Vanessa Hellwing, CFO, CHIRON Group, has always been considered a steadfast leader. After joining the company, she initiated restructuring measures such as merging companies, consolidating production sites including mass layoff, and carving out loss-making business areas. Vanessa’s key to success was her human, listening, and consensus-driven attitude. Besides restructuring, which means looking at the past and correcting former decisions, she is not getting tired of pushing the organization towards permanent development. The world is moving faster, and she has engaged futurologists, think tanks, task forces, and consultants on research in areas such as hydrogen applications. For her, thinking out of the box must be the main driver of a technology enterprise like CHIRON is.

Within the machining industry, there are very rare female leaders. Vanessa was the youngest and often the only woman in the leadership teams for most of her career – the situation persists today. With two kids at the age of 6 and 9 years, she demonstrates that mothership and career are possible even in industries where it is still a stony road in a top management position while playing an active role in a loving family. A few weeks after the birth of her second child, she was back to the office, demonstrating to the female employees, “It works and I will be there to support it! Enjoying a coffee while undisturbingly reading your emails is what many young mothers dream about, but honestly, breast milk from the boss in a team’s fridge is not an easy topic.” Armed with this ideology, she has been leading the company towards great heights.

The CHIRON Group, headquartered in Tuttlingen, is a global company specializing in CNC vertical milling and mill-turn machining centers and turnkey manufacturing solutions. The Group has a global presence, with production and development sites, sales and service subsidiaries, and sales agencies worldwide. With a workforce of 2100 employees, it generated €443 million in revenue in 2019. Today, their machining centers still find great sales in this market, e.g., bone implants are being made on CHIRON machines.

“We have already seen for a few years that the market is getting tighter. In the automotive industry, which accounts for about 60% of our business, there is uncertainty about the future direction,” she explains. Other industries find themselves more and more in a price war despite producing more and more complex parts. “Apart from that, our customers only earn money if the machine produces good parts. If we combine these two topics, we are exactly with CHIRON products,” adds Vanessa. The dynamics and performance of the machines make it possible to reduce cycle times and thus the costs on the workpiece. Lower costs on the workpiece offer customers better price flexibility or higher margins.

In addition, the company’s R&D is continuously working on new and better solutions. In the last five years alone, six new machine types with different features and two new automation solutions were introduced to the market. This was done simultaneously as various facelifts of existing machine types and the development of 7 software solutions, e.g., for monitoring the machine. “This can only be achieved with very good and highly motivated employees.”

According to Vanessa, additive manufacturing is still in its early days, but the technology is becoming increasingly interesting. CHIRON has invested in a startup, which has made considerable progress in the last two years. There are simply workpieces for which a material application is worthwhile, or for high-priced workpieces, a repair process can be significantly more economical. Furthermore, the topic of automation is becoming more and more attractive in the industry.

Besides, Germany is considered a pioneer in the area of AI applications. “Here, we are already running several projects where we are testing and analyzing the adaptation of such technologies in our products and business processes,” explains Vanessa. “Another interesting topic for us is the digital sales process. This is not only aimed at a new website, but also at the use of video technology, for example. With the video technology we bring the product presentation to him and save travel costs and travel time on both sides.” IEWL

CHIRON Group

Management

Vanessa Hellwing
CFO of CHIRON Group

Description

The CHIRON Group, headquartered in Tuttlingen, is a global company specializing in CNC vertical milling and mill-turn machining centers, as well as turnkey manufacturing solutions. The Group has a global presence, with production and development sites, sales and service subsidiaries, and sales agencies worldwide. With a workforce of 2100 employees, it generated €443 million in revenue in 2019. Around two thirds of machines and solutions that are sold are exported. Key customer sectors are the automotive, mechanical engineering, medicine and precision engineering, aerospace industries and tool production.

The biggest challenge Irena Edwards, VP, Extra Space Storage, has had to deal with in her career is managing a work-life balance while taking care of her children. “I am a single mom with two kids. I have often felt guilty for not being 100% with family or 100% with work. With past employers, people would criticize me for leaving the office at 4 pm to pick my kids up from school,” she says. “It didn’t matter to them that my goals were met, or that I came in early, or that I logged in from home. There is a perception that those with different or unconventional schedules aren’t working as hard, and that was hard to face.”

