Tara Anderson is a social performance CEO, Director and MBA with a global career spanning Australia, the UK and Europe, dedicated to making ‘business for good’ simply business as usual. A pragmatic idealist, she blends commercial strategy with deep social impact expertise and relentless optimism to build a fairer economy. She brings almost 20 years of leadership across charities, social enterprises and industry bodies, partnering with big business, government and philanthropy.

Tara is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Social Traders, Australia’s industry body for social enterprise and social performance. She leads a national team working to reshape business practice to embed social value and position social enterprise at the heart of the economy. Prior to becoming CEO, she was the Executive Director of Strategy & Growth, driving national expansion, impact strategy, innovation, partnerships and brand transformation.

She is also Co-Founder and Director of The Dragonfly Collective, an internationally recognised consultancy supporting for purpose organisations to strengthen business models, diversify revenue and scale their impact. Tara has contributed to sector wide strategy and governance through board roles with Social Enterprise Australia and On Purpose International. Her earlier career spans senior roles in major UK and Australian social enterprises and charities, where she led organisational strategy, business model redesign, brand transformation and largescale impact initiatives.

Tara holds an MBA, a Masters in Social Innovation, a Bachelor in Communications, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Energised by talented people who challenge the status quo, Tara is committed to inspiring business leaders to rethink what’s possible when purpose and performance work together. Her ambition is to build a stronger, more collaborative for purpose ecosystem – one that leads the economy to make social performance not the exception, but the norm.

Interview

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements:
I grew up in a family that made choices between putting food on the table and turning on the heating. That sparked a deep sense of injustice in me, which led me to a career in the for-purpose sector – I wanted to fight inequality. I’ve spent my career to date exploring different mechanisms to address systemic injustice. Beginning in the charity sector at a large NFP, I built a strong understanding of the charitable model. After becoming the youngest member of the executive team in the organisation’s history, I set out to explore more alternative ways to change the system that worked upstream on root causes rather than downstream on symptoms.

In 2013 my partner and I packed our lives into two suitcases and left Australia. I volunteered in Tanzania, completed a Masters of Social Innovation in Austria, and we setup a for-purpose consultancy. After moving to London, I joined a social enterprise and found the social change model that felt right: blending the heart of a charity with the head of a corporate (self-sustaining social impact). I completed my MBA, specialising in for-purpose business models, and received the Beta Gamma Sigma award for results in the top 10%.

I then joined an industry body for place-based social enterprises, and found the role where I felt I could best contribute: building the ecosystem for for-purpose business practices to scale and thrive. I joined the Board of On Purpose, working in Europe to transition business leaders into the for-purpose sector. After seven years in London, we returned to Australia. I joined the Social Traders executive team and was promoted to CEO within two years at age 37. I was a Founding Director of Social Enterprise Australia, helping build a more recognised and cohesive social enterprise sector.  I am now leading Social Traders next evolution to embed social performance into corporate practice - making social value part of everyday business. Because if we can change the practices of corporate Australia, we can change the economy. And that’s how we can build a fairer and more equitable Australia. For the little girl I once was, and for all of us.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select: 

Making a positive difference (either in your organisation or generally) + social value (ethics and sustainability initiatives)
I see my career purpose as helping build a fairer and more inclusive economy. My passion is working at the intersection of business and social impact – changing how business thinks and behaves to understand that purpose is a competitive advantage. I am currently leading the Social Traders team in the implementation of our new strategy – to inspire and educate business to embed social performance, and scaling the social enterprise sector as the pioneers of impact through business. I dedicate a significant portion of my time to advocacy – influencing government to implement social procurement policy, and influencing the corporate sector to implement social performance strategies and buy from social enterprises. In my time as CEO we have worked with over 150 of Australia’s largest businesses and seen corporate buying from social enterprise increase by 21% - from $213m per year to $257m per year. We’ve also influenced four state/territory governments to engage in social enterprise procurement, as well as the Commonwealth Government for the first time. At the same time we’ve supported almost 800 social enterprises through certification and corporate contracts, and delivered world leading industry research on the social enterprise model.

Leadership + inspiring and influencing others 
My leadership is defined by clarity, humanity, courage and a commitment to challenging the status quo. I have a history of taking leadership of people who have been disengaged and unproductive, and building high performing and happy teams. As CEO of Social Traders I rebuilt staff engagement from 64% to 94% within my first year. I have been promoted into higher levels of leadership in every role I’ve held since high school. I believe that good leadership is a combination of humility and strength, and see my role as setting the direction then creating an environment where people can bring their best selves to work. That’s about making sure people are in roles that play to their strengths (and restructuring teams where needed), giving people permission to be “humans first and workers second” (part of our values statement at Social Traders), and ensuring poor performance is actively managed (making the hard decisions where needed).

I also lead and influence at an industry level. In every role I’ve held, I have established and led industry-wide collaborations to join up work for the greater good. Inspiring and influencing others to join collaborations is not always easy, but I’ve been able to repeatedly establish successful and impactful partnerships. One example is a collaboration of the 12 leading industry bodies in the community sector in the UK, where I setup and chaired a project where all parties centralised their support resources into a new shared online platform to make it easier for community organisations to access advice.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
Resilience is about the combination of strong organisational strategy, and personal tenacity and humanity. From a strategic organisational perspective, resilience comes from flexibility and adaptability – the strongest branches are the ones that bend without breaking. In practice this is about continuously monitoring the operating environment, adapting as markets and conditions shift, and keeping focussed on the long-term view. I build organisations that have strong awareness of market and competitor activity, and are empowered to respond by testing new ideas and breaking old tools/systems that no longer work. One of the most important aspects in this kind of agile response is permission to fail. The Social Traders team know that failure isn’t a mistake, it’s a lesson that leaves us wiser than if we’d never tried. At Social Traders we responded to increasing competition and saturation in the social procurement market not with concern, but by exploring the emerging opportunity of social performance (the ‘S’ in ESG) and rebuilt our entire product offer through a process of testing and learning.

At a personal level, resilience comes from building a culture that believes that setbacks are to be expected, but not feared. Instilling a confident response in my team at a personal level comes from role-modelling optimistic responses and normalising turbulence. Social Traders has faced significant challenges in the past 18 months from sector competitors, some of which have felt very personal. Through these challenges I’ve encouraged open conversations at all levels of the team by keeping the team informed, sharing my decision-making process, and allowing the team to express their feelings and frustrations. I’ve invited feedback from the team on my own responses, and encouraged them to reflect too. And I encourage the team to take a bigger picture perspective – we’ve faced and overcome challenges in the past, and we’ll do the same again. The combination of confident leadership with vulnerable and open sharing in the ‘messy middle’ gives the team permission for a human response as well as the ability to tackle the challenge head on. With these strategic and personal responses embedded in culture, the teams I lead are able to respond to challenges with resilience.

Jacqui is an accomplished senior executive with 40 years’ multi-sector experience in the public and private sector. She has developed and delivered strategies, collaborative alliance models and commercial incentive schemes for multiple enterprises and complex programmes. As a senior hospital leader commissioning healthcare services in her early career, Jacqui developed a method for effective collaboration to deliver outcomes. Demonstrating foresight and innovative thought leadership, she and her colleagues created the first outcome-based agreements for Rolls-Royce partners in the late 1990s. She is adept at transforming enterprise strategies, delivery systems, contracting methods and commercial relationships to drive the best overall outcomes for all parties. Her cross-cutting sector knowledge (health, civil aerospace, upstream oil and gas, naval defence, naval nuclear, civil nuclear and major infrastructure) means she collaborates effectively with stakeholders at all levels to build trust, linkage and alignment. Demonstrating her dedication and contribution to international commercial best practice, Jacqui is recognised as a World Commerce and Contracting Fellow and is a certified A Grade Senior Government Commercial Specialist (UK). She is a published co-author on collaborative commercial arrangements (Vested Outsourcing Manual, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011). She created a sustainable value management system to drive value and positive impact for planet, people and society for the Ministry of Justice. She is an international speaker and the award-winning author of a 60-hour digital education programme in sustainable commercial best practice. She created a successful strategic commercial advisory business and has built collaborative relationships and innovative commercial solutions for organisations and clients across America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa.

Interview

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements:
Looking back over the past 40 years it really does seem to have gone in a flash!  From my early days in the NHS focused on delivering outcomes for patients to my exciting new global role shaping strategic commercial management for AECOM and bringing decades of best practice to our client’s most complex and integrated programs.   At the root of my professional ethos is a burning curiosity for excellence that never faded, to be part of the ingenuity and resourcefulness of people pulling together to solve those tricky things that contracts can never anticipate is what keeps me going.  The sheer power of a collaborative, outcomes focused mindset has been fuel for my career journey.  It really is quite something to experience when all parties intentionally bring open minds and their best thinking instead of the hard ball negotiations and entrenched “positions” I experienced in the 1990s and early noughties.  As more organisations begin to embrace enterprise level collaboration and help each other to deliver best value, we are increasingly delivering positive impacts for the people who deliver the work across vast supply chains, driving real benefits for the communities and societies impacted by large scale mega investments.   Even to be involved in some of the world’s most complex programs, including transforming the commercial delivery strategy for the High Speed 2, rolling stock and rail systems portfolio and helping out with the LA28 Games is a privilege.  I’ve also played a key role in nuclear decommissioning improving governance and contract performance, unlocking deadlock in collaboration with the supply chain, and have worked on high-profile defence projects such as the Type 26 Global Combat Ship Programme.  I found my secret advantage was to seek out new programs and counterbalance hierarchical, command and control attitudes with small, agile and integrated teams, empowered to go figure stuff out together, experiment, test and verify and drive overall system success.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select: 

Leadership Approach
When I seek feedback from my clients and colleagues, I often hear “innovative and inspirational”, I think because I’m comfortable to get my sleeves rolled up with everyone else and have a go and try something new out just to test if it could work.  I was never impressed by leaders with blame throwers and poor judgment.  It’s just so limiting and erodes true systemic value.  No one wants to be “that” leader or be led by them.  I made a moral decision in my early commercial practice to do the right thing always, never blur the line or compromise my integrity.  I promised I’d use my leadership skills and emotional intelligence as a force for good, to positively showcase the great work of my teams, empower them, build their inner confidence and championing their success.  Teams need to explore their own way through complex issues and let glimmers of solutions emerge from open, high-quality conversations.

Bravery and Moral Courage
Our ability to share, be open, explore and solve complex problems together will always build systemic trust and value will always emerge from it, even if you think it’s hard at the time – value is dynamic, it needs to be watered and nurtured.  My team at HS2 were so talented yet faced constant challenge from a flawed governance system that instead of rewarding openness and transparency, rewarded sweeping the bad news that the budget was busted under the carpet.  This created an incredible pressure to make short term decisions that were not ethically sound.  As the scale of the embedded program cost issues came to light, I reset the rail systems estimates and enabled collaborative dialogue with the supply chain eventually resulting in the ability to award the alliance contracts.

I created a psychologically safe place for my team to be every day.  I gave them an opportunity to showcase best practice at our monthly face-to-face team meetings, and encouraged them to build their own development journey’s, proud to be delivering exceptional results in exceptionally challenging circumstances.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community: 
Resilience is often described as the ability to bounce back when faced with uncertainty.  It’s a handy “trait”.   What if we were able to bounce through, over or not need to bounce at all?  Most living systems have evolved from other connected systems to form more complex and interdependent ecosystems – a sort of system within a system.  Systems have inherent buffers and tipping points and systems can breakdown and form new relationships at different places in the systems hierarchy to build natural resilience.

Understanding how this happens is a great place to start understanding resilience.  I recommend “Thinking in Systems”, a wonderful book by Donella Meadows.  Her book taught me how to think about systems in a new way so that I could plan to intervene earlier and build up resistance to up and coming shocks and to avoid breaching harmful buffers or going too close to tipping points that might erode my resilience, team resilience, supply chain resilience and enterprise resilience.

Over the years I’ve discovered a number of really simple hints and tips that help build resilience at all relationship levels and work well without heaps of paperwork too:

• Empower people to work in collaborative high performing teams,
• Align goals of multiple parties to focus on clear outcomes,
• Unifying stakeholders, and engage in transformative thinking,
• Encourage pragmatic and constructive pilots and try out solutions,
• Build a no-blame culture, with clean governance to resolve conflict,
• Foster innovation, flexibility and proactive enterprise level learning,
• Role model Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, diversity is resilient by design

Christina Blacklaws is a trailblazing leader in law, inclusivity, and innovation with over 30 years’ experience across public, private, and charitable sectors. Former President of the Law Society of England & Wales, she represented 200,000 solicitors, spearheaded the Women in Leadership in Law initiative, and served as a trusted spokesperson on justice and regulation. Christina has chaired multiple government‑appointed panels, including the LawTech UK Panel, advancing legal innovation through programmes backed by the Ministry of Justice, and the Judicial Pension Board. She also served on the King’s Counsel Selection Panel, shaping policy and competency‑based appointments, and has advised universities and regulators on diversity and governance.

Her portfolio career includes non‑executive directorships across leading law firms, fiduciary businesses, and a regtech scale‑up, where she chairs Audit, Risk, and Diversity Committees. Christina is also Chair of the Civil Liberties Trust and serves on the Councils of Justice, the International Bar Association, and the Human Rights Institute. A TEDx speaker on algorithmic bias, she is widely recognised for her thought leadership in lawtech, ethics, and diversity, and speaks internationally on innovation and inclusion.

An Honorary Fellow of Oxford and Liverpool Universities, Christina remains committed to championing access to justice, social mobility, and inclusive innovation. Her career reflects a consistent drive to modernise legal practice, empower underrepresented voices, and embed resilience in organisations and communities.

Interview

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
My professional journey has been defined by a commitment to innovation, inclusion, and access to justice. After qualifying as a solicitor in 1991, I specialised in children’s rights and welfare, representing some of the most vulnerable in society in complex and often life‑changing cases. This early work instilled in me a deep belief in the importance of the rule of law and the need to ensure that legal systems serve everyone fairly.

In 2006, I founded Blacklaws Davis LLP, pioneering a contract lawyering model supported by bespoke technologies. This firm grew into one of the UK’s largest specialist family law practices, demonstrating how innovation can expand reach and improve service delivery. I later established the UK’s first Alternative Business Structure with the Co-op Group when I became Statutory Director of Co‑operative Legal Services. I designed, developed, and delivered innovative legal services to hundreds of thousands annually.

As COO of Cripps LLP, I led strategic transformation, embedding agile working, diversity initiatives, and risk‑aware governance. Alongside my executive roles, I have always held voluntary campaigning and representative positions. In 2018, I was elected President of the Law Society of England & Wales, representing 200,000 solicitors. I spearheaded the Women in Leadership in Law initiative, convening global roundtables, publishing reports, and launching the Women in Law Pledge.

I have chaired government panels including the LawTech UK Panel and the Judicial Pension Board, served on the King’s Counsel Selection Panel, and advised universities and regulators. Today, I hold multiple non‑executive directorships, chair the Civil Liberties Trust, sit on the government’s English Law Promotion Panel and on the Council of the International Bar Association and the Human Rights Institute. I continue to speak, write and advise internationally on diversity, governance, and innovation.

Across three decades, my work has consistently sought to modernise legal practice, champion equality, and strengthen the rule of law.

 Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select

Leadership
As President of the Law Society, I led one of the world’s largest professional bodies, chairing its Council and Strategic Litigation Group. I represented the profession internationally, meeting ministers and regulators across 30 countries in a single year and acted as spokesperson across national and international media.

I also lead on important government initiatives such as LawTech UK, which sits at the nexus of law and technology and has significant international reach. My leadership style is collaborative yet decisive, ensuring strategic clarity while empowering others to contribute. Across various organisations, I have driven strategic change and cultural transformation, embedded agile working and diversity initiatives, and introduced new operating models that strengthened resilience.

Supporting Diversity and Inclusion
I have spent a professional lifetime engaged in and supporting DEI initiatives. I designed and delivered the Women in Leadership in Law campaign, the largest global survey of women in the profession, followed by 250 roundtables and three reports. This culminated in the Women in Law Pledge, backed by government and representative bodies worldwide, which continues to drive positive change across the sector.

I have advised Exeter College, Oxford University on diversity strategies and continue to champion inclusion through my work on the Advisory Board of the International Bar Association’s Women Lawyers Committee, where I designed a Male Allies programme to engage men in advancing gender equity.

My work has consistently sought to dismantle barriers, amplify underrepresented voices, and embed equity into governance and practice. Whether through leading large‑scale initiatives, advising institutions, or mentoring individuals, I have sought to create environments where diverse perspectives are valued and where systemic change is possible. Leadership and inclusion are not separate strands of my career but deeply intertwined, shaping every role I have held and every initiative I have led.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
Resilience is built through foresight, inclusivity, and adaptability. At Cripps LLP, I introduced agile working and process‑oriented service delivery, ensuring the firm could withstand market volatility and respond effectively to client needs. As chair of the Judicial Pension Board, I oversaw complex reforms, balancing sustainability with fairness for the judiciary, and embedding governance frameworks that safeguarded long‑term stability. My leadership of the LawTech UK Panel has focused on equipping the legal profession, especially SMEs and the third sector, with tools to thrive in uncertain technological landscapes, ensuring that innovation is accessible and future‑proof.

Community resilience has been central to my work. Through LawWorks, the Civil Liberties Trust, and the Human Rights Institute, I have championed access to justice and human rights, ensuring vulnerable groups retain support even in times of austerity. I believe resilience is not only about weathering crises but embedding values—diversity, ethics, and innovation—that enable organisations and communities to flourish long‑term.

In my work as a mentor, primarily to under-represented women, I have always sought to support their sense of self and empower them to be resilient in what is a challenging career.

Resilience also requires investment in people. I have consistently worked to foster inclusive cultures where individuals feel empowered to adapt with confidence. This has included mentoring future leaders, embedding diversity into governance structures, and championing wellbeing and social mobility. By combining technological foresight with human‑centred leadership, I have sought to build organisations that are not only robust but agile, able to pivot in response to external pressures while staying true to their values.

Ultimately, resilience is about creating systems that endure and evolve. Whether through embedding agile practices in law firms, shaping national policy on pensions, or advancing lawtech innovation, my focus has been on ensuring that institutions and communities are equipped to meet uncertainty with strength, adaptability, and purpose. 

Karen Blake is a DEI strategist, policy expert, and organisational transformation specialist focused on digital inclusion and tech sector diversity. She currently supports the Local Government Association on Digital Innovation and Partnerships. As a consultant, she advises corporates and policymakers on industry standards, AI workforce strategy, and skills development.

