Credit: ARN
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.
Presented by Salesforce regional VP A/NZ alliances Erin Williams.
Partner:
- Jayanthi Saravanan - Adactin Group
- Samantha Scott - Aginic
- Ramandeep Kaur - Brennan
- Karen Irawan - Cevo
- Karuna Goel - Data#3
- Galit Jona - Delta Insights
- Ritu Sandhu - Interactive
- Tracey Paine - Macquarie Cloud Services
- Jen Goeldner - Optus
- Amila Elcic - Sekuro
- Jolene Yu - Sourced Group
- Chryssie Ta - TribeTech
- Samantha Lear - Verizon
Winner: Amila Elcic - Sekuro
Recognised as a well-respected expert in the cyber security industry, Amila brings over 25 years of experience across a range of areas and dozens of certifications, including the ISO27001 Lead auditor certificate. Throughout her career, Amila has delivered tremendous value to a broad range of enterprises, financial services organisations, and government agencies.
Vendor / Distributor:
- Parisa Safari Nejad - Cisco Meraki
- Merita Geer - Crayon
- Jana Dekanovska - CrowdStrike
- Aruna Kolluru - Dell Technologies
- Catherine Wang - Google Cloud
- Elissa McCormick - HPE
- Kristy Comrie - Ingram Micro
- Amy Pendergast - Intel
- Deepika Mahankali - Microsoft
- Pearlie Zhang - NextDC
- April George - Okta
- Loreto Gutierrez - Salesforce
- Minmin Du - VMware
Winner: Jana Dekanovska - Crowdstrike
An expert in the technical field of cyber threat intelligence, Jana has been recognised for playing a key role in becoming a trusted advisor to some of the largest Australian corporations and government agencies, helping businesses operationalise their cyber threat intelligence across varying organisational levels.
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.
- Natalia Scheidegger - 3rdmill
- Sarah-Jane Peterschlingmann - ATech
- Sandra Arena - Cube Networks
- Joanne Spencer - D6 Consulting
- Debra Phillips - Lenovo
- Regina Melamed - Linktech Australia
- Hannah Browne - Midnyte City
- Anna Acopian - MobileCorp
- Melina Musumeci - RingCentral
- Angie Keeler - Zella DC
Highly Commended: Angie Keeler - Zella DC
Winner: Hannah Browne - Midnyte City
Hannah has had a long and fruitful entrepreneurial journey, building her first company, Friday Media, in 2008. She later went on to help grow DevOps consultancy Cevo from nothing to a technology powerhouse with 40 people. Now at Midnyte City, Hannah continues to be focused on the wellbeing, growth and professional development of her team, ensuring the work and the cultural significance hold equal value as the profit and loss statements.
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.
Presented by Kaseya/Datto A/NZ sales director Samantha Borg.
Partner:
- Parminder Brar - Adactin Group
- Camila Carvalho - Aginic
- Karuna Macha - Altis Consulting
- Anna Van der Peet - Araza
- Kerry Argiriou - Blue Connections IT
- Jordan Roberts - Deloitte
- Isabelle Peskett - DigIO
- Meghana Bommena - Katana1
- Madi Wheatley - KPMG
- Sarah Buckle - Linktech
- Charlotte Ross - ONGC Systems
- Jacqui Lillyman - Slalom
- Chenuli Abeywardena - Tecala
Highly Commended: Camila Carvalho - Aginic
Winner: Kerry Argiriou - Blue Connections IT
Joining Blue Connections IT as a service desk engineer in 2019, Kerry has demonstrated outstanding innovation and leadership qualities throughout her career. She has proved instrumental in leading projects on her own and quickly rose to become a senior staff member.
Vendor:
- Emily Turner - Access4
- Caitlin Fitzgerald-Carter - Cisco
- Namira Adani - EngageRM
- Ella Grier - Google Cloud
- Sabriina Costa - HPE
- Bonita Rui - Microsoft
- Angel Lee - NetApp
- Jaimee Hanich - Rackspace Technology
- Alice Tran - Salesforce
- Alexia Bayyouk - SAP
- Vanessa Washaya - Schneider Electric
- Sheril Jose Sao - VMware
Winner: Bonita Rui - Microsoft
After participating in the Microsoft Aspire Graduate Program in 2021-2022, Bonita has completed several certifications and established numerous internal initiatives around Azure. She shows a commitment to driving the best business outcomes for clients as well as making sustainability more accessible and achievable through technology.
RISING STAR
This award recognises a standout candidate rising 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 10 years or less experience within the ICT industry.
Presented by Arrow ECS A/NZ sales director Kelly Johnson.
