club where you believe in the mission, it’s easy to put in the work,” she elucidates. “It’s not about my success; it’s the success of the club and all of the talent in the room that gets us to these pinnacle moments, such as unveiling our new 18-hole golf course or completely updating our dining amenities to exceed the expectations of our members. I’m successful if the club is successful, and the club is successful if the members are happy.”

One of the club’s biggest accomplishments has been overcoming a membership turnover of over 25% throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. For most clubs, that would be devastating, but thanks to their member-centric focus and prioritizing the member experience, the club maintained a full roster with a waitlist, and dropped the average age of membership by 10 years. As a result of the member centric philosophy, the membership share price has increased by 400%. “We achieved this by being focused on creating value by association. During those really challenging, uncertain early days of the pandemic, we quickly launched to-go food service, which expanded to include groceries and household staples, virtual wine tasting and cooking classes, and instruction and tips from the Pro’s in golf, fitness, tennis and swimming so members were able to have not only their basic needs met but created a deep nurturing and emotional connection in one place.”

The club has been a lifeline to many during tough times, and for the days to come, the focus will continue to be on the member experience. “We need to remain fresh in our service offerings and provide a consistent delivery of experience. By focusing on innovation and improving our systems we will continue to be a leader in the industry and deliver life changing experiences with a human touch.” WL

When Milena Kanova joined Palladio Biosciences 15 months ago, the company was scaling up its operations in the planning of the execution of their global pivotal phase III study. The scale and complexity of the study required large-scale global expertise and the attention to a detailed strategy approach, which forms the basis of rare disease research. It also requires a highly functioning team of experts to rise to the challenge. Over her 25 years in the industry, she has been fortunate to work with professionals in almost every country globally, establishing a strong professional network of trusted colleagues. With their help and support from the Centessa and Palladio Leadership Teams, in less than 3 months, they were able to recruit and structure an excellent global team of experts with complementary skills, enthusiasm, and expertise.

Milena sits on the board of a woman-led start-up organization in Africa, working closely with the young management team to provide support and encouragement and pass on all her learning to establish new clinical research countries.

It is revealing how history repeats itself even many years later, how the challenges of clinical research in Africa are like those when Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) was taking its first steps and when the first countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) joined the clinical research map, too. “Palladio values our growth and development and is supporting a strong mentor-mentee program in which I also participate both as a mentor and as a mentee. There is always so much still to be learned by all of us.”

There is a statue in the United Nations city in Vienna of a woman who has stepped out of her frame and outgrown it. “I found that image very empowering over the years. It has helped me find strength in myself to overcome obstacles, limitations and restrains, and outgrow them, and look forward with passion,” she says.

“I have always strived to support my teams to adopt the same approach to work and life and empower them to stretch the frame of their comfort and expand their knowledge, experience, and influence. Once you open another door, and step out of a frame, there is no going back. I think this is what is driving progress in general, too.”

Milena’s career started in Bulgaria, meandering to Turkey, where she worked out of Istanbul, and then to the UK. She started as a CRA in Sofia and has grown together with the clinical research industry in CEE and MENA with increasing responsibilities and expanding remit. “Operationally, I have also worked as a Clinical Lead, Project Manager, and Medical Advisor, Rare and Orphan Diseases strategy unit leader, and Global Therapeutic Area Head for Psychiatry and Neurology with a team of more than 120 Project Leaders and Study Managers,” adds Milena.

“It was only when I joined the biotechnology industry, that I was able to apply all my skills, knowledge, and expertise fully, combining the sharp focus on science and quality with the drive for successful and efficient delivery.”

One thing Milena learned was to value and honor every success. She was extremely proud when the highest recruiting site in a pediatric study was one she worked with as a Clinical Research Associate, when the organization she led in Turkey successfully delivered clinical trials in complex indications, and when the first FDA inspection in Eastern Europe at a site she monitored had no findings, when she was awarded a Presidents Club award at Quintiles, whenever a new product reached patients in need and improved their lives, every time a colleague or a team member got promoted and their success rewarded. “I think being successful is a process and not something that suddenly comes to you. It is a path paved with hard work, dedication, with the help of the many mentors, leaders, and colleagues I had the honor to learn from and work with.”