As former co-CEO of Tech Talent Charter, Karen co-led a network of over 800 organisations committed to driving diversity in tech. She also co-authored the Lovelace Report, an influential economic study examining why women leave the technology sector. Karen brings cross-sector expertise and a data-driven approach to creating systemic change, moving organisations beyond performative initiatives toward measurable, lasting impact.

Interview

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements:

My career has been purposefully squiggly, spanning consulting, policy research, organisational leadership and social impact work. But through every twist and turn, I've been anchored by a commitment to people, equity and evidence-based change. The best part has been the passionate, brilliant people I've met along the way who've shaped how I think and work.

I began my journey in Big Four firms, where I developed analytical rigour and the ability to deliver under pressure across global portfolios. That grounding powered my transition into policy and systems-level research, including specialist work supporting government and policymakers.

As Co-CEO of the Tech Talent Charter, I worked alongside 800+ member organisations and incredible colleagues to strengthen the UK tech ecosystem. Together, we created national datasets, sector benchmarks and inclusion frameworks that shaped strategy for hundreds of employers and influenced government white papers. This work reinforced something I believe profoundly: inclusive practice isn't a nice-to-have or a side note. It's fundamental to organisational resilience and long-term success.

In subsequent roles, I've continued combining behavioural insights, economic analysis and data-driven programme design to address systemic inequalities. I co-authored the Lovelace Report, an evidence-led study launched in Parliament, now driving national conversations about gender inclusion in tech.

Throughout my unconventional career, the constant thread has been people: understanding their experiences, removing barriers, and proving, with data, that when we build environments where everyone belongs, organisations and communities become stronger together. That's my greatest achievement and my ongoing purpose.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select: 

Leadership
‘As a colleague who has worked closely with her, what stands out most is her deeply person-led approach to leadership. She has an exceptional ability to understand the lived experiences of the people around her, whether teams, stakeholders or communities, and uses those insights to shape strategies that feel human, relevant and actionable. Her leadership is grounded in empathy, clarity and an instinctive ability to bring people together around a shared purpose.

Her impact is visible in the positive change she drives. The Lovelace Report is a perfect example, an evidence-rich study rooted in real workforce experiences that is now shaping national conversations about gender inclusion. I have seen her work one to one with organisations to improve culture, retention and equity, always starting with the human experience before moving to data and policy.

She leads with heart and purpose, and the result is lasting, meaningful change for people and organisations alike.’

EDI 
‘Working alongside her, I have seen how naturally she inspires people. She does it without fanfare. Instead, she brings a calm confidence and a genuine interest in the experiences of others that makes people want to step forward and contribute. Her influence comes from connection. She listens deeply, reflects what she hears and helps people see the role they can play in creating change.

In every setting, she creates an environment where individuals feel valued and capable, especially those who often feel overlooked. I have watched her mentor early career professionals, guide senior leaders through complex cultural issues and bring together teams who had previously struggled to collaborate. People trust her because she sees them, not just their job titles.

Her commitment to diversity and inclusion is woven into everything she does. She does not treat it as a project but as a principle that shapes decisions, conversations and behaviours.’

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community: 
My approach to fostering long-term resilience is rooted in creating environments where clarity, stability and human connection enable people to navigate uncertainty with confidence. I recognise that the uncertainty in our world today can make resilience feel harder for some, especially those who experience additional personal, social or structural pressures. This is why I see resilience not as an individual trait but as something we build collectively through thoughtful design, supportive cultures and equitable systems.

I begin by establishing transparency around purpose, priorities and decision-making. When people understand the direction of travel and the reasoning behind key choices, they are better placed to adapt and feel a sense of agency, even in challenging contexts. I pair this with predictable structures and processes that reduce ambiguity and provide steadiness when external factors feel volatile.

Equally important is cultivating a culture where people feel psychologically safe and genuinely valued. I focus on deep listening, open dialogue and ensuring that lived experience meaningfully shapes strategies and ways of working. This people-led approach strengthens trust, which I believe is the cornerstone of any resilient organisation.

I also prioritise capability building, helping teams develop the skills, data literacy and reflective habits needed to respond to evolving challenges. By embedding continuous learning and evidence-informed decision-making, I support long-term adaptability and shared confidence.

Ultimately, my approach to resilience is not about expecting people to withstand pressure alone. It is about creating the conditions in which individuals and communities can thrive, feel supported through uncertainty and move forward with collective purpose.

I am the Founder and CEO of Ruebik, a leading talent attraction and leadership consultancy launched in October 2019 with a clear and uncompromising mission: to champion diverse executive leaders and fundamentally reshape how leadership is identified within UK organisations. Drawing on over 20 years’ experience in talent attraction and management, at BBC Worldwide and Rolls-Royce, I bring both professional expertise and lived experience to my work supporting disenfranchised and underserved communities across ethnicity, gender and social mobility.

Ruebik is unapologetic in its advocacy for underrepresented talent. I lead strategic partnerships with organisations ranging from scale-ups and SMEs to FTSE 100 companies, delivering diverse C-suite and executive leadership appointments enabling organisations to diversify decision-making at the highest levels.

Interview

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
My story began long before my career title existed. I grew up in a single-parent household in Gloucestershire, in a lower socio-economic community, leaving school at 15 with no university education and very limited social capital. As a young Black woman raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, I learned early how systems feel when they are not designed with you in mind. I entered adulthood navigating racial, gender and religious bias simultaneously not as concepts, but as lived experience.

I joined the recruitment industry in the mid-2000s, at a time when financial services mirrored The Wolf of Wall Street without the satire. Misogyny was overt, pay inequity normalised, and racial bias rarely challenged. Those experiences did not deter me; they sharpened my purpose. I could see clearly where talent was being lost, overlooked or undervalued and why.

Later, as Global Executive Talent Lead at Rolls-Royce, I witnessed the same systemic issues operating at a different altitude. Organisations wanted diverse leadership, yetrelied on search models designed by, and for, the same homogenous leadership profiles. Diversity conversations were often reduced to gender alone, lacking intersectionality or accountability. I became the bridge educating boards, challenging norms, and advocating for change but without a system robust enough to make that change sustainable.

That realisation led to a pivotal decision: the issue was not individuals, it was the model.

In 2019, I founded Ruebik to fundamentally redesign how leadership is identified, assessed and appointed. Ruebik is not a traditional recruitment firm; it is a B-Corp certified consultancy built to shift the profile of decision-makers across UK industry. We work from first principles, championing underrepresented talent unapologetically and rebuilding hiring systems that were never designed to be equitable.

Within 16 months of launch, we secured a £250,000 contract with a private equity fund to deliver ethnically diverse leadership talent into an industry historically resistant to inclusion. Crucially, this mandate included compulsory inclusive-leadership coaching for an entire cohort of 20 hires ensuring cultural readiness alongside representation. Since inception, Ruebik has supported over 300 organisations, with 90% of our work delivered through referral, a testament to trust, impact and measurable outcomes. We partner with FTSE 100 companies, public institutions, charities and scale-ups who are genuinely committed to change.

Notable achievements include

• Designing BT’s 140-person global mentoring programme, supporting ethnically diverse talent into increased visibility, sponsorship and promotion.
• Replacing traditional interviews at London Marathon Events with immersive, human-centred hiring stages resulting in two C-suite hires and five senior leadership appointments. Designing and delivering the Inclusion & Belonging Strategy for EDF Energy UK, impacting 13,000 employees.
• Convening the UK’s first Conscious Leadership Summit at the House of Lords, creating space for senior leaders to confront power, accountability and the future of leadership.
• Mentoring incarcerated young men and supporting their transition into employment — including paid work experience for individuals released from the judicial system.
• Hosting roundtables at No.10 Downing Street (2024) to connect government with diverse community leaders. Ruebik was never intended to be ‘just’ a consultancy. It is a community, a catalyst, and a challenge to legacy thinking. The talent has always existed the system simply needed rebuilding.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select

Supporting Diversity & Inclusion 
My work focuses on structural change, not symbolic progress. At Ruebik, we redesign how organisations hire, assess potential and define leadership ensuring inclusion is embedded, measurable and sustained.

Our impact is evidenced by outcomes

• 75% of all placements delivered by Ruebik are from underrepresented backgrounds.
• Our redesigned hiring processes have directly resulted in diverse executive and non-executive appointments across multiple sectors.

At London Marathon Events, we replaced traditional panel interviews with immersive experiences, reverse interviews and transparent roundtables. This shift directly supported the appointment of a diverse CFO, Technology Director, Non-Executive Director and senior leaders while transforming candidate experience and organisational confidence in inclusive hiring.

I convened and chaired the UK’s first Conscious Leadership Summit at the House of Lords, bringing together global leaders, policymakers and changemakers. My role extended beyond facilitation; I created the psychological safety required for honest dialogue and tangible commitments.

Additional contributions include:

• Designing and delivering a KPMG leadership programme for 30 ethnically diverse colleagues (15 Aspiring Leaders, 15 Emerging Leaders).
• Partnering with Rain Newton-Smith, CEO of the CBI, to appoint the organisation’s first Black Chief People Officer in its history, influencing inclusion across 850 FTSE and SME member organisations.
• Serving as a judge for the British Diversity Awards since 2022.
• Delivering organisation-wide inclusion strategy with EDF Energy’s Chairman, CEO and Executive Team.

Membership of the Metropolitan Police London Race Action Plan Taskforce, supporting community trust, attraction strategy and representation.• WISH & Impact 100: Two charities I have funded frontline support for women and children experiencing domestic abuse, recognising safety as a non-negotiable foundation for empowerment & independence and Trustee of an alternative provision school and Non-Executive Director with remit for People, Culture and Belonging.

Making a Positive Difference
Impact, for me, is deeply personal. I live inclusion. My household is multigenerational, multicultural and neurodiverse. I care for my disabled mother, and I am a mother to a non-verbal autistic son experiences that shape how I lead, design systems and define success.

As a Black woman who entered recruitment during a period of overt misogyny and racial bias, I experienced being underpaid, overlooked and dismissed. Those experiences fuelled my belief that talent acquisition is the gateway to culture transformation. Ruebik operates through a three-pillar model: attraction, retention and development ensuring impact is long-term, not transactional. Launching six months before the COVID-19 pandemic tested resilience. While many paused, we doubled down on purpose, supporting ethnically diverse talent whose opportunities had stalled and advising organisations navigating inclusion for the first time. This period accelerated our growth and positioned Ruebik as a trusted advisor to major UK institutions. Beyond business, I mentor incarcerated young men through Key4Life, volunteer in pupil referral units, advise Black-owned start-ups, and support community initiatives addressing domestic violence and economic exclusion.

• HR Influential Thinker 2025: Recognised for thought leadership that translates inclusion from theory into scalable, outcome-driven people strategies.
• Black Talent Awards Winner: Awarded for demonstrable impact in shifting leadership representation, creating access, and challenging systemic barriers.
• National Public Speaker: Regularly invited to speak on leadership, inclusion and economic equity at high-profile platforms including Birmingham Black Business Show (NEC), UK Black Business Week, and the House of Lords Barrier to Trade Annual event, hosted by Baroness Sandy Verma, influencing policy, business leaders and community stakeholders.
• ICF-Accredited Coach (2026): Undertaking professional coach training aligned to International Coaching Federation standards, strengthening my ability to support leaders through complexity, transition and uncertainty.• Ignite Coaching Programme: Designed and delivered a targeted coaching programme supporting leaders impacted by organisational restructuring during one of the most challenging periods since COVID, helping individuals rebuild confidence, clarity and career direction.

Making a positive difference is not a by-product of my work it is its reason for existing.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
Resilience is not about endurance; it is about recovery, adaptability and growth within systems not built for you. I foster resilience by designing environments where people feel seen, supported and empowered.

At Ruebik, resilience is embedded into our operating model from psychologically safe hiring experiences to inclusive leadership coaching. We teach organisations that resilience is an environmental outcome, not an individual burden.

In our community work from prisons to schools to start-ups resilience is built through confidence, identity and opportunity. The outcomes include improved employability, reduced reoffending and renewed belief. The Conscious Leadership Summit exists to build societal resilience, equipping leaders to navigate uncertainty while remaining accountable to people and planet.

As a B-Corp, Ruebik balances People, Planet and Profit ensuring social impact, ethical leadership and financial sustainability coexist. Ultimately, I build resilience by reminding people they are not broken. The system is. And together, we can redesign it. 

I am an electronic engineer with MBA in Marketing with more than 25 years experience in Telecom, ICT and Energy market. I work in Huawei do Brasil for 21 years, at this moment as Contract Commerce and Fulfilments Director.  I am a senior expert in commercial, contract negotiation, finance and complex Brazilian tax fields. For all this time I work to enable the connection between people and business. Negotiating complex scenarios contracts with Customers, I have been constantly seeking to meet and listen to our customers, helping them to solve their problems with excellence and cutting-edge technology without neglecting compliance with local regulations and laws. My relationship with Customers is based on trust. I have refined leadership techniques, always treating my team with respect, empathy, and transparency. Placing the right resource in each position and supporting their professional and emotional problems and difficulties with hands-on. Often welcoming personal issues with affection, advising, and embracing at times when I feel it is necessary. I also develop a voluntary career development mentoring initiative. My motto is to value what really matters, to see what happens to us positively, and to understand that we cannot control the things that happen to us, but we can control how we react to each situation.

Interview

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
My personal story overlaps with Huawei’s history in Brazil. I started at Huawei when I was 26 years old, a young dreamer full of plans for the future. I already had 8 years of experience with a similar vendor, a solid and distinguished telecom company that had greater market presence, customers and business and more than 2,000 employees.  At that time nobody knew Huawei in Brazil. Huawei had a small office, with just over 200 employees spread throughout Brazil, all struggling to get a good deal. But I had chosen to bet on this small Chinese company that was starting on the telecom market. A rush of courage took hold of me, and I decided to embrace this new challenge. My intuition told me that this was the path I should embrace. I worked hard together with my colleagues, all involved in a common goal – to show our customers and the market, not only our innovative products and solutions, and our competitive prices, but also our strong and unwavering will to grow and win the confidence of all. I dedicated myself to my second family: Huawei Brazil, and I grew and matured with it.  Step by important step I have grown to understand and embrace Chinese culture and Huawei core values, and turned into a real good example of a Huawei-er!

In these 21 years working here, I saw Huawei grow steadily and stabilize in the Brazilian market, eventually become a market leader. I have actively participated in many key projects for all major accounts of Carrier Network Business, with each year bringing higher sales volumes. I have seen Huawei create processes, become more mature and more professional. I have also contributed to Huawei expanding its portfolio into Enterprise, Cloud, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digital Power, Consumers and I have pushed myself to become more involved in all these fields. During this time, working mainly as a Commercial Manager, leading the negotiations of  complex scenarios contracts with Customers, I have been constantly seeking to meet and listen to our customers, helping them to solve their problems with excellence and cutting-edge technology without neglecting compliance with local regulations and laws. I have learnt that my relationship with Customers is based on trust. With close support and joint efforts with our sales team, we have improved the transaction quality operation of Brazil Representative Office and supported strongly the positive profit and its growth year on year.

In the last 5 years, I have focused my career on expanding my area of expertise from the ICT market to the Energy market, always in the Contracts area, negotiating professional contracts with CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CPOs, and legal boards of our major clients. Through this, I have been able to experience new challenges, deepen my technical knowledge, and increase my relationships in other business areas.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
I have refined my leadership techniques through self-awareness courses, always treating my team with respect, empathy, and transparency. By coincidence, I have a predominantly female team in a male-majority company and industry. These are strong women, mothers, and extremely professional. I have honor of placing the right resource in each position and supporting their professional and emotional problems and difficulties hands-on. This means often welcoming personal issues with affection, advising, and embracing at times when I feel it is necessary.

Due to this innate personal leadership stance, being the only Brazilian woman on the board of directors of Huawei in Brazil, my fluid communication skills, and the trust of clients, I was chosen as the spokesperson for Huawei's Women in Tech program in Brazil. This is one of our global Corporate Social Responsibility campaigns developed to contribute to the United Nations'  Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This program aims to expand access to information for women, reduce digital exclusion, and promote equity in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. We want to inspire, encourage, and attract women to work in this technology market. We develop educational and social initiatives, equal selection processes, and specialized mentoring programs to nurture talent, promote growth, and cultivate leadership within our organization and throughout the sector.

Within the Women in Tech program, I started a voluntary career mentoring effort that I continue to this day, where I use my professional market knowledge and life values to contribute to the career development of young women both inside and outside Huawei. It is such a rewarding and engaging exchange where I receive much more than I give. Through feedback from the participants they always highlight how my life story inspires and encourages other young girls to seek their place in technology as a viable career.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
In 2014, I was diagnosed with cancer (sarcoma), my children were young, and I was very afraid of dying. I received excellent medical treatment, which, combined with the fact that I discovered the disease early, led to a successful cure, and I am 100% cured. This moment of vulnerability and great fear made me start to see my personal and professional life in a different way, to value what really matters, to see what happens to us positively, and to understand that we cannot control the things that happen to us, but we can control how we react to each situation.

This event completely changed the professional Fernanda. It made me much more resilient, much more evolved as a human being, brought me a welcoming perspective, taught me to manage stress, and not to panic in high-pressure situations. I have always been very quick at work, efficient in completing complex tasks, connecting people so that business could flow, skilled in communication. But the perception that this illness brought me was fundamental for me to become a reference within my company on leadership. To become an example of a professional, always open to listening to those who have problems, capable of balancing motherhood with the challenge of being an executive in one of the largest multinationals in the country.

By creating a culture where people feel supported, informed, and empowered to act proactively. In my role, I focus on: (i) Strengthening capabilities and knowledge - investing time in training, sharing best practices, and ensuring that teams have visibility into processes, risks, and goals. When people understand the “why” and the “how”, they respond with more confidence and agility, even in times of uncertainty; and (ii) Building stable relationships and trust -  
prioritize open communication with internal teams, partners, and customers. By maintaining strong relationships based on transparency and collaboration, we are able to face challenges together and recover more quickly from disruptions. Trust becomes a both a buffer and a foundation during difficult moments.

