Ferhat Kacmaz: The Top 10 Tech Innovators to Watch in 2026 | CIO Views Magazine

Trailblazers Transforming Business rough Technology

Withtherapidlychangingdynamicsofthebusinessworld,anewbreedof leaders is reshaping the playfield with a new set of influence principles altogether. They do not stick to the conventional pattern of influence but prefer a more nimble, astute, and inclusive approach as the foundational pillars of their success. These leaders are successfully navigating their organizations through the ever-changing horizons of digitalization, globalization, and a changing world environment with a clarity of vision neverseenbefore.Theirplansaresetnotjustonthegrowthmeterbutalso on making the resilience level of their operations an integral part of their core structure itself. Intersecting industries and cultures has now emerged as their hallmark, making their success a collective success indeed, as theseleadersnowbelieveonthedictumofsharedinnovationasthesuccess ingredient on the networking plank so far concerned. With their effective alignment of intentions with performance, these leaders now successfully emphasize a new credo altogether as a benchmark of effective leadership, where impacting success becomes as relevant as their performance itself sofarconcerned.

At CIO Views, we honor these empowering leaders by dedicating this issue titled “The Top 10 Tech Innovators to Watch in 2026” to them. Featuringasthecoverstory,wehavecoveredthesuccessful&motivating Ferhat Kacmaz, CEO & Founder of Mining Farm Dubai. We have also included the inspiring stories of Brent Kruel, CEO of BioFunctional Health Solutions, Inc.; Claire Rutkowski, CIO at Bentley Systems; Manit Chander,CEOofHiLoMaritimeRiskManagement;LynDuncan,CEOof CO2Analysis; Veronica Crisafulli, Co-Founder of MO Technologies; Yasaf Burshan, CEO & Founder of Team Genius; Laetitia Cailleteau, Managing Director, DATA & AI Europe Lead, and the Global Lead for ConversationalAIatAccenture;PaulCameron,Founder&CEOofZING; andJanetSchijns,Founder&CEOofJSGroup.

CIOViewsisabusinessmagazinethatmainlyfocusesonbusinessleaders, their journey, views on current economic states, and all other relevant subjects that refer to the business world. Our goal is to be a leading source of information dedicated to providing our readers with detailed perspectives and views of successful business leaders who are transforming the business outlook and redefining their goals. With exclusive editions on various industries like software, education, healthcare,technology,realestate,andmanymore,CIOViewsisdrivento promoteexcellenceintheworldofbusiness.

10. FerhatKacmaz

Kruel

ClaireRutkowski 24. 30.

ManitChander 34.

LynDuncan

VeronicaCrisafulli 40.

YasafBurshan

LaetitiaCailleteau 50. PaulCameron 54. JanetSchijns 58.

FERHAT

KACMAZ

THE MAN REWIRING THE DIGITAL WORLD

TThedigitalworldismovingintoanerawherecomputing powerisbecomingasvaluableascurrencyitself.Behind everyblockchaintransaction,everydecentralizednetwork, andeveryAI-drivensystemliesanunseenarchitecture builtonprecision,uptime,andtrust.Thisisanindustryoen misunderstoodfromtheoutside.Itisaworldofsilentmachines, relentlessenergy,andalgorithmsthatoperatewithoutpause.Yetat itscore,itisshapedbypeoplewhoarewillingtochallengeold modelsanddesignnewones.Itishere,inthehigh-stakesarenaof modernmininginfrastructure,thattrueinnovationdemandsboth visionandcourage.

Among them stands Ferhat Kacmaz, the CEO and Founder of Mining Farm Dubai. He is an entrepreneur whose journey reflects bold reinvention, disciplined creativity, and an unwavering belief in designed success. Beyond building one of the most advanced mining infrastructures in the world, Ferhat is a multi-millionaire mentor and the author of Designing Wealth: A Visionary's Guide to Mindset and Freedom. His approach merges business mastery with strategic clarity and a refined sense of lifestyle, offering a perspective on wealth that goes deeper than numbers. Ferhat empowers ambitious individuals to reshape the way they think, reclaim control of their financial direction, and build lives rooted in intention, purpose, and freedom. To him, wealth is never accidental. It is crafted with precision, lived with elegance, and sustained by a mindset strong enough to shape the future.

Ferhat's first encounter with blockchain wasn't driven by hype or speculation. It came from a simple but powerful observation: transparency removes the need for trust.At the time, he was already building tech products across fitness and app development. He began noticing the same weaknesses in the mining world that he had seen in other traditional industries. These weaknesses included outdated systems, slow operations, and a business model that treated the customer as an afterthought. Mining Farm Dubai didn't start as a business idea; it started as a problem he refused to tolerate. Ferhat wasn't interested in launching just another mining facility. He wanted to redesign the entire incentive structure. His approach flipped the industry norm on its head: Mining Farm Dubai earns only when the customer earns. That alignment

became the foundation on which the entire company was built. It was not just the spark. It was the shift that changed everything.

ABlueprint for Rebuilding Industries

Ferhat's leadership philosophy comes from a life carved out without shortcuts. Growing up without privilege taught him to question old rules instead of following them. Every venture he built carried the same signature; systems redesigned from the ground up, ideas that dared to challenge routines, and innovation that served a real purpose.

This mindset became the backbone of Mining Farm Dubai. He doesn't run the company like a traditional hosting provider. He treats it like a living technology platform that evolves constantly. His personal journey instilled a hunger to learn, a curiosity to explore unfamiliar territory, and a commitment to build solutions that fix problems rather than disguise them. That attitude is reflected in every layer of the company's culture.

The Core of His Role

As CEO and Founder, Ferhat's responsibilities stretch far beyond daily operations. The first is shaping a long-term vision that prepares Mining Farm Dubai for the future, not just to outperform competitors in the present. The second is overseeing the technology itself. This includes theAI architecture, algorithms, and infrastructure that determine whether mining becomes more efficient or more profitable. The third is trust, built not through words but through transparent systems that allow customers to see everything for themselves.

He prioritizes these responsibilities by their impact.Anything that improves uptime, strengthens transparency, or boosts customer profitability takes the lead. This approach inspired the creation of the company's proprietary monitoring app and in-houseAI system. These innovations came

directly from focusing on what truly moves the needle.

Breaking Through an Industry Stuck in the Past

The journey wasn't without resistance. The mining industry has

long been shaped by habits that slow progress, and many farms still profit when machines fail or when downtime increases. Challenging that structure was the first major hurdle.

Ferhat and his team spent years developing anAI system capable of sustaining near-perfect uptime across multiple locations. The complexity was enormous, but they approached each obstacle with one clear principle: address the root cause, not the surface problem. That philosophy forced them to engineer solutions the industry had never seen before.

Today, those early challenges became the foundation for Mining Farm Dubai's strongest differentiator. It is an infrastructure designed to operate at the highest standard, not the industry's average.

Living a Life Where Work and Purpose Move in the Same Direction

Ferhat doesn't draw a line between

life and work. For him, they are part of the same rhythm. He describes himself as a builder at heart. His personal identity blends seamlessly into the companies he creates. Mining Farm Dubai operates nonstop, and so does the responsibility of steering it. Yet, instead of feeling stretched between roles, Ferhat has shaped a way of living where both worlds reinforce each other.

His focus stays sharp because he keeps distractions out. Operational tasks are delegated to teams he trusts, leaving him the mental bandwidth to concentrate on what only he can do: vision, technology, and long-term strategy. He has built a professional life that matches his natural pace, not one that competes with it. In his view, balance isn't about separation; it's about alignment.

Twin Breakthroughs

Ferhat speaks with unmistakable pride when he describes the two innovations that propelled Mining

Farm Dubai into global attention. The first is the company'sAI-driven uptime system. It doesn't wait for problems to occur, it predicts them. The platform identifies upcoming failures, reallocates active miners automatically, and maintains uninterrupted performance. This level of automation simply doesn't exist anywhere else in the mining world.

The second innovation is the MiningFarmDubai app, a tool that changed how customers interact with mining. Instead of outdated spreadsheets or delayed reports, clients now have real-time visibility into their operation: earnings, hashrates, machine performance, everything at their fingertips. It turns mining from an opaque process into one of complete transparency.

Together, these advancements redefine what customers should expect from the industry.

Building a System Meant to Outrun the Future

Sustainability and efficiency are not slogans inside Mining Farm Dubai; they are engineering principles. Every element of the infrastructure is designed around automation, intelligence, and transparency Automation handles what humans shouldn't have to.AI ensures machines never sit idle. Transparent frameworks create trust without negotiation.

