Credit: IDG
GRADUATE
This award recognises a standout graduate candidate who has leveraged apprenticeship programs to start a career within the ICT industry. Open to all roles and responsibilities, this individual has made an immediate and positive impact on the business through providing a fresh perspective and high levels of professionalism. This award is open to candidates involved in a graduate program between 2018-2021.
PARTNER
Finalists:
- Pallavi Tanjavur - Adactin Group
- Julia Quach - Cognizant
- Emily Jensen - Data#3
- Jessica Odri - DigIO
- Ayesha Khokhar - Empired
- Neha Sangwan - NTT (formerly of Interactive)
- Kayal Manamohan - Macquarie Cloud Services
- Vaibhavi Palan - Publicis Sapient
- Cathy Ropkhop - Slalom
- Michelle Leem - The Missing Link
Winner: Ayesha Khokhar - Empired
Ayesha joined Empired’s graduate program as a Graduate Consultant in the Perth Data & AI practice in 2018. She quickly found herself working autonomously on client sites, immersed in important projects and becoming the ‘glue’ within project teams, relied upon and sought after for her expertise and ability to deliver consistently excellent solutions with incredible poise, motivation and positivity.
VENDOR / DISTRIBUTOR
Finalists:
- Amelia Wright - Cisco
- Annabelle Devitt - Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
- Brigitt Artesi - Lenovo
- Carla Christmas - Orca Technology
- Hayley Morris - Salesforce
- Sharmyn Kayani - VMware
Highly Commended: Hayley Morris - Salesforce
Winner: Brigitt Artesi - Lenovo
Brigitt joined Lenovo’s graduate program at the beginning of June 2020 as the first marketing intern in Lenovo’s newly launched program. Within six months, Brigitt’s ability to exceed expectations in any task presented to her led Lenovo to create a new full-time role for her. Today, Brigitt is poised to expand her knowledge to the point where she will soon be leading marketing campaigns.
TECHNICAL
This award recognises excellence in the form of technical and engineering expertise, honouring deep domain knowledge in relation to technology products, solutions and services. This candidate has provided business value through specialised skills and competence, spanning technical, pre-sales and support roles.
PARTNER (NATIONAL)
Finalists:
- Emily Bone - ASG Group
- Kristy Bird - Brennan IT
- Roopa Venkatesh - Cevo
- Smita Longani - Optus (formerly of Data#3)
- Corine Liang - DiUS
- Anushka Krishna - EY (formerly of Empired)
- Nicole Holmes - First Focus IT
- Laura Flynn - InfoTrust
- Melandie De Lange - Interactive
- Katrina Chapman - Sliced Tech
- Erika Orozco - Tecala
- Aman Sidhu - Reveal Group (formerly of The Missing Link)
Highly Commended: Aman Sidhu - Reveal Group (formerly of The Missing Link)
Winner: Melandie De Lange - Interactive
As Interactive’s go-to lead integration architect, Melandie is tasked with some of the company’s most complex integration issues, a factor that saw her spearhead a major uplift program to implement a single ERP system in a project that involved the transition of tens of thousands of customer locations from one system to another, all delivered during the depths of the pandemic.
PARTNER (MULTINATIONAL)
Finalists:
- Lisa Crosbie - Barhead Solutions
- Suesi Tran - Cognizant
- Jonine Ross - Deloitte
- May Mun - Logicalis
- Elissa Caligiuri - OnePlace Solutions
- Ramneek Kaur - Publicis Sapient
- Andreia Maia - Slalom
- Asha Potla - Soprano Design
Winner: Lisa Crosbie - Barhead Solutions
From being a non-technical graduate to becoming the most trusted Barhead Solutions leader when it comes to knowing the latest Microsoft innovation in the cloud space, Lisa has proven to be one of the company’s top and vital tech experts time and again. Today, she is distinguished as being among Australia’s Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) ranks.
VENDOR / DISTRIBUTOR
Finalists:
- Vaishali Vijay - Google Cloud (formerly of Alteryx)
- Romina Sharifpour - Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Elissa McCormick - Aruba Networks
- Ghazaleh Pour Sadrollah - Cisco
- Neha Joshi - Google Cloud
- Nirandika Wanigasekara - IBM
- Aaradhana Raval - Mimecast
- Harini Sudarshan - Ping Identity
- Tamara Harris - Procore
- Rose Herden - Thales (formerly of Veeam Software)
- Geetha Balasundaram - VMware
- Nilam Patel - Westcon-Comstor
Winner: Rose Herden - Thales (formerly of Veeam Software)
Rose wins this award for her diverse array of IT skills in multiple areas across cyber security and warfare. She became Veeam’s first ever trainer tasked with managing training for the APJ region, bringing about the adaption of ‘Hands On Lab’ sessions while racking up various accolades across the business.