Eleanor's research focuses on innovations in social policy and outcomes-based commissioning. She joined the Blavatnik School of Government in 2016 having previously studied at the Universities of Cambridge and Sheffield. Eleanor’s doctoral research investigated the application of outcomes-based commissioning within the UK Government’s welfare-to-work programmes. The analysis explores how particular programme design innovations map onto concerns of variable and potentially neglectful service provision and assesses whether developments in payment structure and governance arrangements deliver value for money to commissioners. Before moving to Oxford Eleanor gained experience from the policy-maker perspective working as an advisor for the Social Investment and Finance Team in the UK’s Cabinet Office and through collaborative research projects with the Department for Work and Pensions. Eleanor’s work has been published in a range of journals including Social Policy and Administration and Journal of Social Policy. Key research outputs have also been translated into policy submissions and Eleanor frequently advises on policy design and evaluation strategies for government departments and voluntary sector organisations.

Interview

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
In my early career I was perplexed: why did government spend so much money through contracts with independent providers of public services when the impacts were so vague (at best) or absent (at worst)? At the time, I was working for a not-for-profit organisation that delivered employment support services. I became fixated on understanding the effectiveness of different types of support (and contracting arrangements) as lived and described by people participating in different services. Often, the largest government contracts in this sphere were those that offered the most generic – and in the views of participants – meaningless interventions. This has been the spur to my academic work and collaborations with government. I want to help by finding a way for government to unlock more impactful, accountable and sustainable public contracts. This mission now guides the research agenda for of my team – the Government Outcomes Lab (GO Lab) at the University of Oxford.

The GO Lab was established in 2016 as a partnership between the Blavatnik School of Government and the UK Government to develop a centre of excellence for the commissioning of public services to improve social outcomes. The GO Lab has always sought to blend rigorous research with practical engagement with all levels of government, both in the UK and around the world, and I work at the forefront of these efforts.

I launched and continue to nurture the International Network for Data on Impact and Government Outcomes (INDIGO), a data collaborative which is driving forward the transparency and accessibility of data relating to social outcomes. INDIGO includes a number of open datasets, including the world’s most comprehensive publicly accessible dataset on impact bonds. It also supports a global community, connecting data enthusiasts and policymakers to work together to better leverage the potential of better data to improve social outcomes. I am a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellow (a research grant worth >£1.2 million). This was awarded to investigate how government can better manage public services outsourcing. My Fellowship investigates outcomes-based contracting and pioneers the use of ‘formal-relational contracting’ as a potential route to escape frustrations of conventional transactional models. My work involves substantial engagement with government at a range of levels, including local councils, UK Cabinet Office, Ministry of Justice and the Department of Work and Pensions.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
Making a positive difference (either in your organization or generally)
By nurturing an academic research centre that connects deeply with government contracting practice the Government Outcomes Lab embodies academia with a mission. Our humble research approach engages seriously with the questions posed by practitioners and regularly brings scholars and practitioners together in dialogue. We co-develop toolkits and resources such as contractual outcome specification frameworks that give assurance for public value. Our evaluation of outcome-based contracts shows how more intentional forms of ‘formal-relational’ contracting can unlock greater societal impacts.

Raising the reputation of contracting in your organization or geography or industry
The investigation of government contracting sits at the edge of a number of academic disciplines and has been something of a ‘backwater’. By cultivating an international scholarly network, cutting edge forms of contracting and partnership working are now seen as some of the most promising areas for improving public spending outcomes and value for money. Until recently, there was very limited teaching on public procurement or contracting practice at the University of Oxford but our Social Outcomes Conference and executive education programme on ‘Leading Cross Sector Partnerships’ bring energy and attention.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
I foster long-term resilience amongst the GO Lab team and our community of practitioners by developing open resources, underpinned by a philosophy of ‘data for the public good’. Rather than hoarding proprietary datasets, anyone can see the latest examples of social outcomes contracts around the world. Interpretations and insights are accessible in close-to-real time. Datasets and approaches are iteratively shaped by policymakers (e.g. through ‘hack-and-learn’ events; roundtables and workshops). We develop practical tools to enable contracting practitioners to make use of the evidence being generated.

I have over 20 years of experience as a Contract and Commercial Management leader that thrives on creatively solving complex problems and building strong relationships based on trust and respect. I have worked across a broad range of industries and geographies including Outsourcing and Technology programs as well as the Sports Management & Marketing fields in North America and Asia Pacific. I have a proactive and positive approach with a drive for excellence and exceeding expectations by making the best use of my communication and negotiation skills that focus on integrity and enthusiasm for achieving long term success for everyone.

My role as the Senior Director of Contract Management, Asia Pacific Accenture enables me to work with a talented and diverse group of 300+ people across Growth Markets and 150+ people across our Global Legal Network. I'm passionate about expanding the overall team capabilities while leveraging their strengths and interests to help them to bring the best of themselves to work every day. Coaching the team to unleash their potential through a combination of commitment to service excellence to the business and our clients and by challenging the status quo is exciting and rewarding.

My top 5 Gallup strengths are: Positivity – Individualization – Empathy – Developer – WOO (Winning Others Over)

Interview

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements:
Arlene’s professional story is one of determination and evolution. Beginning her career in athlete representation and marketing and event management at Octagon, she quickly established herself as a trusted advisor in client services—a role that demanded precision, strategic thinking, and most importantly, relationship-building. Arlene transitioned her contract and commercial management experience from Sports to Technology when she joined Accenture over 20 years ago.  That seamless shift was driven by the same foundation of strong partnerships and nurturing relationships that have always fuelled her success.  Over the years, she has navigated complex negotiations, managed enterprise-wide projects, driven value and operational excellence across various industries and grown diverse teams across Asia Pacific.

Her trajectory at Accenture is marked by a consistent ability to adapt and innovate. “The business landscape is constantly shifting,” Arlene explains. “To stay relevant, you need to embrace change, learn continuously, and lead with clarity.” This mindset has propelled her into leadership roles where she not only manages outcomes but shapes the culture of collaboration and growth.
Beyond her technical expertise, Arlene’s career reflects a passion for people. She believes that success is not just about delivering results—it’s about creating environments where individuals feel valued and empowered. This philosophy has become a cornerstone of her leadership approach.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select

Leadership as Influence: Inspiring Others to Rise
When asked about her contributions to leadership, Arlene emphasizes the power of influence. “Leadership is about inspiring others to see possibilities they didn’t think were achievable,” she says. Her work as the ANZ Corporate Functions Inclusion & Diversity executive sponsor and Melbourne location Corporate Citizenship lead underscores this commitment. Through mentorship programs, advocacy and allyship, Arlene has helped emerging leaders find confidence and clarity in their careers.  Her active role and sponsorship supporting Accenture’s partnerships with Eat Up – an Australian charity providing free lunches to school children on a national scale, and the Indigenous Literacy Foundation – championing books by and for First Nations Communities.  She is honoured and excited to sponsor the Midsumma Pride March parade with the PRIDE ERG (employee resource group) this February – are only some of the recent initiatives that Arlene has committed her time to.

Her leadership style is rooted in authenticity and empathy. Colleagues often describe her as a catalyst for growth—someone who leads by example and creates space for innovation. “I believe in empowering teams to take ownership,” Arlene shares. “When people feel trusted and supported, they deliver their best work.” Arlene’s influence extends beyond her immediate team. She actively champions diversity and inclusion, recognizing that varied perspectives drive better outcomes. “Inclusive leadership isn’t optional—it’s essential,” she asserts. By fostering a culture where every voice matters, she ensures that collaboration becomes a source of strength rather than a challenge.

Her ability to inspire is evident in the stories of those she has mentored. Many credit Arlene with helping them navigate career transitions, build resilience, and develop leadership skills.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
Resilience has become a buzzword in recent years, but for Arlene, it’s a deliberate practice rather than a passing trend. “Resilience isn’t about bouncing back—it’s about moving forward stronger in a sustainable way,” she explains. Her approach combines adaptability, continuous learning, and a focus on well-being.

One of Arlene’s key strategies is cultivating a growth mindset. She encourages her teams to view challenges as opportunities for development rather than obstacles. “Change can be uncomfortable, but it’s also where innovation happens,” she notes. By reframing setbacks as learning experiences, she helps individuals build confidence and agility.  Arlene was the interim lead for the Japan Contract Management team for almost two years.  She led the team through a period of hyper growth and transformation of the Japan practice – prioritising local leadership development and empowering the team’s localised implementation of global initiatives.

Another pillar of her resilience philosophy is connection. Arlene invests in building strong networks, recognizing that relationships provide support during uncertain times. “No one succeeds alone,” she says. “Collaboration and trust are the foundation of resilience.”  When Arlene was the lead for Growth Markets – a region that consisted of teams in time zones across Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific – her team always felt connected, supported and that she managed to always be available.

Technology also plays a role in her strategy. Arlene advocates for leveraging digital tools to enhance flexibility and efficiency, enabling teams to remain agile in a rapidly evolving marketplace. “Resilience today requires both human and technological adaptability,” she observes.
Finally, Arlene emphasizes purpose as a guiding force. “When you’re clear on your ‘why,’ it’s easier to navigate the ‘how,’” she explains. By aligning goals with values, she ensures that her teams stay motivated and focused, even amid disruption with the emphasis on her team and the people she works with as the greatest part of her role.  “I get to work with the best people – so talented and innovative.  I want to provide the best environment and do whatever I can to help them thrive and be successful.”

Arlene exemplifies the essence of inspiring leadership through empathy, strategic foresight, and unwavering resilience. Colleagues across APAC and global markets consistently recognize her ability to lead with a people and client-centric mindset while delivering transformative outcomes. She provides clear, high-level guidance paired with actionable recommendations, empowering teams with autonomy and trust to achieve ambitious goals understanding the unique differences across different countries and cultures.

Her influence extends beyond operational and commercial excellence—Arlene inspires confidence and fosters a culture of ownership and growth. Through motivational encouragement and authentic engagement, she elevates team morale and creates an inclusive environment where diverse voices are valued. This commitment to diversity and inclusion is not only a principle but a practice, bridging regional needs and enabling tailored development paths within a unified strategy.

Ana Cristina Calderón is a Senior Sector Specialist in the Fiscal Management Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where she leads technical work to improve public procurement spending efficiency and modernize government procurement systems across Latin America. She serves as the IDB’s fiscal focal point for El Salvador and Guatemala, coordinating analytical work, policy dialogue and institutional strengthening programs with ministries of finance, tax administrations and procurement authorities. Her regional portfolio is centered on elevating public procurement spending as a strategic fiscal policy instrument that shapes fiscal space, value for money and the effectiveness of public service delivery. Ana Cristina leads diagnostics, reform roadmaps and cross-country technical collaborations in the Andean countries and Central America, including the Dominican Republic. She applies data driven procurement performance metrics, public financial management frameworks and institutional capability assessments to support reforms that strengthen transparency, competition and the strategic use of public resources.

A defining aspect of her work is demonstrating how inefficiencies in procurement spending translate into measurable fiscal costs and weaker development results. Through rigorous analysis and continuous engagement with policymakers, she helps governments identify structural bottlenecks, quantify efficiency losses and design reforms that improve public spending outcomes and the institutional performance of the State. Her work has contributed to positioning procurement as a central determinant of public sector efficiency and long-term fiscal resilience.

Ana Cristina is recognized for her ability to translate complex institutional and fiscal challenges into actionable and evidence-based recommendations. Her leadership reflects a sustained commitment to improving public procurement systems and increasing the impact of public expenditure across the region. She holds a PhD in Public Policy from Maastricht University and an MSc in Social Policy and Development from the London School of Economics, as well as executive programs in Economic and Foreign Policy from American University and Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School.

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
My professional story has been shaped by a persistent question: why do public policies that look strong on paper so often fail to deliver meaningful results for people? This question first emerged during my studies at the London School of Economics, where I realized that even well-designed social policies lose impact when procurement spending and execution systems are weak. It became clear to me that outcomes are not only determined by policy choices, but by the institutional machinery that translates public money into services. That insight defined my vocation.

During my PhD in Public Policy at Maastricht University, I examined how public procurement agencies are created, studying their mandates, governance arrangements and institutional design. This work gave me a deep understanding of how procurement systems assign authority, manage discretion and shape incentives. It also showed me how early institutional choices in procurement architecture can either enable or constrain performance for decades.

I now work as a Fiscal Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank, where I help governments strengthen public finance systems with a strong focus on procurement spending, execution and institutional performance. One of my key contributions has been helping reposition public procurement within the fiscal agenda, demonstrating that it is not a procedural step, but a central determinant of value for money, efficiency and the credibility of public spending. Procurement spending is where fiscal policy becomes real for citizens and improving it unlocks both fiscal space and meaningful development impact.

I have led regional dialogues, technical exchanges and collaborative platforms that allow countries to compare procurement models, share evidence and advance reforms collectively. I have also contributed to analytical approaches that help governments understand why identical budget allocations can yield dramatically different results depending on procurement rules, institutional capacity and execution arrangements.

As a Colombian working across Latin America, I have seen how institutional weakness and fragmented procurement processes translate into real costs for people. My career is driven by a clear purpose: closing the gap between what governments intend to deliver and what citizens actually receive by strengthening the institutions that manage procurement spending and execution.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
My leadership is characterized by the ability to bring together actors, levels of government and disciplines to improve how spending decisions in public procurement are made, and how public institutions execute and manage the contracts that sustain the delivery of works, goods and essential services. Although my role is situated within public finance, I have worked deliberately to ensure that procurement efficiency and execution quality are part of strategic discussions, rather than viewed solely as administrative processes.

I am currently finalizing a paper that demonstrates how public procurement is fundamental to macrofiscal performance and economic growth, a perspective that for many years was largely absent from these conversations. I have also been invited by the International Monetary Fund to contribute to public investment diagnostics, specifically to bring the perspective I have developed on how procurement shapes spending efficiency and the State’s capacity to execute investment projects such as school construction and expansion, hospitals and health centers, and water and sanitation systems. This has allowed the vision I advocate across the region to be incorporated into international debates on the quality of public spending, which is inseparable from the performance of procurement systems and broader institutional capabilities.

I have influenced teams and authorities by showing that efficiency gaps are not abstract failures, but concrete differences in delivered quality, effective competition, execution timelines and losses that erode the value of public spending. A tangible example of this work is the creation of the CP-Score within the IDB’s FISLAC ecosystem, a framework I developed to guide improvement conversations on procurement systems within the public finance agenda, measuring not only processes, but their real capacity to deliver results.

Innovation in my work comes from integrating approaches that are traditionally separate. I have advanced methodologies that combine comparative evidence, institutional diagnostics and performance analysis, and I have led networks, regional dialogues and communities of practice that enable countries to share tools and accelerate learning. My impact is reflected in institutions that better understand their bottlenecks, more strategically grounded reform agendas and teams that increasingly view procurement efficiency as central to public value and to the public finances of their countries, municipalities or regions.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
I foster long-term resilience by strengthening the capabilities, relationships and cultures that enable public institutions to perform consistently over time, even in contexts of political change, fiscal pressure and uncertainty. In my work, resilience is not about reacting to crises but about building the foundations that allow governments to plan, execute and learn continuously. This work is driven by a deep conviction that strong institutions are essential to protecting public resources and delivering on the commitments governments make to their citizens.

First, I support resilience through capacity building and institutional learning. I work with public teams to move beyond short-term fixes and develop analytical tools, shared frameworks and professional standards that improve how decisions are made. By integrating public finance analysis with procurement and execution, institutions gain a clearer understanding of where value is lost and how it can be prevented. This approach helps ensure that reforms endure beyond individual projects, administrations or political cycles.

Second, I foster resilience by building networks and trusted spaces for exchange. I have led regional dialogues, technical networks and communities of practice where countries share data, experiences and solutions. These platforms reduce isolation, accelerate learning and provide sustained peer support. When challenges arise, institutions are better equipped to adapt because they can draw on collective knowledge and regional experience.

Third, I promote resilience by encouraging governments to look beyond procedural rules and focus on systems, incentives and organizational culture. Many weaknesses in public spending and procurement stem from fragmentation, short-term compliance pressures or risk aversion. Addressing these deeper factors helps institutions manage complexity without sacrificing integrity or performance.

An essential part of my approach to resilience is mentorship. Throughout my career, I have benefited from exceptional mentors who guided me through complex professional environments, challenged my thinking and encouraged me to lead with confidence and integrity. Their example shaped not only my technical work, but also my leadership style. I actively seek to replicate this model by mentoring others, creating safe spaces for learning and supporting teams through trust and dialogue. For me, long-term resilience emerges when knowledge, relationships and purpose reinforce one another. Strengthening these elements is at the core of my contribution to institutions and communities across the region.

Teresa Cantú is a corporate lawyer recognized for her extensive experience in antitrust, compliance, and business ethics across highly regulated sectors, including aviation, logistics, and healthcare. For more than 30 years, she has advised companies, non-profit organizations, and biopharmaceutical associations in Mexico and across Latin America, supporting them in navigating complex regulatory environments and strengthening ethical governance frameworks that foster trust and long-term sustainability. A respected leader in business ethics, Teresa has played a pivotal role in promoting transparency, integrity, and accountability across organizations and sectors. She is the Chair of the Ethical Health Alliance (Alianza Ética por la Salud), an initiative she helped launch and has led since 2023. Under her leadership, the Alliance has become a benchmark for ethical collaboration in healthcare, inspiring the adoption of Consensus Frameworks in other countries and contributing to stronger, trust-based health ecosystems. Teresa is also a committed advocate for inclusivity and equity within ethical standards and governance systems. Her work has influenced regulatory and self-regulatory environments, particularly in healthcare, where ethical conduct is essential to public trust and system resilience.

Previously, as Chief Compliance Officer at AMIIF, Teresa introduced an innovative ethical governance model incorporating independent third-party oversight, strengthening neutrality and transparency in the enforcement of the industry’s code of ethics. Beyond her professional practice, Teresa is actively engaged in academia and youth development. She has taught in the Master’s Program in Anti-Corruption at Universidad Panamericana and participates in the GRACE Project through UNODC’s Coding for Integrity initiative in Mexico and Brazil, mentoring future leaders with a focus on integrity and gender equality..

Teresa holds a Master’s degree in Anti-Corruption and Collective Actions from the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA), completed the AD-2 Senior Management Program at IPADE, and is a member of COMEXI, the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations. She currently serves as Partner Director at CARE Abogado.

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
My professional journey has developed at the intersection of law, commerce, and institutional development, particularly in environments where clear rules and trust are essential for sustainable markets. I am a corporate lawyer by training. Early in my career, I worked in highly regulated sectors where innovation often moved faster than regulation. One formative experience involved supporting a leading U.S.-based vehicle leasing company entering the Mexican market. At that time, pure leasing for transportation vehicles was not legally permitted. Working with a multidisciplinary legal team, I contributed to the regulatory reform that enabled the issuance of Mexico’s first transportation leasing license. This experience reinforced a principle that has guided my career: market growth depends on legal certainty, institutional frameworks, and long-term vision.

