Her Story
About Anabela
Anabela (Dacal) Sarti is a seasoned sales, marketing, and commercial operations executive with more than two decades of experience driving strategic growth, operational excellence, and large-scale transformation. She currently serves as Vice President of Global Commercial Operations at ADP, where she leads cross-functional teams within a complex matrixed organization. Throughout her career, she has been recognized for her ability to translate strategy into execution, strengthen sales performance, build scalable programs, and lead initiatives that deliver measurable business impact across global markets.
Her career journey has been anything but traditional. Anabela began her career at ADP over 23 years ago as an Executive Sales Administrator in New York City and has since become a three-time boomerang, returning to the organization after gaining experience in startup environments where she held multiple roles across sales, marketing, and operations. Each return to ADP expanded her perspective and strengthened her leadership capabilities. Over time, she pioneered and built many of her own roles, with approximately 95 percent of her positions not existing prior to her creating them. She played a key role in launching ADP’s telesales organization at a time when phone-based selling was still emerging and later established the program management office within sales operations. Her team functions as strategic partners and internal consultants, combining advisory-level thinking with the execution expertise required to deliver enterprise-wide transformation within ADP’s global structure.
Anabela’s leadership is defined by her entrepreneurial mindset, resilience, and commitment to continuous learning. Without a traditional college degree, she has built her career through hands-on experience, self-directed development, and a willingness to take on challenging roles that accelerated her growth. She approaches every position as a learning opportunity and credits the most demanding assignments with shaping her greatest development. Today, she leads with purpose, authenticity, and a strong focus on empowering others, helping teams and individuals achieve more than they thought possible while driving meaningful and lasting impact within the organization.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Anabela
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to being a single mother and the deep sense of purpose that came with it. My daughter became my greatest motivation and my “why,” as she did not choose the circumstances she was born into. I felt a strong responsibility to create a better, more stable future for her and to provide opportunities I did not have growing up. That responsibility shaped my focus and determination as I worked to build a safe and secure life for both of us. Every decision I made and every challenge I pursued was driven by the commitment to provide for her and open doors for her future. She continues to be the foundation of my drive, resilience, and success.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Be open to opportunities that scare you. You're never gonna know what you're capable of. I didn't grow up thinking HCM is going to be the space I'm going to build a career in, or I'm going to be leading a project management team, or I'm going to be starting up all these roles that didn't exist. You have to be curious and you have to challenge yourself to be open to the things that scare you, because the things that scared me, or the roles that I liked the least, are the ones that I grew with the most. They challenged me, and because I wanted to learn, and because that was my opportunity, that was my college. It led me to paths that I would have never chosen for myself, but I was open to them.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge and opportunity in my field right now is how we strategically leverage technology, particularly AI, to transform the way we work. While the past focus was on doing more with less through people and process efficiency, the shift today is toward using tools like large language models and embedded AI such as Copilot to accelerate work and elevate impact. Although AI will inevitably change certain roles, I see the greater opportunity in how it can enhance my team’s thinking, eliminate repetitive manual tasks, and position us to operate at a more strategic level. The goal is not just speed, but delivering more thoughtful, high-value outcomes rather than transactional, checkbox-driven work. At the same time, organizations are still figuring out how to effectively integrate these rapidly evolving tools, balancing new external solutions with the capabilities already built into existing platforms. Ultimately, success comes from redefining productivity so teams can spend less time on execution-heavy tasks and more time on strategic thinking, innovation, and decision-making that drives meaningful business value.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Integrity and character are really important to me. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Just be a good person - don't set people up, don't speak negatively about others behind their back. I'm also at a point in my life where I don't have time for that kind of behavior; I don't tolerate it well anymore. What's interesting is that I work in a corporate environment tied to Shark Tank, so I'm constantly navigating different personalities and dynamics. You learn quickly how to move through that while still staying grounded in who you are and what you stand for.
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