Brittany Hill, Founder & CEO, Accelerist, has a passion for iterating based on data and results (a self-proclaimed data geek), which allows her to make efficient improvements to propel Accelerist forward constantly. Brittany brings positive, lively energy and is not afraid to pivot or try something new, knowing she can measure her decisions’ efficacy. Armed with a wealth of experience and expertise in the corporate partnership space, Brittany can anticipate and predict the needs/challenges of Accelerist customers. Brittany is patient and understanding but also can make important decisions quickly. Besides, she is humorous and brings her fun personality into work situations, making everyone feel a little more at ease.

“Brittany’s extensive background in the nonprofit and agency supports her vision for nonprofit innovations. Mrs. Hill has built multi-channel partnerships and award-winning campaigns with some of the most notable blue-chip nonprofit organizations (American Heart Association, UNICEF, Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, Make-A-Wish International) and corporate brands (Pepsico, General Mills, Hasbro, Best Buy).”

A humble leader, Brittany welcomes everyone (many times pulling up their chair) to the table. She is always sure to ask for individual’s opinions during meetings or discussions. She welcomes input and new ideas but can still steer the team in her overall vision for the company. Brittany’s secret superpower is giving everyone a voice while still sticking true to her vision. Brittany’s not-so-secret superpower is working fast and working smart to get many tasks done in a day. Her work ethic, ability to balance work and family life, and calm demeanor in the face of adversity are inspiring not only to her team but also to fellow women entrepreneurs. Brittany also leads her all-female team to empower everyone to cultivate their skills and receive clear direction from her as needed, hence taking Accelerist to new heights.

Accelerist empowers the people behind purpose-driven companies and causes them to create a powerful impact quicker, easier, and with more expertise. The platform was born out of necessity to drive corporate partnership strategy and relationships, inspire movements, and quantify the impact. Accelerist is the go-to platform to create, value, and measure the efficacy of customer’s corporate partnerships. The platform provides users with key connections and empowers users to make smart decisions to realize valuable results. “We pride ourselves on a deep understanding of our customers’ needs and deliberate facilitation of a strong customer feedback loop,” says Brittany. “This helps us quickly develop and release product features that save our customers time, and helps them raise more money for social issues.”

The Accelerist Platform is built using accurate and timely (updated regularly) data from various sources that focus on information both corporations and nonprofits partners are seeking in building out their corporate partnership programs. This includes information about CSR values, latest partnership announcements, trending industries, correct contact information for key stakeholders across thousands of companies, and more, all in one consolidated tool. The Platform is also built on an algorithm that matches nonprofits with prospective corporate partners (and vice versa) based on an organization’s stated and historical backing of specific CSR/cause values. “We are proud to support organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the Arthritis Foundation, Blessings in a Backpack, Operation Warm and hundreds of others who say Accelerist saves them 10 hours/week in their fundraising efforts and helps them raise up to 30 percent more from companies each year,” adds Brittany.

For the days to come, Brittany and her team will continue to create new and efficient ways to support nonprofits who want to find new revenue or steward their existing donors and are focused on expanding our support of Hospital and Higher Education sub-verticals and geographic footprint throughout the U.S. and Canada.

“We are excited about the new release of our Employee and Consumer fundraising options in Q2, along with a comprehensive corporate social responsibility portal for purpose-driven companies that need to better vet philanthropic commitments and measure their comprehensive CSR impact – slated for a Q3 release,” adds the steadfast leader.IE

Accelerist

Management

Brittany Hill
Founder and CEO

Description

Accelerist is the leader in social impact partnership technology. Some of the industry’s most prolific brands and nonprofit organizations rely on our innovative solutions to prospect, screen, access and measure partnerships with each other.

In 2009 when Lisa L. Levy, Founder, and CEO of Lcubed Consulting, founded Lcubed, her goal was to bring back some common sense to the consulting model. She worked in organizations and saw C-level executives bring in teams of consultants to focus on their business function, vertical, or silo and noticed the reinforcement of the silos, rather than cross-functional teams learning how to work together to drive the businesses forward. “From the beginning, my goal, my foundation was to break silos, and to harness the power of cross functional work. It’s the only way, businesses can grow and scale.”