Over the years, Irena learned that she could not accomplish a perfect balance all the time. “There are days when I give more to my job, and then there are days when I give more to my family. It balances over the long term.” Extra Space Storage has been, hands down, the best employer in this aspect. Because of Extra Space’s flexible hour’s program, Irena doesn’t feel isolated because she has to work an unconventional schedule to care for her children. Extra Space thinks of mothers in the workplace when creating policies, procedures, and workplace culture. “They’ve fostered a company culture that is supportive of all women in their careers, no matter their stage or family situation. I am grateful to work for a company that values women in the workplace.”

As a woman with 25 years of experience in commercial real estate finance, a male-dominated industry, Irena tries to mentor as many young females as possible. She believes everyone should have a mentor who can advocate for them in their career. Women leaders should also surround themselves with like-minded individuals to support their growth. She says, “as a women leader, you need to have thick skin, work hard, and remain focused.” Extra Space offers a variety of learning opportunities for their employees to participate in, like their Leadership Development Program and Job Shadow program. “Do not be afraid to let your boss know when you want to learn a new skill. Learning new skills helps you grow and makes you a valuable asset to your current and future teams.”

Earlier in her career, Irena felt that she had to work extra hard to prove herself as a valuable employee because she is a female immigrant working in the United States. As a result, early on, she sacrificed having hobbies to stay focused on her work life. “As an immigrant from eastern Europe, I had to work hard to fit in with the American culture and society. I don’t have the social or cultural benefits of someone who grew up in the States. I still struggle and get embarrassed about my accent. People often pay more attention to my accent than the words that I am saying. The first question I get when I present is, “where are you from?” I’ve learned that I have to start every presentation by telling a joke or informing people of where I’m from before people actually listen to anything I say. It’s something I had to overcome.” But, for Irena, Extra Space is a blessing with a lot of diversity and inclusion. “Our goal as leaders is to make sure we have a work environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and heard. No matter where they are from, what they look like, or what they believe,” she explains.

“We are fortunate to have Irena Edwards as the head of our lending team. She joined Extra Space Storage with nearly two decades of lending experience in the affordable housing sector. Irena’s ability to think outside the box by providing customized lending terms to meet our clients’ needs is what makes her different. The proof of her creativity and hard work is seen in the results she delivers. Extra Space’s bridge lending program grew from a nascent enterprise to now one of the largest lenders in the self-storage arena with over $400 million in new loan originations this year alone,” says Zach Dickens, CIO & EVP. IEWL

Nita White-Ivy, Chief Human Resources Officer of BlackBerry’s influence in developing and structuring the global Human Resources team, has ensured that the team is mobilized to support BlackBerry’s rapid pace of growth and change. Her unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of HR and the business drives the hiring and development of a highly skilled and effective workforce. Nita’s willingness to invest in technology to automate and support HR functions has allowed the HR team to devote focus to strategic initiatives while ensuring compliance and accountability are built into everything we do. “Her seat at the leadership table, and her role in establishing and maintaining trust and credibility with the executive leadership team, enables HR to contribute to significant and meaningful business initiatives,” says Jennifer Bramhill, VP of Employee Relations and HR Business Partner.

“BlackBerry (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world. The company secures more than 500M endpoints including 175M cars on the road today. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company leverages AI and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety and data privacy solutions, and is a leader in the areas of endpoint security, endpoint management, encryption, and embedded systems. BlackBerry’s vision is clear – to secure a connected future you can trust.”

Developing entrepreneurial spirit and career growth for women is an objective that is close to Nita’s heart. She also believes in sharing her career and leadership experience with aspiring women leaders, hoping that it would serve as an inspiration for them in the pursuit of their career aspirations. Mentorship, Sponsorship, Job Rotation, and DE&I Programs, which also include a special course (Taking the Stage – a self-discovery, reflection, and sharing experience) for women leaders and aspiring leaders of the HR initiatives she is passionate about.

According to her, global travel and experience provide people with better understanding, appreciation, and consideration of multiple perspectives. It builds patience, flexibility, and respect for other cultures that can only translate into what Nita believes as development of cultural emotional intelligence. This equips the HR practitioner with the real-life education to design more appropriate cross-cultural HR programs, communications, training, and support plus create positive climate for global diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Nita values the opportunity to mentor, coach, and develop her team members. She finds it very rewarding to see each member grow and succeed professionally. Nita often uses the HR organization as a beta site to test and model the company’s employee development, job rotation, and hiring of student co-ops and interns as a pipeline for organizational mentorship, graduating students’ conversion to regular employees, and succession planning.

