VOL 03 I ISSUE 01 I 2022
10 Most Admired Women Leaders The
in Business 2022
Leader's Tech For a better future
Beginning of Greatness
Going Beyond Normal
Janet
Utilizing InnovativeApproaches to Deliver Effective Results
Schijns
EDITOR’S NOTE Redefining the Norms of Leadership
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et’s admit that the leadership presence of women is felt everywhere. Be it in entrepreneurship, administration, education, engineering, healthcare, or politics, every segment today needs women at regional, national, and global levels for their distinctly different styles of leadership. And why not? Women have made their marks in every sector. They have erased the skepticism towards their ability to take charge. Today, we see many women at the helm of organizations achieving remarkable milestones. The quality that stands out to make all of this happen is their hard work and belief in the work they do. There is no field where women are not impacting, and the future looks very promising for the upcoming women leaders. Women in business are shaping the business world; their contribution has been immense. Their fresh ideas and innovation across a wide range of industries are bringing real transformation in the world and proof of some extraordinary work. In this edition, The 10 Most Admired Women Leaders in Business, 2022, we at CIO Look have enlisted some exceptional businesswomen who are bringing much-needed change in different segments. Featuring on the cover is Janet Schijns, a proven leader with a leading-edge approach to managing challenges using her razorsharp problem-solving skill set and unique ability to see around corners to deliver optimal business results.
With over two decades of experience building, optimizing, and evangelizing channel programs and go-tomarket strategies, Janet now brings her talents to her role as CEO of JS Group. Utilizing her extensive expertise, she has infused a work culture keen on achieving results by implementing essential business methodologies while pushing the envelope on the definition of fast and change. She is also a compassionate advocate for the advancement of women in technology and telecommunications, leaving her with a strong and very loyal following in her industry. Read on to find more such stories of other women who are bringing something unique to the table. Also, do not forget to read about the CXO articles by the industry experts, and the creative articles drafted by our in-house editorial team. This will add to your knowledge about industry trends and transformation. Have a Happy Read!
Sourabh More
Cover Story
08
Janet Schijns
Utilizing Innovative Approaches to Deliver Effective Results
Articles
20
Leader's Tech
For a better future
38
Beginning of Greatness Going Beyond Normal
14
Amy Buynoski
Curating a Robust Team Delivering Accessible Solutions
18
Cecilia Repinski
Remarkable Leader Promoting Sustainability
22
Emily Aklan
Nurturing Children and Young People towards Safe, Healthy, and Fulfilling Lives
26
Jennifer Barnes
30
An Excellent Example of People-Oriented Leadership
Jennil Salazar-Scott
An Unparalleled Depth in Experience
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Miranda Mapleton
40
Improving Health by Accelerating the Path to Diagnosis
Selina Neri
Giant Leaps in Leadership
C O N T E N T S
Hitesh Dhamani Editor-in-Chief CONTENT
Senior Editor
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March, 2022
Featuring Person
Company Name
Brief
Janet Schijns CEO
JS Group jsgnow.com
JSG specializes in creating impactful indirect go-to-market strategies for tech firms.
Selina Neri Dean and Executive Director
Hult International Business School Dubai Campus hult.edu
More than a non-profit business school, Hult is a dynamic multicultural community that educates, inspires, and connects some of the world’s most forward-thinking business talent.
Cecilia Repinski CEO and Founder
Green Assets Wallet greenassetswallet.io
Green Assets Wallet is an impact tech company with a mission to re-direct capital flows towards net zero economies.
Amy Buynoski VP Builder Service Manager
SouthState Bank Mortgage southstatebank.com
SouthState is one of the leading regional banks in the Southeast – serving more than one million customers via 275+ locations in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia.
Miranda Mapleton Founder and CEO
White Swann whiteswan.org.uk
White Swan is a registered charity with a mission to improve the health of society through technology and analytics.
Jennifer Barnes CEO
Optima Office optimaoffice.com
Optima Office provides Outsourced Accounting, Fractional CFO and COO services along with Human Resources Support to close to 300 companies across the United States.