Ferhat's team constantly refreshes hardware, fine-tunes energy consumption, and runs predictive analytics that adapt in real time. Their system does not wait for the future. It adjusts to it before the industry catches up. Future-readiness isn't an upgrade; it is part of the company's foundation.

Aligning Discipline with Innovation

To Ferhat, the difference between traditional leaders and innovators is unmistakable. Traditional leaders maintain systems. Innovators redesign them. He believes real innovation comes from questioning the assumptions everyone else accepts as normal. True builders look at outdated models and ask, “Why should it stay this way?” They welcome new technology instead of fearing its complexity. They focus on systems rather than tasks, align incentives

with customers, and solve core issues instead of decorating old problems.

In his view, innovation demands more than creativity. It demands discipline, consistency, and the bravery to execute ideas others hesitate to pursue.

Staying Steady in a Market that Never Stops Shifting

Blockchain regulation and market cycles can change direction without warning, but Ferhat doesn't see

unpredictability as a threat. He prepares by designing an infrastructure that remains profitable and functional regardless of market mood. Mining Farm Dubai is built for resilience, not speculation.

Regulatory changes don't unsettle him because the company operates on systems that are transparent, auditable, and ready to meet compliance standards across regions. Clarity creates stability, and stability makes volatility manageable. When the foundation is strong, sudden shifts

become obstacles to navigate not crises to survive.

Establishing a New Global Standard

When Ferhat looks back at his entrepreneurial journey, one accomplishment stands above the rest. He built the first mining company in the world that combines a profit-share model aligned directly with the customer, anAI system engineered for uninterrupted uptime, and a fully proprietary application that gives users complete visibility. This achievement didn't simply introduce a new service. It changed the expectations of the industry and marked the most defining milestone of his career to date.

Inspiring a Generation to Build What Truly Matters

Ferhat hopes future entrepreneurs will see opportunity in structure rather than speculation. He believes the next breakthroughs will come from those who improve the backbone of technology rather than chase shortlived excitement. His message to young founders is rooted in clarity: trust grows when real problems are solved and when transparency replaces uncertainty. For him, leadership in blockchain begins by building the systems that will support tomorrow's innovations.

Ferhat often reminds aspiring entrepreneurs that every great company begins with a real problem, not a presentation. Technology should strengthen alignment between a business and its customers instead of masking inefficiencies. Ferhat stresses that transparency cannot be negotiated. Customers recognize authenticity instantly.Above all, he

believes a founder's responsibility is to design a company capable of thriving beyond its creator. Sustainable success comes from systems that scale, not from dependence on any one individual.

The Vision Beyond Mining

Ferhat's long-term vision positions Mining Farm Dubai far beyond the boundaries of traditional mining. He sees it evolving into anAI-driven foundation for decentralized computing across global markets. The aim is to build an automated infrastructure provider that expands

independently, maintains unparalleled uptime, and offers users full command over their operations.As blockchain converges with artificial intelligence, the world will require reliable, intelligent computational power at unprecedented scale. Mining Farm Dubai is being engineered to provide that future today.

BRENT KRUEL

Revolutionizing Occupational Health Through Technology-Enabled Solutions

The modern healthcare sector must widely adopt information technology to survive in the current digital era. To prove their mettle, outshine others, and lay a solid foundation for the adoption of contemporary, effective and customized digital technology in the rapidly expanding healthcare sector, leaders must step outside of their comfort zones and grasp the rapidly changing environment.

Brent, the founder, and CEO of BioFunctional Health Solutions, has a passion for technology. His extensive experience over the past three decades has given him a keen understanding of how to operationalize solutions into the lives of just about anyone.Although he performs these roles, he spends most of his time developing and implementing, tech-enabled, health and wellness solutions. Brent openly admits that both his formal training and work in healthcare administration have given him a passion and special aptitude for

finding the best health and wellness goods and services.

“Legacy is only secured in people that are nurtured by an empathetic leader. All other success is meaningless and temporary.”- Brent Kruel

Atypical day in Brent's office includes discussions with other executives of big businesses about how to attract and keep the best talent by looking out for all workers. He also devotes a lot of time to looking into the health and wellness sector for new goods and services that can considered and including in the service offerings of his own business. He has discovered that although there are a staggering number of software-based options available, getting people to use them effectively necessitates a hands-on approach. This is something his company accomplishes by utilizing registered nurses as coaches to increase compliance and help close the gaps that

may come from a lack of knowledge and understanding.

In a word, Brent defines himself as loving. He says, "I am empathetic, love people, and am passionate about healing and the possibility of making people the best versions of themselves."

Years of Transformation

Though Brent was a standout wrestler and track athlete in high school, he declined college scholarships to join theAir Force. He served in the military as a combat communications specialist and finished his first combat deployment during Operation Uphold Freedom in Haiti. Thanks to his exposure of the most cutting-edge computer and communications technology while serving in the military, he developed and mastered a foundation for success in leveraging technology to improve health and wellness.

Brent was selected to attend the United StatesAir ForceAcademy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs and quickly distinguished himself as a four-time, WesternAthletic Conference (WAC), student athlete of the year. While at the academy, he suffered a fractured spine during jump qualification training, which was a formative experience for him and led him to develop a passion for health and wellness. His injury threatened not only his performance on the track, but also his career in theAir Force.

Brent graduated from the United States Air ForceAcademy (USAFA), in May 2000. He held the title, Distinguished Graduate, the highest honor bestowed by theAcademy. Soon after graduation, Brent began his career as a healthcare administrator.As a young lieutenant in theAir Force, he was privileged to be given a lot of responsibility. He was immediately given the role of managing a $30 million construction project, along with supply and logistics. This was a huge accomplishment and honor for him as he was the youngest chief information officer in theAir Force.

Brent was commissioned in theAir Force as a medical officer. He further distinguished himself by being honored with anAir Force-level award as #1 of 23,000 officers named the Information Systems Officer of the Year. He also was selected as theAir Force's lowestranking and youngest Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the largest VA/DoD hospital in Las Vegas, NV. During his second combat tour, Operation Iraqi Freedom, he was chosen to oversee the largest hospital in Iraq. He left theAir Force in 2007 and started working as a corporate executive in a range of healthcare and technology settings to pursue a career in commercial health and wellness.

As a second lieutenant competing against officers with over 20 years of experience, Brent was named theAir Force's top information systems officer of the year for 2001, making him the youngest and most junior officer to ever receive the honor.

Making Every Step towards the Success

There were many small steps leading up to Brent's personal leap into being an entrepreneur. In 2007, when he retired from theAir Force, as a medical service corps officer, he joined the upper management of the nation's largest healthcare payer technology company. He was promoted quickly and as he adjusted to the commercial sector; he became more comfortable with the increasing responsibility of the roles he was entrusted with. He recalls, "Within four years of separating from the Air Force, I had my first 8-figure P&L that I was responsible for." This grew rapidly, and Brent learned how to grow companies by investing in and trusting quality people. He was always drawn to physical and mental health and made this a passion in every role he was in.

Brent's perspective on success is centered on leaving a lasting legacy, which can only be realized by people. He focuses his energy on helping people become the best versions of themselves through physical and mental well-being. His hope is that the BHS will help others do the same.

BioFunctional Health Solutions, Inc.

BHS is comprised of seasoned health professionals who are innovators, inventors and personally devoted to their own physical health and mental wellbeing. They are passionate about helping EVERYONE feel and look as good as they do.

BHS uses a tried-and-true, proprietary process to integrate the top health and wellness solutions which enables an individualized (customized) approach to meet each employee where they are. Highly skilled and motivated registered nurses are BHS' secret weapon. The company's nurses are specialists in health and wellness and focus on building relationships with every client, leading to successful lifestyle changes that make people healthier and happier.

Below is a summary of the company's offerings:

Brain Function

Optimization

- In partnership with Millennium Health and Dr. Mark Gordon, a recognized world-leading neuroscientist, the team uses anAI-supported system with lipotropic supplements that cross the blood-brain barrier to improve cognitive brain function. It is also proven effective in resolving long-term COVID symptoms, including brain fog, insomnia, depression, anxiety and many more.

Lifestyle & Wellness

Personalized

Programs - Optimize lifestyle, learn how to make the best decisions based on individual biology and create easyto-implement, life-changing, habits.

The world's best and most caring nurses are specially trained in BHS' technology-enabled solutions to customize a program for anyone, regardless of current lifestyle and conditions.