According to Nita, the pandemic has been an unprecedented challenge to companies and their HR organizations. Unfortunately, there is no “best-practice box” to draw from for HR practitioners to meet and solve the challenges, uncertainties, and issues each day brings. For the BlackBerry HR team, the most precious results of navigating the pandemic have been (1) bonding more closely together and caring for each other amidst the greater need and expectation for HR support, guidance, and communication from global management and employees; (2) experiencing the satisfaction of seeing the HR Business Continuity Program working effectively and timely in processing global HR transactions; and (3) ensuring the company achieves their foremost objectives of (a) protecting the health and safety of the employees; (b) maintaining ongoing and close HR communication with the people leaders and employees, an example of which is through HR’s publication of “Be Safe and Well Informed,” and; (c) keeping abreast of local government and health authorities directives/mandates and ensuring company compliance.

“BlackBerry’s HR organization, under the leadership of Nita White-Ivy, consistently delivers exceptional support when addressing critical matters involving our most valuable commodity – our people. Timely and effective administration of a comprehensive framework of policies and business processes enables a balanced, consistent and equitable approach across our teams while also protecting BlackBerry’s interests within the marketplace,” says Chris Hummel, CIO of BlackBerry who works closely with Nita.

BlackBerry is delivering the next generation of cloud-based AI cybersecurity solutions to address today and tomorrow’s cybersecurity threats and ensure organizations of all sizes remain safe, secure, and productive. BlackBerry is a leader in the IoT and embedded software systems market with its software installed in over 500 million connected devices, including over 175 million automobiles. For the days to come, BlackBerry is poised to extend this position by accelerating the adoption of emerging automotive connected services with its BlackBerry IVY platform, co-developed with AWS, as well as by expanding its footprint in safety-critical connected endpoints found in industries such as transportation, medical, manufacturing, and robotics. IE

BlackBerry

Management

Nita White-Ivy
Chief Human Resources Officer at BlackBerry

Description

BlackBerry (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world. The company secures more than 500M endpoints including 195M+ cars on the road today. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company leverages AI and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety and data privacy solutions, and is a leader in the areas of endpoint security, endpoint management, encryption, and embedded systems.

Maggie Lattin is a 1996 graduate of the University of Valley Forge. There she received her bachelors in Science in Theology with a major in Youth Ministry. Maggie grew up with a heart for teens and wanting to see them live for the Lord. Maggie met her husband, Jason, while at college and they married in 1995. In 1999 they had their son, Joshua Timothy. During the first few years of marriage Maggie worked in child care at different child care centers. In 1997, Maggie began working for the Red Cross. She was the Youth Specialist and would travel to schools doing different programs for the kids about safety.

“Boys & Girls Clubs of America is the nation’s premier youth development organization. Our programs, training and services impact nearly 4 million children and teens every year. We hire employees that are recognized as leaders in their field with a passion for improving young lives. We have strong values, embrace diversity and offer great benefits to allow our employees to maintain work/life balance.”

In 1998, Maggie began teaching at Carlisle Christian Academy. During her 15 year of teaching there she had many different positions. She was a middle and high school teacher (English, Bible, Literature, health, speech, leadership…), she was the school counselor, athletic director, social coordinator, and Director of Development. Her 15 years at CCA were some of her favorite. She loved watching the students grow and develop over the years she taught them from 6-12 grades. During her time at CCA she was nominated as “Teacher of the Year”. Another one of the highlights of her time there was the year after she left CCA, the senior class asked her to come back and be their commencement speaker.

After her time at CCA, she saw a job opening for the Boys and Girls Club and knew that she needed to pursue that avenue. She was hired as a Site Director in Shippensburg and she ran the summer camp in Shippensburg that summer. In 2018 the position of Executive Director opened and Maggie served as the intern for 6 month before being named the Executive Director.

The Boys & Girls Club of Chambersburg and Shippensburg started as part of the Harrisburg club. In 2010, the 2 clubs split and Chambersburg and Shippensburg became its own club. During the first few years, the club worked on getting their name out there and having a quality club in both cities. During these years we had around 50 students in Chambersburg and 65 in Shippensburg. In 2018, we began to grow as an opening in Shippensburg schools opened. That year we began having our before and after programs in the school buildings. The following year we began to do this in Chambersburg as well. This changed really lead to a lot of growth, especially in Shippensburg. In Shippensburg we went from 65 students to 120.

