During her 20+ year career, Ann has been a recognized client advisor and expert in building brands, driving business transformation and designing and delivering digital experiences that generate business revenue and drive outcomes. Currently she is Managing Director, Senior Client Partner at Launch by NTT Data, part of one of the world’s largest end-to-end technology firms working with Fortune 500 companies to drive product innovation and best-in-class digital experiences in the healthcare, life sciences, financial services, consumer products and manufacturing sectors.
In addition to her leadership role, Ann has a passion for building community and keeps active in the Chicago business community having served on the Board of Directors for the American Marketing Association, Chicago chapter as President for 3 years, along with the Hellenic Professionals Society, Chicago Convergence Advisory Council and YWCA Circle of Friends. She is passionate about the transformative nature of technology to drive positive impact in the world, help her clients solve challenges and achieve their business goals, and has participated as a mentor for women leaders throughout her career. Beyond the business community, Ann is a frequent supporter of organizations like BUILD Chicago, Girls Inc and Compassion International.
Recently, in an exclusive interview with Digital First Magazine, Ann shared her professional trajectory, insights on diversity and inclusion in tech, the secret mantra behind her success, personal sources of inspiration, her favorite quote, future plans, words of wisdom, and much more. The following excerpts are taken from the interview.
Hi Ann. Please tell us about your career path. What experiences have brought you here?
I’ve been fortunate to have had a 20+ year career partnering with clients and solving some of their biggest business challenges. My marketing foundation early on allowed me to hone my strategic consulting, client leadership and multi-industry acumen across many verticals such as manufacturing, commercial, retail, food & beverage, healthcare and life sciences, financial services, telecom and B2B industries.
As digital and technology has advanced over the last two decades – marketing and the way to promote brands and engage new customers to drive growth has changed, and my career has followed suit. I’ve always believed in the power of customer experience being the best way to drive growth, and have been fortunate to work with firms at the leading edge of integrated and digital marketing, performance media, digital experience from Arc Worldwide (Publicis), Ogilvy, MARC USA, Rise Interactive, Dentsu and more recently in guiding digital transformation needs of clients on the consulting side with Prophet, Slalom and my current role at Launch by NTT DATA.
What do you love the most about your current role?
Driving best-in-class digital experiences and new product innovation as a way to help our clients engage customers and employees is in my opinion – the next frontier of marketing and at the top of every clients’ digital transformation agenda.
As a $30B and top 5 technology consulting firm – NTT DATA is really invested and has the scale to deliver this capability to the world’s biggest companies. Launch by NTT DATA is at the center of that within NTT helping clients create meaningful business outcomes through best-in-class digital experiences and product innovation.
I love the opportunity to work with a diverse set of clients across industries to help them solve their business challenges, drive their business forward and innovate in their respective industries.
What are the three major trends do you foresee in your industry in the next 12 months?
There’s a couple that are front and center. The first is a relentless focus on the customer and client experience. Customer experience has always been important, but as buyer personas have changed and post-COVID – customers are increasingly expecting a digital-first experience.
Engaging with customers on their terms, providing them with value, personalizing the experience for them is a critical need now for most companies. Experience-led organizations who get this right can leapfrog their competition and generate new business revenue, preference and market share. The second major trend is obviously AI. AI is on a fast track to fueling the next generation of innovation like the Industrial revolution did. It has the potential to impact all aspects of the world around us. What started as chatbots like ChatGPT and a focus on automation – will evolve into changing how people approach work, democratizing technology, advancing human capability as a co-pilot, creative partner and advisor. It has tremendous power in transforming the customers experience, product innovation and supply chain.
Most organizations haven’t clearly defined their strategy, data or technology requirements to implement it – but that’s increasingly becoming a need to align AI initiatives to broader business goals and ready their workforce to fully deploy AI. The large foundation models that power Generative AI, such as LLMs are being integrated into enterprise software tools and are being used from everything to re-defining CX through chatbots, generating ad campaigns, accelerating drug discovery, enabling smart manufacturing and more.
With the digital transformation trends mentioned here – senior leaders are increasing investments and innovation in AI, data and CX technologies, and the need to expand their partner ecosystem and develop, acquire and upskill their talent pool is critical.
The last trend which isn’t necessarily a trend as much as an increased level of accountability is that our clients are being tasked with delivering and measuring business outcomes for their investments more than ever. It can’t be innovation for the sake of innovation, it must be anchored to driving real business results, something we take very seriously at my firm, Launch by NTT DATA.
What are your thoughts on diversity and inclusion in your field? How important is it to have authentic conversations with leaders, professionals, and changemakers to create more acceptance across the globe?
DEI is a critical topic, not only does it play a pivotal role in creating an environment where employees feel valued and represented – it fosters a culture of trust, unity, employee satisfaction and equips employees to embrace change, diverse perspectives and fosters growth.
Beyond the cultural advantages, prioritizing leadership diversity has become a strategic business advantage as well. When done “authentically” and not just for PR – research consistently demonstrates that companies who embrace a culture of diversity and inclusion outperform the industry in terms of talent acquisition, retention and ultimately profitability. The long-term benefits for both organizations and its employees are completely a win-win strategy.
You were recently recognized as one of The Top 50 Women Leaders of Chicago for 2024. Our readers would love to know the secret mantra behind your success.