Partner (National):
- Jessica Leong - A Corp Computers
- Emily Davidson - Advance Computing
- Amanda Fajerman - Barhead Solutions
- Maria Cordova - Brennan
- Tayla Kennedy - Centorrino Technologies
- Zoe Potter - Cevo
- Vanessa Kong - CMD Solutions
- Madeleine Stewart-Teh - Cyconsol
- Neha Mehta - Data#3
- Madeleine Mirkovic - First Focus
- Natasha Gregory - Green Light Worldwide
- Lisa Laing - Katana1
- Kayal Manamohan - Macquarie Cloud Services
- Farhana Dawood - Orro Group
- Justine Olivier - OutcomeX
- Rhiannon Kenyon - The Missing Link
Highly Commended: Emily Davidson - Advance Computing and Lisa Liang - Katana1
Winner: Rhiannon Kenyon - The Missing Link
Rhiannon has been recognised for her expertise in marketing and becoming a significant asset to the business. Her strategic thinking and teamwork has led towards creating a difference in strengthening The Missing Link’s position in the ICT industry. She continues to expand her skills through training and taking a collaborative approach to her career development.
Partner (Multinational):
- Aina Musaeva - KPMG
- Erandhi Mendis - Kyndryl
- Devi Anggraini - Logicalis
- Luci Setoue - Lumify Group
- Holly Young - Riley
- Mia Symonds - Sekuro
- Lucy Easter - Slalom
- Amanda Sam - Sourced Group
Read more: WIICTA Award nominations close tomorrow, Friday, October 25 - so nominate now!
Winner: Devi Anggraini - Logicalis
Devi was hired in 2021 as an office manager, but her capabilities quickly shone through as she took on side-hustles in different areas of the business. When Logicalis launched its Talent Services division, Devi showed her interest in project management skills and ended up taking on full responsibility for project coordination, accounts receivable, payroll service management, vendor liaison and first-line response for account enquiries.
Vendor:
- Ryo Suda - Cisco
- Sarah Jarman - Darktrace
- Tina Tran - Google Cloud
- Jessica Stark - GoTo
- Karina Rozengurt - HP Inc.
- Bridget Maritz - HPE
- Meryl Palma - Hosted Network
- Sarah Harding - Kaseya/Datto
- Michela Clavenzani - N-Able
- Lisa Lin - NBN
- Belinda Barron - NextDC
- Vanessa Cremona - Rackspace Technology
- Chelsea Paisley - Qualtrics
- Anjali Tom - VMware
- Mia Guo - WatchGuard Technologies
Winner: Bridget Maritz - HPE
Bridget started with Aruba in 2015, when Aruba operated independently of HPE. During her tenure, she has, among other things, developed a partner onboarding program, the Asia Pacific and Japan Aruba Business Development Fund and led a charity initiative in partnership with a business partner to make a difference in the community.
Distributor:
- Carla Lapid - Arrow ECS
- Minya Vasili - Exclusive Networks
- Lisli Laanemets - Nextgen Group
- Caroline Jacob - Tech Data
- Ishita Mathur - Wavelink
- Laura-Rose Carbone - Westcon-Comstor
- Lauren Pinkney - Pax8
Winner: Laura-Rose Carbone - Westcon-Comstor
Laura’s career has progressed from a marketing co-ordinator to stepping in as the Cisco Security practice lead after demonstrating great initiative, leadership and skills. She continues to thrive in her capacity while achieving impressive growth results for the business.
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 between 11-20 years’ experience within the ICT industry.
Presented by Cisco regional sales leader, Emma Harris.
Partner (National):
- Angel Chan - Aginic
- Estelle Ivory - Atturra
- Renata Di Stefano - BlueApache
- Juzel Pantaleon - Cevo
- Amanda Toogood - Data#3
- Donna Grugan - Interactive
- Jarize Loyola - Katana1
- Michelle Lewis - MobileCorp
- Nadine Lindsay - ONGC Systems
- Lisa Papli - Somerville Group
- Chanel Leigh - Secure Agility
Winner: Renata Di Stefano - BlueApache
Renata has demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities throughout her career. Her grit, determination, and commitment to excellence has seen her promoted multiple times in her career while achieving significant business growth.
Partner (Multinational):
- Deepti Kakkar Wadhwa - Cognizant
- Poppy Salerno - Datacom
- Jessica Field - Insight Enterprises
- Jaya De Silva - Sekuro
- Krystal Allen - Slalom
- Salma Datenis - Sourced Group
Winner: Poppy Salerno - Datacom
Poppy has made a massive contribution to Datacom during her past 11 years in a range of leadership roles, and now catering to its most critical relationships. Her creativity and vision has helped identify new ways to deliver value to Datacom partners and customers.