Then in March of 2020 Covid hit. The club had to close down and wait to see what was going to happen as a result of the pandemic. Summer camp was on the fence, but the staff knew kids needed to have socialization again. That summer the club held their summer camp in Shippensburg. Their numbers were as high as ever – 80-100 enrolled each week. The club usually has an 8 week summer camp, but because of the start of school being pushed back, we held a 10 week summer camp. At the end of the 10 weeks, Maggie was very proud to be able to say that they ran their summer camp with no positive covid results from staff or kids.

When the 2020-21 school year was announced as starting a 100% virtual, Maggie and her staff had to rethink their programs and look at how they could serve the students and families through this new situation. They knew parents needed to work and that kids needed a safe place to do their work and get help, so Maggie and the staff decided to open up all day programming in Shippensburg and Chambersburg. Between the two locations, the club served over 130 kids through the school year. Many parents commented to the staff that they don’t know what they would have done if the club didn’t open the all day sites. It was a challenging school year with being open each day for 10-12 hours and needing more staff than ever before, but it was one that helped get the staff out of the box and really looking at situations through the eyes of “how can we help”.

As the club and staff enter into the 2021 summer camp season they are again expanding, this time into Newville. They are expecting to serve over 160 kids this summer. For the upcoming school year, Maggie is hoping to expand into 1 or 2 more school districts. The club’s goal, as well as Maggie’s and the board’s, is to see the club be the Boys & Girls Club of Franklin Co and maybe even Cumberland Co. She knows there are many more families and kids out there that can use our programs and services. All of the programs revolve around 3 main ideas: Academic success, character and leadership development and healthy lifestyles. Those are items that ever kids needs and her goal and to partner with schools and families and help every kid who walks through the door to know that they are cared about, that they can have goals and dreams, and that if they keep pushing and persevering they can achieve those dreams and goals – no matter what society, friends, family or anyone else tells them!

Maggie said her two biggest achievements in her time at the Boys & Girls Club are is last year’s summer camp with covid being very active and being able to do 10 weeks of camp with no covid cases. Also, she was a finalist for the Central Penn Business Journals Nonprofit Leadership Excellence Award.

Her advice to future leaders in the child services market is to keep in mind that everything you do is for the kids and their families. If your goal and focus is to make it big or be rich, you will miss the true focus and meaning in what you are doing and then you will not make decisions that will make a lasting impact on the kids. IF you keep the kids and their families the number 1 priority when making decision and plans, you will make a huge difference in their lives and that is what will make you successful – at least in their eyes, which is what really matters. You may not be the richest or most popular in the world’s eyes, but they are not our focus. This is what I do every day and with every decision I make in regards to the club – what can we do to help kids and families, how can we make this better for them, what areas do they need support, etc. And then in return, when I get calls from families that say they don’t know what they would have done without our services, I know I have been successful!

Maggie said, “Covid has changed a lot of things that were always the expected and has caused us to look outside the boxes instead of staying safe within the confines of what we have always done.” She believes this has been a huge game changer in many companies and in how we approach each day. Maggie said, “I know for myself I look more for new issues that we can help kids and their families overcome. I look for how we can do things differently and better. I am more open to new ideas and new ways of doing what we have always done. Covid was a very challenging time for the world, but I hope we have all had a chance to learn and grow because of covid and have gotten back to what REALLY matter – our clients, and in my case – the kids!!” IE

Juliana Lam, Founder & President at INNOTIER, has been termed hard-working, resilient, and people-centric who has been influencing people through her positivity and hard work. She has been awarded as “China Top 100 Women Entrepreneur Awards 2012” by the China Association of Women Entrepreneurs, she is the only female winner of the “2014 Young Industrialist Awards of Hong Kong” by FHKI. Besides, she has received “The Lifetime Achievement Award Winner of GGEF Women Eco Game Changer Awards” in 2017 and has also been honored as “the Outstanding Businesswomen” awarded by Hong Kong Commercial Daily in 2019.

“Through a human centric approach and design concept, we provide more innovative solutions for people in the new normal with more lifestyle penetration, with more R&D, co-branding with different industries.”

She contributes towards influencing budding entrepreneurs through a talk and sharing session with student representatives from major universities in HK, alongside she also participates in charity, mentorship, and sponsorship for many women-related events. Through her role as the president of the Association of Hong Kong Gloves Trader Limited, she encourages more people to join manufacturing. Being a female in this male-dominated industry can be seen as a competitive advantage.