Pain & Musculoskeletal Health -

BHS is the leader in resolving pain and musculoskeletal conditions with the least invasive, least expensive and most effective treatments available anywhere.Acombination of patented technology and the most efficacious hands-on treatments enables the best outcomes for employees/patients.

• Functional Occupational Massage (FOM) - Evidence-based and technology-enabled, hands-on treatment system to resolve pain associated with musculoskeletal issues/injuries. Effective for common conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome, plantar fasciitis, back pain, migraines, and many more. Considered first-aid by OSHAand nonrecordable.

• Patented 3D Mobility Health Assessment: Patented and clinically validated, digital mobility health assessment to identify and prevent musculoskeletal injuries. "The only lab test for mobility health.”

• Medical Doctor Pain & MSK Specialist Consultations: BHS' medical director is a medical device inventor and recognized world leader in musculoskeletal health and pain resolution. nd Offering expert 2 opinions and accurate diagnosis services; surgery consultations; and acute and chronic pain evaluations.

• Ergonomics and Biomechanics Analysis: Observe individuals in their work environments to identify and mitigate risk factors at the lowest cost possible.

• Customized Mobilization Programs: Stretching can be risky to musculoskeletal health if not designed and performed properly. BHS will develop a program to meet individuals where they are at and enable them to safely perform their jobs. This includes and especially, office/desk workers.

• Mental Wellbeing and Psychological Strength Building: BHS will guide clients through a

transformational process that will change their mindset forever with simple tools and life hacks proven to work for everyone.

• Mental Wellbeing & Stress Management RN ConsultationApreventative and restorative process for creating a sound foundation for mental health resulting in lower anxiety and tools to manage stress better.

• Psychological Strength Building Program:An exclusive online program developed by BHS' partner, best-selling author, Dr. Tony Kern. The team states, "Be able to manage your life and difficult situations through preparedness and proven, simple, error reduction mechanisms."

Leading with Elite Solutions

BHS' innovation is a result of likeminded, passionate leaders in health and wellness coming together and partnering on how to do the most for as many people as possible. The company stays ahead of the competition by partnering with world leaders in the health and wellness space to bring the most elite set of solutions at the most competitive pricing available. The team shares, "Our secret ingredient is our team of highly trained registered nurses, world leading medical director, and partnerships with other globally recognized physicians and scientists. Our medical team is able to support anyone in their wellness journey and assure adoption of technology to support ongoing improvements."

At BHS, the team focuses on individual relationships resulting in revolutionary changes in its customers' lives.

Becoming Better to Do Good

Adversity has a lot of positive side effects if one chooses to persevere and grow through it without allowing seeds of resentment or anger to take root. The business world can be challenging to navigate, with many bad players who are willing to compromise their integrity to get their way and/or sell something. Brent reveals that his biggest struggles and obstacles were also crucial in propelling him down an entrepreneurial path where he was driven to build something better, something enduring, and where everyone who interacts with BHS is awestruck by its culture of integrity, respect, and empathy.

Pioneer in Wellness Sector

BHS is a pioneer in their approach to wellness and treats everyone as a unique individual requiring a customized health and wellness plan to meet their goals. In March of this year, BHS is launching its TRANSFORMATIVE WELLBEING INNOVATIONS ™ services specifically directed to individual consumers. The goal of this launch is to reach as many individuals as possible who are not privileged to work for companies that employ their services. “The more people we can reach, the faster we can heal the world. This is a big goal, but someone must have it if we are ever going to make a difference in the declining health and wellbeing of the population”.

CLAIRE RUTKOWSKI

A Zealous Leader With Brilliant Abilities To Deliver IT Solutions

Every leader has a unique

definition of success. Tell us about your thoughts about success and why do you feel that?

Success is generally the achievement of a goal or objective, and those goals and objectives vary between people. Even for a specific individual, what success is will be different depending on whether they are looking at their personal or work life, and will also change as the years go by. What someone needs to be successful at 22 is not the same as what they need to be successful at 45. If I limit my response to success as a leader at work, then the answer is simple. I want to add value to the company by helping Bentley achieve its goals, and I need to ensure the people on my team feel supported, safe, and respected. These are both minimum table stakes. If I'm not adding value, then I have failed, and similarly, even if I do add value, but do it in a way that makes people feel demoralized, disrespected or unsupported, I have still failed. Success

is accomplishing BOTH objectives simultaneously.

Leading a company to success is not an easy road to take. What inspired you to take the step of faith? What led you into this industry?

I have always been passionate about finding ways to leverage technology to make our jobs and lives easier. I started out in technology writing macros, creating templates, and designing and building databases. Over time this grew into a wider interest in all types of technology, but I found that many of my technology colleagues had difficulty explaining technology in a way that people could understand, so I jumped into more of a leadership role to help translate. It is not worth having technology that can make your life easier if you don't know how to use it.

Challenges make you stronger. What is your take on this? What were the

roadblocks that taught you valuable lessons in your professional journey?

I do think challenges make you stronger if you don't let them frustrate you to the point of giving up. Being a woman in a male-dominated field has certainly been a roadblock at different times in my career. Sometimes people assumed I was there to take notes or couldn't “be technical.” But I rose to that challenge by making sure I knew my stuff, and by having the confidence to recognize that while I might be different, that does not make me any less valuable. In fact, there is value in the differences. This definitely helped me with the gender challenge.

I also faced a challenge while managing a particularly long and complicated ERP implementation. The project had about 30 global resources. Time zones, cultural differences, and high expectations of the team all contributed to a difficult working environment. However, this forced me to think

creatively, standardize and increase the frequency of communications, and implement shifts with formal handover calls every day. This got the project done more quickly and improved my skills as a project manager.

Tell us more about Bentley Systems and its services.

Bentley Systems is the infrastructure engineering software company. We provide innovative software to advance the world's infrastructure – sustaining both the global economy and environment. Our industry-leading software solutions are used by professionals, and organizations of every size, for the design, construction, and operations of roads and bridges, rail and transit, water and wastewater, public works and utilities, buildings and campuses, mining, and industrial facilities. Our offerings include MicroStation-based applications for modeling and simulation, ProjectWise for project delivery,AssetWise for asset and network performance, Seequent's leading geosciences software portfolio, and the iTwin platform for infrastructure digital twins. Bentley Systems employs more than 4,000 colleagues and generates annual revenues of more than $800 million in 172 countries. Tell us about your contribution in redefining the growth of the company.

Bentley Systems is a forward-thinking technology company that is advancing infrastructure and looking into a future of interconnected digital twins – digital replications of the physical asset – so that everything can be done virtually before it is done in the real world. As CIO, I have focused on breaking down silos among teams and ensuring we keep our accounts foremost in mind. Before joining Bentley, I worked at an architecture, engineering, and construction firm. I was a Bentley

account for years. This outside-in perspective has been very useful in helping to point out how things we, as Bentley, might do will be perceived by our users and accounts.

How do you stay abreast with the growing competition in the industry?

It can be quite difficult to keep track of what the competition is doing. I try to stay abreast by reading industry publications, blogs, and visiting web sites. I also subscribe to newsletters and attend webinars and conferences. I think it is important for any leader to be sure they are constantly scanning the environment, talking with their peers, and gathering information from multiple sources.

What is your vision for the company and how do you wish to influence a change in the generation?

As I have stated, Bentley Systems is a great place to be. We are the

infrastructure engineering company, and we will continue to provide great software to our users and continue to be a supportive place to work for our colleagues. With the advent of digital twins, we have been able to help our users advance existing and new infrastructure. We achieve this by improving data quality and accessibility. Importantly, infrastructure digital twins can be achieved “in place,” without having to disrupt or replace existing workflows or systems. Digital twins are enabling us to be the premier technology provider to engineering organizations and design firms around the globe.

Tell us about your life before Bentley Systems.

I joined Bentley five-and-a-half years ago. Previously, I was the CIO of MWH, a global wet infrastructure engineering firm. I was with MWH for 19 years and wore several hats, including corporate trainer, project

manager, head of the PMO,Americas regional director, and CIO.

Tell us what marked the beginning of your career? What has been the best recognition that you received as a leader.

My career in IT began with my first database built inAccess. The database incorporated forms, reports, and input screens to make it easy to use and find information. The best recognition I ever received as a leader wasn't an award or a promotion. It was an offhand comment someone once made. They said “We should ask Claire. She's a straight-shooter.” I will always say it like it is.

What are your responsibilities as the CIO of Bentley Systems? Walk us through your regular day at work. Also, define yourself in one word.