Over time, my practice expanded beyond traditional legal advisory into governance, compliance, and ethical risk management. I have led two law firms—first García Naranjo y Cantú, and later CARE Abogados, where I currently serve as Partner Director–advising organizations on how to operate responsibly in complex regulatory environments while remaining commercially effective. A central chapter of my career has been working for more than a decade with associations of research and development bio-pharmaceutical companies, supporting the adoption of global ethical standards and collective mechanisms that strengthen trust across healthcare ecosystems. This experience deepened my understanding of how shared principles, credible governance, and collective accountability improve market conditions for all stakeholders.

I have invested in continuous professional development, including the AD2 Executive Program at Universidad Panamericana under the Harvard case-study method and a Master’s degree in Anti-Corruption and Collective Actions from the International Anti-Corruption Academy.

These experiences have led me to focus on building institutional, collaborative solutions—such as Consensus Frameworks and Collective Action initiatives—that help organizations move from short-term success to long-term resilience and trust-based growth worldwide.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select:  
(Leadership; Making a Positive Difference; Social Value / Ethics & Sustainability)
My leadership experience is grounded in ethical decision-making within complex commercial and regulatory environments, spanning legal innovation, compliance governance, and the design of collective integrity frameworks across highly regulated sectors. Throughout my career, I have consistently promoted a core conviction: businesses without integrity are not sustainable, and integrity is strengthened when organizations act on shared values and invest in public-private collaboration.

Early in my career, I led precedent-setting legal work in industries traditionally dominated by men. A defining achievement was supporting a leading U.S.-based vehicle leasing company entering the Mexican market. At the time, pure leasing for transportation vehicles was not legally permitted. Working with a multidisciplinary legal team, I helped advance the regulatory reform that enabled the issuance of the country’s first transportation leasing license, opening a new market and establishing a lasting legal precedent. This experience shaped my understanding of leadership as the ability to challenge entrenched systems responsibly.

I have also faced situations where commercial relationships failed to uphold agreed ethical commitments. In such cases, I made the decision to discontinue professional engagements, reinforcing a principle that has guided my career: integrity must prevail over short-term commercial opportunity.

For more than a decade, I worked with associations of research and development bio-pharmaceutical companies, promoting the adoption of global ethical standards, strengthening compliance governance, supporting Consensus Frameworks, and encouraging women’s leadership across Latin America. My work has contributed to global integrity efforts, including participation in the Siemens report on Anti-Corruption and Collective Action presented in June 2025 in Mexico City, and technical advisory support with the United Nations Global Compact for the launch of healthcare integrity alliances in Colombia and India. As Chair of the Ethical Health Alliance in Mexico, my leadership helped position the initiative as a regional benchmark, recognized with the Lighthouse Award at the APEC Business Ethics for SMEs Forum 2024.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
I foster long-term resilience by helping organizations and communities move from personality-driven success to institutional, values-based systems that endure leadership changes, market pressure, and regulatory complexity. Across Latin America, many organizations—particularly family-owned businesses—struggle to reach a third generation, not because of lack of commercial capability, but due to weak governance, limited institutionalization, and fragmented ethical standards. My work therefore focuses on strengthening rules-based frameworks, shared commitments, and collaborative governance that support continuity over time.

For more than a decade, I have worked with associations of research and development bio-pharmaceutical companies, supporting the adoption of global ethical standards and collective mechanisms that strengthen trust across healthcare ecosystems. This experience reinforced that resilience is not achieved through isolated compliance programs alone, but through alignment around shared values and collective accountability.

A central element of my approach is advancing Collective Action and Consensus Frameworks as practical tools for resilience. These models help level the playing field by ensuring that ethical behavior is not a competitive disadvantage—particularly in markets where multinational companies operate under extraterritorial anti-corruption laws while local enforcement may be uneven. When stakeholders align around common principles, integrity becomes scalable and sustainable.

I also foster resilience by investing in public-private collaboration. Through initiatives supported by the United Nations Global Compact, I provided technical advisory support for the launch of healthcare integrity alliances in Colombia and India, adapting global standards to local realities while strengthening credibility and ownership.

As Chair of the Ethical Health Alliance in Mexico, I lead a multi-stakeholder platform bringing together industry, healthcare professionals, patient organizations, SMEs, and civil society. Under my leadership, the Alliance was recognized with the Lighthouse Award at the APEC Business Ethics for SMEs Forum 2024. Ultimately, resilience is built when integrity is treated as a long-term investment in institutions, people, and collaboration.

Genmaries S. Entredicho-Caong is the current Executive Director V of the Procurement Service - Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM). Prior to becoming the Executive Director V, she was the Procurement Group Director of the PS-DBM. She has a general work experience of almost 24 years devoted to legal, development work, and technical advisory services. She has a rich experience on public procurement using international-donor financed guidelines, as well as the Philippine procurement law. She is an integral part of the PS-DBM team that proposed new provisions for the New Government Procurement Act (NGPA) and was a member of the Technical Working Group for the NGPA bills in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

In addition, she led PS-DBM’s entry to the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Challenge competition, a ground-breaking program that enhanced openness and citizen engagement, and promoted open government reforms. At the OGP Global Summit 2025, held in Spain, the initiative won in two major categories - PS-DBM’s commitment to “improving data availability, interoperability, and public participation in procurement” emerged as the Overall Winner in the Anti-corruption category and as the Winner in the Asia and the Pacific Region - National Level category.

Prior to joining PS-DBM, she was a Consultant of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), acting as Procurement and Legal Specialist of ADB for its various projects in the Philippines, supporting different government implementing agencies, such as the (i) Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines or PPP Center, (ii) the Local Water Utilities Administration, and (iii) the National Electrification Administration.

Genmaries was also World Bank’s Consultant for the Government Procurement Policy Board-Technical Support Office (GPPB-TSO), in their Professionalization and Capacity Development of Procurement Practitioners Project, and in the review, updating and harmonization of the Philippine Bidding Documents and the Generic Procurement Manuals with the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 9184 in 2016. She has a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and a holder of Certificates in Public Procurement/ Levels 2 and 3 from the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply and United Nations Development Program. She also obtained her Bachelor of Arts Major in Legal Management degree from UST (cum laude).

Interview

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
I am the Executive Director of the Procurement Service (PS) under the Philippine Department of Budget and Management (DBM), leading a workforce of over 445 personnel in our main office in Manila, including our depots in several regions nationwide. I have a general work experience of 25 years devoted to legal, development work, technical advisory and policy formulation. 

In 2023, I formed part of the Executive Branch team that proposed new provisions for the NGPA, effectively amending the country’s decades-old procurement law. Consequently, I participated in the Technical Working Group hearings for the NGPA bills in both the upper and lower houses of Congress.

With the NGPA’s provisions enhancing transparency and anti-corruption measures on public procurement, I led PS-DBM in advancing open government initiatives. This included participation in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) OpenGov Challenge, where PS-DBM bagged two major awards - the Overall Winner in the Anti-corruption category, and the Regional Award in the Asia and the Pacific category.

Prior to joining PS-DBM, I was a Consultant to the Asian Development Bank for its various technical assistance projects on public private partnership and disaster recovery. I was likewise a Consultant to the World Bank for its projects with the Government Procurement Policy Board Technical Support Office (GPPB-TSO), the office that provides administrative and research support to the GPPB, which is the body that is tasked with policy formulation and monitoring functions on public procurement.

I hold a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and Certificates in Public Procurement-Levels 2 and 3 from the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply and United Nations Development Program. I finished Bachelor of Arts Major in Legal Management from UST where I graduated as cum laude.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
Leading in technology: The enactment of the NGPA strengthens the mandate of PS-DBM’s Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS), elevating it from a repository of government procurement information to becoming the main channel in the government’s conduct of procurement activities. By being the main platform to conduct procurement activities, agencies will now be mandated to utilize this single electronic platform to undertake their procurement dealings online. Among the modernized features of PhilGEPS are the eMarketplace and e-payment channels which will make the procurement by government agencies more efficient and convenient.

Raising the reputation of contracting in your organization or geography or industry: Anchored on the NGPA’s principle of transparency, PS-DBM advances open contracting practices to ensure that public procurement information is accessible to key stakeholders, including civil society organizations and oversight bodies. Forging partnerships with civil society organizations and development partners that share the same goal of implementing institutional reforms helped in bringing back the trust of our stakeholders to our agency, which in the recent years, was the subject of investigation on the alleged anomalous procurement transactions during the pandemic. For instance, PS-DBM partnered with WeSolve Foundation, Inc. in applying for the Lift Project of the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP). Of the 150 worldwide applications, PS-DBM and WeSolve made it to the final 10 that received the grant for technical assistance. One of the good things that came out from opening up our data to WeSolve and OCP, was the confirmation of the value that our agency contributes to the whole government, i.e. significant savings, efficiency and practicality. PS-DBM’s winning two major awards at the recent OGP Global Summit for its Open Gov Challenge Entry further proves that PS-DBM’s role in advancing transparency and modernization in public procurement is being recognized. 

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
With the NGPA in place, PS-DBM is anchored on a strong foundational, legal framework. At present, the Philippine government is in the process of transitioning to the full implementation of the new procurement law—and compliance with which shall ensure long-term resilience not only of the agency but also of the public procurement sector.

While issues and controversies continue to surface here and there, I encourage our teams to be focused on our goal to deliver our mandate and commitments. Awareness of our mission, coupled with actual efforts to reform and outcomes that transform, keeps us on track. Negative news, bad publicity, and attempts to malign reputation must not distract nor discourage us from attaining our goals and targets, ultimately geared towards delivering better public services for our people and our country. We also constantly capacitate the workforce to enhance their skills as procurement professionals, making certain that their expertise is responsive to the changing times and the evolving needs of key stakeholders. Officials’ and employees’ competencies are developed through capacity- building engagements, workshops, and other learning activities with partner organizations, donors, and international counterparts. This is attested by several engagements of PS-DBM in relevant procurement events, fora, and conferences whether as participants or as resource speakers.

Having encountered challenges that seemed insurmountable back then, especially being at the brink of abolition, I can certainly say that the hardworking people of our agency have already developed such level of resilience that did not allow us to give up, but instead pushed us to aimfor international recognition and placed our agency at the frontline of curbing corruption in public procurement. From being criticized to being recognized, we take pride in contributing to the transformation of the Philippine public procurement landscape in our country, and in sharing our story to other hopefuls. 

Hilary is a Partner, member of the Ashurst Executive Team and Global Head of Ashurst’s award-winning NewLaw division, Ashurst Advance. Hilary manages a global team delivering the full suite of NewLaw services and solutions including advanced delivery, legal managed services, digital, flexible resourcing and legal operations. With deep experience spanning law, technology and operations, Hilary takes a solutions-oriented approach to reimagining the delivery of legal services through the combination of NewLaw expertise, process design and digital transformation. As a former General Counsel, COO and General Manager, Hilary is known for delivering commercially sound solutions that unlock potential and drive value for the firm's clients. She is execution focussed and is trusted by clients to lead and deliver complex change programs. Hilary was a recipient of the highly coveted Chief Executive Women’s Harvard Business School Disruptive Innovation Scholarship and was named “Innovator of the Year” at the Lawyer’s Weekly Partner of the Year Awards. Most recently, she was named an "AI Visionary" by Relativity – reflecting her reputation as an innovator and pioneer in the future of AI in legal. Hilary is an Advisory Board Member of the Centre for Legal Innovation and is frequently sought after for her views on the changing legal market and the impact of technology on the delivery of legal services.

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
I am a Partner, member of the Ashurst Executive Team and Global Head of Ashurst’s award-winning NewLaw division, Ashurst Advance. My focus is on reimagining legal service delivery for the firm and its clients by combining NewLaw expertise, process design and digital transformation. I am a technology lawyer by training and prior to joining Ashurst, I held senior roles across both technology and law including General Counsel, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager. This experience gave me a commercially grounded perspective and a reputation for delivering complex change programs through strong, transparent leadership. I have a strong bias towards results which continues to underpin my approach to innovation and leadership at Ashurst.

Since joining Ashurst five years ago, I have led the firm’s digital and AI strategy and our early adoption of AI. We have run rigorous experimentation programs and market‑leading AI trials, transforming legal service delivery across practices and geographies. Most recently, we delivered a market‑first GenAI document review with Relativity aiR, setting a new benchmark for quality, speed and safety. Our AI‑enabled products and delivery models have been recognised widely with industry awards. My work has been recognised through industry awards and honours, including Relativity’s AI Visionaries list, the Chief Executive Women’s Harvard Business School Disruptive Innovation Scholarship, and Innovator of the Year at the Lawyer’s Weekly Partner of the Year Awards.

Today, my remit spans strategy, enablement, capability development and delivery. I lead a global multi-disciplinary team across Abu Dhabi, Brisbane, Dubai, Glasgow, Hong Kong, Krakow, London, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Together with our partners and clients, we are building a practical, safe and high‑impact future for AI‑enabled legal services.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
Leadership
I lead Ashurst’s award-winning NewLaw division, serve on the firm’s Executive Team and am responsible for Ashurst’s digital and AI transformation. This includes setting strategy, securing investment, driving adoption and building a robust operating model to scale AI safely and effectively.

In a rapidly evolving landscape, strategy must be dynamic. When ChatGPT launched publicly, midway through our four-year strategic plan, I led the firm’s decision to evolve our strategy and invest in and adopt Generative AI at speed and scale. We were the first law firm to rollout out Generative AI to all of our people globally, following market‑leading trials and a global pilot of more than 500 people that gave us the evidence, governance and change levers to scale safely. We published the findings from our trials in a market first report – setting the standard and driving change not just within the firm, but across the legal industry.

Our transformative approach to our AI trials and and subsequent rollout was hailed as “gold standard” by Harvey and has subsequently been used across the industry as the model for AI enablement and adoption.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Over the past five years, I have reimagined Ashurst Advance from a low‑cost resourcing function into a full‑service, AI‑enabled NewLaw business that delivers profitable growth through new revenue streams, direct‑to‑client legal managed services and productised offerings. In this time, Ashurst Advance revenue has grown over 400% and we have built a global team of 250+ people across 9 offices and 3 global delivery centres.

I have built a portfolio of AI‑powered services and solutions that differentiate Ashurst’s legal services, addressing end‑to‑end client needs and enhancing Ashurst’s competitiveness in the market. We launched scalable managed services directly to clients and created a suite of configurable, productised solutions that standardise repeatable legal workflows and embed AI to accelerate turnaround, improve quality and unlock margin. This shift to recurring, solution‑led delivery has diversified our revenue mix, increased utilisation of multidisciplinary teams and created a sustainable, high‑margin growth engine for the firm.

To enable this transformation, we invested not only in a market leading technology stack, but in an experienced, multi-disciplinary team of lawyers, analysts, technologists, change specialists and project managers. We structured ourselves around services and launched digital development, experience and enablement teams to industrialise experimentation, accelerate time‑to‑market and productise successful prototypes. I embedded a disciplined, human‑in‑the‑loop operating model with strong governance, ethics and transparency, including firmwide AI operating and risk frameworks, defined capability pathways, cross‑functional delivery squads, and an AI Commercial Advisory Board, which I founded and chair to focus on business model disruption, client use cases, and the future of work and learning.

These initiatives have positioned Ashurst Advance as a leading provider of AI‑enabled NewLaw services and solutions. They have delivered industry firsts, multiple innovation awards and external recognition, while, most importantly, converting our early AI investment into differentiated offerings, deeper client relationships, and profitable, scalable revenue growth.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
Resilience starts with people, governance and culture – it is fundamentally about creating the conditions for change and fostering adaptive leadership at all levels. We listen to clients and our teams. Through structured workstreams, we segment the business to map risks and opportunities, prioritise experiments, and feed insights into practice-specific solutions – something that we continuously refresh to remain responsive to evolving client needs and market dynamics. This provides clarity to invest where AI will lift performance and reduce friction. Internally, offsites and hackathons build literacy and confidence, while our Champions Network embeds peer-to-peer support in every practice and office.

In law, a traditionally risk averse industry, you also need to create confidence to change through an evidence based, human centric approach. We have invested in responsible AI guardrails, capability frameworks, and training that keep humans in control and quality at the centre of delivery. Our AI Commercial Advisory Board coordinates cross-firm priorities on pricing, client needs and enablement, aligning leadership and operations to manage disruption pragmatically.

I also fundamentally believe in leading through transparency – publishing and sharing results to contribute to the wider profession’s resilience, encouraging transparent, safe and evidence-based adoption. No one firm or individual is going to affect the shift required to lead in the digital age.

Resilience is about maintaining composure, optimism, and perseverance in the face of everyday challenges. I encourage my team to be open about our successes and failures, approach setbacks as opportunities for growth, support one another, and stay focused on our shared goals, even when circumstances are demanding. By combining governance, investment in skills, and open collaboration with a strong cultural foundation, we are building an organisation that can adapt quickly, deliver safely, and thrive in a continuously changing market.

Ivana is a DDaT thought leader within the Government Commercial and Grants Functions, driving an ambitious Digital and Data Strategy to transform the ecosystem across the public sector and integrate innovative technology solutions. With over 25 years of experience at the heart of government, Ivana’s initiates have made a lasting impact on operational efficiency and citizen services, characterised by her passion for harnessing data and analytics across public and private sector boundaries. Leading the Covid 19 response for the Grants Management Function, Ivana delivered a trailblazing risk reduction tools across economic crime and national security domains and has recently launched the Central Digital Platform, a key part of the Procurement Act 2023 is helping drive transparency and access to government contracts.