ENTREPRENEUR
This award recognises an enterprising candidate with a risk-taking mentality, honouring excellence in launching new ventures, products or services. This individual has a proven background in building innovation from the ground up, evident through converting market-leading ideas into viable business offerings.
Finalists:
- Farzeen Quadir-Hegde - ASUS
- Linda Connolly - Azenix
- Christina Keing - Deloitte
- Emma Lo Russo - Digivizer
- Danielle Peate - Lenovo
- Gill Walker - Opsis
- Karen Giles - Syntech IT
- Angie Keeler - Zella DC
Winner: Emma Lo Russo - Digivizer
Emma co-founded digital analytics and activations company Digivizer in 2010, with the original concept focusing on creating technology using advanced algorithms and big data analytics. Since its inception, Emma has taken the company into Southeast Asia, growing to more than 45 employees with clients and users more than doubling, year-on-year, in Australia and abroad.
INNOVATION
This award recognises a creative-thinking candidate who is a standout in bringing innovation to life through a big picture and out-of-the-box approach to business. This individual is unrivalled at converting embryonic ideas into viable working solutions through a unique thought process designed to continually push the envelope.
PARTNER
Finalists:
- Alexandra West - ASI Solutions
- Amanda Stenson - Barhead Solutions
- Adele Buchanan - CSO Group
- Yasmine Mendoza - Data#3
- Jodee Handley - Empired
- Sara Hakami - First Focus IT
- Jodie Korber - Lanrex
- Sharon Melamed - Matchboard
- Jane Nguyen - Pretzel Lab
- Cassandra Kelsall - Publicis Sapient
- Elizabeth Salvage - Sourced Group
Winner: Sharon Melamed - Matchboard
Sharon is the brains trust behind Matchboard, a B2B matchmaking platform for finding trusted IT buyers and suppliers. The platform has transformed the buying process for thousands of organisations, helping them save time and mitigate risk by pre-screening all suppliers on the platform and answering a set of questions to find the right IT match.
DISTRIBUTOR / VENDOR
Finalists:
- Grace Walker - Access4
- Minya Vasili - Exclusive Networks (formerly of Arrow ECS ANZ)
- Sarah Chaseling - AWS (formerly of Commvault)
- Kassie Sheldon - Google Cloud
- Natalie Fry - Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
- Christina Kernebone - IBM
- Maggie Wang - Lenovo
- Tianji Dickens - Microsoft
- Michelle Liao - N-able
- Alexandra Fuller - Veeam Software
- Kathryn Chia - VMware
- Angela Bao - SEEK (formerly of Vocus)
Winner: Tianji Dickens - Microsoft
Tianji wins this award for her work as the local philanthropies lead at Microsoft, harnessing innovation not only for the good of business, but also for Indigenous communities and the environment. As part of a partnership with the CSIRO spearheaded by Tianji there have been two particular projects that have delivered an outstanding impact, eventually leading towards the establishment of a national AI centre.
RISING STAR
This award recognises a standout candidate rising up through the ranks within the ICT industry, acknowledging significant advancement during the early stages of her technology career. This individual is growing in stature and importance through demonstrating outstanding business acumen, deep market expertise and high levels of professional integrity. This award is open to candidates with eight years or less experience within the ICT industry.
PARTNER (NATIONAL)
Finalists:
- Milly Collison - ASG Group
- Rahwa Salew - Cube Networks (formerly of blueAPACHE)
- Maria Wilkins - Brennan IT
- Xin Liang - Eliiza
- Nikki Mudge - eNerds
- Alison Walker - First Focus
- Regina Melamed - Linktech Australia
- Rosy Lakin - Nexon Asia Pacific
- Josie Germanos - Oreta
- Sunny Andalebi - Outcomex
- Jemma Healy - Tecala
- Maddie Rothwell - The Missing Link
- Megan Stamatis - Veritec
Highly Commended: Xin Liang - Eliiza
Winner: Maddie Rothwell - The Missing Link
Maddie wins this award in recognition of her strong drive and willingness to learn, which have earned her many promotions since joining The Missing Link. Within a year of being made service delivery coordinator for the company’s cyber security division, Maddie was promoted to senior service delivery coordinator and promoted again to service delivery manager, where she continues to provide value.