I’ve spent my career at firms where I’ve been dedicated to helping clients build their brands, drive business transformation and deliver digital experiences that generate business outcomes. I’m very passionate and absolutely love (borderline obsessed with) solving business challenges, delivering value to my organizations and clients, and I think that’s served me well in building trust in my professional life.
On top of that, I have a passion for mentoring, building community and have tried to keep active in the Chicago business community with my board roles at AMA Chicago, Hellenic Professionals Society, Chicago Convergency Advisory Council, YWCA Circle of Friends and others.
While I wasn’t expecting it, I’m incredibly grateful to have been named in Women We Admire’s Top 50 Women Leaders of Chicago list – there’s some incredibly talented women leaders on that list and am proud and humbled to have been included!
If you could have a one-hour meeting with someone famous who is alive, who would it be and why?
It’d probably be a toss-up between two people I find fascinating. The first is Elon Musk. While he’s been a controversial figure, especially lately – there’s no question he is by far one of the most inventive, revolutionary thinkers and disruptors of our time. From X.com, Paypal to Tesla, to Space X and his involvement in early OpenAI – he is always bold and unapologetic around breaking barriers and driving big innovation to create and revamp industries. I would love to understand what makes him tick as inventor, how he gets to design simplicity and how he envisions future innovation and technological advancements way before others do.
On the other end of the spectrum – I’d love to sit with the XIVth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Following in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., His Holiness the Dalai Lama is perhaps the greatest voice for peace in the world today. His accolades are obviously well regarded with the Nobel Peace Prize, US Congressional Gold Medal and his incredible base of admirers all around the world. His book “The Art of Happiness” really opened my eyes to new principles of living, and it would be such a privilege to sit across from him, gain from his wisdom, and perhaps share in a meditation practice.
Is there a particular person you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are?
I’ve been blessed with being surrounded by great people in my life, both personally and professionally. I’m always incredibly grateful to my parents – 1st generation immigrants who came to the United States from Greece to follow the American dream. Their courage, fearlessness, entrepreneurialism, tireless work ethic and people-focus really shaped who I am and the belief that you can make your future what you want it to be. I carry that with me to this day.
Professionally, I’ve been fortunate to have so many incredible clients, colleagues and mentors in my life. I believe we can all learn from each other and also believe in giving back that advice when the opportunity arises. Two notable people who I admire are Jean McLaren and her husband John Nitzche. They are among the most accomplished and generous people I am proud to now call friends. Their ongoing leadership and the way they live their lives in serving their community is very inspiring, and I am specifically mentioning them here to provide a platform to support their leadership work with BUILD Chicago, Girls Inc of Chicago– two organizations doing amazing and life-changing work to support youth in Chicago.
How do you keep your mind healthy and stay resilient? And how do you motivate your team?
Definitely a believer of work-life balance, and I try and mix it up to ensure a healthy level of physical, mental and creative balance. I’m a natural adventurer – love to hike and spend time in the mountains, every year I head to Greece for a complete re-charge in the mountains and ocean and I find that quick trips help keep me feeling energized and creative.
On a daily basis, simple meditation helps me greatly with mindfulness, keeping a sense of balance, being present and allowing for the right perspective when things can get chaotic. I definitely believe that investing and prioritizing in mental well-being helps us show up as our best selves both personally and professionally, and always encourages that for my team. In general, I tend to have a trusting leadership style with my teams – I believe that people want to inherently achieve their highest potential, and if you provide the right guidance and forum – they will aspire to that and drive the right results for clients, their teams and the company.
What is your favorite quote?
One of my favorite quotes is attributed to Abraham Lincoln and Peter Drucker and that is “The best way to predict the future, is to create it.” I truly believe that we are living in a time when there’s a tremendous of disruption and also opportunity through technological advancements to drive positive impact in the world, our communities and ourselves.
Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
Continuing my passion for helping clients solve their challenges and achieve their business goals and connect with their customers. I’d also like to get back into board work to contribute my talents to both different industries and in a social, non-profit type role, as well as mentoring and coaching other women leaders.
What advice would you give to women starting out on their career in the tech industry?
Technology tends to be a male-dominated field – it was less so in my earlier career in Marketing and Advertising, but I have found the more you get into technology – the more this is the case. A few words of advice I would offer is first, be confident in your skill set and expertise. Women suffer from feeling underqualified and “imposter syndrome.” Don’t give in to that, own the experience you have gained through the years, and know you are providing valuable expertise to your industry. Advocate for yourself and foster that same environment for other women leaders!
Second, be a lifelong learner – this is true in any field, but it’s especially true in technology as it is constantly evolving and changing and its critical to stay ahead of trends and curves to stay competitive in your field.
Third is to build and foster your network. It’s important to build a support system around you who both support you, but also people who think differently than you. Everyone in your network will have a impact on you – they can help you supercharge your career directly or indirectly and you can learn a great deal in both gaining advice, professional networking and mentoring.
Last learn from failure and look for positivity. The best success stories have come from a tremendous amount of failure, trial and error and taking risks. If you aren’t failing forward, you aren’t pushing the envelope. Keeping a positive mindset helps tremendously in taking the learnings and using them to catapult you to being a stronger leader, and much more valuable in driving forward momentum, business results and culture in your organization.