Emily Aklan Founder and CEO
Serenity Welfare serenitywelfare.org
Serenity Welfare is a unique organisation providing a wide range of humanistic and caring services for children and young people experiencing family and community exclusion who are often either on the edge of care or looked after.
Jennil Salazar CEO
Jennil Salazar Private Client Group jennilsalazar.com
Jennil Salazar Private Client Group is a boutique real estate group located in the Village of Westclay that focuses on sophisticated marketing, luxury services and delivering the best customer service experience possible.
Sabrina Tharani Vice President Global Startup Venture and Crypto Partnerships
Mastercard mastercard.co.in
Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry.
Sherry McNeil President & CEO
Canadian Franchise Association (CFA) cfa.ca
The Canadian Franchise Association (CFA) is a national, notfor-profit association of more than 700 corporate members representing over 40,000 franchise business owners.
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Amy Buynoski VP Builder Service Manager
South State Bank Mortgage
Amy
Buynoski
Curating a Robust Team Delivering Accessible Solutions
H
use their expertise to keep their borrowers informed throughout the process, so they know what is happening at each step. She knows that the home loan process can be intimidating and overwhelming to navigate. Amy and her team understand this and make sure that they communicate with their clients every step of the way.
ave you ever tried solving a jigsaw puzzle, trying to place every piece perfectly to see the complete picture that made you feel proud? This is precisely what Amy Buynoski does, exemplifying the qualities of a great leader, exceeding her goals, and bringing positive impact with her team, going above and beyond making SouthState Bank Mortgage a perfect fit for its clients.
The BuyNowTeam is excellent at problem-solving and will think outside the box to achieve the best outcome for its clients. The team offers complimentary second opinions for borrowers to compare lenders, making the best financial decision for the clients with a diverse set of mortgage loan products to fit almost every borrower’s needs. Amy and her team received numerous positive feedback from clients and their real estate agents, which is astonishing.
Being a vital part of the mortgage industry for almost 20 years, Amy loves helping people achieve their dream of homeownership. She enjoys working with a team that shares the same values. She expresses her gratitude for a career that allows her to make a significant difference in people’s lives. As the VP Builder Service Manager, Amy brings a distinct approach to make the entire mortgage process easier for her clients.
Amy and the BuyNowTeam started with SouthState in December of 2019. SouthState provided Amy and the team with the best support and reliable resources needed to succeed and go one step ahead for their clients during the pandemic.
Trusted, Committed, Banking Forward SouthState’s mission is to make the mortgage process easy. It cares about the customer experience and ensures that loan officers will work closely with the client every step of the way. The Bank’s mission is one of the main reasons Amy and her team decided to join, working with a bank that cared as much about customer service.
Relationships over transactions.
Throughout the years, Amy has met many wonderful people and is grateful for her friendships along the way. What sets Amy and the BuyNowTeam apart from other groups in the residential lending industry is that they www.ciolook.com
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The Cherished Efforts
Amy shares, “I am excited about South State’s future. We are constantly looking for the next direction in how to better the Bank, and in the past year and a half, we have already doubled.”
Amy Buynoski has been recognized as a top-producing mortgage banker in the state of Georgia. She was also named Loan Officer of the Year in the 2021 Agent’s Choice Awards for Atlanta Agent Magazine. Being professional and communicative to her clients and partners is essential to Amy, and she will go the extra mile to get her clients into their dream homes. Her goal is to always end on a sweet note.
With SouthState’s mission to put their customers first and offer a variety of home loans to fit almost every borrower’s needs, South State is striving to leave its mark for the long-term in this industry. The way people are treated and their service are the most important in this business. Amy asserts, “People will want to work with people they can trust, and they know care about them, and their future and customer service and experience will win every time.”
Amy and the BuyNowTeam do not consider themselves a transaction team. For them, the client comes first, and they will move mountains to get the job done. Their combined years of experience allow them to understand and navigate almost every situation. She says, “We love connecting with people. We view it as being a part of someone’s story and the impact it has on them, their family, and their future.”
Amy anticipates the best for South State Bank and is excited to be a part of such a great institution.