The steadfast leader believes in a future state of health care that will be centered around the individual and where everyone will have equal access to the most advanced treatment. She believes every success in developing new treatments brings people closer to the future of personalized medicine and well-being maintenance. She is now focused on further developing the clinical operations team at Palladio and expanding their collaboration network with Centessa. “While technology advancements and scientific discoveries in medicine pave the way for a better future, many challenges of our daily lives require nimbleness and flexibility, and strong support from our families, friends, and colleagues to overcome. I am grateful for all of them!” WL

Dharti Pancholi likes empowering people, whether it is her team, her clients, or her network. She believes in bringing together people with diverse experiences, skills, or perspectives, who might not normally work together, and collectively develop something, grow a company, or add capabilities.

Dharti’s industrial network, including her former direct reports and people with no reporting relationships, look at her as their mentor. Dharti has an “open-phone policy,” and hundreds of people have called her for career advice. She genuinely likes to be this part of people’s success, to see her mentees succeed. She likes brainstorming with them about their long-term aspirations and laying out their short-term goals. She guides them to pursue value-added certifications, skills, degrees, and experiences that can enhance their ability to excel and set paths to achieve their dreams. “I like to have the ability to touch someone’s life in a positive way – both male and female. I have promoted many woman-owned businesses and female leaders on social media,” says Dharti. “I also mentor several female entrepreneurs to use strategies and take actions toward making a positive impact both for their businesses and in the world.” Some female business owners have passion, determination, and conviction, but their companies are in the rescue phase; Dharti has supported them with the process, infrastructure, and other guidance to save their companies.

For the last two decades Dharti has always been passionately involved in the biotech and pharmaceutical engineering industry. She has tried to contribute her expertise and ideology to this arena in various ways through some of the most brilliant companies including MedImmune /AstraZeneca, Codexis Inc., ADVENT Engineering Services, NNE Pharmaplan. She is the Chair for ISPE’s Disposable (Single Use) COP (Community of Practice) and has presented at multiple industrial forums. She holds a Masters’ degree in Chemical Engineering with emphasis in biotechnology. “Our industry continues to implement new technologies, Cell-, gene-, immune-therapies, mRNA, and evolve how to bring biologics, vaccines, antibodies to market faster and more efficiently,” she says. “I absolutely love to support the life science companies with solutions and talents, to help bring their innovation to market, and to improve patience lives and business processes.”

As the executive vice president and global managing director of PharmEng, Dharti has spearheaded some expansion efforts to grow PharmEng in new territories, e.g., southern and northern California, Denmark, etc. All domains she established had been ‘profitable’ in no time. Additionally, Dharti has been the catalyst for some of the outstanding opportunities that PharmEng conquered, including opportunities that many leaders of PharmEng thought were not commonly possible to pursue.

For example, one of the leading Covid-19 manufacturers reached out to PharmEng and several similar bio-pharma service companies with specific reosurce requests to provide many automation resources and some process engineers in less than a week. When most companies and many leads from PharmEng thought this was not normally doable, Dharti took on the challenge of bidding on this with unique strategies, such as partnering with vendors. She has always believed in collaboration with vendors and other companies that most will view as competitors only. She built a robust ecosystem of partners to enhance collaboration and gain access to data sources outside the organization. These cooperative alliances enabled them to expand into the competencies and provide timely solutions to the client to win this opportunity. This empowered team members to manage this project to develop the site further and to take on similar challenging proposals in the future. Several of these approaches by Dharti has set new standards for PharmEng. Due to the aftermath of the opportunity, PharmEng Technology aims to master the new logic of competition by building such strong cooperative alliances approach to expand data- and analytics-driven solutions so they can quickly use old and new data sources to improve their current value proposition.

In addition to working in the life science industry as executive VP and MD of PharmEng and owning a company Omni Consulting Services, Dharti is also an investor. “In the past, I used to only invest mostly in publicly traded companies but lately I am seriously looking into investing more in small private firms. During Pandemic, biopharma industry has shifted its deal strategy,” she explains. “To mitigate Pandemic, some life science companies partnered, some companies merged, or some companies formed collective specific product interest companies. Contributing to such partnering efforts, as well as mergers and acquisitions to strength company’s portfolio, primarily in life science space is part of my interest and this should also help ecosystem.” WL