As the consulting practice matured over time, there were some key areas Lcubed typically did business in project management process performance management, internal controls, and organizational change management. These are business functions unto themselves, in larger companies. “But as I was building a model for the market middle market, I realized growing companies don’t have the manpower or the budget to build out these functions. However, the fundamental skills and capabilities are still critical to the success of their businesses. This was the beginning of developing the Adaptive Transformation™ framework. We use those four best practices together,” says Lisa. “Leveraging strengths and key capabilities to build out competance across business functions regardless of role, so they are well positioned to drive work and business forward.”

Lisa introduced the Adaptive Transformation™ framework in her book Future Proofing cubed The Definitive Guide to Increasing Productivity Refining Processes and Bolstering Profitability. The power of Adaptive Transformation™ and the capabilities of project management process performance management internal controls and organizational change management, being built into all roles and functions in a business, resonates because it focuses on driving results and demonstrating value. It allows leadership to be agile in thinking to change directions and minimize resistance within the employee base to get things done.

“One of the other layers that we’ve added on over time, is the idea of customer centricity. It provides focus for the Adaptive Transformation™ framework.” Lisa says, “It’s about those four best practices working together, but it’s also about having the customer at the center of a business’s universe really knowing how, day to day operations impacts the customer. And if things don’t drive value to that customer. Everyone is empowered to question the value of the activity.” She adds, “So, when a business leverages everything we have to offer with the Adaptive Transformation™ framework, we have leaders who are agile in their thinking and their leadership style. They fostering a culture breeding ongoing innovation coming from thier employees and the ongoing continuous improvement input from looking at how they do work and why they do it.” This whole concept, when it is fully implemented and executed, changes the culture of a business fundamentally and positions the business leaders to think and build a vision for the future, knowing their operating model can keep up with them and accomplish what they need to add value to their customers.

Lisa is designing and building an Adaptive Transformation™ Academy with the learning content tied to project management process, performance management, internal controls, organizational change management, the four foundational disciplines. “We are also looking at lighting up a video and podcast platform monthly. We’ll host a panel discussion with leaders in different industries who are being disruptive, or trying to figure out how to become disruptive, to showcase the impact of challenging the status quo in your own business. We are also considering forming a Mastermind or Council, where we can nurture a peer to peer network and share ideas in a safe and confidential space; allowing leaders to test those thoughts before they formalilze them for their teams,” adds Lisa. IE

Lcubed Consulting

Management

Lisa L. Levy
Founder & CEO at Lcubed Consulting

Description

Established in 2009, we focus on readiness, delivery, and improvement in management and technology. Working with a collaborative group of alliance partners, we bring the appropriate experience and subject matter experts to each engagement.

Natalia Brandafi has been with Meest -America since 1996 and has had a wealth of experience in many different roles. Starting with a small team of 4 employees at Meest-America and five independent agents, Natalia grew the company to nearly 100 employees and over 200 independent agents. Meest-America offers shipping services to all CIS countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. At present, Meest-America is in the process of adding 25 countries. Since she assumed management of the company, annual sales have grown 1300%. Under Natalia’s leadership, the team set up and designed a shop and ship package forwarding business and a fulfillment center in New Jersey and Delaware, 100% digitized. Other Meest companies now apply the service within Meest-Group in Europe, Canada, and China.

“I took the management position in the transportation industry when I thought I wasn’t ready but I took it anyway because I did not want the opportunity to pass me. I was determined to meet and exceed the expectations. Despite being told that the transportation industry was a man’s world, I never considered that to be so,” says Natalia. “I have many role models, men and women. But the two women in my life that inspired me most are my mother Maria and my mother in-law Katharina. My mother had a career as a senior accountant and took care of three children in an environment where women were expected to have a more traditional role as a homemaker. My mother in-law immigrated to the U.S. with less than a high school education and no knowledge of the English language, worked hard and built a business.” Armed with these qualities, Natalia has been taking the company to new heights.

With the fall of the Soviet Union, massive unemployment, economic instability, and lawlessness drove hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the former Soviet bloc countries to settle in the United States and other Western countries. These immigrants were looking for a cheap and reliable solution to connect with their close family members that remained behind. Meest-America became a bridge between those new immigrants and their families and friends in the newly independent countries. This was done by offering shipping services, delivering food products at rates far more affordable than the major global carriers. “Our solution was not only much more affordable to our market, it was as fast and reliable as those offered by the existing global companies. In time, Meest-America became a dominant force in package delivery to Eastern Europe and Central Asia,” says Natalia.