Technology has become a significant part of how businesses function daily with every industry. As the face-to-face aspect of the Financial Services industry may be evolving, SouthState has embraced the change and can offer personalized customer services to each client. Personal connections are important to Amy and the BuyNowTeam and are proud to provide that personal touch in each aspect of their Bank. The Brighter Future Currently, SouthState Bank is in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and the Carolinas. Amy sees this growth in the years to come and believes SouthState will become well known throughout the south.
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Cecilia Repinski CEO and Founder
Cecilia Repinski Remarkable Leader Promoting Sustainability
A
chieving sustainable development in the world is possible with economic growth, environmental protection, and inclusiveness. Contributing to every field, women leaders play an important role in environmental protection by promoting a sustainable world. Many surveys also prove that women leaders are better at resolving sustainability issues. They are fighting against the challenge of climate change and want to create a better world for everyone. Cecilia Repinski is one such remarkable female leader who is putting her energy into facilitating sustainability-related agendas. As the
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CEO and Founder of Green Assets Wallet, she has always been passionate about a sustainable trajectory for life on Earth. Recognizing Finance as the Catalyst for Real Change Cecilia is an innovator and series entrepreneur. She is a well reputed sustainable finance and investment professional with 20+ years of experience from the finance and investment industry worldwide. She sees capital as the driving engine in the global economy. Cecilia believes that by directing capital flows towards real impact we can solve the USD100 trillion challenge 18
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such as finding sustainable projects, allocating capital, and reporting on impact for true, at-scale, net zeroaligned climate impact. Green Assets Wallet provides a complementary but dramatically different approach to how it reports on impact from the one taken conventionally by institutional investors and issuers to date. It saves time for everyone and injects the quality and trust needed for making more impact assets investible. Essentially, Green Assets Wallet is the world’s first digital platform for validating labeled bonds and reporting on societal impact.
Green Assets Wallet is an impact tech company with a mission to re-direct capital flows towards net zero economies. to achieve the global Sustainable Development Goals. That is why she founded Green Assets Wallet, to unleash global capital at scale for more prosperous and sustainable societies on Earth.
Ensuring Investments Lead to Real-World Positive Results The world faces unprecedented challenges such as climate change, population growth, and resource scarcity. Climate change is the defining challenge of current times, closely interlinked to other global challenges. The need for governments, financial institutions, and corporations to address climate change is well-known. However, current disclosure of climate change strategies, the incomplete assessment of climate risks, and inconsistent corporate data on transition paths raise questions about whether current efforts are enough to halt the crisis. Significantly improved transparency is key to building the trust needed between impact projects and investors to support market scaling and ensure that the investments lead to real-world positive results.
Mobilizing Capital Towards Decarbonized Economies Green Assets Wallet is an impact intelligence platform for sustainable investors. It provides solutions that power the best user journey, enable high impact and provide societal returns through mobilized capital. Its platform serves issuers, investors, and validators of impact assets to generate quantifiable real at-scale impact. Green Assets Wallet acts as a catalyst to drive capital flows towards decarbonized, sustainable, and just societies and economies. Contributing to a Better and Prosperous World As a company that is in a phase of scaling up to the next level, Green Assets Wallet needs to be agile and adapt to the changing needs of the market. The space in sustainable finance comes with complex challenges such as changing regulation, market expansion, and the need for transparency and harmonized data. It originated from a collaboration of key leaders in the space, and its efforts have been directed towards establishing a link with key issuers, investors, and validators of impact assets.
Ensuring Accountability, Compliance, and Transparency The main challenges ahead are compliance and transparency. First, how can companies, investors, issuers, banks, and others comply with sustainable regulations such as the EU Taxonomy for sustainable finance? Second, how can companies move away from ESG (environment, social, and governance) as a buzzword to actual measurable and transaprent impact? The industry needs to walk the talk. It all comes down to quality, magnitude, and timeliness of impact. Cecilia thinks financial access for positive value creation will be unlimited and powered by technology in the future.