During this pandemic, Juliana felt the urge of being proactive in pushing ESG into business as a merger, “I knew it will be too late if we still wait and think there is no platform for us to do something for our planet, so that our story began with one simple question: How do we put innovation-driven technology at the heart of the next evolution in sustainable lifestyles?” she says. “INNOTIER has taken this question and allowed it to propel who we are. By taking the DNA of our company, to innovate and drive technological advancements with Human Centric Driven philosophy, and partnering it with a passion and purpose for improving the world around us, INNOTIER technologies help people adapt their sustainable lifestyle to a rapidly changing world.”

INNOTIER is an innovation-driven technology company with a mission to develop products that help people live a more sustainable life. They believe that a truly innovative approach to technology can have a big impact on the world. It can impact people and the planet and ensure a sustainable future for all. “We also believe that we can only do this if you have a truly global mindset,” adds Juliana. “INNOTIER was born out of a R&D center in U.K. where we teamed up with partners in U.S. including partnering with Noble Biomaterials’antimicrobial technology Ionic+™ to develop high-quality antiviral PPE level of sustainable lifestyle products before catalyzing the wealth of experience in sustainable production and supply chain in Asia and choosing Hong Kong as our HQ. We are thrilled with all the positive responses from the market for the past ten months. We have been making a very good progress of our reusable series of INNOSHIELD (masks), INNOTOUCH (gloves), IN-Apparel – this is important part of sustainability education mission to INNOTIER.”

They integrate innovation and sustainability to develop pioneering sustainable disinfectant products. Their antimicrobial products were launched during the pandemic, and the response from the customers was overwhelming. “Our product collection is developed with a goal to enable consumers to lead a more hygienic and sustainable lifestyle amidst the current global pandemic.” The company offers the first and only international patent filed innovative garment bag “INNOSPACE” that has proven to be safe & effective on killing virus/bacteria alongside the first UVC garment bag that passed the highest lab SGS all-rounded standard: SGS – Performance Tested Mark.

“All you have to do is put your garment into INNOSPACE for only 5 mins, the stylish, portable and functional UVC disinfection garment bag that can solve any of your concern above while going out, at home or traveling. It is foldable and convertible carry-on, portable and handy for travel,” she says. “Mimicking the reliable system as what hospital/airline use to disinfect bacteria/virus, our INNOCAPSULE allows you to enjoy a clean system while you are on the go, just an easy 3 min step will help you to sanitize things around you.”

INNOCAPSULE features include: • Efficient: killing 99.9% of bacteria & common germs, and 96% of virus • Fast: just 3 minutes • Thorough: 6 certified UVC LEDs with 360 degrees of coverage • Simple: one-button disinfection Safety perspective includes: • Magnetic safety lock prevents any possible exposure to UV radiation • Guaranteed: certified by international reputable testing labs SGS & STC

Juliana adds, “Through a human centric approach and design concept, we provide more innovative solutions for people in the new normal with more lifestyle penetration, with more R&D, co-branding with different industries.” IE

INNOTIER

Management

Juliana Lam
Founder & President

Description

InnoTier is an innovation-driven company with a mission to develop products that help people live a more sustainable life.InnoTier was born out of an R&D center in the U.K. where we teamed up with partners in the U.S. to develop sustainable lifestyle products. We then leveraged the wealth of experience in sustainable production and supply chains in Asia, choosing Hong Kong as our headquarters.

Angie Masini, COO/COI – Chief Operating and Innovations Officer of R&R Industries Inc., is a strategic and a forward-thinking executive manager and operations professional with over 20+ years of experience in leading and executing best practices to drive high performance in all aspects of people, processes, and technology solutions. She is leading the company towards new heights with her technical know-how and expertise.

“R&R Industries, a Commercial Roofing Company, has been in business since 1948, overcoming decades of both economic and environmental ups and downs.”

R&R Industries, a Commercial Roofing Company, has been in business since 1948, overcoming decades of both economic and environmental ups and downs. Angie knew that to stay competitive and scale the business for rapid growth and enable resiliency, putting process automation tools in place was an imperative goal. R&R Industries digitally transformed its business operations by implementing and leveraging an ERP Platform in early 2018. “The ever-evolving custom ERP Solution that we developed provides real-time data that enables proactive decision making and course correction in the management of our jobs,” says Angie. “We have further expanded the platform to provide full CRM capabilities, Human Capital Management, Spend and Purchasing, as well as Service and Maintenance. The implementation of our ERP Platform drove a significant increase in the maturity level of our business operations.”