To gain the largest market share in the U.S. looking for shipping solutions to CIS countries, Natalia created and maintained an easy access presence to company services by building a Meest network of representatives in every state, every region where immigrants from the former Soviet bloc countries are located. She built brand awareness through humanitarian efforts and supported ethnic, cultural events within the communities.

As the economies of the CIS countries grew, their markets grew, and correspondingly their purchasing power grew. Natalia identified new customers residing in the former Soviet bloc countries looking for products beyond their borders. Those customers were ready to buy goods available in the U.S and but not yet easily accessible in CIS countries. However, they experienced challenges with cross-border payment barriers, geo-blocking, and numerous complex rules on cross-border parcel deliveries. Meest-America started offering shopping, fulfillment, and shipping solutions to our new customer segments in CIS countries and shopping at U.S. online stores. “We were among the first offering mail forwarding of goods from U.S. online stores to CIS markets. Our annual sales to customers on the other side of the Atlantic is now higher than our sales to U.S. residents.”

Natalia and her team’s present initiative is redesigning the customers’ UX for shop and ship products. “Reviewing our customer feedback and analyzing the existing configuration, we will improve the user interface for greater ease of use. We are near completion of our new customer portal for shipping parcels and cargo and opening new delivery destinations,” she adds. IEWL

Meest-America

Management

Natalia Brandafi
COO of Meest-America

Description

Meest-America is providing logistics solutions to Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Over the years, the company has grown into an industry leader by focusing on package delivery and international e-commerce with services to Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.

Determination, the right mindset, and persistence would be the words to describe Jean Ginzburg, Founder and CEO of Ginball Digital Marketing, and the most critical ones for being an entrepreneur. “When I first started my business, I thought it was going to be a piece of cake to be an entrepreneur – it seemed so easy on social media. Definitely not the case in real life,” says Ginzburg. “I had to learn about everything entrepreneurship related – from networking to branding and sales to bookkeeping. I also invested in masterminds and peer advisory groups to learn about other business owners’ experiences.”

“One of the missions at Jean Ginzburg.com and Ginball Digital Marketing is supporting women entrepreneurs. This is a mission that’s been very important for Ginzburg as a business leader. “

One of the missions at Jean Ginzburg.com and Ginball Digital Marketing is supporting women entrepreneurs. This is a mission that’s been very important for Ginzburg as a business leader. “I want to empower women to become leaders and entrepreneurs so they can become independent. But in addition to just independence, I want to bring amazing women leaders and business owners to where they can make the most impact,” he says. “My advice for future women leaders and business owners is not to give up. Go after what you want!” The number one thing that entrepreneurs can do to start growing their business is to create content. “Find where your target market is hanging out – they are most likely on a social media platform – and start creating content that adds value to your audiences.”

Ginball Digital Marketing was born out of wanting to do something better than what was out there. So often, companies become complacent after they have gained some success. “That was the company I was working for before I started my own agency. I was servicing clients and I knew that I could do a much better job than where I currently was, at an organization riddled with the inefficiencies, stagnation and politics,” she explains. “The client pain points that I addressed when I started my new agency were providing the best possible customer service, which is one of our core values, creative ideas and innovative technology.”

When Ginzburg first started in digital marketing, her area of expertise was in affiliate marketing. Soon after that, Ginzburg pivoted the business because she realized that the organization needed to be involved with the entire digital marketing strategy in order to provide the best service to the clients. “After the pivot, we decided to offer a suite of services where clients could just partner with us as their expanded digital marketing organization,” adds Ginzburg.

Discussing an instance showcasing Ginzburg & her team’s unique solutions is a technology company whose mission was to scale their revenue. “When we first started working together, the client was a $2.5MM business. Our strategy was to implement creative digital marketing campaigns that resonated with the client’s audiences,” she explains. “We were going after a niche market and we concluded that the market likes watching videos, engaging on social media and interacting with Facebook Messenger and texting. So, we created campaigns to double down on those channels. After a year, the tech company client 4Xed sales revenue and closed out 2020 with over $10MM in revenue.”

It is pertinent to mention, Ginball Digital Marketing has witnessed explosive growth in 2020! “We doubled our revenue from September 2020 to October 2020 and have been growing every month. “Our goal is to always support business owners, especially women entrepreneurs. We are continuing to provide service in digital marketing and social media but with a focus on cutting-edge technology, as well as expanding to support businesses outside the US,” elucidates Ginzburg. “We will 10x the company in 2 years which will include taking on more challenging projects, growing our team and, for me, becoming the best servant leader! Besides focusing on leading the organization, I am also working on other ventures.” IE

Hailing from a sports background, Lucija Sajevec, CEO of AMZS d.d. , has a unique mindset that sustaining the right things is key to creating a movement where employees feel part of a mission and find their place in it. The point is not just to work but to co-create a business. In this way, employees internalize the story, take it for their own, and above all, live it, which is also reflected in the results.