As Bentley's CIO, I am responsible for a team of 200+ IT professionals. I maintain and update our IT strategy, operate governance processes, and steer projects through to completion. I have a lot of help and great leaders on my team who also work to provide world-class systems and desktops to our colleagues so they can deliver incredible products and great support, while ensuring we operate in a compliant and secure way.

Has it been difficult to thrive in the industry as a woman in lead?

When I started as a CIO in the engineering and construction industry, only 4% of CIOs in the top 500 infrastructure firms were women. People assumed I was there to take notes as someone's assistant. But I rose above that by making sure I knew my stuff, and by having the confidence to recognize that while I might be a woman, that does not make me less

valuable. And it is clear that the times are changing. Most companies now recognize that having a diverse workforce adds a different dimension to decision-making and team dynamics. There are more perspectives to consider, which leads to increased creativity, more innovation, and faster problem-solving. Numerous studies have also concluded that having diverse executive representation has led to increased profits, which means there are now many more women leaders than before. Not enough yet, but we have certainly made progress.

How do you maintain a balance in your personal and professional life? How do you keep your employees and yourself, motivated to deliver the best services?

Maintaining balance between home and work life can be very difficult, particularly in these days of ubiquitous working from home, social media and information overload, and the constant pressure to keep moving forward. Many of us became overloaded, depressed, anxious, and stuck in a work-life blur. I try to practice a few relatively simple things to keep things balanced as much as possible, such as:

•Having a separate space for my office

•Keeping to regular office hours, even though I'm not in an office right now

•Declining meetings when the work gets to be too much

•Taking vacation days

•Having specific actions and objectives related to my personal life

•Giving my personal activities time on my schedule, purposefully, to ensure balance

•Getting enough sleep

•Saying no to as much as I can that isn't vitally important to me –whether at work or in my personal life

What are your plans for the future of Bentley Systems?Also tell us about your personal goals as a leader. What is your message to aspiring women in lead?

In the future, I plan to be more out front working directly with CIOs and working with ourAccount Advancement and User Success teams on how to interact and work more effectively with CIOs, as opposed to heads of engineering, CTOs, and CFOs. We each have our own needs that should be catered to in a more customized way.

For women in leadership, I would say keep at it. It can be a lonely place, but by staying positive and pushing forward, we are setting the example and paving the way for those who follow us. And for women who are not yet in leadership but aspire to be so, find a mentor – man or woman. Or better yet, find several mentors who can each help you with a different aspect of your selfdevelopment. I have never known anyone refuse to mentor me, so don't be afraid to ask! You will benefit from the input and advice, and you will be building a network of people who want to help you succeed. No one ever gets there alone.

MANIT CHANDER

Bringing technology into the maritime industry

Manit Chander is a seasoned strategist obsessed with using technology to revolutionize the maritime industry. As the CEO of HiLo Maritime Risk Management, he is sailing the company on a high tide and is all set to take it to the next level.

All his early life, he was surrounded by three things: the ocean, ships, and white uniforms. Stepping into the maritime industry was a foregone conclusion.

An unorthodox style

With experience of both the startup and corporate worlds, Manit shaped the path for HiLo with the best of both styles. With corporations, it is all about setting a course and working on it until it is achieved. Contrary to this approach, in startups, it is important to stay agile. The end goal remains the same, but the steps to get there are

tested and changed until the best solution is found.

The HiLo takes advantage of the perks of both styles. The Board consists of seasoned experts of the corporate world who have vast experience in different areas of the industry. HiLo's in-house team works with a methodology that comes from the startup world. It is all about 'Build, Measure, and Learn.' The team builds a solution, measures the efficacy, learns from the mistakes, and repeats the process to grow further.

Unlike the corporate style, which says to keep following a single path and stay committed to it, Manit leads with startup-style which allows for U-turns while progressing forward, staying flexible with the working approach.

Understanding the problem is half the solution

Being a captain in the maritime

industry means that Manit has witnessed the problems faced by mariners closely and experienced them first-hand.AsAlbert Einstein quotes, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results." The maritime industry has approached maritime safety in the same way for decades, but lifethreatening incidents are still occurring. Manit worked with a dedicated group of seafarers across multiple companies to discover a, effective new way to prevent these high impact incidents.

Manit realized that the data in the maritime industry was not shared properly between shipping companies and other industry bodies. Many different systems were created to analyse the root causes of previous incidents and find insights from them. Manit and the team created a tool to look forward and prevent incidents from happening in the first place.

CEO, HiLo Maritime Risk Management

He combined his business and management skills with his experience in the maritime industry and piloted HiLo with a small number of companies. The predictive approach was shown to be effective. Following a balanced approach, he is solving the issues of the maritime industry with a data-based solution. HiLo became independent in 2018 and has increased its reach fivefold.

Conquer the fear to fail

Manit believes that it is vital to grab the hidden opportunities found in challenges. No doubt, challenges test a person's character, but to evolve into

a successful leader, a person should never be afraid to fail, because that is the best chance to learn and evolve.Being the victim of the circumstances will only add stress to the person's shoulders. So, it is necessary to look beyond the fear of the challenge to become stronger and climb the ladder of success.

For his whole life, Manit has seen every challenge as the next steppingstone to something exciting. When he witnessed maritime industry's data gap, he looked at it as an opportunity and grabbed the chance to create something unique that would help everyone in the industry.

He states, "It is all about staying strong, believing in yourself, and maintaining a never-give-up attitude. When you hit rock bottom, at that moment, you need to gather all your strength, rise without losing hope, and you will witness surprisingly good results."

Evolving with changing trends in the maritime industry

The maritime industry is going through a technology revolution. Every entity in the industry is going through a shift towards digitization. However, not every one of them is moving at the same pace. The gap

between the most and least technologically advanced is vast, creating a state of imbalance.

Manit is focusing on bridging the gap between these entities with HiLo. The company is using the power of Big DataAnalytics to meet the needs of shipping companies, while taking into account their varied levels of digitisation.HiLo is flexible, bringing all its customers to the same level of data-driven analysis, no matter where their starting point is.

He wants to remove the fear of sharing data in the industry to create better solutions for everyone. Besides improving the efficiency of safety campaigns to save lives of the mariners, Manit wants to improve the performance of every aspect of the industry through better data sharing.

To achieve all these goals, he framed two strongholds of HiLo, namely, Trust and Customer-centricity. Both these traits run across the company, both internally and externally. From decision-making to development, the team stays true to these core values. The company maintains a space where nobody has a fear of failing and has the opportunity to create better solutions that revolve around the customers.

Man on a mission

As the CEO of Hilo, HiLo supports his team to succeed. Manit follows a wide and strategic approach while leading the company upfront and takes on the challenges with a positive mindset. Team members are encouraged to speak their minds and share ideas without fear of being put down. This open communication is at the core of HiLo's innovation. H

He encourages the team to share stories of the impact that HiLo has on seafarers to show the real-life value of their hard. He makes sure that success stories are celebrated among team members as a reminder of what HiLo is achieving in the industry.

Doing all these things puts Manit in a challenging situation when it comes to balancing his work and personal life. However, he supports his team

members to lead a balanced life, and he himself, is looking forward to it –one day.

Top line vision for the company Manit aims transform HiLo into the maritime industry's knowledge centre. He expresses, "We should be the goto organization for everyone when it comes to safe sharing of data and getting meaningful results out of it.”

LYN DUNCAN

Is Artificial Intelligence less than our Intelligence?

The value of an idea lies in the execution of its implementation. It is often debated that if you bootstrap an already existing technology whose young chapters are yet to be experimented and brought into the light, the connotation reaps your mind in the ability to bring it faster. Lyn Duncan who is the CEO of CO2Analysis shares with us, her journey of a bootstrapped Information technology institute. She has spent her prism mostly in the field of technology throughout her professional career and has had scooped her next big discovery from the oil industry, telecoms, software development, and the hub of IT. Lyn shares that her experience as a CEO of cloudBuy Plc which she has had partnered with her husband was involved in generating the portfolios of developingAI wherein calculating the product level footprints. It was then in the year 2019, they discovered that they have through their portfolio

of technology can measure the level of carbon footprints seamlessly with an in-house practical tool that can assist in addressing climate change. This led to taking a subtle decision to buy out the technology from cloudBuy and focus on launching it in the market as a startup in the year 2020.

The

Digital Boulder of Data:

Keeping akin with the accuracy of Artificial Technology is a huge boulder since it lacks artifice and thereby intelligence. There were such a similar set of boulders that slugged the vision of wherewithal.As exclaimed by Lyn, the creation of the firstAI was a huge journey of 3 years that involved the KT joint venture between cloudBuy, Reading University, and Goldsmiths College, London with a gregarious team of 15 members. But, to illuminate the associates with the real-time data, the

purchased data for 6 NHS Trusts spanning 10 different finance and procurement systems were the dirtiest data they have had encountered. The data took a span of approximately 180 days to produce clean and detailed research which finally welcomed a ray of hope for further action.