On the awarded Green Assets Wallet platform, these actors can meaningfully interact as trusted partners around impact and data. Green Assets Wallet originated as a collaborative project with key leaders in the field of sustainable finance. Its impact intelligence platform is a win-win, as it helps market participants handle complex data, visualize impact, and communicate this to their stakeholders while remaining transparent and avoiding greenwashing.
Seeing Failure as Learning Experiences Cecilia advises budding entrepreneurs to listen to themselves and believe in their ideas. “There is no failure in mistakes; they are learning experiences. And remember to celebrate your successes, these small celebrations are important too!”
Allocating Capital to Sustainable Projects Green Assets Wallet is an impact-tech company. Its platform is a true fintech innovation that sets a new standard in impact reporting. It provides a collaborative space for key actors to engage and build trust around impact. It also provides the innovation required in areas
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Emily Aklan Nurturing Children and Young People towards Safe, Healthy, and Fulfilling Lives
T
he saying goes, “when life gives you a lemon, make lemonade.” In the case of Emily Aklan, when life handed her a lemon, she turned it into a business plan in hopes of helping others.
Our Ethos is based on our passion for nurturing young people.
Following the tragic event in her personal life, Emily discovered that children and young people in the care system are regularly transported in handcuffs or caged vehicles similar to a police van. This is what she wanted to change. As a result, she founded Serenity Welfare with the dream of providing a high-quality transport and welfare service for children and young people dealing with challenges in their personal lives. Inspired by her vision, we at Insights Success caught up with Emily to learn more about her journey. Below are the highlights of the interview: Brief our audience about your journey as a business leader until your current position at Serenity Welfare. What challenges have you overcome to reach where you are today? I began my career in the property sector – first as a real estate agent, then working my way up to director level in construction. I can tell you this wasn’t an easy journey – women are still massively underrepresented in construction today; it was even harder to get ahead in such a male-dominated industry in the 90s.
Emily Aklan
Founder and CEO
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I was the only woman on the board – which was, of course, a challenge, but one from which I learnt so many valuable lessons. Whilst I firmly believe that many underrepresented sectors need to do so much more to encourage women at all levels, being the only woman on the board of the company meant that I had to push hard for my ideas and contributions to be heard – to do this, I had to truly believe in myself and trust my instinct. In my 30s, I used my experience to start my own international construction business, working for myself and reaping the rewards of success. However, all that changed when my sister Faye tragically passed away young, leaving two young daughters. Her ex-husband suddenly came back into the picture and kidnapped my nieces to Cyprus – everything in my life was then put on hold as I started a lengthy custody battle to bring them back home. Tell us something more about Serenity Welfare, its mission, and vision. During this legal battle, I inevitably learnt more about the UK’s care system – I discovered that, should they have been taken into the system, my nieces would most likely have been split up and potentially subjected to archaic practices like handcuffing.
physically restrain a young person. We employ childcentred techniques which de-escalate high-stress situations, so a young person willingly comes with us. We have proven that there is – despite public and political opinions about ‘dangerous’ and ‘violent’ young people in the care system – in fact, absolutely no need to physically restrain a child during transportation. Does it sometimes take more time to quietly and empathetically understand why a child may be unwilling to be transported by strangers? Yes. Is it worth every single minute to ensure we don’t traumatize them further and treat them like criminals despite the fact they’ve committed no crimes? Absolutely.
This is why I started Serenity Welfare – I learnt that private transport companies hired to move vulnerable looked after children not only were legally allowed to use handcuffs and other such physical restraints on these young people but there was no requirement to report it for the practice to be monitored. This utterly shocked and disgusted me to my core – how could it be standard practice (and it is, many companies even advertise that they use handcuffs and caged vehicles) to treat children like animals. You wouldn’t ever dream of using handcuffs on your children, no matter how they were behaving, so we are allowing children who are frightened, vulnerable, and traumatized to be treated this way?
Besides, we have promoted strong external leadership and advocated the promotion of social mobility beyond our organisation. In 2020, we were awarded the Best Practice Representative Award for the parliamentary review, and in November 2020, our first campaign article 'Hope instead of Handcuffs' was featured in Social Work News. In 2021, I was overwhelmed to be nominated and win the Best Business Women of the Year award for Children and Families category , it’s a privilege to win this category .