For over 20 years, Angie has consulted and guided companies on how to change their processes based on best practices to operate more efficiently while recommending and designing tools to automate and sustain those processes. Upon arriving at R&R, the company was struggling to have actionable, real-time data around existing job profitability and financial performance. It could be 60 + days to determine that they were unprofitable on a specific job. Further, they lacked insight as to why the job(s) were unprofitable. There was no historical information on past bids to understand if we were underbidding jobs. There was no real-time job costing, therefore no ability to make actionable decisions. Further, there was no centralized data repository, which presented two issues—the first being duplication of efforts and information, three or more employees would have paper job files, no sharing of information or collaboration, and more importantly, there was no disaster recovery in place. “With the implementation of our tool, there is now (1) single digital job file that is shared by all employees and is fully web-based and can be accessed anywhere at any time.”

Aside from all of the operational efficiencies, the greatest success of the implementation is the adoption rate. “Most enterprise software implementations face objections, challenges, and non-compliance from employees because they feel something is being forced upon them, or even worse, they are required to change,” says Angie. “When we began our journey of digital transformation it started with every employee. We invested a significant amount of time understanding each employee’s role, how they performed their job, and what their biggest challenges were.”

What differentiates R&R Industries from their competition (in addition to 72 years of longevity) is the company’s efficiency behind the scenes. “With real time data at our fingertips, we are able to provide more accurate estimates for our customers based on historical data,” says Angie. “Additionally, we are able to consistently monitor job profitability which enables us to course correct should we be running into material and/or labor overages.”

For the road ahead, Angie says they are continually refining their implementation, and by Q3, 2021, they will have rolled out a robust inventory management module that will greatly improve and track usage of surplus materials. “Most significantly is that due to the overwhelming success this tool brought to our business, we are in the process of developing and repackaging it and taking it to market for deployment at other roofing and general contracting companies across the country over the next 12-18 months,” elucidates Angie. “The niche to our platform is that is it an application written by Roofers for Roofers. We are taking decades of commercial roofing knowledge overlaid with a wealth of process engineering all encapsulated in a world class web-based platform.”IE

R&R Industries Inc

Management

Angie Masini
COO/COI-Chief Operations and Innovations Officer

Description

R&R Industries was established in 1948 as the R&R Roof Tile Company. We’re a Veteran owned business that has operated out of the same location for over 70 years. Over time, we’ve expanded our business to become an approved contractor for all major types of roofing systems. We also have one of the largest sheet metal shops in central Florida.

In Annette Cusworth’s short time at Spartronics as Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, she has aligned her experience in financial responsibilities and objectives alongside her passion for helping drive the organization’s focused growth goals. Ensuring the organization is productive and profitable, her influence and collaborative work ethic have driven organic growth and strategic acquisitions while creating a long-lasting positive impact on financial leadership and organization discipline. Annette’s broad business perspective and industry experience have helped Spartronics create value for its investors, customers, and employees.

One of Annette’s passions is to support women in her professional network. Annette challenges and coaches women to empower themselves and never underestimate the value that they bring. Teaching women to recognize their strength and encourage other women to support each other is key.

Throughout Annette’s career, she has taken the time to mentor and develop young women, allowing them to position themselves for future growth. From hiring women into senior positions, challenging others to continue education, encouraging women to pursue opportunities or to step into new roles outside of their comfort zones. Annette has been an advocate in removing the stereotype of the working mother and setting the example that women can have a family, career and be successful in all aspects of life.

Annette also believes in supporting young women to enter non-traditional career paths. For example, Annette’s 20-year-old daughter has completed two years of education and apprenticeship towards her Red Seal Welding Certificate. She was the only female in her college program and currently is the only woman on an all-male organizational team. Annette is extremely proud that her daughter has challenged herself and not let stereotypes stop her from achieving her goals.

Annette has been a role model for so many women because she has been strongly influenced by her grandmothers, mother, and mother-in-law, all of which overcame challenges in their lifetimes while showing great strength. From surviving war impacted countries, moving to another country with small children and foreign language, fighting cancer, these women have inspired Annette with the courage and inner strength to overcome, achieve one’s goals and dreams, even when life throws obstacles in the way. With the influence and strengths Annette holds, her goal at Spartronics is to help drive success yet help position others to do so professionally and personally.

Spartronics comes from a rich history of talented engineers and contract manufacturing specialists that help partners (original equipment manufacturers) create mission-critical and life-sustaining technologies. Born from an acquisition that took a 100-year-old company private in 2019, Spartronics grew and competes with Top Tier competitors in the Commercial Aerospace, Defense, Instrumentation and Controls, Medical Device, and Space markets.