Interview

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
I am a DDaT thought leader within the Government Commercial and Grants Functions, driving an ambitious Digital and Data Strategy to transform the ecosystem across the public sector and integrate innovative technology solutions. With over 25 years of experience at the heart of government, my initiatives have made a lasting impact on operational efficiency and citizen services, characterised by my  passion for harnessing data and analytics across public and private sector boundaries. Leading the Covid-19 response for the Grants Management Function, I  delivered a trailblazing risk reduction tool across economic crime and national security domains and recently launched the Central Digital Platform, a key part of the Procurement Act 2023, which is helping drive transparency and access to government contracts.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
I have provided strategic leadership in the use of technology to modernise commercial and grants functions across government and the wider public sector, with a particular focus on enabling effective implementation of the Procurement Act 2023. I have led the translation of legislative and policy intent into practical, technology-enabled commercial processes that strengthen transparency, compliance, and value for money. By bringing together commercial, digital, and policy communities, I have driven the adoption of digital procurement platforms, improved the use of data and analytics, and embedded technology as a core enabler of procurement reform. My leadership has focused on building capability, encouraging innovation, and ensuring inclusive, accessible procurement systems that support SMEs and VCSE organisations, while maintaining strong governance and public trust.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
As a leader, Ivana fosters long-term resilience through deliberate, skill-based leadership and durable, scalable actions in technology-enabled procurement and data use. She focuses on sustainable architectures, governance cultures, and talent development, including coaching and succession planning to sustain capability. She prioritises capability-building and an innovation mindset, ensuring inclusive systems that support SMEs and VCSEs while maintaining public trust. 
Her core skills include strategic technology leadership, policy-to-practice translation, data analytics literacy, risk assessment, governance, and inclusive design. In practice, she translates policy intent into durable procurement processes, builds and leads cross-functional teams across commercial, digital, and policy lines, and champions digital procurement platforms and analytics to enable timely, informed decision-making and proactive risk management. Leveraging crisis-tested tools to create resilient infrastructures that endure future shocks and sustain procurement continuity. Her leadership emphasises collaboration, continuous improvement, and strategic foresight to deliver enduring, compliant, value-for-money outcomes with a long-term vision. 

Born and raised in the UK to parents who migrated in the early 1960s, I grew up with a strong appreciation for hard work, resilience, and responsibility. My father was a carpenter, and my mother led a production line in a major gin distillery, I have six older brothers and a catalogue of family members who cycled through our family support system. These early influences shaped my belief that strong outcomes are built through people. I am fluent in Punjabi, which has supported my ability to work across cultures and communities.

I began my career as a receptionist in a small office letting agency, learning on the job in fast-paced, high-pressure environments. Throughout my career, I have continued to grow by stepping into roles where expectations and uncertainties were high, and structures were often still forming. I have found that learning in demanding environments, while challenging, delivers the most rewarding and meaningful results. I am now a Commercial Director with extensive experience delivering complex global outsourcing solutions across public and private sectors. I am results-driven, low maintenance, and known as a trusted source of practical and strategic counsel. I balance creativity with commercial discipline, maintaining a clear focus on sales, delivery, and profitability.

I enjoy working with new talent and supporting others to perform at their best. I believe organisations are strongest when people feel trusted, supported, and challenged—because long-term success and resilience ultimately depend on the people who deliver it. My greatest joy and most treasured moments will always be spending time with my two sons.

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
I began my career in a small business providing back-office services to 30 entrepreneurial business leaders. With no formal training, I taught myself to type, telex, fax, invoice, sell and collect debts. These foundational tasks taught me how easily errors in quantities, measurements, or delivery commitments could push a business into financial loss or reputational damage. The experience imprinted a business-focused mindset which at a basic level is to: make money, protect the business, understand the consequences of every decision. In 1989, I joined Capgemini where I trained as a management accountant and left as a Senior Commercial Director 28 years later. I managed my career by moving up the ranks and across ever sector and business unit, developing deep financial and commercial expertise. I evolved my personal brand into a unique value proposition—executing complex bids and mobilising contracts starting with nothing more than a blank sheet of paper and a problem to solve.

The achievements that shaped me include:

• Leading the integration of 600 consultants and three Vice Presidents during the Ernst & Young.
• Consulting merger with Capgemini establishing financial and commercial management for 1,200 transferred employees during the mobilisation of a UK government service contract.
• Conducting due diligence to contract IT services for 26 Schneider Electric customer entities across Europe, the Middle East, and Russia within nine months.
• Setting up multi-country financial and commercial management for an order to supply contract for Nokia Siemens Networks across Germany, India, Guatemala, Brazil, and China..
• Establishing financial and commercial management team for an IT service contract for the UK Metropolitan Police Service.
• Bid for and won a complex customer contact centre service operation featuring outcome-based pricing and performance-driven volume adjustments.

In 2023, I completed a CMI Level 5 apprenticeship, achieving a distinction. I joined Babcock in 2024 as a Commercial Director for one of the organisation’s most prestigious contracts in an industry and service that is new to me.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select:
Leadership
The Schneider Electric programme is a defining highlight of my career. The organisation had agreed, at executive level, to consolidate and outsource IT services across its European footprint. The initial contract, drafted at a very high level in French, committed both parties to a significant budget and baseline without sufficient operational detail to deliver effectively.

There was no predefined role or framework for an engagement of this scale. I proactively positioned myself to lead the commercial and financial due diligence, bringing together group-level expertise and local country resources. I designed a standardised due-diligence framework to baseline assets, net book values, service performance, and contractual variations across multiple regions. This created a consistent, transparent foundation from which all commercial negotiations could be managed.

I built and led a team of 18 people, including six specialists from the group audit function and 12 locally sourced resources across Europe. By maintaining end-to-end control of inputs and outputs, I ensured all data presented to the customer was consistent, rules-based, and defensible. This approach enabled us to reshape the original deal construct, ultimately delivering a significantly improved total contract value and a sustainable commercial model for both organisations.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship
I led the development of an outcome-based pricing model for a complex customer contact centre service operation. This required detailed analysis of existing service performance, volume variability, and customer outcomes. I translated this insight into a pricing structure that aligned commercial value with performance delivery, highlighting the risks to the business for sub-performance.

I actively championed an innovative and entrepreneurial approach, supporting the customer’s ambition to move away from traditional pricing models while ensuring internal stakeholders were confident in the commercial risk and reward balance. The resulting solution was both competitive and compelling, securing the contract while protecting long-term value.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community

Throughout my career, I’ve learned that long-term resilience doesn’t come from processes or structures alone — it comes from people. I’ve always believed that resilient organisations are built by resilient individuals and shapes the way I lead. When people feel informed, supported, and genuinely trusted, they find strength they didn’t realise they had, especially in moments of uncertainty. I’ve found that conversations in a safe space can help people understand both the bigger picture and their personal role within it, minimising anxiety and driving purpose. I often share my own experiences — the moments where I’ve struggled, doubted myself, or had to step back and reset. I’ve learned that even in the darkest moments, a small idea, a pause, or a shift in perspective can reignite resilience. I want others to feel permission to do the same.

A big part of my approach is helping teams look beyond the immediate horizon while also grounding them in what they can influence today. Creating space for reflection — acknowledging achievements, discussing lessons learned, and being honest about what didn’t go well — has been one of the most powerful ways I’ve seen resilience grow. It turns challenges into shared learning rather than isolated pressure.

My leadership style is intentionally visible and hands-on. I’m prepared to roll up my sleeves, not to micromanage, but to show that we’re in it together. That presence builds trust and strengthens the sense of collective accountability.

One example that stays with me is the HMRC integration project. It was a period of intense operational change and tight deadlines. I worked alongside the team - often arriving at 7am and staying until the work was done. The shared commitment drove camaraderie. People were willing to go the extra mile because they knew they weren’t carrying the weight alone. That experience reinforced for me how powerful visible leadership can be in building resilience. Our success led to much needed fun – which is also a good resilience catalyst.

Ultimately, I believe that by investing in people — their confidence, their wellbeing, their sense of purpose creates resilience that lasts far beyond any single project. It becomes part of the organisation’s culture and capability and endures.

Priya Lele is an independent legal innovation and legaltech consultant and the Co-founder and Chair of She Breaks the Law, a global community of 4,000+ women from 50+ countries who are driving change across law, technology and operations. Through She Breaks the Law, she has built and leads a distinctive, cross-disciplinary platform that creates safe spaces for women innovators to connect, learn and lead. Priya co-authored “No Woman Left Behind: Closing the AI Gender Gap in Law”, an influential report developed in collaboration with the Next 100 Years of Women in Law and Linklaters following a first-of-its-kind, gender-lensed research on adoption of AI in legal.

A corporate lawyer by background, Priya holds an LLM from the University of Cambridge. With nearly 25 years of experience bridging legal practice and digital innovation, her career spans three continents and includes senior leadership roles in global law firms and as Director of Legal Transform & Operate at a Big Four consultancy. She has helped leading law firms and multinational corporations (including FTSE100, Fortune 50 and high-growth APAC businesses) modernise legal service delivery through human-centred design, process improvement and technology including AI and automation. Now an independent consultant, Priya focuses on legaltech, community building and thought leadership, and advises legaltech companies and ecosystem players on strategic growth and enhancing legal service delivery. Priya's contributions have been recognised through the European Women of Legal Tech Award (2020), Global Female Founder Finalist at the Australian Legal Technology Awards (2022), and ILTA Influential Women in Legal Tech award (2025). She serves on the Advisory Board of Cambridge Women in Law and previously on CLOC’s Education Advisory Council. A frequent keynote speaker and mentor, Priya brings together legal innovation and community building to expand opportunities for women globally.

Interview

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
My professional journey of nearly 25 years spans three continents and three intertwined careers: first as a practising corporate lawyer, and then as a legal innovator and a community builder. I began as a corporate lawyer in India and following an LLM and a brief Research Fellowship at University of at Cambridge; I practised as a Senior Associate in corporate finance at an international law firm in London. The 2008 financial crisis was pivotal: as clients demanded “more for less”, I became deeply interested in how process, technology and collaboration could reshape legal services. That led me to transition from traditional fee earning into knowledge management, innovation and legal operations in global law firms. My work also included transformation consulting for corporate legal departments serving FTSE100 and Fortune 50 companies. In 2022, I moved to Australia, as a Head of Legal Transformation at a law firm and later as a Director in Ernst & Young. Now, I’m an independent legal innovation and legaltech consultant and focus on my role as Co-founder and Chair of She Breaks the Law, a global community of 4,000+ women in 50+ countries who are driving change across law, technology and operations.

Key achievements include:
Law firm innovation: Helping develop a first-of-its-kind process innovation consulting service and a tech-enabled near-shoring centre at an international law firm, recognised multiple times by the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards, and building a legal innovation ecosystem for the corporate division of another global law firm, embedding LPM, AI, automation and collaborative technologies and designing digital frameworks to support multijurisdictional complex transactions. Corporate legal transformation: Leading programmes that secured multimillion-pound legal technology investment for a financial institution, optimised enterprise legal spend management for a major UK retailer and designed a legal transformation roadmap for an APAC & Japan hyperscale data centre company ahead of its multi-billion acquisition.

Community and ecosystem impact: Establishing and growing She Breaks the Law – leading community initiatives and co-authoring the influential “No Woman Left Behind: Closing the AI Gender Gap in Law” report, shaping more inclusive conversations about AI and leadership in the legal ecosystem.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
I will highlight my contributions against three criteria: Leadership; Leading in technology; and Supporting diversity and inclusion. While I have demonstrated these throughout my professional career, I am most proud of how they come together in my work at She Breaks the Law (SBTL):

Leadership: In 2019, I established SBTL to create the community I wished had existed earlier in my own career: a global, cross-disciplinary network for women leading change in law, technology and operations. Under my leadership, the community has grown from three to 4,000+ women from 50+ countries. I design and oversee our strategy, programming and partnerships, ensuring we remain a safe, energising space where women can share experiences, learn and build skills, access peers and mentors, and collaborate across the legal ecosystem.

Leading in technology: Through SBTL, I lead initiatives to build awareness, foster learning and enable women to engage confidently with emerging technologies, particularly AI. I am co-author of “No Woman Left Behind: Closing the AI Gender Gap in Law”, which we developed in collaboration with the Next 100 Years of Women in Law and Linklaters, a first-of-its-kind gender-lensed research project into the adoption of AI in legal and provides key insights and actionable recommendations to shape more inclusive AI strategies. I lead our Women in Legal AI initiative and leverage my professional experience leading innovation and transformation in law firms, corporate legal departments and advising legal tech companies, providing real-world insights that I continuously feed back into the community.

Supporting diversity and inclusion: At its heart, SBTL is about inclusion and belonging. Through initiatives such as SheConnects (networking events), SheShares (featuring inspiring career stories), SheDevelops (skills-based sessions) and SheCreates (focus groups), we highlight diverse role models, surface often-unspoken challenges (from menopause to migration), and create psychologically safe spaces for women to learn, experiment and lead. My advisory roles with Cambridge Women in Law and the CLOC Education Advisory Council extend this impact beyond our own community, helping to embed inclusive innovation across the wider legal ecosystem.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
I understand long-term resilience as the ability of organisations, communities and individuals to adapt to change while remaining rooted in their purpose. In recent years, my work on resilience has centred increasingly on She Breaks the Law and on mentoring women across the legal ecosystem:

Through She Breaks the Law, I focus on community resilience. By connecting more than 4,000 women from 50+ countries – lawyers, technologists, founders and operations leaders – we have built an ecosystem of peer support, mentoring and shared learning that helps women navigate uncertainty and non-linear careers. Our Global Cafés, SheShares storytelling series, Women in Legal AI focus groups create psychologically safe spaces to talk honestly about topics such as burnout, caregiving, migration, career transitions and the impact of AI on roles and skills. These conversations allow us to co-create practical strategies that strengthen both individual and organisational resilience.

Resilience is also embedded in how we approach technology. Through the Women in Legal AI initiative and our report “No Woman Left Behind: Closing the AI Gender Gap in Law”, I work with partners and community members to build awareness around biases and gender gap, promote AI literacy and human-centred skills and capabilities I like to call “power skills”, demystify emerging tools and give women the confidence to lead AI enabled change rather than be sidelined by it. I continue this critical advocacy by speaking at international conferences and writing extensively (including recently a book chapter in a global publication).

At a personal level, I draw on my own journey – moving from India to the UK for my masters, transitioning from traditional practice into innovation roles, relocating to Australia, moving from big law into Big Four, and most recently shifting from a senior corporate position into independent consulting while deepening my community leadership. I mentor women founders, GCs, legal and allied professionals – whether they’re building new products, exploring alternative paths, transitioning or building portfolio careers. Helping them invest in continuous learning and cultivating networks beyond any one employer, I aim to foster long-term resilience not only for individuals, but for the wider legal and commercial ecosystem.

Joanne Lostracco is a seasoned Canadian diplomat and defence expert with a distinguished career spanning over two decades. Appointed as Minister at the Embassy of Canada to the United States and Director General of Defence Procurement for Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) in Washington, D.C., she brings extensive expertise in Canada-US trade relations and defence materiel governance.

In her current role, Ms. Lostracco oversees the management of all Foreign Military Sales (FMS) acquisitions for Canada, valued at over $15 billion USD. She works closely with the U.S. Departments of War, State, and Commerce to execute this program, delivering vital goods and services to support the Canadian Armed Forces' objectives outlined in the new Defence Policy Our North, Strong and Free and the National Shipbuilding Strategy. Prior to her diplomatic appointment, Ms. Lostracco served as the Corporate Secretary at the Department of National Defence, where she led defence governance initiatives, ministerial liaison, and oversaw access to information and privacy matters. Her expertise in defence governance and policy is further bolstered by her tenure as Director General of International and Industry Programs within the Materiel Group at the Department of National Defence.

Ms. Lostracco's career has been marked by diverse international experiences. She spent three years teaching at the graduate and undergraduate levels at Johnson and Wales University and the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Additionally, she has represented Canada on various Five Eyes and NATO Boards of Oversight, negotiated international acquisition agreements, and provided strategic advice on Canada-US defence industrial cooperation and the Defence Production Sharing Agreement (DPSA).

Ms. Lostracco holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Business and Political Science from the University of Waterloo and a Master of Arts in International Relations from Dalhousie University, where she completed her thesis on Canadian Naval Policy. She is also a graduate of the Canadian Forces College's National Security Program (NSP13). With her deep understanding of defence and trade relations, Ms. Lostracco is well-positioned to strengthen Canada's strategic partnerships and advance its national security interests on the global stage.

Ms. Lostracco is married to a former Royal Canadian Navy officer and has three daughters.

Interview

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
With over twenty years in public service, Joanne Lostracco has strengthened Canada’s defence, trade, and governance capacity through principled, solutions driven leadership. She currently serves as Director General, Defence Procurement at the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C., where she leads a USD 16 billion portfolio of defence acquisitions critical to Canada’s national security, including the P8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, the MultiMission Airborne ISR (MAISR) capability, HIMARS, and River Class ships for the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Coast Guard. These files enhance maritime surveillance, antisubmarine warfare, and Canada’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance posture in support of North American and NATO security.

Joanne has been instrumental in advancing the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort (ICE Pact), a trilateral partnership between Canada, the United States, and Finland that strengthens Arctic cooperation, industrial collaboration, and shared readiness in demanding polar environments. Earlier in her career, as Director General, International and Industry Programs and at the Canadian Commercial Corporation, she supported Canadian defence companies in delivering vital equipment and services to Canadian and allied partners, shaping a robust, export oriented defence industrial base.

Previously, as Corporate Secretary at the Department of National Defence, she oversaw governance transformation during a period of institutional crisis, rebuilding governance architecture and restoring transparency, accountability, and morale in one of Canada’s largest organizations. Across senior diplomatic, trade, and defence roles, her ability to navigate complexity, negotiate international acquisition agreements, and inspire crossborder collaboration has earned recognition for delivering results with integrity while advancing Canada’s strategic interests.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
Leadership and Inspiration: Joanne leads by building trust, setting a clear vision, and inspiring excellence through inclusivity and collaboration. In her current role she guides a multinational team across Canada and the United States, ensuring clarity of purpose as we deliver critical defence capabilities. Her leadership during sensitive negotiations—such as for the MultiMission Aircraft and River Class Destroyer acquisitions—required balancing industrial, diplomatic, and political demands. She also provided high impact strategic advice to Ambassadors, Deputy Ministers, and Ministers, including during the pandemic when her guidance to approach the U.S. Vice President directly enabled Canada to secure essential ventilators under export restrictions.

Diversity and Inclusion: Strong leadership depends on diverse perspectives. At National Defence, Joanne rebuilt her management team to reflect that belief—recruiting leaders from equity seeking and neurodiverse backgrounds. She also founded the Materiel Group Women’s Network, which proposed structural reforms to hiring and succession planning processes still in use today. Currently, she mentors emerging women leaders within the Government of Canada and the wider defence procurement community, promoting confidence and authentic leadership in technical and policy roles. By fostering open dialogue, bilingualism, and respect for individuality, she ensures her teams thrive through both challenge and change. In every assignment—from Ottawa to Washington—Joanne has demonstrated that inclusive leadership not only drives innovation but also cultivates resilience, loyalty, and creativity in public service.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
Resilience defines Joanne’s approach to leadership and institution building. At National Defence, she led a comprehensive governance transformation during a period of intense public scrutiny and upheaval in the senior ranks, introducing transparent governance models and inclusive decision making that restored institutional trust and aligned with culture change priorities within the Canadian Armed Forces. As Corporate Secretary, she oversaw ministerial liaison and access to information and privacy functions, reinforcing transparency, accountability, and effective decision making at the highest levels.