So, I founded Serenity Welfare – a transport company for vulnerable children which places kindness and empathy at the core of all we do. Enlighten us on how you have made an impact in the welfare niche through your expertise in the market. In our years of operation, we have never had to www.ciolook.com
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the press that I think the next big change will be making the children’s care system completely transparent and monitored. On our part, we will support and campaign for this, and be there as a model of best practice. Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run and what are your future goals for Serenity Welfare? Serenity Welfare started off as purely a secure transportation company that placed children’s dignity and respect at the heart of what we do, but since then, we have grown to provide more services which looked after children and vulnerable young people need from mentoring services to 24/7 supervision. I envision Serenity growing to accommodate and meet the expanding needs of the children we work with – whatever they need, we’ll work on to provide. What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the business sector? Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle, but don't work yourself senseless. When you're running your own business, it's really easy to forget to clock out. The days of 9-5 are long gone for you (if you're successful), but remember to separate work and play. Don't let your business take over your life. If you believe in your product and idea never give up, even if you fail dust yourself and start again. Resilience and focus is the key!
If given a chance, what change would you like to bring in the welfare industry? There are so many changes needed in the children’s welfare system – it needs a complete overhaul. But, for me, it would be the banning of the use of handcuffs. It is a barbaric practice which only creates further problems. A quarter of the prison population is made up of care leavers – but what do we expect when we treat them like criminals from the off? I have been campaigning for the end of handcuffing by private transport companies through the ‘Hope Instead of Handcuffs’ campaign, which has been receiving great traction and response from parliamentarians. What, according to you, could be the next big change in the welfare industry? How is your company preparing to be a part of that change? In a word: transparency. A disturbing number of alarming practices and processes happen to looked after children in the British welfare system, which have been allowed to continue simply because there’s no requirement to monitor them. The handcuffing of children during secure transportation is just one practice – from where young people are allowed to be housed to the medications they are unnecessarily prescribed, so many whistleblowing stories are hitting
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Jennil Salazar-Sc
tt
An Unparalleled Depth in Experience
R
eal estate is one of the appealing businesses to many. On the one hand, the business does not require the technical expertise of doctors and engineers. On the other hand, the business can promise gains similar to highly-paid professions. This is what attracts millions to the real-estate business. However, very few manage to make an impression and remain on top of the game for years. A businesswoman who has achieved this feat for over 18 years straight is Jennil Salazar-Scott.
We provide our clients with an extra ordinary customer
Jennil started her career back in 2004 in Pennsylvania. She got her lucky break and her most treasured experience in building relationships from her mentor Jeri Bedard. She was one of the top real-estate luxury realtors in PA and taught Jennil some key lessons about the business. Jeri took Jennil on a tour of all the homes she visited and gave her the opportunity to represent one of the top luxury builders in PA at a young age. Jennil quickly learned the ropes of the real estate business and formed her own company 4 years later. Looking back at this experience, Jennil notes, “Jeri was a great mentor, and friend. She was the first one to open the door of real-estate opportunities for me, and her contribution to my journey is priceless.”
experience with a focus on care, compassion, and expertise.
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Jennil Salazar-Scott Owner Jennil Salazar Private Client Group
Robust Technology Adoption After learning from Jeri, Jennil quickly moved with her husband to Indiana. Four years after going solo, She started her own company – the Jennil Salazar Private Client Group. Jennil believes this time was crucial for the growth of her career and her company. She also notes that the relationships she built during this time helped her carve the overwhelming success she has today. Jennil Salazar Private Client group has made major strides in recent times with the aid of digitalization. Her company, located in “The Village of Westclay”, offers professional photography, digitalized designs, Photoshop, custom designs, and internet optimization for homeowners to make sure their properties receive the best attention globally. Jennil notes, “Beautiful and emotion-provoking images remain at the center of attention for real-estate homes. We deliver services that get the traction homeowners need to make sure they are always ahead of the game.” Intelligent Strategy to Negotiate Challenges Thanks to her quick thinking, and strategic technological adoption, Jennil is a familiar name on Indiana’s top billboards in real estate. This includes being a top producer for Compass and on the cover of Indy Top Producer. However, Jennil has no plans to slow down. She recently entered the real estate market for the global listing of luxury properties. Today, she is also a certified global marketing agent. However, things didn’t always come easy to Jennil, and her husband, who rode through a storm together before establishing a name widely recognized in Indiana today.