PARTNER (MULTINATIONAL)
Finalists:
- Pearl Li Ng - Aurecon
- Joanne Chang - AvePoint
- Jasmin Eid - CrossPoint Technology Solutions
- Bianca Isaacson - Accenture (formerly of Deloitte)
- Molly Steer - LiveTiles
- Laura Azzopardi - Logicalis
- Claudia Finlay - Avanade (formerly of NTT)
- Sara Watkins - DevOps1 (formerly of Sourced Group)
Winner: Molly Steer - LiveTiles
Since joining LiveTiles in 2019, Molly has been swiftly promoted and has established herself as an innovator focused squarely on customers with pressing issues. She played a central role in the company’s shift from product-based consulting to solution-based consulting and has designed and hosted ‘blueprint for success’ workshops and engagement workshops with several customers to improve value.
VENDOR
Finalists:
- Ella Nguyen - Aruba Networks
- Melissa Horne - Aussie Broadband
- Angelina Liu - Barracuda
- Josie Sielaff - Cisco
- Brearna Leopold - CrowdStrike
- Lauren Escalona - Datto
- Rika Schoening - Google Cloud
- Meryl Palma - Hosted Network
- Christie Chan - IBM
- Caroline Wiemann - Asana (formerly of Okta)
- Natalie Karageuzian - Veeam Software
- Shannon Xingge Zhao - VMware
Winner: Brearna Leopold - CrowdStrike
Having first excelled as an intern, Brearna has become the most promoted CrowdStrike employee in all of APJ, having topped its sales rankings while studying full-time at university. Since joining CrowdStrike, she has dedicated herself to nurturing its next wave of young talent towards sales and cyber security excellence.
DISTRIBUTOR
Finalists:
- Laura Martin - Arrow ECS ANZ
- Anna Christensen - Nextgen Group (formerly of Exclusive Networks)
- Gabe Marzano - Nextgen Group
Winner: Anna Christensen - Nextgen Group (formerly of Exclusive Networks)
During her time at Exclusive Networks, Anna delivered programs to offer paid opportunities for interns and freelancers, as well as programs to maximise support for the company’s partner community. Her ‘make things happen’ philosophy saw her strive help both vendors and partners alike to achieve marketing success.
D&I CHAMPION – COMPANY
This award recognises the standout company in driving D&I across all aspects of the business, spanning employees, customers and key stakeholders. This organisation has gone beyond a surface-level commitment through the introduction of policies and programs to meet D&I goals, evident through targeted initiatives, strong leadership and clearly defined deliverables. This award is open to all aspects of diversity and inclusion (gender, race, age, disability, sexual orientation etc).
PARTNER
Finalists:
- Araza
- Capgemini
- InfoTrust
- Logicalis
- Powernet IT Solutions
- Sekuro (formerly Privasec)
- Secure Code Warrior
- Slalom
Winner: Slalom
Slalom wins this award for its numerous endeavours to promote diversity and inclusion within its organisation and the wider IT community. Programs such as its #BuildHer LinkedIn campaign and its paid internships for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students have set it on the path towards gender parity by 2023 and having three per cent First Nations representation in its team.
VENDOR / DISTRIBUTOR
Finalists:
- Aussie Broadband
- Cisco
- Dell Technologies
- Dicker Data
- Equinix
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
- HP
- IBM
- Lenovo
- Microsoft
- Pegasystems
- VMware
Highly Commended: Aussie Broadband
Winner: Dicker Data
Since publicly listing in 2011, Dicker Data has been striving to create both a gender diverse board and general management team. The commitment to diversity also extends to encouraging young talent and promoting cultural and linguistic inclusion among its team. Dicker Data is now committed to raising the bar of upcoming leadership talent across Australia's IT industry.
D&I CHAMPION – INDIVIDUAL
This award recognises an influential individual who actively drives D&I initiatives beyond their current job responsibilities through mentoring and thought leadership across the ICT industry. This candidate acts as a role model for aspiring executives, cultivating diverse teams to drive change both internally and externally. This award is open to all aspects of diversity and inclusion (gender, race, age, disability, sexual orientation etc)
PARTNER
Finalists:
- Jacinta Hargan - KPMG
- Tracy De Paolis - Novata Solutions
- Jane Headon - Publicis Sapient
- Leah Cerinich - Sourced Group
Winner: Jane Headon - Publicis Sapient
Jane wins this award primarily for her seminal webinar series, 'The Confidence Playbook for Women,' which strives to help women overcome self-doubt, imposter syndrome and other barriers to success. In her day-to-day work at Publicis Sapient, Jane strives to address practices and behaviours that prevent diverse perspectives and voices from being shared.