In Washington, she has created enduring structures for adaptive collaboration across departments, allies, and industry, sustaining her team’s confidence amid shifting geopolitical conditions and evolving U.S. policies by emphasizing shared purpose, workplace wellbeing, and ethical decision making. Her ongoing leadership on the ICE Pact, multi sensor ISR capabilities, and Five Eyes procurement forums deepens allied technical cooperation and industrial innovation, reinforcing long term resilience for Canada and its partners. Throughout, she promotes inclusive approaches to procurement, supports Indigenous and diverse industry partners where possible, and fosters cultures of respect and inclusion—ensuring that women and men on her teams contribute equally to the success of Canada’s defence procurement mission.

Beyond my organization, Joanne strengthens Canada’s long term resilience by leading initiatives that fortify alliances and industrial innovation. Her work on the ICE Pact and leadership in Five Eyes procurement forums have deepened technical cooperation and economic sustainability across allied nations. Resilience, for Joanne, is the capacity to adapt with integrity and optimism, to remain steady through change, and to help others rise stronger from challenge. Through steady vision, empathy, and courageous leadership, Joanne aims to build lasting systems—and people—who can serve Canada with confidence and pride.

Angela McDonald-Fisher is a seasoned legal executive and AI governance advisor with more than 20 years of experience leading global legal, compliance, and commercial functions across complex, multinational organizations. She is the Founder & CEO of Calm Bleu Advisors, a boutique advisory firm focused on AI governance, legal-tech strategy, contract lifecycle management (CLM), and legal operating model transformation for corporations, law firms, and innovation-focused legal departments.

Angela previously served as Vice-President & Chief Counsel at Eaton Corporation, a $25B global intelligent power management company, where she led global teams responsible for supply chain contracting, government compliance, commercial negotiations, digital strategy, and enterprise-wide contract management. In this role, she advised senior executives and board members on risk, operations, culture, global regulatory matters, and technology-driven transformation. Angela also served as General Counsel of Eaton’s $5B Aerospace Group, where she led all legal and compliance functions, drove M&A activity, and guided international operations across multiple jurisdictions.

Prior to Eaton, Angela held senior legal and business leadership roles at Cummins, Rolls-Royce North America, Honeywell, and Ingersoll Rand, where she supported global supply chain, manufacturing, government contracting, export controls, compliance, and complex commercial transactions. Across her career, she has built a reputation as a strategic thinker, problem solver, and trusted advisor with deep expertise in high-stakes decision-making and cross-functional transformation.

Through Calm Bleu Advisors, Angela now partners with global companies and legal-tech innovators on the design and implementation of AI governance frameworks, CLM modernization, Microsoft 365-based workflow automation, and digital transformation programs. She also supports legal departments in navigating emerging technology, operational redesign, vendor selection, change management, and the ethics and risk considerations inherent in AI deployment. 

Angela serves on multiple non-profit boards, including Hawken School, University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, and the Cleveland Leadership Center. She is known for her ability to blend operational depth, legal judgment, and forward-looking technology insight, making her a valuable resource for legal functions preparing for the next era of transformation.

She holds a J.D. from Indiana University Maurer School of Law and is admitted to practice in Indiana with an in-house license in Ohio.

Interview 

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
I have built my career at the intersection of law, technology, and business transformation, serving for more than 20 years as a strategic legal executive in the electrical, aerospace, and power-management sectors. At Eaton Corporation, I led a global team of commercial and supply-chain contracting professionals for over five years, strengthening operational rigor, global alignment, and business partnership across a multibillion-dollar portfolio.

During my tenure, I served as the Executive Sponsor of Eaton’s enterprise-wide Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) transformation initiative. In that role, I brought together legal, IT, finance, and business leaders to modernize contracting processes, uplift data integrity, introduce digital workflows, and position advanced technology and AI as accelerators of business value. In 2025, I launched Calm Bleu Advisors, a boutique advisory firm focused on AI strategy, contract lifecycle modernization, and legal-operations excellence. As CEO & Founder, I advise Chief Legal Officers, CTOs, law firms, and operations leaders on designing hybrid governance models, selecting and implementing AI-native contracting technologies, and building future-ready legal ecosystems.

Across all stages of my career, I lead with clarity, empathy, and a commitment to developing people and systems that strengthen organizational capability. My journey reflects both entrepreneurial courage and an enduring dedication to elevating how legal and commercial teams operate in a rapidly changing world.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
My professional contributions center on transforming legal and commercial operations through leadership, innovation, and the strategic use of technology. At Eaton, I led global contracting and commercial teams supporting critical business units, driving improvements in consistency, speed, and risk management. As Executive Sponsor of the CLM transformation initiative, I unified cross-functional stakeholders, modernized templates and playbooks, elevated data governance, and implemented scalable processes that improved transparency and contract velocity across thousands of transactions each year.

As CEO of Calm Bleu Advisors, I now help corporate legal departments and law firms design and implement AI-enabled contracting systems that balance innovation with responsible governance. My work includes CLM assessments, vendor evaluations, AI readiness programs, workflow modernization, and advisory support for emerging AI-native tools. These efforts have helped organizations accelerate digital contracting maturity, reduce cycle times, and position their teams for long-term strategic value.

Beyond my corporate and advisory work, I contribute through mentorship and community leadership. I actively mentor emerging legal professionals, support women’s leadership pathways, serve as a trustee for a private high school where I advance initiatives focused on belonging, inclusion, and student development and serve as a trustee on the UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital Foundation board. My contributions reflect both measurable operational impact and a deep commitment to developing people and institutions.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
I foster long-term resilience by building strong teams, sustainable systems, and governance models that endure beyond any one leader. At Eaton, I strengthened global commercial teams by prioritizing talent development, psychological safety, and cross-regional collaboration. I championed standardized contracting processes and CLM governance structures that increased operational continuity and enabled teams to navigate market pressures, organizational shifts, and evolving customer demands with confidence.

Through Calm Bleu Advisors, I help organizations modernize responsibly. I guide legal and business leaders in adopting AI and digital contracting tools with intentional change management, targeted training, and hybrid governance models that empower local decision-making while preserving enterprise standards. This approach supports innovation while protecting long-term stability and risk mitigation.

In the community, I build resilience by investing in mentorship, education, and access. I support students and early-career professionals through coaching, STEM encouragement, leadership programs, and initiatives that cultivate confidence and global readiness. As a trustee, I help advance policies and programming that strengthen belonging and prepare students for a future shaped by technology and interconnectedness.

Across all settings, my philosophy remains consistent: resilience is created by developing people, strengthening processes, and ensuring that innovation and well-being move forward together.

Blythe Muro is a senior executive and systems shaper with more than 20 years of experience in public policy, health innovation and leadership across Latin America. She currently serves as Government Affairs Manager for Peru and Ecuador at AstraZeneca, where she leads initiatives that integrate policy, innovation and emerging technologies to advance equitable and sustainable health systems.

Throughout her career, Blythe has held senior leadership roles in key public institutions in Peru, including Executive President of OSCE, the national public procurement authority; Head of Strategic Procurement at EsSalud, the national social security system; and Director General of Administration at the National Institute of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic. In these roles, she led large and complex organizations through transformation, strengthened governance and transparency, and sustained critical operations under extreme uncertainty.

Her work has contributed to expanding access to healthcare through telemedicine, fostering regulatory collaboration around artificial intelligence, and improving patient navigation and experience in oncology. Across sectors, she is recognized for mobilizing ecosystems, aligning public and private actors, and designing solutions with long-term impact.

Blythe is also a co-founder of a functional beverage company that promotes sustainable value chains with small farmers, reflecting her commitment to social value and inclusive development. A certified organizational and ontological coach, she brings a human-centered, purpose-driven approach to leadership, grounded in resilience, ethics and systemic change.

Interview

 Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
My leadership has been shaped by a deep conviction: that health systems can — and must — be designed to serve people with dignity, equity and resilience. Over more than two decades, I have worked across sectors and institutions to turn that conviction into lasting, systemic change.

My professional journey spans more than twenty years across the public and private sectors. I have held senior leadership roles in key public institutions in Peru, including the national public procurement authority (OSCE). However, my defining turning point came when I entered the public health system at EsSalud, where I led strategic procurement for the country’s largest public social health insurer. It was there that I discovered my true purpose: to place my experience, technical expertise, ethical commitment and leadership capabilities at the service of patients, improving lives and strengthening health ecosystems.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I served as Director General of Administration at the National Institute of Health, where I was responsible for critical operational functions under extreme uncertainty. This experience profoundly shaped my leadership and reinforced my belief that resilience, trust and purpose are essential to sustaining systems in times of crisis. That experience continues to inform how I lead today — with clarity, empathy and deep respect for the human dimension of systems.

Throughout my career, my roles have required the ability to convene diverse actors, align interests and build trust — and it is through this collaborative approach that meaningful impact has become possible.

From that point forward, my work has been guided by a clear purpose: to change systems, not only projects. I focus on transforming health systems from within, at the intersection of public policy, innovation and leadership, generating outcomes with relevance for emerging countries.

Today, as Government Affairs Manager for Peru and Ecuador at AstraZeneca, I integrate all this experience to benefit patients. From telemedicine in vulnerable communities, to regulatory collaboration around artificial intelligence, to patient navigation in oncology, my work focuses on designing scalable, inclusive and sustainable solutions that improve access, patient experience and long-term system performance.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
Leadership: My leadership is rooted in the ability to mobilize people — both within and beyond my organization — to believe in and commit to initiatives that often have no precedent, creating shared ownership in contexts of uncertainty and limited resources.

Throughout my career — in public institutions, during national crises and within the private sector — I have consistently brought the right people to the table to unlock solutions that could not be achieved in isolation.

This approach has enabled me to shift mindsets, expand institutional ambition and open new paths for collaboration between government, industry and civil society. By aligning diverse actors around a common vision, I have helped finance and implement initiatives through unconventional mechanisms, including public–private collaboration and innovative financing models such as works-for-taxes schemes. These efforts have enabled health initiatives that integrate emerging technologies and generate lasting value for vulnerable populations.

Making a Positive Difference: I design and execute initiatives with sustainability and scalability at their core. My work focuses on modeling solutions that can be replicated and adapted across contexts. A central aspect of my leadership is ensuring that collaboration and innovation contribute to shaping new ways of thinking about policy design and ecosystem development.

One of the core challenges in health systems is that they are traditionally designed from the supply side. My work deliberately disrupts this model by shifting the perspective toward demand, placing patients at the center and fostering inclusion through innovation.

Through telemedicine, regulatory innovation and AI-enabled patient navigation, I have contributed to improving access to care, reducing structural barriers, enhancing patient experience and strengthening decision-making. By integrating emerging technologies with policy design and stakeholder collaboration, these initiatives support more resilient, inclusive and future-ready health systems, generating positive and lasting impact at both organizational and societal levels.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
I build resilience by strengthening people, institutions and purpose — especially in moments of uncertainty. For me, resilience is not only an organizational capability; it is a deeply human one.

My most defining experience in this regard was leading critical administrative functions at Peru’s National Institute of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, the institution was under immense pressure, and fear, grief and uncertainty were part of everyday life. Colleagues and loved ones were lost, systems were stretched to their limits, and decisions carried profound consequences.

In this context, my role extended far beyond operational leadership. I had to sustain teams emotionally, create clarity amid chaos and uphold a strong sense of duty, while personally navigating fear and loss. This experience reshaped my understanding of leadership as an act of service — one that requires courage, empathy and deep commitment to people.

Since then, resilience has become a central pillar of my work. Whether leading teams, shaping public policy or advancing innovation, I focus on creating environments of trust, psychological safety and shared meaning. As an organizational and ontological coach, I support leaders and teams in developing the internal capacities required to navigate complexity and sustain change over time.

By combining human-centered leadership with systemic thinking, I seek not only to respond to crises, but to build institutions and communities that can adapt, learn and thrive long after uncertainty has passed.

Prabha Parameswaran is an Associate Director at Accenture and serves as Global Lead of Advanced AI Contracting in Accenture’s Legal Team. Based in Chicago, her work is focused on client facing commercial transactions that involve Accenture’s global business process and IT outsourcing, cybersecurity, and other various technology practice areas. Her deal experience focusses on Fortune 500 clients of Accenture in the high tech, communications, media, and financial services industries. Prior to joining Accenture in 2013, Prabha was the Associate General Counsel of US Foods, served as Senior Counsel at Aon Hewitt (formerly Hewitt Associates) and lead the Audit and Advisory Services Legal Team at Arthur Andersen.

Prabha received her B.S. in Finance and J.D. from the University of Illinois. She served as the President of the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago Foundation and serves on the Advisory Council of the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago. Prabha also regularly provides pro bono legal services through Accenture’s Legal Access program. Outside of work and legal community activities, Prabha serves as the captain of her local USTA amateur women’s tennis team, is an “Uber” driver for her high schooler and enjoys time with her family’s new mini labradoodle.

Interview

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
Since joining Accenture in 2013 as Associate Director, I've positioned myself for growth. As Global Lead for Generative AI Transactions, I lead a team of transactional attorneys worldwide, navigating uncharted territory in AI contracting while serving as the Co-Lead of our Advanced AI Legal Network and a collaborative working group made up of leaders from Accenture, Avanade and Microsoft.

My journey spans three decades of progressively challenging roles. After six years in private practice focusing on banking and commercial real estate, I built my in-house career leading legal teams at Arthur Andersen's Audit & Business Advisory Division, serving as Senior Counsel at Aon Hewitt, and holding the position of Associate General Counsel at US Foods where I led business law operations for all NA customer contracting.

Based in Chicago, I now negotiate complex, multi-country deals for our Fortune 500 clients across financial services, communications, media, and high-tech industries. My work spans IT and business process outsourcing, cybersecurity, cloud services, and emerging AI technologies—ensuring legal frameworks enable rather than inhibit innovation.

Recognition has followed this work: the National Law Journal's 2013 Chicago Legal Department of the Year Award, the South Asian Bar Association's 2014 Corporate Counsel Achievement Award, and the Coalition of Women's Initiatives in Law's 2017 Benchmark Award for Accenture's Legal Women Group.

Beyond contracts, I'm committed to empowering the next generation. As Adjunct Faculty at University of Illinois College of Law and through board service with the South Asian Bar Association and University of Illinois Alumni Association, I mentor emerging legal professionals, particularly women, navigating their legal careers.

Today's contracts shape tomorrow's business landscape. Having diverse voices at the table ensures we build equitable, innovative solutions. I'm proud to be one of the women who has and can lead where law, commerce, and artificial intelligence converge.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
My commitment to inspiring others extends beyond my roles and work at Accenture as I believe in creating pathways, particularly women and diverse professionals. I've channelled my passion for my alma mater, the University of Illinois, into leadership. I founded and served as the first President of the University of Illinois Law Alumni Association, creating a lasting network for law graduates. I took things a step further and then served a five-year term on the University of Illinois Alumni Association Board of Directors. My service for my university earned recognition as the College of Law's inaugural Loyalty Award recipient.

As an Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, I taught a course for third year law students entitled "The Trusted Advisor", sharing real-world insights about transitioning from legal technician to strategic business partner—lessons drawn from my own career evolution.

Through my activities with the South Asian Bar Association, I've championed diversity in the legal profession for nearly two decades. As past President of the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago Foundation and Advisory Council member now for two plus decades, I've mentored countless attorneys navigating corporate legal careers. And iIn 2012, the then Chief Judge of the US Federal Court of Northern District of Illinois appointed me to the Federal Magistrate Selection Panel in recognition of my commitment to excellence and diversity.

At Accenture, I lead global training sessions for legal and sales teams on Generative AI contracting, demystifying complex technology for hundreds of professionals. I supervise and train junior lawyers across our global legal network, teaching them to balance legal rigor with business enablement.

My approach is simple: share knowledge generously, open doors deliberately, and demonstrate through action that women and diverse professionals belong at every leadership table—especially where law and emerging technology intersect.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
Fostering long-term resilience requires building systems, developing people, and creating frameworks that endure beyond an individual’s contributions. At Accenture, I've built institutional resilience in our approach to emerging technology contracting. As Global Lead for Generative AI Transactions, I've created sustainable infrastructure: comprehensive contracting guidance, templates, and training materials that equip attorneys and contracting professionals worldwide to navigate AI's legal complexities confidently. By leading global training sessions for both legal and sales teams, I'm ensuring knowledge transfer across the organization, so our collective capability grows stronger regardless of personnel changes.

My role on Accenture Legal’s Advanced AI Legal Network enables us to shape industry standards proactively rather than reactively. This forward-thinking approach builds resilience in our legal teams, ensuring we're prepared for technological disruption rather than destabilized by it. 

I've embedded resilience-building into my leadership philosophy by investing heavily in developing junior lawyers and contract managers. Through supervision, training, and contract review across our global legal network, I'm cultivating the next generation of leaders who will carry forward institutional knowledge and continue evolving our practices.

True resilience isn't about individual achievement, it's about creating structures, developing talent, and building communities that thrive long after we've moved on. 

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
Zelda Perkins’ initial career in the film industry ended in 1998 after being forced to sign a particularly onerous NDA by Harvey Weinstein, after attempting to find justice for her colleague who was assaulted by him.  Its impact on her career, health and ability to function freely was profound, making further employment in the US or UK materially impossible and forced her to leave the UK. She spent 5 years in Central America training horses and eventually returned via time in Africa and Europe and started a career producing theatre. In 2017 she was the first woman to break an NDA with Weinstein in the New York Times and Financial Times. These reports were a catalyst to the explosion of the #MeToo movement, encouraging survivors globally to speak out and crucially gave Zelda the platform and protection to pursue the integrity of law on an international level.

Having suffered more deeply from the appalling legal process when searching for justice, her aim in speaking up was to reveal the broader picture of abuse of power. Highlighting the legal systems enabling those in power to act with impunity and use the law to cover up abuse and other harms. She called for legislative and law sector change in her first interviews and pursued this aim, giving evidence to two parliamentary select committee inquiries in 2018 and 2019 with the goal being reform of legislation and legal guidance with regards to confidentiality in any contract or agreement where it was being used to suppress disclosures of harm, harassment, discrimination or abuse. At the time Theresa May promised to stop the scourge of NDA’s and progress was fast.