Purview from fresh pair:

The scale of mess we leave behind is proportionate to the level of respect we have for others. The ordeal outcomes that we are leaving behind each day may be intangible for our bare pair of eyes but are tangible as a dark tornado for our future generations to witness and suffer. When major organizations witness the technologies revolving around carbon footprints, they just have ensconced their mind to these 3 scopes:

Scope 1: It is directly consumed fuel such as gas or petrol for a fleet.

Scope 2: It is electricity, steam, and other consumed energy.

Scope 3: It is everything else the organization buys.

If we trip down the focus one and two, that's the safe arena for Government mandated reporting since the level of carbon footprints are reported at a decreasing rate but when we just contemplate on scope three, it is a hub of its own that spews an approximate of 90% of the organization emission whose measurement is beyond capable in a meaningful manner. But, with theAI tool built by her institution, the private sectors and the organization of the public sector can have a clear cloud analysis across the three scopes

of the level of carbon impact being emitted by the products and services. By contemplating on the visibility in a detailed manner, the decisionmakers are able to generate more ROI by taking actions on reducing them. Artificial Intelligence is almost a humanities discipline that is really an attempt to understand human intelligence and human cognition under the same roof. Upon reflecting on the barriers of competitors, Lyn states that they have discovered no competitors yet for their global solution but there is always a hungry clown ready to replicate something similar which can be a later definition.

The funnel of Prospects:

Data never fails to beat an emotion, it

has been a similar rollercoaster ride with Lyn who believes that, in a startup, you get involved in every bit of everything wherein her major focus is concentrated on the sales and she looks forward to scratch the itch by boosting the bootstrap and develop her products and services in a fairly organic and reactive manner. In her pearl of wisdom, she expresses her joy by stating that interestingly during covid they have had the opportunity to directly engage with over 250 prospects in the UK and overseas and that has given birth to the creation of the foundation of the fast-growing business which she is forecasting to produce a pool of revenues in the ballpark of six figures in the year 2021 from the groundwork of 2020.

The Sacred devotion of Team:

An individual who is quietly confident transforms into a great leader for the generations to remember. Start-ups are barely accustomed to work-life balance as the swarming tasks wave within the distance of your eye lens and your retina looks like a crowded bridge during the early commencement months. During the recurring days of Covid-19, Lyn used to be on non-stop zoom meetings with her team but post a few months, the psychological storm of lack of human touch commenced bewildering the present. But this didn't halt her process to

march towards her vision and she claims to be practicing what she has preached intending to continue to do so.

Rewriting reality's restriction:

One should not limit oneself as it leads your abilities to be drowned without creating an impact. Upon reminiscing the future goals with her institution, Lyn shares the blueprint in a subtle manner. She exclaims that many of her private sector customers are global with operations across the world, so she has been working to extend the solution to support different currencies. She also shared

that her team is working with Health Care Without Harm and the WHO on a project to provide Carbon Footprinting to the BRICs and 6 other countries, largely based on the best practice work carried out with the NHS over the past decade.Along with this, her plan for global rollout is channel focused and she has her first partner aligned in NorthAmerica and the Middle East as well as in the UK and Europe. From her cloudBuy experience, she is going to take this steadily and consolidate her native market first, using the UK corporates with global reach as R&D and reference ability.

VERONICA CRISAFULLI

A Tech Entrepreneur

Trailblazing and Democratizing the Fintech Industry

Finance has been part of everyday life, nevertheless it was reserved for privileged individuals, says Veronica Crisafulli, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of MO Technologies. This has changed with the course of the last 10 years as technology has disrupted the traditional approach to finances. One of the frontrunners in the finance sector, Veronica believes technology has created new ways of democratizing finance, making it more accessible for millions of people around the world, who were left out of the traditional system: new products, new channels (digitalization), new marketing strategies, new risk approaches depending on the target.

Revolutionizing the credit space across the globe

Led by Veronica, MO is a fintech that aims to revolutionize the credit space

empowering credit inclusion, for the past 4 years since late 2016.At MO, Veronica and her team are committed with targeting the 3Bln users worldwide without access to traditional credit. “We do it through a SaaS business model licensing the technology to partners of all verticals from the financial industry to fintech, as well as non-financial industries such as CPGs, GIGs, BPOs and service companies,” she says.

Mo also has a proprietary, complementary, alternative, and innovative credit scoring technology which uses non-traditional variables along withArtificial Intelligence and Machine Learning models to evaluate the creditworthiness of a client. Additionally, MO has been focusing in creating a 360o credit solution for its partners: from the digital onboarding through a white label opendata platform to a credit management platform. “Just important to mention that this year we have been awarded

our first patent and we keep working hard to make the difference in our space,” Veronica further says.

Excellent commercial strategy and detailed business plan helped find right investors

Like every start up, one of the biggest challenges Veronica faced was the initial funding of the company but thanks to Mo's commercial strategy and detailed business plan, her team managed to find the right investors, so the lesson learned is to dedicate the right time to prepare the company's vision, expectations and financials. Finding the right and perfect talent was also a big challenge: “we wanted to create a very strong team of professional people and we wanted to have them deeply involved with MO. To do so, our “MOvers” are granted company's shares after the vesting period and they have bunch of

benefits compared to the other fintechs,” Veronica shares.

Since the beginning of her career, Veronica has always been in the TMT space. Therefore, technology has always fascinated her throughout her career. Years after starting her professional life, Veronica landed at Mastercard and it was there where she discovered her love for payments & digitalization and the importance of financial inclusion. “I also understood that the way to achieve financial inclusion was mixing my two passions: technology and finance/ payments. This is how an idea started

growing, and it was the idea of creating a technology with the objective of being a complementary one to the traditional financial sector. This is how MO was born. MO, a word that in roman dialect means “now” or “at this moment”, a word that represent speed and simplicity, characteristics that define MO: an easy and innovative technology company all cloud based,” Veronica says.

Driving change from the forefront of innovation

MO´s DNA, Veronica says, is

determined by technology and innovation.As the core of her business is developing integral credit solutions, Veronica and her team seek to be at the forefront of innovation throughArtificial Intelligence and Machine Learning models. Regarding the implementation of MO's projects, the tech firm has the capabilities to integrate with its partners through API. Veronica believes that a company's success is determined by its human talent. “At MO, we encourage constant education and a culture of respect for everyone to speak up and share their knowledge and points of view. My motto is

believe in transparency and constant education,” Veronica says.

The company's ultimate goal is to promote credit inclusion worldwide. Even though this seems like an unreachable goal, Veronica and her team know that they can contribute in many ways by focusing on entering new markets such as Europe and APAC, developing new products like Instant Overdraft and Premium Risk KPIs, which fulfill the market needs, and closing strategic alliances with major partners like Mastercard and others. In short, Veronica would like MO to be the credit technology provider to all Financial Institutions, Non-Financial Institutions and Service companies.

Meeting inspiring people who motivated to do and achieve more

Veronica considers her bosses, family and the people who believed in her since the beginning are her greatest achievements. She says she was lucky enough to meet them and that they are still inspiring and pushing her to go ahead and achieve more.Additionally,

she says she has been working in many countries and she always dreamed to create her own business with a good cause and be an example for women empowerment. She says that this is her greatest professional achievement so far. “As a person, I achieved to remain the same person as I always have been an energetic woman, passionate and dedicated,” she adds.

Veronica says she'd love to be present in all the areas of the company, but as MO has been growing exponentially in the past couple of years, she has been focusing my efforts mainly in defining the Strategy, Business Development & financial planning as main role. She is also responsible of People Management, as she believes in the importance of creating the right culture and in passing her knowledge and passion to her MOvers.

Veronica advises fellow aspiring businesswomen to; “love what you do and be confident about your decisions.Aspiring businesswomen should be risk takers, should never leave behind the human side of

businesses, because this human side is a key differentiator that is highly valued nowadays. Businesswoman should never feel less than somebody else, they should feel empowered.”

Moving ahead, MO will definitely be a major player in the fintech industry. Mo's presence will not only be limited to theAmericas, as Veronica plans to grow in Europe andAsia Pacific with new offices in Madrid, Spain and Singapore. “These new offices are strategically located in fintech hubs that will boost MO's expansion and help us reach the financial inclusion we are looking for. We will continue growing, not only with exceptional talent, but with new products that will respond to the market needs in this changing and dynamic environment,” Veronica concludes.

