Her Story
About Michelle
I have been in my field for my entire career, over 35 years now. I came into the technology space as a developer and have worked my way across many facets of managed service providers, from sales to support to development to operations. I've been very fortunate in my career to work for some fast-growing organizations that have allowed me those opportunities. While I thought I would be more technical in nature when I started, I quickly found that my passion for leadership and mentoring and growing others evolved me into leadership positions, regardless if I went back to individual contributor roles or not. My passion for organizational change and optimization and growth, from client to employee satisfaction to revenue and expense management, has led me to where I am today. I've held COO positions at multiple organizations for the past 22 years. Right now, I'm working with a couple different clients, focusing on operational efficiency to help companies grow through sustainability, partnerships, optimizing their environment, and finding cost-effective solutions and the right mix of people to help them grow and evolve.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Michelle
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would have to say mentorship throughout my career, mentors that allowed us the autonomy to grow in a role beyond a specific job description. My ability to work across different industries, not just specific to technology, but working in healthcare, financial services, automotive - we serviced and touched very different clients. Understanding how to help multiple organizations across different industries grow and evolve has been key. The challenges are similar, the technology may be different, but the challenges are very similar to growth, and that's operational efficiency.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I just did a podcast on this actually. The thing that stood out for me in my career was, you know, you always feel like you're competing with men in your space, and you have to be perfect, and you have to be better. And it's really not the case. You have to bring what your specialty is, what you can bring to the table, and you have to have a voice and be heard, and be able to command that room, whether it's a boardroom, a client meeting, whatever it may be, and be seen for that value and the expertise that you have.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
AI definitely comes with its challenges, especially in the technology space. Security is one big challenge with AI, and organizations just thinking that AI can help them evolve without really understanding the impact it can have on security and data being exposed. We're doing a focus of events around AI starting in May, and how to equip organizations, whether they be MSPs or other technology firms, to be ready to move into AI and what they should be focused on. I think it's definitely out there in every aspect of our lives, even our personal lives, but being aware of the challenges of that is very important.
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