A Promising Road to the Future Jennil believes the real-estate sector is witnessing a boom unlike any other in the past. She says that her phone, along with her many real-estate colleagues, is constantly ringing. She notes, “Due to the pandemic, the demand has hit an all-time high, particularly for singlefamily homes.” She believes people like her have a real advantage as properties keep moving on and off the market at a rapid pace, and rates keep climbing above the asking price in most cases. Only time will tell how the pandemic has really affected the real estate market. As expected, the pandemic will likely bring about major shifts in real estate trends.
When she started her own business, Jennil and her husband needed to find an immediate office to kickstart her operations. She applied all her real-estate training to quickly find a small office and turned it around within 8 months, renovating it from top to bottom. She quickly turned her office into a real-estate boutique for her clients. She notes, “I wanted to make my clients feel at home. I wanted them to relax and converse as if they had just come over to their friend’s house for a cup of coffee.” Jennil mentions that despite the major challenges in the renovation, kick-starting a new career, building a new company – her dreams gave her the strength to always pick herself up and tackle any challenges that came her way.
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The growing demand for real estate is likely to bring about major shifts in the fortunes of people like Jennil. However, it is also her years of experience that will likely set her apart in the near future. Jennil has toiled to build a company that is uniquely enriching in the personal touch, mentorship, and experience.
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Improving Health by Accelerating the Path to Diagnosis uriosity leads to questions, and questions lead to answers; however, inspiration leads one to cross the difficult path towards a beautiful purpose. Inspired by the story of Julie King, sister to Steve King (Founder CEO of Black Swan Data Ltd), Miranda Mapleton founded White Swan with a mission to improve the health of society using technology and analytics, accelerating diagnosis, improving the effectiveness of treatment.
C
for 14 years, developing into senior Director positions with PepsiCo and Mars. During this time, she led the Walkers Crisps brand (a $1bn) and led Pet Care for Mars in the UK (the 3rd biggest market in the world), and also led multiple global and regional initiatives including global communications for several multibillion dollars brands. Miranda then decided to move into the eCom industry, taking a CMO position at MoneySuperMarket.
Steve and his team at Black Swan's efforts to find a correct diagnosis for Julie, who had wheelchair-bound with an undiagnosed condition for years, pushed him to analyze millions of social conversations, spotting patterns to identify two rare conditions she hadn't been tested for. One of which was Parkinson's Dystonia. Today, with proper medication, Julie is out of her wheelchair, leading an everyday life, and even competing in triathlons!
As a person who has never shied away from challenges, Miranda's most challenging career move was founding White Swan. She shares, "I had neither a tech nor healthcare background. It has required vision, drive, the ability to engage others (often giving up their time for free), strategic agility, and creating clarity from ambiguity." From a completely blank sheet of paper, White Swan has become the global organization it has become today, with over 130 volunteers, in addition to employees, Trustees, a Clinical Advisory Board, and clients and partners, including world-renowned hospital trusts and worldwide pharmaceuticals.
Steve wanted a person he could trust to set up White Swan as a non-profit offshoot of Black Swan, and Miranda was the one he entrusted with this responsibility based on their years of personal and professional friendship. Today, Miranda leads White Swan as the CEO, and after a year operating as a notfor-profit, it officially achieved charitable status for White Swan in January 2018.
We believe no-one should suffer unnecessarily not knowing what is wrong with them or what to do about it.