Spartronics takes pride in the superior value of its customer relationships. The relationship differentiator is a reputation that they have built for themselves in the contract manufacturing industry. “Our competitors know it and our partners appreciate it. We strive for responsiveness, reliability and creating lasting relationships. We communicate in a timely way and place focus on bringing our customers’ products to market quickly and efficiently,” she says.

Spartronics is continuously making improvements to the organization, from the manufacturing process to how they do business. “Our customers already have a trusted partner, and this is our differentiator. We hold our relationships to a high standard, allowing transparency, communication, and trust,” adds Annette. “With this, our organization is currently working on enabling customer dedicated teams which will allow an even stronger organizational support for our customers. These customer focused teams will create a culture and offering that provides customers advocacy, strengthen our relationships, and put our customers best interest at the forefront.”

Spartronics recently announced that the company broke ground on a new facility in Binh Duong City, Vietnam. The location will expand the company’s capacity for state-of-the-art electronics manufacturing services. Located outside Ho Chi Minh City, this new facility is scheduled to open in March 2022. Spartronics’ Vietnam location manufactures complex electronic and electromechanical products for commercial aerospace, medical devices, instrumentation, and control applications for high-cost-of-failure industrial environments. IEWL

Zahra Karsan, Founder and CEO of GetZENd LLC, learned early in her career that to be a truly great leader requires character and integrity. It takes someone who is not only interested in the success of the company but also in its people. It requires leading with vision and strategy and compassion, and understanding how to inspire and empower people to be their very best.

“GetZENd was expertly developed to address these issues via a toolkit and training academy that addresses the “human factor” and traditional leadership mechanics.”

Zahra looked to the leaders, the female powerhouses, and the pioneers that broke ground and the glass ceiling for all women growing up. There wasn’t just one role model who impacted her leadership style or dreams, but many strong women through the ages that lived with the understanding of dignity. Everyone from her grandmother — who was a tower of strength, a pillar in her community, and a picture of grace — to her mother, who followed fiercely in her own mother’s example. Following their example, Zahra has coached and mentored women from many industries, both in leadership positions and those on their way to becoming the great leaders of tomorrow. She also works with several non-profits, empowering girls to help them achieve a brighter future for themselves and their communities.

After spending 20+ years as a management consultant, goal achievement and delivery of successful results has become second nature for Zahra. And across all industries — from Banking and Insurance, to IT & Telecom, Food & Beverage, Gaming, and Real Estate, Zahra quickly discovered that what seemed to be missing in most organizations was the quality she terms “ Positive Leadership.”

In a search for tools that coupled Wellbeing with performance, Zahra discovered that there were none. There were plenty of leadership training companies and corporate wellness programs, but few brought the two together to create effective “Positive Leaders.”

In response, Zahra developed a toolkit and training academy that addresses both the “human factor” and traditional leadership mechanics. Her company, GetZENd, offers a wide range of services from speaking and coaching, to books and online training products, designed to help people and companies thrive. GetZENd’s offerings include positive leadership training courses and an award-winning app that helps people achieve a new mindset that is both relaxed, focused and set for success.

Zahra says, “We can reduce stress, increase focus and performance, boost creativity and productivity and have happy, healthy employees who are excited to get to work each day. And we can also have organizations trained in the right mindset to help them meet their financial targets and still plan for year over year growth.”

GetZENd powerfully blends the fields of psychology, neuroscience, and positive psychology to deliver a shift in how people think, feel and behave. For Zahra, it all starts with a mindset Every project begins with understanding how the leadership team and its employees think.

“If you can shift your mindset to create greater success, then you can have greater sales and revenue. GetZENd even a course called How to Unblock your Sales, which helps rewire your personal views on sales targets, your belief systems around money, and how to adopt an abundance mindset to double your sales,” explains Zahra. “The R.E.W.I.R.E System will be available as a training program later this year as well, which trains you how to rewire your mind for more happiness, less stress, better health and wealth.

This year, GetZENd will be expanding both in the personal development and corporate coaching spaces. Zahra will release her new book in Sept 2021, which incorporates the R.E.W.I.R.E. System and a 6-week plan for greater happiness. The R.E.W.I.R.E. System will be further developed as an online and live training platform, launching Dec 2021. The Methodology will also be developed as a certification so that the program, can be made available to coaches who wish to utilize it for one-on-one coaching.

“We will also enhance the GetZENd app to include the R.E.W.I.R.E System, and pair it with new technology to help people stay in their newly retrained mindset,” she adds.