Lucija swears by honest and open communication, collaborative leadership, goal orientation, perseverance, authenticity, a positive approach, team strength, values, and enjoyment at work. The proper measure of the above leads to success.

Lucija inspires and empowers women entrepreneurs across industries, including mentoring young people, coaching, helping start-ups, and being a prestigious ]member of the Women in motorsport committee at AMZS d.d. . “I find it difficult to share advices, but I think the most important thing (and my wish to all others) is that everything we do gives us joy, fulfils us, and gives us a sense of purpose, and finally, a challenge,” she says. “Success comes as a result. I have always chosen work that challenges me and where I can be a real added value to the company, colleagues, partners. A work that contributes to the success of all. I associate the work itself not only with results and creativity, but also with continuous learning.”

Sport has already taught Lucija that there are no shortcuts in life, and you are only rewarded with success if you are willing to work hard and persevere. It’s similar in business. “With the awareness that accompanies me from an early age, I find it easier to face challenges in the business world as well as in other areas of life,” adds Lucija. “And just as it is in sports, it is also true in business – there are no results without a good team. I am truly grateful and proud of the co-workers with whom I write my journey. Glad for dedication, support, and help. Everything is possible. Set a goal, roll up your sleeves and go for it. Do not stop even when it’s hard. When you fall, get up and look at what you learned from the situation, then move on. Look ahead, sometimes look in the side mirrors or in the rear, but just to see that you are still on the right track. In the meantime, take care of your soul and physical fitness, as life is a long-distance run.” Armed with such a unique ideology, Lucija has been taking the company to new heights.

AMZS d.d. carefully creates a mobility ecosystem and is its members’ first choice for safe, carefree, and sustainable mobility. By connecting various stakeholders, AMZS d.d. provides comprehensive solutions in the field of mobility. AMZS d.d. always puts the users; first that is why all generations trust them. Through their care, they inspire and expand the membership community that is the source of our tradition and the inspiration for the future. AMZS d.d. is proudly developing Slovenian motorsport.

For more than 112 years, AMZS has been carrying out the noble mission and is more than just a guardian of safe mobility. They are an integrator of mobility solutions, which with 29 centers across Slovenia, including the AMZS d.d. Safe driving Center, the Driving School, and the Karting and Motor Sports Center, amazes users with the right solutions. Looking to the future and seeking new opportunities, AMZS d.d. are increasingly focused on future mobility.

With the company Avant car, AMZS d.d. deepened their cooperation in electric mobility and established the company eFrend. They will strengthen sustainable operations and support a faster transformation into a more environmentally friendly form of mobility in Slovenia. eFrend is a business platform that brings together partners and providers to raise awareness and educate the broader society about sustainable mobility. At the same time, it enables subscribers to make the most optimal transition to electric mobility through different packages. “We also actively focus on modern mobility. NOMO is a free, intuitive and user-friendly service that allows you to easily and efficiently meet your individual’s daily mobility needs while saving money, time and reducing your carbon footprint,” says Lucija. IEWL

Kelly Snyder, Senior Director Origination, EDP Renewables North America (EDPR NA), has a unique talent, and she can connect with EDPR NA’s current and prospective clients in a way that benefits both parties. She is client-obsessed and is focused on improving the client experience through the renewable procurement process. During the renewable procurement process, Kelly listens and proactively works to solve challenges that may arise along the way. Kelly also leads a team with a variety of different experiences across multiple geographies. Her leadership skills are rooted in empathy and empowerment, and she strives to give her team every opportunity to lead as well as to exceed business plan goals successfully.

According to the steadfast leader, she has been fortunate to have female leaders who have mentored her formally and informally in every stage of her career. “Some of those female mentors may not even have known that they were a mentor to me, but the simple fact that I knew they were there in a role that I aspired to have gave me confidence and strength to continue to move forward in my career,” she says. “The lack of women in the board rooms fueled my desire to make a difference in the energy field, and later, the renewable energy field. EDPR NA is an extremely diverse organization, which helps the company innovate on many different levels.”