Miranda's passionate leadership spans over 20 years, working across multiple commercial industries within premier businesses, having a proven track record of driving strategic transformation and innovation. Uncover her inspirational journey! The Marketing Miracle Miranda started her journey in FMCG marketing, working across the snack food and pet care industries
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Miranda Mapleton
Founder CEO White Swan
Striving with Technology
Well-Being & Beyond
White Swan is unique in its proprietary technology access and leading-edge data science capability, combined with charitable status and mission. As a tech charity, its solutions and work focus on leveraging its proprietary technology for good. It is currently developing a pioneering tech solution called Million Minds, accelerating the diagnosis of the 500 million people suffering long-term undiagnosed worldwide.
White Swan envisions transforming the lives of the 500 million people suffering undiagnosed worldwide with its pioneering tech solution Million Minds. It will be launching a pilot utilizing its platform with patients in 2022, which will develop the tech into a medically validated app available worldwide. Miranda speaks about her personal goals, "I am a great believer that we can achieve any goal we set our mind to, whether that is multi-sport endurance race or a new role. I have enjoyed every challenge I have had in my career as well as the unexpected opportunities presented. As a mum, dog-lover, and outdoor enthusiast, I intend to continue to both seek and make the most of all opportunities, enjoying life as a whole with my family."
Miranda shares that Million Minds is a unique app that combines collective patient experience with enhanced symptom and lifestyle tracking, powered by proprietary technology and leading-edge data science models, to help those suffering and their doctors find a diagnosis. She notes, "Our current models are showing incredibly encouraging results, with 86% accuracy at predicting the correct diagnosis, from our trial base of 600 conditions with a long delay to diagnosis."
Exhibiting Excellence Miranda advises aspiring entrepreneurs to believe in themselves and utilize their skill set to tackle new challenges. She says, "Be your best self – live your values, inspire others with your passion and vision, and you'll attract great people to join you on your journey."
Transformative Tides White Swan aims to accelerate the path to diagnosis for patients. Suffering undiagnosed – not knowing what is wrong with you or what to do about it – substantially negatively impacts patients and their loved ones. Those with rare diseases suffer undiagnosed for on average eight years before receiving a correct diagnosis, often being referred to multiple specialists during the journey. White Swan wants to change that by helping patients help themselves and their doctors to help them achieve a faster diagnosis.
"Ask for help – if you're curious, humble, and generous with your time, energy, and ideas, it's surprising how many people are happy to help. Also be flexible – there isn't one path but many to successful outcomes," Miranda concludes.
Miranda expresses that the patients are becoming much more empowered in the healthcare industry. With the rise of personalized medicine and genomic sequencing, there are considerable opportunities to improve patient care, outcomes, and quality of life. "Our pioneering technology gives more power to patients to help themselves and their doctors, leveraging the wisdom of the world to achieve a faster diagnosis," explains Miranda. In the process of creating Million Minds, White Swan is creating a wealth of patient-centric insight that can also be used by organisations across the healthcare sector to improve treatments and diagnoses rates, particularly for rarer conditions.
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Selina Neri Giant Leaps in Leadership
W
omen leaders are contributing to multiple aspects of society through various means. From politics to academia, business to social causes, women are making their presence known to the world. Their ability to adapt to any situation makes them confident leaders who can come through every challenge and opportunity they are entrusted with. Akin to such leadership qualities is Dr. Selina Neri, who, throughout her career, has upheld several leadership positions and always has come through every challenge she faced.
“These career moves demonstrate that industry changes are possible and that careers unfold in loops, with many twists and turns. Most importantly, I am the living example that a “career” emerges through a life-encompassing set of decisions that direct our educational, social, economic, political, and spiritual endeavors and reflect our personality and life values.” Selina learned to know herself better, understanding what motivates and energizes her, learning to live and work in foreign countries, adding new languages to her portfolio, persuading internal and external stakeholders that she was the right person for the job. She learned to listen to her inner voice and relentlessly pursue the purpose that she found in a leadership position in higher education.
Today, Selina educates the next generation of business leaders as the Dean and Executive Director at Hult International Business School, Dubai Campus. She drives campus leadership and cares for the impact and wellbeing of its students, staff, and faculty. She researches authentic leadership, corporate governance and excellence in hybrid teaching and teaches leadership and marketing courses.
