Thoughts, Musings and
Occasional Rants
Currently sitting on the boards of CMC Microsystems and EcoTank Canada, as well as an advisor to the Canadian Telecom Summit.
A 30 year veteran of the IT industry. A member of Women of Openstack, and Women in Comms, Van is active in showcasing and championing women in tech fields. Currently splitting her time in various open source commu
Currently sitting on the boards of CMC Microsystems and EcoTank Canada, as well as an advisor to the Canadian Telecom Summit.
A 30 year veteran of the IT industry. A member of Women of Openstack, and Women in Comms, Van is active in showcasing and championing women in tech fields. Currently splitting her time in various open source communities, she was the Chair of the Technical Steering Committee of Open Source Mano. She is also a former member of the Layer 123 NFV advisory board as well as a Linux Foundation Board Member. In addition, she spearheaded the VNF Onboarding Open Source community focused on rapid templating and automation of virtualized network function workloads.
Van attended the University of Toronto where she majored in Computer Science and Astro-Physics. Vanessa currently makes her home in Toronto Canada, where she enjoys spending her free time playing hockey, tennis and fishing.
I started in the IT industry very young, having hassled the local freenet so much that they offered me a job as a sysadmin. I was the precocious kid that had to reboot the dialup modems when they hung, reset passwords, installed system updates and kept the email server from crashing. That really lit the fire that became my passion f
I started in the IT industry very young, having hassled the local freenet so much that they offered me a job as a sysadmin. I was the precocious kid that had to reboot the dialup modems when they hung, reset passwords, installed system updates and kept the email server from crashing. That really lit the fire that became my passion for technology. I believe it takes a specific type of personality that can become a female CTO in what has been a very male dominated industry. Saying I am able to navigate difficult situations and find a unique path to success would be an understatement. Throughout my career, I have always challenged the status quo, and questioned "why can't we do this any better?" Then followed those questions up with a plan on what to do, and how to get it done. I've been described as a change agent who has been known to step out of my lane when I needed to. While at EMC (formerly VCE) I saw a market need for a telecom focused platform, qualified the market, lead the technology build of the platform and built the go to market strategy for it. I was not asked, I saw the opportunity and took action. That platform generated millions in new revenue the first year it was deployed. I believe that was why I was noticed and hand picked by VMware to be one of the founding members of their telecom vertical. I examined the landscape, assessed what was needed and built it. In this instance I first built the global ecosystem and programs to support it and then later built the R&D strategy and lead 3 global innovation lab teams. I also found creative ways to fund the innovation and development that gave us the competitive edge in the market. By the 3rd year we were closing 100 million dollar deals in Europe, APJ as well as North America. I think it is worth mentioning that I have had some experience on the technology side of loyalty programs, having worked in technical roles at Shoppers Drug Mart and Airmiles (now LoyaltyOne). While those experiences were a while ago, I believe that the knowledge gained of that industry has granted me a lot of insight in to how powerful data and patterns can be. As I progressed through my career I have put considerable time and effort in to becoming a trusted and recognized technology leader by authoring white papers, speaking at conferences, being interviewed by analysts, sitting on various podcasts. At this point I am sought after for my advice and expertise by industry partners, customer executives. I have also won a number of awards and been recognized for my achievements including being recognized as a "Top 10 Inspiring CTO". I am now able to use my years of experience in the tech industry as a Board member for companies and organizations. I also use my experiences as a tool to mentor young women who are exploring careers in technology and hopefully help clear some of the roadblocks that I faced when I was young, so that they do not have to. I am passionate about Diversity and Inclusion, and volunteer my time and services to a number of organizations that further that agenda. One of my more recent passions is exploring practical opportunities to leverage AI as a means of generating new revenue. I have recently brought a new solution to market in that arena that I am particularly proud of.
I've spent a good deal of my career as a consultant. At this point I am more focused on business and technology strategy, but here are some of the highlights throughout the years:
I've spent a good deal of my career as a consultant. At this point I am more focused on business and technology strategy, but here are some of the highlights throughout the years:
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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