YASAF BURSHAN

Effectively Integrating Digital Technology

into All Areas of Your Business

Through providing an unparalleled customer experience, I applied all the wisdom and skills I gained in my career as an IT executive managing large-scale projects and programmes into the customer journey and project management methodology of Team Genius, "says Yasaf Burshan. He is the CEO and Founder of Team Genius, a firm that makes it easier for coaches, influencers, and mentors to succeed online by removing all technological barriers.

Yasaf had a successful career as an IT executive before founding Team Genius. He worked in the defence, financial, and retail sectors for 25 years, and is best known for his job as Head of IT for IKEAIsrael which he successfully fulfilled for almost a decade and had the pleasure of being a part of and contributing to the success of such an incredible business. He says "We scaled up from 1 to 6 stores, implemented massive

upgrades to the infrastructure and laid the foundations for additional future growth. It was an amazing experience on both the professional and personal levels.”

Yasaf has invested significant resources on personal development in the previous five years, from events and seminars to a Platinum partnership with Tony Robbins, to earning an NLP master's certification, and more. Throughout this journey, it became obvious to him that his creativity and voice had been stifled by his surroundings as he grew up, awakening him to make the decision to let them out. Team Genius plays an important part in this healing process, not only by allowing Yasaf to express himself creatively, but also by allowing creators all around the globe to unleash their creativity as well. He says, "I do have to give one special credit to Gay Hendricks for his book "The Big Leap" that inspired the name Team Genius. Gay, if by any

chance you get to read this, I can't thank you enough. You inspired me beyond words."

According to Yasaf, Team Genius' approach, along with its enthusiastic and dedicated team, creates a one-ofa-kind experience that results in 40% client retention. In such a competitive industry, he considers seeing such a high proportion of return business to be a great achievement.

Team Genius; a True Digital Partner

The aim of Team Genius is to inspire and empower creators to make an impact. The team does this by bridging the technological and human divide. That is to say, it offers Digital Strategy Consulting Services and assists customers in selecting the appropriate technologies to operate their businesses efficiently. The team also provide Business in a Box

solutions, in which they identify a specific collection of tools that each creator, coach, or mentor requires based on the type and stage of his business, without compromising on the personal touch each creator, and business so rightfully deserve.

Team Genius is a Thinkific agency partner, and it provides its customers with cutting-edge online course creation and marketing services, including everything from setting up the course and website to integrating with every other aspect of the business by harnessing the power of business automations, to creating high-converting sales funnels and paid advertising campaigns. Because the path to the zone of genius is not one that can be taken alone, knowledge brokers may obtain all of the resources and assistance they need in one spot. Yasaf asserts, "We are there to support, empower and guide them every step of the way."

CEO of Team Genius

Preserving and developing the culture of Team Genius is at the top of Yasaf's priority list. He says, "I ask myself every day, did I show up today to be the owner and CEO that Team Genius deserves? What and how can I do better?" He feels that getting team members to engage in projects from the beginning of budget estimations motivates them. He says, "If you participate in the design phase, you are more likely to be motivated to succeed."

Yasaf also ensures that Team Genius as a brand and the culture it symbolises is well-known and draws in the ideal clients. On a personal level, Yasaf is inspired by the success and influence of the creatives with whom the firm collaborates. He understands that the number of people he can reach and the topics he can educate are limited. When he empowers the creators individually

and as a team, however, there are no boundaries to the number of people he can reach or the topics he can cover.

Love, Communicate, and Live

"Communication," according to Yasaf, is the key to achieving balance. He claims that at home, he maintains an open and honest conversation focused on each other's goals and needs, rather than pointing fingers and complaining about what's missing. Every morning, he spends a few minutes doing a romantic or funky dance with his wife, then they set aside 90 minutes for each other to complete their daily rituals (meditation, power breaths, coffee, etc.) so they can get the day off to a good start. He says, "I'll be the first to admit that we are not perfect, but we are constantly getting better and better and that's the most important thing."

Learn toAccept

"If there is one thing I know, it is that plans are good for paper, or for the spread sheet that we use to write them on," says Yasaf. People tend to overestimate what they can accomplish in a year and underestimate what they can accomplish in a decade, according to him. This viewpoint simply accepts the reality that setbacks are unavoidable.

He believes that sometimes it's the universe just testing one's determination to reach that goal, or the time is just not right. He says, "The bottom line is that I realised right at the beginning that every roadblock is an opportunity to ask more empowering questions and look at reality using a different set of glasses."

AMultilayer View of Success

Success, according to Yasaf, may take various forms. He measures his success by the number of satisfied clients who tell him how their problem has been resolved or how they have learnt a new skill as a result of working with the team. Positive feedback regarding the quality of the service, he believes, is also a success.

Success, according to Yasaf, also includes seeing empowered workers and how they are better today as a result of learning and, hopefully, sharing something new. Yasaf says, "Success is seeing something that we planned for a long time come into shape and come to life, meaning that our vision was right."

Developing in Order to become more capable

Team Genius was founded as a

worldwide business with brilliant individuals working from home. This is also the way forward for the company. By the end of 2022, Yasaf expects the business to have grown in size and formed a team of 10-15 talented individuals, and this is only the beginning. Within three years, he envisions it being Thinkific's largest Expert-Agency partner for bespoke solutions, integrations, and business automations. He says, "I see Team Genius as something more than just a company or an organization. Team Genius has a spirit, a sole and a culture that I am committed to nurturing, promoting and witnessing how it grows. "

Yasaf's mission is to found an organisation that empowers creators by giving them the skills and information they need to become better at what they do and more effective at how they do it.

As per the company's mission statement, Yasaf also sees its mentorships programme evolving and growing at a global scale. He says, "Providing young entrepreneurs with the skills and encouragement to

pursue their dreams by delivering technical, personal, and business education. This will also include a scholarship programme to support and uplift candidates from lessempowered groups and provide them with the skills they need to become creators of the new world. The scholarship programme will also provide employment opportunities. Our leading students will get the opportunity to work with us after graduation and gain experience. “

According to Yasaf, Team Genius will continue to provide its customers with proven platforms and solutions to run their businesses effectively through partnerships with well-known brands like Microsoft and Monday, and it will continue to form new successful partnerships with world-class leaders, speakers, and creators to empower them to make an even greater impact. He states, "The future is bright for us. I am very excited.”

LAETITIA CAILLETEAU

A Progressive Leader Delivering Robust And Innovative Technology Solutions

All of us are constantly driven by the desire to succeed. However, success is a relative term, because what you may consider 'successful', may not fit someone else's definition. Laetitia Cailleteau, states that success for her is about making the world a better place, working as one with clients, communities, and her teams. Creating impact and being a change agent are essential elements of her definition of success. Staying balanced and grounded across all her roles - mother of three, wife, and daughter is an important aspect of her successful journey.

Laetitia is the Managing Director, DATA&AI Europe Lead, and the Global Lead for ConversationalAI for Accenture. She believes that the toughest part these days for many of us is to be in the now, to ride that crest and enjoy it. “I work hard at being present in the moment. But I've always got my eye on the future. I'm

always thinking of ways to lead my teams to have that greater impact, to master the transformations required to better serve our clients,” she says.

LeadingACompany To Success With CourageAndALeap Of Faith

The consulting industry, by default, always pushes you to the edge of a world of possibilities driving transformation and change. “The depth and breadth of the impact are exciting, especially in a company like Accenture that covers all industries and facets of transformation,” she states.

She strongly believes in the factwhat doesn't kill you makes you stronger. “The biggest roadblocks are the ones we learn from most, forcing deep reflection, causing us to question things, reassess and change course. It's hard to pinpoint specific roadblocks,” she explains. Laetitia's

job is all about pushing the boundaries of what's possible so perseverance, rethinking, and evolution are key.

There are precious few templates around how to be a woman and mother in such a demanding leadership role in tech. It requires vast stores of energy.And it requires constant awareness of the cultural stereotypes that must be resisted. “I can see meaningful progress in the industry but it's not happening quickly enough. The key is to grow your support networks with people who believe in you, who give you energy.And you must never stop believing in yourself,” she states.

The Services OfAccenture

Accenture is a global professional services company with cutting-edge capabilities in digital, cloud, and security. Their mix of specialist skills

and experience is, truly, unparalleled. They've got 674,000 people working across more than 40 industries. They offer services in Strategy and Consulting, Technology and Operations, and Interactive, all powered by the world's largest network ofAdvanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers.