VENDOR
Finalists:
- Sophia Demetriades - 8x8
- Jane Bilsborough - Access4
- Seema Hyne - Cisco
- Jade Meara - F5 Networks
- Karen Zhang - Google Cloud
- Simone Filetti - Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
- Chelsea Rossney - HP
- Rachel Bondi - Microsoft
- Erin Howell - Trend Micro
Winner: Seema Hyne - Cisco
Seema is a champion for diversity and is passionate about creating opportunities to encourage women into STEM careers. She was a pioneer behind Cisco’s MentorMe program and sits on the Diversity Council of Australia, where she continues to help a new generation of women on the pathway to a career in technology.
Winner: Rachel Bondi - Microsoft
Rachel wins this award for shining a spotlight on diversity and inclusion both internally and externally while at Microsoft. She has played multiple key roles in initiatives at the company, including the Champions of Change Microsoft Partner Group and the Women at Microsoft Employee Resource Group.
SHINING STAR
This award recognises an established candidate with a strong record of achievement, acknowledging excellence in spearheading company initiatives and driving strategic change. This individual is a consistent high performer who regularly achieves standout business results and continues to assume increased levels of seniority within the organisation. This award is open to candidates with eight years or more experience within the ICT industry.
PARTNER (NATIONAL)
Finalists:
- Catie Gould - Allcom Networks
- Vania Collett - ASG Group
- Shantel Wilson - ASI Solutions
- Renata Di Stefano - blueAPACHE
- Kelly Griffith - Slack (formerly of Data#3)
- Kellie Blackall - EY (formerly of Empired)
- Lizzi Long - Interactive
- Sue Vander - Jasco Consulting
- Alicia Payne - Lucid Software
- Sarah Dewan - Secure Agility
- Jennifer Favelle - Tecala
- Melanie Fisher - Kapish (formerly of The Citadel Group)
- Hetal Dave - Trident
- Emily Curlewis - Incredible Results (formerly of Veritec)
Winner: Kelly Griffith - Slack (formerly of Data#3)
Before joining Slack, Kelly held the role of national sales enablement manager at Data#3 for more than six years, during which time she was responsible for laying out the blueprint for lasting sales success. Her outstanding performance also extended to leadership, providing support and guidance to sales management and the senior executive team.
PARTNER (MULTINATIONAL)
Finalists:
- Amy Reynolds - APCD
- Deepti Kakkar Wadhwa - Cognizant
- Heather Reed - Insight
- Shamane Tan - Sekuro (formerly of Privasec)
- Angela Logan-Bell - Rackspace Technology
- Fatemah Beydoun - Secure Code Warrior
- Jane Beck - Slalom
- Sam Galappatti - SoftwareONE
- Salma Datenis - Sourced Group
- Desiree Kelly - Versent
Winner: Shamane Tan - Sekuro (formerly of Privasec)
Shamane’s talent for business helped her build up the confidence of Privasec – now part of Sekuro – to do business at home as well as abroad, as she headed up the company’s expansions into Singapore and Malaysia. As a result, her efforts have generated significant growth for the company over the past year.
VENDOR
Finalists:
- Davinia Simon - Stax (formerly of AWS)
- Catherine Lee - CrowdStrike
- Yvette McEnearney - LogMeIn
- Katrina Yon - HP
- Rocielle Barandino - Intel
- Alison O'Hare - Mimecast
- Amber Watson - Nutanix
- Jenna Braunstein - Red Hat
- Orla Hanby - Rubrik
- Cynthia Halim - Snowflake
- Sonia Chamberlain - Sophos
- Kerry Soussou - Veeam Software
- Megan Peters - Zscaler
Winner: Davinia Simon - Stax (formerly of AWS)
Davinia wins this award for her achievement in reshaping how her previous employer, Amazon Web Services (AWS), connected with local partners and promoted them on the global stage. She was also responsible for empowering field teams to reach C-level decision makers.
DISTRIBUTOR
Finalists:
- Julie Malcolm - Arrow ECS ANZ
- Janpaula Gonzi - Dicker Data
- Tammy Vorster-Jones - Rhipe
Winner: Janpaula Gonzi - Dicker Data
With 15 years of industry experience, Janpaula is a business leader who has proven time and again that she is a vital asset to Dicker Data as national inside sales manager. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led the transition for her team to remote working while also supporting thousands of IT resellers who were going through a similar process.
ARN once again congratulates all winners, highly commended individuals and finalists, and thanks all organisations and individuals for taking the time to submit nominations. ARN also thanks the industry leaders comprising this year’s WIICTA judging panel.
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