At every opportunity, Kelly works to empower women. Through her cofounded Women IN Energy Conference, she empowers kids in her daughter’s classroom, her global company, and women. The yearly conference is held in Carmel, Indiana, and is sponsored by energy companies and beyond. Early on in her career, Kelly started an annual women’s forum while she worked at ACES. As the company forum grew in popularity, Kelly’s idea expanded to a state and regional focus.

Kelly is passionate about renewable energy. She is motivated to create a cleaner future for her daughter and her daughter’s children. She advises, “When there is not a seat at the table, make a seat at the table for yourself. If women continue to wait for an invitation to sit at the table, to be heard, and to lead, opportunities will pass you by. You must build confidence in yourself, your abilities, and as a leader and pull up your own chair!” Armed with this ideology, Kelly has been taking the company to new heights.

EDP Renewables North America has been a leader in renewable development for many years, long before the company was EDP Renewables North America. The parent company, EDP, saw growth and opportunity in Horizon Wind Energy and acquired the company to establish a presence in North America and expand its renewables business. Today, EDP Renewables North America accounts for more than half of the company’s renewable energy operational capacity and is a leading renewable energy developer.

For Kelly, EDPR NA’s most significant achievement is the impact their projects have on clients and in the communities where they operate. EDPR NA’s renewable energy projects are helping clients meet their sustainability goals and strengthening rural communities through donations, landowner payments, and payments to local governments. EDPR NA is excited about their renewable projects that are under construction, and that will be under construction in the future. The projects are years in the making, and when they are contracted and move to construction, it motivates the team to continue their company’s great work. “I am so proud to work for a company that has their employees as their most important asset. The support, training, and education are the best of any company I have ever worked for. Companies need to continue to strive to put their employees first. The pandemic has impacted us all, and we need the support of our companies and our leaders now more than ever,” says Kelly. IEWL

EDP Renewables

Management

Kelly SnyderSenior Director Origination – North America

at EDP Renewables

Description

EDP Renewables is a global leader in the renewable energy sector and the world’s fourth-largest wind energy producer. With a sound development pipeline, first class assets, and market-leading operating capacity, EDPR has undergone exceptional development in recent years and is currently present in 25 international markets (Belgium, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam).

Claudia Nieves, CMO of Wing, strongly believes that as a Marketing Leader it is your job to deliver growth, “if you are not growing you are not winning” she adds; nurture the Brand and its connection with the users and develop the marketing ecosystem capabilities. As a CMO I am not doing the marketing but strategizing and advocating for my team’s work at the C-suite and Board”. In the discussion of leadership, Claudia feels being a leader in a tech startup like Wing is both challenging and fulfilling. “There are so many shifts going on as we have Fintech and Digital Divisions and recently, we were granted a Commercial Bank License adding a recent third division. You need to be clear on your winning ambition and the change you want to create, make decisions on a wide range of disciplines i.e. product development, capital allocation, marcoms and martech, research methodologies and UX/UI; be able to identify true insights and understand and evolve with the digital world. The boundaries and governance are fluid and you need to adapt,” she adds. “My approach is to keep myself grounded, positive and resilient enough to be present when needed.”

According to Claudia, one of the many challenges in these times is the digitalization of people’s lives and the lack of trust users have on Brands. Users have been forced to rapidly adapt to and adopt a broad range of digital technologies shaping the way we collaborate, communicate and behave. Wing realized the importance of these use-cases for users’ lives to create an ecosystem of daily life-services. With a Wing account, users can hail a motorbike taxi, order food, book a ticket for a ferry or event or pay online. Wing also offers payroll, Mastercard and Visa issuance, micro-savings, loan referrals, salary advance, fund-raising & disbursement. “We have developed an extensive network of agents whose primary purpose is to aid users in this transition”. Encouraging trust as we are present for them when they need us, consistently.

The Wing Brand has earned its place as the leader in its category and will continue to be the number one; “first, thanks to its product innovation to address users’ real needs, products with meaningful impact for their daily lives, and second because we care about serving users in ways they haven’t been served before,” adds Claudia. These two factors have given the brand a massive awareness, strong equity, and high engagement, but most importantly is that Wing has earned people’s trust. “Our millions of users trust us with their money every day in every transaction” she adds.

“When you work in marketing you are in the business of relationships. People do businesses with the people they know, like and trust. The same principle applies to Brands. Keep the relationships with your users alive, be there consistently, deliver on your promises to build Brand trust. Trust is the single most valuable asset any Brand can have. Nothing is more important.