“Without hesitation, I can say our people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, giving their best to clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, our people, our shareholders, partners, and communities,” exclaims Laetitia.

Vision ForABright Future

Laetitia believes that we have entered the 4th industrial revolution and that significant and accelerated change will power the world. She wants to be at the forefront of this movement - a shaper of a better future rather than a passive actor. She loves this quote by Churchill: If you don't take change by the hand, it will take you by the throat.

She strongly claims thatAccenture is the best place to work and that's not only her biased opinion, the market agrees. It has an inspirational ethos and mantra: 'Let there be change'. Change is the only constant and it is what unites them all to be the best at what they do.

Julie Sweet, their CEO, is spearheading their transformation, and Laetitia exclaims that being on this journey with her is very exciting. The organization is about living a purpose. “How we infuse the crossroads of technology and human

capability to deliver differentiated value to our clients is made possible only through the individuals here,” she says.

She believes that their talented people are what will carry them forward to even greater success. She also believes they must keep investing in a diverse employee base, as the diversity of thought and experience is what will allowAccenture to thrive in an evolving society. She is committed to creating a vibrant and engaging community to help shape the paths of people, allowing them to see how important they are for the company's future.

Women Empowerment & Representation

Women represent more than half of the global population. They tend to be superstars at emotional intelligence,

mastering versatility, and balancing various demands and needs.Asociety without the right level of women empowerment is a society that tends to be more divisive, power-hungry, and reactive, always firefighting. “We are essential in bringing more balance, openness, and harmony to our roles and we do it proactively –fact surveys and statistics tend to overlook,” says Laetitia.

Laetitia surrounds herself with a very diverse team in terms of gender, religion, social background, disabilities, age, and sexual orientation. She states that she knows her teammates well. “I know what they can bring at work but also what motivates them outside of the office. I also make time to see how junior staffers and new hires are getting on in my division. I recently created what I call #nofilter sessions for the 3,500 people aligned to Data &AI,”

she adds. She invites all of them to book 20 minutes with her to discuss anything they like.

Authenticity is key in these sessions and Laetitia openly shares her struggles and her coping strategies. She creates a safe space for people to open up, to show her their true selves, and let her help them navigate the workplace.Arecurring topic for working mothers is how to manage the guilt . She helps them find their ways and power in what others may see as quirks or vulnerabilities.

The ultimate recognition for Laetitia is the feedback she receives from members of her team and their clients. “It's often unexpected, coming out of the blue, and it's always appreciated. Knowing you're making a positive difference is such a great reward,” she exclaims.

ResponsibilitiesAs Managing Director

Laetitia, who defines herself as a visionary, is the lead forAccenture's Data &AI business for Europe, which means she's responsible for ensuring its strategic growth. Data is a key enabler for business growth and having the opportunity to lead the charge in this space is a phenomenal opportunity.

“I would say my days are far from regular. That's why I enjoy my work. Oscillating between client requests and the business the piece of work we're doing, means wearing multiple hats and constant multitasking. Every day is exciting,” she states. Laetitia thrives on the challenge of staying on top of market trends, innovating, and delivering leading-edge value to their clients is always on top of her mind.

Balance In Personal And Professional Life

Laetitia claims to be a very driven person and she is passionate about what she does. When she sets a goal for herself, she achieves it. That said, she states that she can't do it on her own. She has a fabulous support system. Her family understands the demands she places on herself and gives her the space to operate. Similarly, she recognizes that getting the balance right for herself and them requires the right dynamic. They create a good space to thrive as a whole.

Secondly, she surrounds herself with very smart, capable individuals. They are people she trusts, people who challenge her, people who are better than her, people who complement her and each other. Laetitia tries to create an environment for them to flourish. They create a north star and vision of what they would like to achieve as a business and consistently celebrate their successes. Giving teams autonomy and recognition sparks productivity and collaboration. It fosters growth and helps achieve shared objectives.

“It's also not always about work; we have great programs encouraging wellbeing. People are not

just a set of professional skills. We consider the whole person,” she says. In addition,Accenture provides a world of possibilities for reinvention. It's a great place for someone to define their space and their interest and drive their ambitions for growth. Laetitia states that when her team grows and is successful, so does the business. They strive to thrive together and that's how they keep raising the bar.

Pearls Of Wisdom For HerYounger Self &Aspiring Businesswomen

“I would give my younger self the gift of having more hope. Nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it. We are all humans, even the people at the very top of the career ladder. They are there because of their choices, their focus, their sacrifices, their hard work,” says Laetitia, “Where you come from may give you an advantage but it is not defining who you are. I'm proof of that, the proud daughter of a single teen mum,” she further adds.

She now has a fantastic mix of international experience, she's made a wonderful family, and she's achieved things that amaze her every day. Laetitia believes in herself, in her abilities, and took opportunities that she created or that presented themselves.

Her message for aspiring businesswomen is - don't compromise on your values and interests. These become your framework and guide to reaching your level of success. “In the end, what matters is to be passionate about what you're doing. Stop proving yourself and keep improving yourself; do it because it matters to you. The rewards and recognition will follow,” she adds.

PAUL CAMERON

Simplifying the Complexities of Technology

The business world is highly competitive, and the road to success is riddled with challenges, especially for a startup. Paul Cameron, founder & CEO of ServiceQUIK, used these obstacles as stepping stones to win in his corporate life and now leverages that experience in solving the problems faced by small and medium-sized business owners in harnessing the power and competitive advantages of technology.

Beginning of the Entrepreneurial Journey

Most of Paul's career has been in technological fields, and he has held several senior executive technology roles in the last 20 years. He was most recently the CIO of a large financial service organization followed by the global leader of technology services for the IBM Corporation, which he decided to step out of to start ServiceQUIK.

Along with his co-founder, they began their entrepreneurial journey by investing their own money and then convinced others to invest theirs in ServiceQUIK and their first brand - ZING.

Since the beginning, Paul has always been a leader with a vision and ideas to make things better. He states, “startups need cash, and the challenge is to convince others to invest in your vision. It's the same in the corporate world with investments.” He used to say to his team, “if this was your $1M, would you spend it in the same manner?”

ZING - The Everyday Hero for Business Owners

ServiceQUIK is incorporated in Singapore and the USAand designs, builds, delivers, and supports ZINGan affordable ERP designed for small and medium-sized businesses.

He states, “ZING is our core brand and built from the frustration my cofounder and I had in identifying, selecting, and deploying SaaS (Software as a Service) business technology in an earlier (now very successful) startup we established.” They needed 12 separate pieces of software – across POS, inventory, bookings, website, CRM, marketing, surveys, forms, loyalty, memberships, and more just to ensure their success. This is difficult for most SMB owners and very expensive and complex to deploy, which led to the idea of building ZING. It was designed from the ground up as an all-in-one, easy-touse, feature-rich, accessible and affordable solution designed for small and medium-size business owners.

He adds, “ZING helps our clients capture their business data cleanly from every touchpoint they have with a customer, then use ZING's insights

Founder & CEO, ZING

to identify growth opportunities and areas for improvement for the business owner early. We help them to grow, contribute to the SMB economy, and be successful.”

Redefining Business Management with The Power of Technology

All businesses now must rely on technology in one way or another to be competitive and gain an advantage. However, with the myriad of solutions available, it's super difficult to choose which is best suited, most affordable, easy to implement, and then use and operate. ZING is designed for the cloud. It straight away makes it accessible, affordable, and secure while taking the puzzle of technology out of the equation – so businesses can focus on actually running and growing their business.

ZING's model ensures it has access to all the business data and customer touchpoints through a central CRM (Client Relationship Management). The ZING dashboards can then drill down through the business data, provide visual representations of performance, and provide insights for improvement.

Challenges & Lessons

Within a few months of launching the startup, Paul's team was also struck down by the pandemic. COVID has had a significant impact on the world economy, and most businesses have been affected. He adds, “Two waves have hit us, and this has slowed us down considerably – while our team members slowly recovered and we reprioritized our work.” To Paul people come first, so they learned to be disciplined in their approach towards delivery and flexible with their workforce. He adds, “These blockers

will continue to strike, but we as a business also need to ensure we keep our cost base and overheads low, our ability to quickly pivot when required, and meet emerging challenges head on.

Life as CEO

Like most startups Paul wears many hats within the business; apart from leading the organization, he is the CFO, Investor Relations, HR, Strategy, Research & Development, Risk & Compliance, and Operations & Support. He also assists his cofounder with Sales, Marketing & Public Relations.As a startup, the leaders must cover off many roles and administrative functions, especially in the early days when cash is tight and frugality is vital. However, the switch must happen early in employing key people to free up space and ensure focus and efforts can shift to strategy and growth of the business.