With an expanded mindset, you become the architect of your own life and your business — and create a whole new set of goals that have you truly excited and thriving.IE

GETZEND

Management

Zahra Karsan
Founder and CEO

Description

Relax and rejuvenate with GetZENd! The GetZENd app for iOS & Android uses scientifically-proven NLP and Neuroscience tools including binaural beats (“brainwave music”​) to quickly produce a calm, relaxed state of mind – any time, anywhere. GetZENd was developed by certified Success coach and meditation expert Zahra Karsan, who uses GetZENd techniques to help her busy clients succeed in all areas of life — from high performance at work and on the sports field to more compassionate, loving relationships and happy, stress-free states of mind.

CEOs want and need CFOs to be true business partners. Experience shows that it is focus and skill and not magic-bullet technology that separates top performers from rest of the pack. Sara Kaur has adopted the following to bring changes to organizations. It is imperative that one is clear on the value proposition and not content with business. Wanting to keep improving and challenging the way the finance function operates, the value it adds, and how the function interfaces with the business—having an unrelenting focus on efficiency, challenging what to stop doing as well as what to standardize and automate. Being committed to a ‘lean environment and driving continues year-on-year improvements in ways of working. A CFO must embrace change, particularly in new ways of working and more visual and technology enable styles using collation tools to reduce cycle times and new behavioral techniques to get the best of the staff. Another important factor is to embrace new cloud-based and robotic technologies instead of the traditional outsourcing route. Importantly being highly effective in harnessing skills to genuinely impact business decisions, providing insight and support to the CEO.

Some of the key qualities that have transformed Sara Kaur into one of the most sought-after CFOs are focusing on having a highly efficient finance function means expending much less effort in general accounting, financial reporting, and traditional transaction processing. This greater efficiency frees up resources in a higher touch, higher-quality function-oriented towards business partnering and other value-adding activities. These activities are where finance can make a tangible impact on the business by helping operating leaders to make better decisions and improve performance.

Sara is continuously growing her network to support and inspire the younger generation, and at the same time, breaking stereotypes about feminism. Female role models, sponsors, and mentors within organizations also have an important role in leading the younger generation and supporting their progress, just as men have been doing. “Spend some time figuring out why you want to do what you want to do, and what you are good at. It is often at that intersection where you will find your purpose, and this is what is going to fuel your energy level and encourage you, particularly when times are tough,” advises the steadfast leader.

Sara’s role model is Barbara Paldus, the current CEO of Codex Beauty Corp. Sara and Barbara met in May 2015 after Sara returned from living in Asia and started working for Finesse Solutions Inc, of which Barbara was the CEO. Barbara was the first female CEO that Sara reported into. It was a predominately male-dominated company, but together Barbara and Sara grew the Company until its successful acquisition by Thermo Fisher. One of the refreshing qualities in Barbara that Sara was attracted to, was that Barbara was not scared to stand up and go against the norm. Barbara had by 34, founded two Silicon Valley companies that, among many breakthroughs, paved the way for carbon cycle/natural gas pipeline monitoring and accessible vaccine/cancer therapeutic manufacturing. For Barbara, constantly learning, innovating, and trying to make the world a little better day by day, is like breathing. These are the qualities that Sara also aspires to. In the CFO position, it is important to have a leader with similar ethics and values.

Codex Beauty’s mission is to blend the sciences of ethnobotany and plant biology with biotech innovation to create a new standard within the natural space: Plant-based biotech beauty. At Codex Beauty, independent certifications are a fundamental part of their brand transparency. They are crucial for verifying that their products are of high quality, safe, and that they deliver on their claims. They believe in quality over quantity. After detailed research, the Codex Beauty only applies for certification programs that challenge brands to comply with the very strictest standards which are assessed by third-party organizations. Codex Beauty carries some of the most important seals in the industry. “We are EWG verified, Ecocert Cosmos Organic and additionally, Codex Beauty packaging material is in line with the Carbon Footprint Standard (CO2 emission assessed product),” adds Sara. IEWL

Codex Beauty

Management

Sara Kaur
Chief Financial Officer of Codex Beauty

Description

Founded in 2018 by Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur Barb Paldus PhD, Codex Beauty is a bioscience-led beauty company that is setting a new standard in organic luxury skincare. Codex Beauty is grounded in science, organic and vegan ingredients, plant-based preservatives, pharmaceutical-grade processes, safety and efficacy trials, innovative and sustainable packaging, and third party certification. All products are submitted to the kind of rigorous testing found in biotechnology and a strict adherence to good manufacturing practices (GMP).