After the setbacks of political leadership and Government change followed by COVID 19, the public facing campaign Can’t Buy My Silence was founded in 2021. For the last four years the campaign has worked with governments, regulators and businesses across the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and the US to stop the misuse of NDA’s and has contributed to successful legislative and regulatory reforms in multiple jurisdictions. Much of the momentum that effected change in legislation started with the campaign persuading Universities and businesses to sign up to their pledge to no longer use NDAs abusively. The campaign provided a platform for victims of NDAs to anonymously share their testimonies, data to be collected and resources to disseminated.

Many brave victims have come forward to also break their NDAs, aiding in the downfall of other perpetrators from Mohammed Al Fayed and Neil Gaiman to organisations such as the TSSA and the Post Office. Zelda has become a leading global expert on contract confidentiality, whistleblowing, workplace harms and political policy which she has used to speak extensively to drive social change in the international media, corporate world and Westminster.

The campaign has successfully driven legislative reform here in the UK with amendments to the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, the Victims and Prisoners Act, the Employment Rights Bill and the Victims and Courts Bill making NDAs void when used to silence victims or witnesses of harassment, discrimination or crime. These reforms make the UK the global leader in NDA legislation. The legal sector has also made root and branch changes, with regulators strengthening guidance and the ethics of legal practice with regard to negotiations and confidentiality re-examined.

These reforms represent a significant shift towards accountability, transparency and the protection of fundamental human rights at work and beyond.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
Inspiring and influencing others: Zelda’s work has focused on changing how NDAs are understood, not as neutral legal tools, but as mechanisms that can cause long-term harm when misused. By grounding advocacy in lived experience, she has helped policymakers, regulators and employers see the human consequences of silence, rather than just its legal framing. Through parliamentary evidence, private briefings, public and corporate engagement and media influence she has worked to show that reform was both necessary and achievable.

One of the most meaningful outcomes has been through the support of victims who have then found their voices both publicly and privately.  Helping to show other survivors, campaigners and professionals that they are not alone, that they have power and that systems can be challenged and changed.

The growth of Can’t Buy My Silence from a single voice into a trusted, evidence-led movement which advises not only victims but the law sector, regulators, government, business leaders and the media internationally reflects this influence.

Making a positive difference: The most concrete impact of the work is legislative. The reforms now passing through UK law will fundamentally change the balance of power and work to protect the integrity of law.  NDAs will no longer be able to prevent people from speaking about harassment, discrimination or criminal conduct. Victims and witnesses of harassment or discrimination will have guaranteed rights to speak to lawyers, doctors, regulators, support services and family members. Victims and witnesses of crime will now have the right to report to anyone, including the media.

Crucially, this removes the burden from individuals having to be “brave”. The law itself now intervenes. Employers will no longer be able to rely on secrecy to manage reputational risk and will instead be required to address wrongdoing directly. 

 

is shift will make workplaces, universities and institutions safer, not through individual heroism, but through structural change.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
Can’t Buy My Silence has never had an organisational structure as such. It has been a self-funded, founder led and motivated campaign, relying on pro bono and voluntary help until more recently when funding was gained. Without funding security, formal roadmap, or reassurance that progress would come, resilience has been key. In this context, it has not been about optimism, but about an unshakeable belief in the integrity of the cause. This was then driven further by loyalty to the 100’s of victims who bravely shared their testimonies or asked for support.

Setbacks, delays and resistance are part of the process of pushing for change. It was essential to learn early on not to treat these moments as failure, but as information. Signals about where more work was needed, where power was being defended, and where systems were most resistant to change.

Consistency has been key, continuing to show up, even when progress was slow or invisible. Returning to the same goal, the same message, and the same principles, regardless of political cycles, shifting priorities or media attention. That steadiness helped build credibility and trust with policymakers and allies over time and signalled that this work was not reactive or opportunistic but deeply rooted and here for the long term.

Within the wider community, resilience has also meant empowerment through care. Creating space for others to engage at their own pace, in ways that feel safe and sustainable. Not everyone is in a position to speak publicly or confront power directly, which is why we created a secure testimonies platform on the website: a place where people can share their experiences anonymously, discovering their words are powerful - creating evidence used by policymakers, regulators, journalists, and institutions to drive change. Resilience fostered through victims being heard - mostly for the very first time - but without fear. For those who wanted to go further, we provided tools to reclaim their voices through knowledge and legal or parliamentary support.

Ultimately, resilience has come from understanding that change is cumulative. Cultural and legislative shifts are built through repetition, patience and collective effort. That has meant thousands of people signing petitions and completing surveys, supporters writing to their MPs time and time again, public support from organisations and the media and fostering meaningful relationships with everyone from victims to Ministers, detractors to champions.

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
Tech savvy girl with brains, I took the engineer’s bright road –
then detoured through pharma, QA and IT’s code.
As Business Analyst, I listened for the root of need –
where frictions hide the value and process fails to lead.

Through transformation I made usefulness an art;
Outside the box is home to me; finding other ways to start.
My strengths? To hear what’s truly asked, reveal what might be done;
express results on paper – all while having fun!

“Providing usefulness,” I smile – results begin right there;
“Applied contracts,” steeped in context, cut the fog to fair.
Self-employed as PM, shouldered SME mantle, too –
in regulated realms where audits sift the true.

In global outsourcing, I reshaped SLAs to see
the customer’s real benefits, not KPI debris.
In steering groups and BD teams, I kept the guiding thread
through critical transitions where the tightest timelines led.

I helped a government divide and shape its ways to steer,
commercialised IT services so delivery ran clear.
I planned risk and control in pharma’s high stakes flame –
international, high profile work where errors carry blame.

In a new business procurement role, I refined
contracting strategies and new suppliers aligned.
As Commercial Manager, I carried complex bids across
partnerships and regions – that landed without loss.

In India’s defence sector, the Commercial Director at the wheel –
closed mid  to large scale contracts, turned diligence to real.
For Major Campaigns, I braided two figure billion strands –
strategic management, negotiations, value in our hands.

Now Director Contract & Commercial Excellence is my heartbeat –
in the interface where legal and operations need to meet.
I give commercial specialist support on call,
train our community with WorldCC woven through it all.

And if my journey needs one line to show what threads it through;
I make the useful visible – and make the visible true.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
Inspiring and influencing others
By day I worked; by night I studied Business Law,
and earned my Bachelor while the clock still ticked with awe.
A colleague watched, then said, “I’ll try – contracting calls to me.”
I felt a quiet pride – proof sparks can jump, then set things free.

In terms & conditions, I redrew how we begin;
not clause by clause in tunnels, but a visual, broader spin –
I put the delivery and acceptance on a slide,
warranty in pictures, LDs and limits side by side.

With graphics of pre requisites and bottom line –
we could talk what matters, what’s feasible, what’s fine.
The customer felt seen; the arguments thinned out;
practice trumped abstraction; we found a better route.
Our sales responsible said, well pleased –
“Now even I understand the LDs!”

In multilingual heat, I planted one small phrase –
“I’ve got an idea!” – a bridge in storm lit haze.
I backed it with solutions balanced, tested, fair;
not cleverness for show, but bridges built with care.
When used, the customer paused – “Stop, she’s got an idea” –
and space was made for listening, for truth to volunteer.
The room unclenched its shoulders; the stalemate found a seam;
we traded heat for movement and a pathway through the stream.

As PoC for Saab’s Corp Membership in WorldCC, I reached,
continuously recruiting members – growing the community I preached.
I’m active, joyfully sharing what I know
as Business Guru in Speed-tech Demos’ flow,
Also being mentor and judge – a privilege for sure –
in Leaders / Innovators of the Future programs, helping bold ideas endure.

Influence starts simply; a word that opens air,
a picture that untangles, then the value’s really there,
a step that shows the span from theory into deed –
inspiring means I do it, then help others take the lead.

Raising the reputation of contracting
First, I meet the stakeholders and ask, “What do we seek?”
Not from terms and conditions, but from delivery we must keep.
I host a “checklist” workshop – no clauses on the wall –
I frame it straight beforehand, so we’re present to the call.

I facilitate with questions earned in pressure, time, and dust –
project, product, supplier, production – voices that we trust.
From the shared checklist I can draft a lucid first release –
the SoW gets sharper; the contract built to carry risk to peace.

The feedback sometimes lands half joking yet sincere –
“even legal people can be useful” – music to my ear;
I smile because that’s the point; turn paper into tool,
where reputation grows from outcomes, not from rule.

I speak of our “Commercial Community,” to plant pride,
and an envisioned “Commercial Academy” so skill can multiply.
I helped establish competence mapping and a year wheel to chart,
and advocated the approach across our entities, abroad and at heart.

Proving usefulness of the role by raising the handover bar;
a detailed, plain language tour – obligations extraction the star –
salient points for execution; AI helping shape the slides,
so clarity meet cadence where delivery resides.

I compiled a Commercial Community list (GDPR sound)
with names, org, geographic runs, and specialist ground –
so new peers find support when problem bites,
making knowledge circulate instead of hiding in the heights.

I keep insisting Commercial is its own profession –
not an afterthought, but core to compliant, profitable progression.
I’d like to think my drumbeat – commercial is where profit meets the code –
helped to bring about a corporate-level Commercial node.

It goes to show that reputation rises when behaviour makes it real,
and contracts turn from paperwork to partners in the business wheel.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
Resilience starts with trust – the weave that holds the sail.
A team that knows each other can face a harder gale.
We confide and we reflect; we borrow calm and sight;
we vent without the judgment that can poison useful night.
Not skipping what is painful, but walking through it slow;
not “get over,” but “get through,” till steady winds can blow.

I make asking for advice the most ordinary act;
a second opinion isn’t doubt – it’s disciplined fact.
I invite the questions; I share my toolkit wide;
I’d rather build the bench than guard a narrow side.
This culture breaks the blame that always looks for one;
it opens up the room where learning work is done.

We study our missteps, we harvest what they teach;
we focus on the upside that practice puts in reach.
We store what made us stronger, we name what we’ll avoid,
we design the next approach with fewer traps employed.

We work as one – our team a braid of know-how, not sharp lines;
no titles fence our effort, no organisational confines.
We serve the objective however we can, no fetter;
we win together, we lose together – this makes us stronger, better.

Our motto “Keeping people and society safe” rings true
especially in these worrying times of dark grey hues.
Another country in dire straits – both distress and inspire,
under overwhelming workload – we do not tire.

So when the tunnel narrows and tempers start to shake,
we have a common language for the moves we need to make –
trust, advice, reflection; patience, pace, repair –
that’s resilience, long term, the way we choose to care.

Inna Stets serves as Chief Operating Officer of the DREAM Project Office, responsible for the development and support of Ukraine’s national public investment management system.  Born in the Kherson region- territory that is currently temporarily occupied by russia - Inna graduated from Kherson State University and began her career at a large Ukrainian IT company. She started as Head of the Quality Control Department and later advanced to lead the e-commerce division.
In 2023, Inna joined the DREAM Project Office as a Project Manager. Drawing on her extensive experience in product leadership, she soon took responsibility for shaping the product direction and now coordinates a cross-functional team responsible for system development, integration, and user engagement. Inna’s leadership has been instrumental in transforming DREAM from a wartime pilot initiative into a national digital system used by over 1,300 municipalities, all 24 regional administrations, and multiple government institutions. Her strategic vision, combined with a people-first management approach, has fostered a culture of transparency, innovation, and accountability. Her team reflects these values - diverse, mission-driven, and resilient.
Today, Inna is focused on fully integrating Ukraine’s public investment management (PIM) reform into a unified digital system accessible to every citizen. She leads the ongoing integration of DREAM with key platforms such as Prozorro, enabling end-to-end planning, procurement, and monitoring of public investment projects.

Interview

Her work exemplifies leadership rooted in values and guided by vision. Through her approach, Inna has helped build not only a digital system, but a national standard for transparency in public investment.

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
Inna Stets is a transformational leader in Ukraine’s public investment management reform. With a background in project and product management, she has played a pivotal role in developing and scaling DREAM - Ukraine’s flagship system for managing public investments, and also in shaping the policy foundations of the reform itself.

From the project’s inception, Inna played a key role in establishing the DREAM Project Office and the system jointly developed by the Ministry for Development and the Open Contracting Partnership. She quickly rose to lead the Product Department and later became the Chief Operating Officer, overseeing the digital ecosystem that underpins the country’s Public Investment Management (PIM) reform.

Under her leadership, DREAM evolved from a minimum viable product into a national system adopted by more than 1,300 municipalities, all 24 regional administrations, 15 ministries, and numerous state-owned enterprises.

As a member of the expert working group, Inna contributed to the development of a new methodology for the allocation of public investments in Ukraine. This methodology was adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers and now underpins the official procedures for distributing public investment funds across all levels - national, regional, and local - starting from 2025.

The DREAM system, led by Inna, has received international recognition - it has been showcased at the Ukraine Recovery Conference for three consecutive years and has won prestigious awards, including the WorldCC Award for Innovation and Impact in Public Contracting.

Inna’s work is marked by high personal standards, clarity of purpose, and deep commitment to people. She has built and empowered a team of 30+ professionals - many of them young women - who develop, support, and continuously improve the platform. Her leadership style blends humanity and accountability, creating a culture of openness and trust.

Her current focus is on full integration of public investment planning into a transparent, citizen-accessible digital system, connecting DREAM with national systems such as Prozorro. This end-to-end integration of planning, procurement, and monitoring is transforming Ukraine’s approach to recovery and strategic development.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select: 
Leadership
As COO of DREAM, Inna has demonstrated visionary and inclusive leadership. She scaled a core team into a full-fledged digital office, setting clear goals while fostering an open, trusting environment. Her team describes her as someone who is always available for support but demands efficiency and honesty in return. Through her leadership, DREAM has become more than a product - it is now a purpose-driven team united by shared values.

Supporting Diversity and Inclusion: Inna actively promotes diversity within the technology sector, especially encouraging and mentoring young women in product, design, and engineering roles. Over half of the DREAM team she leads are women, many in senior positions. She believes inclusion is not just about balance but about unlocking the full potential of each person - giving space for ideas, feedback, and growth. Her approach has made DREAM a workplace where people feel safe, motivated, and empowered.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
Inna’s impact extends beyond technical leadership - she builds systemic and organizational resilience. In a country facing war and uncertainty, she has ensured that DREAM remains functional, scalable, and future-oriented.

She fosters resilience through a people-centered management approach: empowering her team with clear purpose, encouraging initiative, and supporting psychological safety. Internally, she has introduced agile practices and feedback loops that allow DREAM to quickly adapt to changes. Externally, she ensures that public institutions using DREAM - from small municipalities to ministries - are equipped with training and ongoing support to make the most of the platform. By integrating digital tools with governance reform, Inna is not only helping Ukraine rebuild - she is laying the foundation for long-term, transparent, and accountable development.

Naomi Thompson is an award-winning Legal Innovation and Technology Strategist. She is the Managing Director and Founder of CatalyNT, a boutique consultancy that advises organisations and executives on AI adoption and digital transformation at the intersection of business, law, and technology.  Her career spans in-house legal advisory, business strategy development, and execution for multinational corporations, extending to leading client and business development initiatives. Naomi is a sought-after thought leader driving the transformation of the legal sector and is frequently invited to speak at both global and local conferences, seminars, and panel discussions.

Recognised by the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) as one of the Top 5 Global Voices Shaping the Future of Legal Innovation and as a Harvard South Africa Fellow, Naomi completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. She regularly speaks on the future of law, leadership, and technology.

Naomi serves on several boards and holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and an MBA from Hult International Business School (Boston). She also hosts In Conversation with Naomi, a podcast amplifying African leadership and innovation on the global stage. A published author and passionate advocate for driving innovation within the legal profession, Naomi’s work continues to bridge business, law, and technology across Africa and beyond.

From humble beginnings in a small South African town, where university once seemed impossible, to becoming a lawyer and self-funding an international MBA, Naomi’s journey embodies her belief that no dream is too big to achieve.

Volunteer Roles

• President, Harvard University Alumni Association of South Africa (HUASA) – 2024 to present
• Director, A Million Girls Foundation NPO – 2021 to present
• Mentor, Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice – Advancing Women in the Workplace
• Program, 2023

Interview

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
I am an experienced commercial lawyer and Legal Transformation Strategist advising C-suite leaders at the intersection of business, law, data, and technology. My career spans in-house legal advisory, business strategy development and execution for multinational corporations and extends to leading business and client development.

I started my career as a corporate in-house lawyer before transitioning into strategy implementation and business operations, including serving as Chief of Staff at a leading pan-African investment firm. In this role, I worked closely with executive leadership to drive group-wide strategic initiatives across multiple markets. I later served as Senior Vice President for EMEA at Exigent, a global organisation, before becoming a key leader in establishing a regional NewLaw strategy in Africa within a Big Four firm. This marked a decisive shift from traditional corporate structures to innovation-led legal service delivery, with a focus on technology-enabled transformation and the responsible adoption of AI across the legal sector.

I am now the founder of CatalyNT, a boutique consultancy focused on modernising legal teams through strategy, operating model design, and responsible adoption of legal technology. True to its name, CatalyNT reflects my commitment to acting as a catalyst for meaningful, sustainable change, helping legal teams evolve to meet the demands of fast-moving organisations. Alongside my advisory work, I am the founder and Executive Director of the Legal Innovation Summit, an Africa-focused platform advancing collaboration and thought leadership across law, business, and technology. I am deeply committed to leadership development and actively mentor emerging leaders, particularly women navigating leadership transitions.

I am a thought leader shaping the transformation of the legal sector and am frequently invited to speak at both global and local legal conferences, seminars, and panel discussions. I am a Harvard South Africa Fellow, recognised for my contribution to legal innovation in Africa, and have been named one of the Influential Women in Legal Tech by the International Legal Technology Association.

Across these roles, my core achievement has been enabling legal teams to evolve from reactive cost centres into strategic business partners, embedding innovation, resilience, and purpose at the heart of legal leadership.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
Inspiring and Influencing Others
Making a Positive Difference (within organisations and the legal industry)

My contribution to the legal profession is grounded in a clear purpose: to bridge the gap between tradition and innovation, and to empower lawyers to lead confidently in a digital, AI-enabled world. As a legal transformation strategist, I am building Africa’s first community-driven ecosystem focused not on talking about AI, but on enabling legal professionals to adopt it responsibly, practically, and with confidence.

Through CatalyNT, I connect law, business, and technology to reimagine how Africa’s legal sector delivers value. Our mission is to ensure the profession does not merely adapt to change but actively leads it. I have designed and delivered legal transformation programmes that go beyond technology implementation to address operating models, skills, culture, and leadership. This includes advising organisations on contract lifecycle management, responsible AI adoption, and legal process simplification to unlock measurable business value and strengthen legal teams as strategic partners to the business.