Selina also learned to brush off sexist, racist comments and microaggressions. She did so with an incredible amount of courage and resilience as she never let them get in the way of what she wanted to do and thought she was capable of. On a mental and physical level, Selina also had to learn to take care of her health, practice a daily balance of time for herself, find her “destressors” (pilates, barre, and yoga), and make time with her loved ones a daily priority.
Let us unveil her journey. The Initial Roots Selina started her education in the liberal arts, an education that evolved from a BA in Economics, to an MBA, and culminated with a PhD in Business Management in 2019. Her professional journey began in the USA in the tech sector in a junior, corporate sales role. She adapted to learn about her job and industry with an inquisitive mind and an appetite for learning with a can-do attitude, garnering essential qualities for excellent business leadership. She stayed in the tech industry for over two decades, operating in various roles with teams, clients, and suppliers scattered around the world. She managed to work in different industries such as tech, luxury, global travel, executive management, board services, and finally, landed in academia. Speaking about her journey, Selina says,
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To think in a different way, you need to go to a different kind of place.
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Dr. Selina Neri
Dean and Executive Director
Experience to Excel In her portfolio, Selina has been teaching courses in marketing and society along with luxury marketing, designing learning experiences that develop marketers who care about commercial profit and value for society, drive responsible campaigns, and demonstrate that marketing has a broader call to serve society. She notes, “In my technology days, I operated in the B2B space, serving the largest accounts and enabling their marketing machine to bring solutions to business problems through the smart use of tech, whether in healthcare, oil and gas, education, banking or financial services. In my corporate days in the luxury domain, I have brought responsible products and experiences to market when luxury was still struggling with the concept of sustainability, and many thought that the two were mutually exclusive.”
experience campus life at Hult. As the saying goes: “To think in a different way, you need to go to a different kind of place.” Where the Excellence Strives Hult is the first triple accredited business school (AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS) in the USA, with campuses in San Francisco, Boston, London and Dubai. Selina joined Hult in 2013 as a visiting faculty and her collaboration eventually evolved into full time faculty in London and Dubai. In April ‘21 Selina became the Dean of the Dubai campus. She mentions, “Hult is a place like no other, a place of experimentation and innovation, and our campus mirrors and amplifies these characteristics. We strives to be the most relevant business school in the world. We are a school for those made to do: our students join a journey of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in the sense that they learn to embrace calculated risks, to be innovative, to scout opportunities in the marketplace and anticipate market needs. They also discover the leader in
In higher education, Selina has continued to contribute a new way of “speaking” to the market, making tailored, impactful, personal connections with potential and existing students through personal meetings and events where students can meet the Dean and
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themselves and learn to become authentic leaders who contribute to sustainable growth, business success and societal wellbeing.”
experiential learning and assist students with career path options and CV creation/optimization. The Long Haul Selina has found her purpose in a leadership position in higher education and sees herself in this space for many years to come. Hult’s strategic development continues to be built around relevance to practice, excellence and innovation in teaching and rigorous, cutting edge research for a global student population.
Personal growth is the cornerstone of Hult’s programs across all disciplines. It also springboards students’ careers with a unique set of services tailored to career development in the twenty-first century. Technological Leadership Selina states that even before the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, Hult equipped its teaching and learning capabilities with technology that offers students “limitless learning.” Hult’s smart classrooms are equipped with motion sensors that follow physical and voice movement for seamless course production and delivery to in-person and virtual students. It is among the first business schools that understood the opportunity that hybrid learning brings to students regardless of location or timezone. Hult also uses artificial intelligence-powered solutions to deliver
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Bestowing Guidance Selina advises budding entrepreneurs aspiring to venture into business to dream big, work hard and develop grit. “Do your homework and develop the critical network of human relations that will help you launch and scale your business as well as support you emotionally. Do not give up, make grit your daily mantra. Admit that you do not know and reach out for help. Keep a laser-sharp focus on whatever you have put your mind to,” Selina concludes.
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