He is driven by motivation and believes that starts with having the

right attitude. “My job is not to motivate but to lead talented and engaged teams that have the right attitude and are already motivated by inspiring them with our vision, strategy, and execution. Then basically removing the blockers to their success and get out of their way!”

Paul believes that establishing a strong culture is about inspiring people with vision and then ensuring they have the means to do what they do best and succeed.

AGlimpse at Paul's Personal Life

The day starts early, around 7, and he spends it working in their home office. Since they work bothAsian and European hours with a remote and distributed workforce, their day is quite long. He spends most evenings enjoying a great meal with a glass of wine to wind down and talk about the day, finishing off with some select TV viewing and a good night's sleep. He also finds time to visit the gym and

takes his mountain bike out about three times a week. He adds, “Weekends are for working too unless we have a social event. Though working hours shorten a little, it's a great time to test out new ideas, do some development work and get lots of research done that, more often than not, turns into a solution that our clients will enjoy.”

The other founder of ServiceQUIK is none other than Paul's wife and he is grateful for having such a great business and life partner in her. In his words - “I'm fortunate that my very talented co-founder is also my wife, and apart from working together, we also celebrate the highs and lows of running a startup together. We fondly call it 'champagne and razor blades,' and we have since learned to raise the lows, lower the highs, and maintain a comfortable balance. Quite frankly, working this hard – we wouldn't have

it any other way. We see the fruits of our labor immediately, especially in the feedback we receive from our clients. No founder can do this sort of thing alone, as they must have someone they can trust and believe in. We make a great team.”

Vision for the Company

“Our purpose is through amazing people; we build great products and services that our clients love, and to be envied and admired by our global peers and customers through our unique culture. In our business, we strive for clarity over certainty and course correction over perfection. Our goal is to become the world's best business management software for SMBs while abiding by our core values – trust, honesty, respect, and courage.”

Having already raised US$3M, ServiceQUIK is currently completing its SEED #2 capital raise. This will complete their sales & support testing, enter the US market, complete the build of our ZING ESSENTIAL Plus advanced product and launch the ZINGhealth brand, taking them to a potential SERIESAround in 12 months – which will ignite their growth phase.

Finally, Paul adds, “The next few years will see us grow our portfolio of products, extend our reach in the major markets and open new opportunities in EMEA and South America. I see our core ZING business experiencing exponential growth and our new ZINGhealth product growing rapidly by solving many of the problems in operating successful clinics in the health industry. We also want to have a lot of fun doing it, too!”

JANET SCHIJNS

Setting high goals for women in the tech industry

Being a firm believer in the saying of Thomas Edison, “Opportunity is missed by most because it's dressed in overalls and looks a lot like work,” Janet Schijns, CEO of JS Group, knows that the road to success is long and full of twists and turns. She believes success is not measured by money or power. Instead, it is a perfect combination of fulfilling one's promise to the team and customers while staying true to one's morals and living the best possible life.

The golden recipe to achieve success is to have a clear and concise plan, talent to fulfill the plan, and willingness to outwork one's competition to get to your goal.A person has to perform against all the odds to achieve victory and be willing to change when conditions change to achieve their goals.

Long journey to success

Janet stepped into the tech industry

by accident. In the early phase of her career, she was working in the cosmetic industry. She was working at L'oréal and was involved in an early CRM project for her sales team where she helped the technology vendor better translate their product to business-speak. The company then asked her if she would be interested in consulting for them to help them win more deals and expand their business share. She took the offer and never looked back. This way, she pivoted away from marketing to the technology sector.

Before JS Group, Janet served as a CVP and EVP at several large firms. She mentions, “I was the Chief Channel Executive for Motorola, Chief Channel Officer for Verizon, and Chief Merchant and Services Officer for Office Depot.

During my tenure in these firms, I launched and grew multi-billion dollar businesses that were key to the transformation of the company.”

Leading JS Group is a dream come true for Janet. She is able to disrupt the technology industry working with a highly talented team and create winning game plans that produce rewarding results.

She adds, “As we have built the company, we stay driven by a simple mission to #savethechannel; in other words, to ensure that the routes to market for technology are strong and capable of driving the needed technology adoption that drives the needed change in our world.”

Tackling the battles upfront

Janet believes, “Leaders are not born; they are carved out of their life-long experiences making mistakes, learning from the mistakes and finding a way to win.” Thus, she takes all the obstacles coming her way as a way to learn valuable lessons and advance towards new opportunities.

Founder & CEO, JS Group

She quotes, “What does not destroy us propels us to growth – it is our ability to see this and act on this belief that separates successful people from those who just desire to be successful.”

Being a female in the technology industry came with its own challenges. Janet was all alone, forced to quit or create her path. Having a strong will and determination, she structured her own path and tunneled through all her roadblocks.

To help other women in technology, she designed and created Tech Worlds Half, a safe space for women in technology to discuss their issues, career needs, and project needs and come together to keep women in the industry. She offers a piece of advice to all of us trying to navigate challenging times “be kinder than the situation calls for, show empathy and understanding in every situation, once you listen and learn the real reasons for change you can innovate”.

Redefining tech industry

The tech industry is always changing and evolving, and as a leader, one needs to bend that change to one's will. Besides being focused on the change, it is necessary to take a course of action that will lead to the desired outcome.

During her leadership tenure, Janet has evolved the channel approach for several Fortune 500 firms, taking slow and low growth via traditional routes to market and finding new routes to market that led to double and triple-digit growth.

She adds, “Shifting the industry towards recurrent revenue, as-aservice solutions sold and marketed

digitally has been a huge undertaking for our industry.

JS Group has developed and designed services to ease the journey for distribution, partners, and vendors. “

JS Group is a leading technology goto-market consulting firm. They offer services for channel evolution, marketing innovation, and sales enablement. Their industry-leading

programs include their PartnerExpert program designed to equip organizations with the skills and tools to sell via an indirect channel, their MarketAction Planning Process (MAP) developed to accelerate revenue and growth, and their 40x ROI Social Selling Program that helps firms get leads and close business in a location independent work environment.

Maintaining a perfect balance between Work and Home

Working as the CEO of JS Group, she has to wear multiple hats to ensure high company growth. She firmly opines, “Results are what matter. No amount of progress matters if the end result is not what was desired.” She leads the team towards their responsibility of delivering the results that they commit to for their clients while maintaining the team's wellbeing.

She states, “My regular day starts with reflection: What do we need to achieve? How are we progressing on our goals? How can I better support the team? My day then moves into a hectic schedule of client, industry, influencers, and mentees meetings as I look to ensure we are relevant and strongly positioned in the market.”

Janet is a team-oriented leader and knows that her team is a driving force in the industry as the technology sector faces unprecedented changes in sales, marketing, and channel. They work in restructuring the company's go-to-market, proffer innovative programs to capture share as well as open doors to the growing market. Capturing the growth that is inherent in the current market while building long term value is a key focus for the team.

Being a tenacious leader, she never gives up and always keeps moving ahead with her head held high and a sense of humor. For her, the best recognition comes from her daughter, who takes her mother as an inspiration and has recently joined the technology space with great results building a successful digital practice for clients.

However, in giving her best efforts, she sometimes has to make sacrifices at home. Nonetheless, she feels there is no such thing as work-life balance, it is a myth. As a leader it's more about a successful work-life blend in which she needs to ensure a healthy lifestyle that includes all the things that make her the person she is. To achieve this, she believes discipline is the thread that helps her in prioritizing herself both at work and at home.Also, when she makes a personal commitment she sticks with it, keeping her word is especially important. Her persistent efforts help her gain self-worth, which enables her to prioritize what is important without any guilt or FOMO.

Charting the Future of JS Group

The world is on a new path as we exit more than a year of isolation and remote work. Growth is now the name of the game and Janet and her team have evolved their offerings to ensure channel acceleration in the market while simultaneously being a good partner and excellent member of the industry. For that, they are on edge of innovation, building creative

new ways to maximize channel capacity while maximizing growth and crafting new ways to generate high margin revenue for their clients.

Personally, she looks forward to continuing mentoring women and supporting the cause of diversity in the industry. Helping others is a cornerstone of her leadership in the industry and one that she wants to ensure is her legacy in the technology space.

For aspiring business leaders, her special message is, “Write a plan, and document what you want. Then, go work on the plan changing it when needed but always keeping true to the plan's purpose. You will never achieve what you don't plan for, so this is the way to personal growth.”