At an industry level, I founded the Legal Innovation Summit, a flagship platform created to address the underrepresentation of African voices in global legal innovation conversations. The Summit brings together in-house counsels, law firms, technologists, policymakers, and business leaders to co-create solutions around AI governance, legal operations, and inclusive growth. By positioning Africa as a site of innovation rather than adoption, the platform has elevated regional perspectives and enabled meaningful cross-sector collaboration.

Inspiring and influencing others is central to my leadership approach. I intentionally create platforms that amplify women leaders, emerging talent, and historically underrepresented voices. I invest significant time in mentoring women in the early to mid-stages of their careers, including serving as a mentor for the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice’s Advancing Women in the Workplace Programme, which addresses the gender gap in South African legal leadership. I also advocate for women in leadership through engagement with the West Africa Law Students Association and support a number of formal and informal mentees navigating their professional journeys.

Through speaking engagements, advisory work, and my podcast, In Conversation with Naomi, I share authentic leadership journeys that normalise uncertainty, build confidence, and demonstrate that innovation and inclusion are mutually reinforcing. Collectively, this work is helping shape a more resilient, inclusive, and future-ready legal profession across Africa.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
Resilience has been a defining theme in both my professional and personal journey. Having navigated significant challenges, I have come to understand resilience not simply as individual endurance, but as a capability that must be intentionally cultivated and designed into organisations and communities.

Earlier in my career, I self-funded an international MBA while managing considerable financial pressure, volatile exchange rates, and the responsibility of being the primary caregiver for my elderly and frail parents. They depended on me for accommodation, financial and medical support, and daily living needs. This experience profoundly shaped my leadership philosophy: resilience is built through embracing it and values led decision making, not heroics.

In my advisory work, I help legal teams build long-term resilience by strengthening three core pillars: strategic clarity, adaptive capability, and human sustainability. At an organisational level, this means moving legal functions away from dependency on individuals and towards scalable, well-governed operating models. I support teams to clarify their mandate, align legal strategy with business objectives, and implement technology that reduces friction, improves visibility, and enables better decision-making.

From an industry perspective, one of the most significant challenges is overcoming resistance to change and enabling lawyers to embrace technology as a core component of legal service delivery. While legal teams globally are evolving in response to increasing complexity, the paceof transformation across much of Africa remains uneven. This requires a nuanced approach: understanding diverse regional contexts, regulatory environments, and organisational maturity, and tailoring solutions that meet teams where they are while preparing them for future demands.

Resilience is reinforced through effective change management, continuous skills development, and strong leadership alignment. A key focus of my work is responsible AI adoption alongside the development of lawyers’ leadership capability as a core resilience lever. By embedding governance, ethics, and risk awareness early, organisations are able to innovate with confidence while maintaining trust, integrity, and long-term sustainability.

At a community level, I foster resilience through connection and shared learning. Platforms such as the Legal Innovation Summit, alumni networks, mentorship programmes, and my podcast create spaces for reflection and collective problem-solving. By prioritising wellbeing, self-leadership, and values-driven decision-making, I aim to contribute to a legal profession that is future-ready, human-centred, and resilient by design.

I am a 53-year-old woman, born in Santiago, Chile, and raised in a middle-class family of professionals. My father is a certified public accountant, my mother was a pharmaceutical chemist, and my younger sister is a psychologist. Growing up in a household shaped by science, numbers, and human behavior strongly influenced my curiosity, discipline, and commitment to public service.

I completed my entire school education at the same institution—the rst coeducational school in Chile—an experimental school linked to the Faculty of Education of the University of Chile, where innovative teaching methodologies were applied. This early exposure to critical thinking and social responsibility shaped my long-term interest in systems, institutions, and how they can be improved.

At 18, I entered the University of Chile, the country’s oldest public university, and graduated as an Industrial Civil Engineer at the age of 23. I began my career in the private sector before transitioning into public leadership roles, where I have been able to combine technical expertise with a strong focus on integrity, efficiency, and impact.

On a personal level, I am the mother of three wonderful children. Nicolás, 23, is completing his degree in Industrial Civil Engineering; Antonia, 20, is in her third year of Design; and Victoria, 13, is still at the school. As my children have become more independent, I deeply value the time we spend together, talking about their lives, aspirations, and future paths.

Outside of work, I enjoy a good lm, a meaningful book, and quality co ee. With limited free time, I prioritize family, long walks, knitting, and cooking. During the summer, I enjoy spending quiet days at the beach or in the countryside with my partner—spaces that allow reflection, balance, and renewed energy for my professional commitments.

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements
My professional journey has been defined by a long-standing commitment to public service, state modernization, and the development of citizen-centered solutions. I am a Civil Industrial Engineer from the University of Chile, hold a Master’s degree in Business Law from Adolfo Ibáñez University, and have completed postgraduate diplomas in Management Skills for Senior Public Management and in Procurement Management. This multidisciplinary background has enabled me to bridge strategy, regulation, technology, and service delivery throughout my career, with a strong emphasis on transparency, integrity, and public value.

I began my career as a corporate risk analyst at a private bank in 1996 and later worked as a finance assistant at a national airline. Then I joined Chile’s Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones, where I established its first consumer services department. From 2000 to 2002, I supported over 50 latin american consumer organizations at Consumers International.

A central pillar of my career has been ChileCompra, Chile’s public procurement system. I was part of the founding team that created ChileCompra in 2003, contributing to the design and initial implementation of a platform that has become a cornerstone of transparency, accountability, and efficiency in public spending. From 2008 to 2015, I served as Head of the User Service Division, leading the nationwide integration and support of public buyers and suppliers, and strengthening service models that facilitated sustainable growth, wider participation, and responsible use of public resources.

From 2015 until assuming my current role, I served as Deputy Director of Taxpayer
Assistance at the Chilean Internal Revenue Service (Servicio de Impuestos Internos, SII). In this position, I led national taxpayer service strategies across digital, remote, and in- person channels. This role expanded my leadership scope and deepened my expertise in managing high-demand public services, particularly in designing user-centered digital solutions at scale that foster compliance, trust, and fairness.

Currently, as Director of ChileCompra, I leverage these experiences to enhance public procurement as a strategic tool for development, innovation, and inclusion. A defining aspect of this role has been leading a structural reform of the public procurement system under tight timelines, limited resources, and with a specialized team of approximately 140 professionals. My key achievements include aligning legal reforms with operational delivery, prioritizing transparency and accountability, modernizing service delivery through technology, and reinforcing public trust by ensuring that institutional performance delivers tangible value to end users. My career reflects a sustained commitment to building resilient public institutions capable of implementing complex reforms efficiently and with integrity.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
My work has consistently demonstrated that public procurement can be a powerful lever for integrity, efficiency, inclusion, and innovation. By combining regulatory reform with technology, data, and incentives, this approach has delivered measurable results in Chile and has also gained international recognition.

Inspiring and Influencing Others
A core element of my leadership has been the ability to mobilize teams, institutions, and external stakeholders around a shared vision of transparent, citizen-centered public procurement. Leading the implementation of Chile’s public procurement reform required influencing behavior across thousands of public buyers and suppliers, aligning legal changes with practical tools, training programs, and strategic communication. Through large-scale capacity-building initiatives and public campaigns such as “Alto a la Corrupción,” we reframed integrity not only as a compliance burden, but as a fundamental public value.

This work has positioned ChileCompra as a regional and global reference. The Chilean experience has been highlighted by international organizations such as the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP), which has documented and disseminated advances in reducing discretionary purchasing, increasing SME participation, and identifying final beneficiaries to prevent conflicts of interest. In this context, I was nominated by the OCP team as a woman of significant impact in public procurement and transparency—an acknowledgment that reflects both institutional leadership and the collective effort of the teams I have led.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The reform of Chile’s public procurement law created a strategic opportunity to redesign ChileCompra’s technological and operational model. As part of this process, we also internalized the lessons learned from the 2023 cyberattack, using them to strengthen cybersecurity, operational continuity, and governance without disrupting service delivery. These combined insights informed the development of a new Mercado Público with a modular architecture, cloud-based active–active infrastructure, machine-readable data (OCDS), AI-driven analytics, and security by design.

Beyond infrastructure, innovation has translated reform into tangible impact. Under my leadership, ChileCompra introduced public procurement for innovation procedures and launched a unique circular economy procurement platform—one of the first globally—which has already enabled the transfer and reuse of more than 2,000 public-sector assets. In parallel, full automation of procurement monitoring, large-scale identification of final beneficiaries, and advanced data analytics now support preventive oversight across more than two million annual transactions.

Together, these efforts position public procurement as a space for experimentation, entrepreneurship, and continuous improvement. International recognition of this work led to a formal invitation to apply for the WorldCC Foundation Inspiring Women Program 2026, in partnership with World Commerce & Contracting and Icertis. This invitation reflects the relevance of Chile’s experience in demonstrating how innovation, entrepreneurship, and ethical leadership can drive systemic change in public procurement at scale.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community
As Director of ChileCompra, my leadership has been instrumental in implementing the most comprehensive reform of Chile’s public procurement system in the past two decades. This transformation has delivered measurable results for end users—citizens, small businesses, and public institutions—by strengthening probity, expanding competition, and reducing discretionary purchasing.

One of the most significant outcomes has been the structural reduction of Direct Awards (Tratos Directos), historically the most exceptional and opaque procurement mechanism. By 2025, their value fell by 23%, from USD 2.993 billion in 2024 to USD 2.367 billion, while their share of total procurement decreased from 20% to 12.5%. This shift resulted from a leadership strategy that combined regulatory reform, stricter justification requirements, enhanced transparency, and the expansion of accessible competitive mechanisms such as Compra Ágil.

As a result, open and competitive procurement procedures now represent 86.5% of all transactions, an increase of 7.4 percentage points compared to 2024. These improvements extend across all sectors of the State, including municipalities, health services, and public works, translating into better value for public resources and increased public trust.

The reform has also delivered meaningful bene ts for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Between January and October 2025, SME participation grew by over 20% in real terms, exceeding USD 6.3 billion in sales. The redesigned Compra Ágil mechanism proved particularly impactful, with SME transactions increasing by 109% year on year, demonstrating how integrity reforms can be aligned with economic opportunity.

In parallel, the strengthened ChileCompra Observatory, responsible for system-wide monitoring and oversight, has raised probity standards across public procurement. Through full automation and advanced data analytics, 100% of procurement processes—over two million transactions annually—are now monitored preventively. The detection of irregularities increased by 207%, supported by the identification of more than 196,000 final beneficiaries and data cross-checks with the national civil service registry (SIAPER). In October 2025 alone, more than 100 high-risk conflict-of-interest cases were detected and escalated.

Taken together, these results demonstrate how strategic leadership, innovation, and influence can translate reform into lasting impact—positioning public procurement as a powerful driver of transparency, inclusion, and public value.

Anna van der Lugt was born in the Netherlands and comes from a family with a long history of migration originating in Germany. International mobility has been a defining feature of her family’s story for generations. Following the Second World War, many of her aunts and uncles emigrated to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, the latter becoming a country with which she developed a strong and enduring connection.

Growing up during the 1980s and 1990s, Anna was influenced by the prevailing narratives of economic growth, entrepreneurship, and global business. With significantly older brothers who built successful commercial careers, business and commerce became both a familiar and aspirational environment. These influences, combined with her academic background and fluency in four European languages, shaped her early ambition to build an internationally oriented professional life.

New Zealand ultimately became the focal point of that ambition. However, relocating there proved to be a formative learning experience. Anna encountered cultural differences that challenged her expectations and required a conscious recalibration of communication style, professional behaviour, and leadership approach. This period demanded adaptability, cultural intelligence, and a willingness to observe, listen, and learn before acting. Over time, this experience strengthened her ability to build trusted relationships across diverse stakeholder groups and organisational contexts.

While adapting to a more measured professional environment, Anna retained a strong sense of organisation, integrity, and disciplined work ethic. These attributes supported her early career in property and facilities management, where she was responsible for managing substantial budgets and contributing to long-term strategic planning. This work provided a natural foundation for her transition into procurement and commercial roles.

Like many professionals in the field, Anna did not initially set out with a defined plan to pursue a career in procurement. At the time, it was a discipline that was still emerging and not widely recognised. Nevertheless, her underlying motivations—working in business, stewarding resources responsibly, and contributing to better outcomes for organisations and communities—aligned closely with the core purpose of commercial and procurement practice.

It was this alignment of values that led Anna to form a strong and enduring association with World Commerce & Contracting (WorldCC). She identifies closely with the organisation’s emphasis on honesty, trust, and collaboration, and its belief that commercial practice should serve not only individual organisations, but the broader system in which they operate. The WorldCC perspective—that better contracting outcomes are achieved through fairness, transparency, and shared intent rather than adversarial behaviour—reflects Anna’s own professional philosophy, shaped through years of cross-cultural work and public-sector experience.

For Anna, WorldCC represents a community of practice that treats commercial and contracting as a discipline grounded in human behaviour, ethics, and long-term value creation. She is particularly drawn to its focus on improving how parties work together, recognising that sustainable outcomes are built through relationships, trust, and a commitment to collective benefit. This worldview has strongly influenced her own approach to commercial leadership and continues to inform how she supports organisations and individuals to achieve better, more balanced outcomes.

Today, Anna views commercial and procurement not simply as a profession, but as a field of enduring interest and commitment. She is deeply engaged in its evolution and takes particular satisfaction in helping others recognise the strategic, intellectual, and human dimensions of commercial work, and in supporting them to find similar purpose and fulfilment in the discipline.

Tell us your professional story – your background, journey, and key achievements:
Anna van der Lugt is a senior commercial and contracting consultant with extensive experience across the New Zealand public sector. Working on a contract basis, she is regularly engaged by agencies to provide Greenfields expertise in periods of transition, to stabilise complex procurement and commercial environments, and to strengthen organisational capability. Her roles typically involve stepping into high-risk or high-pressure situations where sound judgement, credibility, and calm leadership are essential.

Anna’s influence is built on credibility, consistency, and a strong sense of professional responsibility. Prior to specialising in procurement and commercial advisory work, she held senior roles in property, facilities, and infrastructure management at the New Zealand Department of Labour, Victoria University of Wellington, and the New Zealand Defence Force. This experience enables her to connect commercial strategy with operational reality and to influence outcomes across organisational boundaries. She is particularly effective at working with people who feel under pressure or uncertain, creating environments where constructive challenge and learning are possible.

A defining feature of Anna’s work is her commitment to leaving organisations stronger than she found them. She places particular emphasis on mentoring, capability development, and modelling professional standards, especially for women and early-career practitioners navigating complex or male-dominated environments. Rather than positioning herself as an external expert, she works alongside teams, helping individuals build confidence, judgement, and resilience in their own decision-making. Many of those she has supported have gone on to take on more senior roles, carrying forward the practices and values she helped establish.

Anna’s long-standing relationship with World Commerce & Contracting (formerly IACCM) reflects her belief in contributing back to the profession. First nominated in 2014 by her mentor, Dr Sara Cullen, for IACCM’s inaugural global competition in commercial excellence—where she was recognised as award runner-up and invited to the European conference in Rome—she has since maintained sustained involvement with the organisation. She has served as a Council Member since its inception in 2019 and joined the Global Advisory Board in 2022. Through these roles, she contributes to shaping professional discourse, supporting emerging leaders, and strengthening the global commercial community.

Anna holds a Master of Arts in Political and Economic History from Leiden University in the Netherlands. In recognition of her leadership, integrity, and sustained contribution to the profession, she was awarded Fellowship by World Commerce & Contracting in 2023.

Highlight your contributions by selecting at least two of our criteria and providing written examples that demonstrate evidence of the two you select
Anna exemplifies outstanding leadership through her exceptional ability to inspire and influence others while making a lasting positive difference across New Zealand and beyond.

Inspiring and Influencing Others
Anna's commitment to professional development extends far beyond her own career advancement. She consistently encourages colleagues and peers to build their capabilities, offering mentorship and guidance that helps others navigate their professional journeys with confidence. Her approach is both genuine and impactful, she doesn't simply talk about development, she actively creates opportunities for it.

As a dedicated community builder, Anna has invested significant personal effort in establishing and nurturing the procurement and contract management community across Wellington and beyond. She has a remarkable talent for amplifying others' voices, consistently encouraging professionals to speak at events, share their expertise, and actively participate in commercial and contract management activities. Through her tireless volunteer work, she creates inclusive spaces where professionals feel empowered to contribute, learn, and grow together. Her genuine passion for elevating the profession is evident in every interaction.

Making a Positive Difference
Anna has been an exceptional driver of Commercial and Contract Management (CCM) excellence throughout New Zealand. Time and again, she has championed best practices and demonstrated the tangible value that professional CCM brings to organisations. Her work has significantly raised awareness of how a professional body like WorldCC can transform organisational performance and drive genuine business value.

Through her unwavering dedication, Anna has advanced CCM adoption across the region while building a foundation of professional excellence that will benefit the community for years to come. Her leadership reflects a deep understanding that meaningful change happens through empowering others and fostering collaborative environments where the profession can thrive.

Describe how you foster long-term resilience within your organization or community 
Anna fosters long-term resilience by building sustainable community infrastructure rather than creating dependency on individual efforts. She has established the Wellington WorldCC community with a focus on collective ownership, encouraging multiple voices and leaders to emerge rather than positioning herself as the sole driver. This distributed leadership model ensures the community can thrive regardless of any single person's involvement.

Her emphasis on professional development creates a ripple effect, by consistently encouraging others to build their capabilities, speak publicly, and take on active roles, Anna is cultivating the next generation of CCM leaders who will carry the profession forward. She doesn't just solve immediate challenges; she equips others with the skills and confidence to address future ones independently.

Anna's approach to promoting best practices also builds organisational resilience. By raising awareness of the value professional CCM brings, she helps organisations understand that investment in professional standards and communities like WorldCC isn't optional, it's essential for long-term success. This shifts mindsets from viewing CCM as a cost centre to recognising it as a strategic capability that strengthens organisational performance during both stable and challenging times.

Furthermore, Anna's volunteer commitment demonstrates resilience through action. Despite the demands on her time, she remains steadfast in her community-building efforts, modelling the persistence and dedication required to create lasting change. Her work ensures that New Zealand's CCM community has deep roots and strong networks that will continue supporting professionals well into the future.

Anna's exceptional contributions make her truly deserving of this recognition.