In a new chapter as a Commercial Bank, Wing will be adding new innovative use-cases with security, privacy, and easy access via the app and the extensive network of agents and merchants. We will be making Banking easier and accessible to everyone.

On inspiring and guiding women, Claudia says, “show up and take action. Diversity matters and as a woman you add a different perspective even more in tech companies, feeding the company’s creative brain and fueling innovation.”. She adds, “I have myself faced the same challenges as many young women face in their careers, lives and relationships in male controlled environments where you have to stand your ground without losing your essence in the process. I like to share the factors that have worked for me and also my failures both personally and professionally. Failure to me means that I am trying something new; I take time to reflect on the experience, internalize the lesson and move on.” “Set boundaries and high standards in the areas where you want to see a positive change. Work on developing a resilient and positive mindset” she adds. IE

Wing

Management

Claudia Nieves
CMO of Wing

Description

Wing Bank (Cambodia) Plc – the bank for every Cambodian – is driven by the vision that all Cambodians should have convenient access to financial services relevant to and for the improvement of their daily lives. Since introducing instant, secure, and convenient fund transfers in August 2008, Wing Bank has revolutionised the way Cambodians access mobile financial services.

2020 was a year of outstanding leadership for Christine Shaw—providing exceptional leadership and direction to InvestmentNews as their CEO—made all the more remarkable by doing it remotely owing to the pandemic regulations. She has successfully overseen a full website re-launch, product overhaul and orchestrated a new strategy, alongside the launching of her successful podcast series— Her Success Matters—providing the support and confidence to the team to pivot from a live to virtual event environment, delivering strong growth in digital revenues and to take a historic print magazine into a digital version. She has immersed herself in the industry and all parts of the business, and her drive, enthusiasm, and determination have ensured a successful outcome to 2020 despite the Pandemic.

Christine values equity, transparency, and innovation and credits these values as key to her decades-long record of success at multi-platform media companies and her success today as a contemporary thought leader. Today, in addition to building Investment News into a leading source of news, analysis, and information for financial advisors, Shaw focuses on her podcast, which explores how financial service providers can break down systemic gender barriers and build pathways for women to succeed in the industry. As a fierce advocate for current and future generations of working women, Christine seeks to provide listeners with insider access to women leaders who actively support diversity, equity, and inclusion within their organizations.

InvestmentNews is the leading source for news, analysis, and information essential to the financial advisory community. Since 1998, their standard of editorial excellence and deep industry knowledge has allowed them to educate, inform and engage the most influential financial advisers. Through their weekly newspaper, website, newsletters, research, events, social media, videos, and webcasts, InvestmentNews provides exclusive and up-to-the-minute news, as well as actionable intelligence, that empowers financial advisers to serve their clients and run their businesses more effectively. InvestmentNews is owned and operated by London-based Bonhill Group plc.

InvestmentNews has garnered the top position as a source, but they are the industry’s most trusted voice, bar none. An instance discussing the company’s achievement is Transamerica, which recently launched a new annuity product directly to RIAs (a segment of the IN audience). They had done little business in this segment and needed to brand to them through a third party. Because of regulation, they were not able to promote or advertise their product directly. So, Christine and her team needed to look at programs that could offer them segmentation primarily to the RIA market, distribution and co-creation of relevant thought leadership content, and increase brand awareness.

The team contacted IN for a brainstorming session. Christine prioritized and gathered all the various departments involved together, including content development, marketing, audience, and project management. “We were choosing ONE main brand to partner with and the brand that would provide the best idea would ultimately win the business,” she says. “After discussing the above challenges and KPI’s we had for our campaign, The IN team came back with a mutli-platform approach that would help us achieve our goals.” This strategic, turnkey custom program delivered branding, research/data insights while generating meaningful RIA leads. The program included a series of poll questions that would be top of mind to the RIA market. This was branded the Advisor Pulse Research. The poll would be promoted to the RIA segment, and the results summarized in a series of customized articles and social media posts. The program concludes with a webcast that focused on some of the top areas of focus. To ensure the Adviser Pulse research’s impact and awareness, InvestmentNews ran a custom spread unit in the digital edition to announce the effort. “We were thrilled with this one-of-a-kind program. We also were impressed with Christine’s responsiveness, creativity and oversight to make sure the program tied back to all of our goals and went off without a hitch. The entire team at IN did a wonderful job ensuring we had a positive and successful experience,” says representatives from Transamerica.IE

InvestmentNews

Management

Christine Shaw
CEO

Description

InvestmentNews is the leading source for news, analysis and information essential to the financial advisory community. Since 1998, our standard of editorial excellence and deep industry knowledge has allowed us to educate, inform and engage the most influential financial advisers. Through our weekly newspaper, website, newsletters, research, events, social media, videos and webcasts, InvestmentNews provides exclusive and up-to-the-minute news, as well as actionable intelligence, that empowers financial advisers to serve their clients and run their businesses more effectively. InvestmentNews is owned and operated by London-based Bonhill Group plc.

With over 18 years of experience leading marketing and sales teams, delivering multi-million-pound growth and profitability along the way, Radmila Blazheska is an accomplished senior marketer with proven success in both B2B and B2C environments. As CMO, Radmila is responsible for SecurityHQ’s global marketing and communications strategy. This includes new commercial strategies, product launches, events, webinars, and marketing campaigns, developing digital and print content streams, and leading internal re-branding projects.

When Radmila started, Si Consult (Now SecurityHQ) had no marketing function. It did not exist. “Why Feras Tappuni, CEO, hired me was because the company was doing fantastically, but it was kind of like a well-kept secret. No one knew about Si Consult,” she says. “Management and the founders agreed that they needed a marketing department to get the company to where they wanted it to be. They just needed someone to get them there.” The first conversation that Radmila had with Feras was laying out what the company’s vision was/is and what are the goals. “When I looked up the company, my first thought was that we needed to refresh the brand. Not just with regards to design but with regards to the whole operation, the name of the company, the brand awareness, that’s the transformation.”

From talking with customers and employees, Radmila could immediately see that this company was/is solid, that it has the trust of customers, and that SecurityHQ has a big loyalty base. “However, when you look at it from the outside, it did not look that way. It was not represented properly. So, the first thing we had to do was reshape everything, refresh the brand, to make it look exactly like what the employees and the customers know what the company is,” she explains. “We needed to introduce the company to not only existing customers and our existing database, but to establish partners in new markets and channels. For me to do that, I had to set up the marketing function, make sure that all the processes were in place internally.”

Without a marketing function, there was no source where the sales team or SDM could generate any marketing material or customer material they needed. There was also nowhere for customers to discover their services and knowledge about all of their offerings and features. “Myself and my marketing team set this up from scratch, we had to build everything, to make it easier to inform sales teams, SDM’s and customers regarding changes and updates of the company, to introduce them to our new services, to introduce them to the products and our offerings,” she adds. “Now, thanks to our marketing efforts, not only do we now have a glowing new website and a brand-new app for our customers, but we have also released multiple new services.” As a result, SecurityHQ’s partners and customer base have grown substantially over the last year and witness growth and develop a Security Operating Centre opening soon in the US.

With this rapid expansion, Radmila’s marketing team has re-branded the entire company globally to show off their award-winning services across all platforms. SecurityHQ won the 2021 IBM Beacon Awards for Outstanding Security Service. SecurityHQ’s success is largely due to its Incident Management & Analytics Platform, powered by IBM QRadar, IBM Security SOAR, and IBM X-Force. This being a unified security management platform to orchestrate and enable collaboration, prioritize incidents, visualize risks, and empower integration.

For Radmila, sharing the knowledge is crucial in order to empower women in the industry. “I am working and have worked with brilliant women in my career who were both mentors and leaders,” she says. “Over the years I have had the exposure and opportunity to learn from these women. From how they tackle, lead, and manage a project and a team, and as well as how they balance work with private life.” There are four things that Radmila thinks are important in terms of being a woman, and being a successful leader:

• Setting realistic, attainable goals

• Being confident and vocal to be heard

• Being prepared to face constructive criticism

• Loving what you do

“In summary, my advice to future CMO’s, and to anyone wanting a successful career is to set up ambitions and goals and accept constructive criticism and feedback and find the balance between work and your private life.” IE

SecurityHQ

Management

Radmila Blazheska
CMO of SecurityHQ

Description

SecurityHQ is a Global MSSP that monitors networks 24/7, to ensure complete visibility and protection against your cyber threats. Threats can be both external and internal. Which means that the right combination of tools, skills, people and processes are essential, to proactively and effectively manage, detect and defend your environment from all malicious activity.