Vendor:
- Alyssa Blackburn - Avepoint
- Natalie Barrett - Dynatrace
- Rose Salazar - HPE
- Emma O'Sullivan - Lenovo
- Daniella Mathews - Microsoft
- Susan Mo - OpenText
- Anne Tran - Palo Alto Networks
- Harini Sudarshan - Ping Identity
- Linda Motherwell - Pure Storage
- Varsha Kajrolkar - Rackspace Technology
- Justine Nowitz - Salesforce
- Ashley Allen - Zoom
Highly Commended: Natalie Barrett - Dynatrace and Linda Motherwell - Pure Storage
Winner: Anne Tran - Palo Alto Networks
Designing a new A/NZ partner incentive program called The MVP Club has resulted in more than 400 opportunities and created a multi-million dollar pipeline. Anne’s partnership approach, out-of-the box thinking and ability to challenge the status quo has led towards her success.
Distributor:
- Andrea Aguila - Arrow ECS
- Juleen Chuah - Crayon
- Shelly Sharma - Dicker Data
Winner: Shelly Sharma - Dicker Data
Delivering high growth, exceeding sales targets by more than 300 per cent and growing net new business has seen Shelly excel during her Dicker Data career. She’s an integral part of the distributor’s success, making a mark across 200 vendors and partners during her career to date.
ACHIEVEMENT
This award recognises a standout candidate who has delivered an unrivalled contribution to the ICT industry, evident through outstanding professional and personal achievements. This individual has earned a reputation as an esteemed thought leader following a distinguished career as both a business leader and role model for aspiring executives. This award is open to candidates with 21 years or more experience within the ICT industry.
Partner:
- Sheeza Shakeel - Accenture
- Anne Drebing - Blue Connections IT
- Tash Macknish - Data#3
- Lesley French - Insight Enterprises
- Helen Stefanis - Interactive
- Cathy Heaney - Kyndryl
- Joanna Kennedy - Linktech Australia
- Lisa Fortey - Logicalis Australia
- Erin Mikan - Macquarie Cloud Services
- Sarah Dewan - Secure Agility
Highly Commended: Anne Drebing - Blue Connections IT and Sarah Dewan - Secure Agility
Winner: Tash Macknish - Data#3
Tash has executed multiple people-focused strategies for Data#3, adding to both the company’s revenue and overall culture. Her proudest achievement is the creation of Data#3’s Heart and Soul program: heart for Data#3’s core values and soul for its community program. Tash also helped create a HR Leaders Forum at the start of the pandemic, which brought together HR leaders across ICT industry to support one another.
Vendor:
- Cindy Schwartz - AWS
- Kathryn Porter - Cisco
- Angela Walker - Dynabook
- Angela Coronica - Google Cloud
- Yvette McEnearney - GoTo
- Julie Barbieri - HPE
- Karen Law - Lenovo
- Katie Scott - Microsoft
- Monique Hyndman - Nutanix
- Janet Docherty - Palo Alto Networks
- Jenna Braunstein - Red Hat
- Diana Tucker - Salesforce
- Astrid Groves - Schneider Electric
- LuLu Shiraz - Vertiv
- Sally Creber - VMware
Highly Commended: Cindy Schwartz - AWS
Winner: Angela Coronica - Google Cloud
Spanning three decades, Angela’s career has seen her excel in several leadership roles whereby she was able to weather the volatility of the technology industry with grit and resilience. At Google Cloud, Angela has been instrumental in driving the company’s partner strategy and growth of its A/NZ channel sales. She has also never missed a target in her 31-year career.
Distributor:
- Robyn Elmes - Arrow ECS
- Kate McGorman - Crayon
- Clare Zeynoun - Ingram Micro
- Lauren Matlin - Multimedia Technology
- Veronica Kruse - Nextgen Group
Winner: Veronica Kruse - Nextgen Group
Veronica wins this award for multiple successful initiatives resulting in business and partner growth and is consistently recognised as a top-performing leader and sales. Managing a large and complex portfolio of technology, Veronica has steered her partners to delivering around 40 per cent of Nextgen’s revenue over many years, adding significantly to the company’s rapid growth.
D&I CHAMPION – Company
This award recognises the standout company in driving diversity and inclusion (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).
Presented by Okta director of customer success, Steph Brown.
Partner:
- Altis Consulting
- InfoTrust
- Insight Enterprises
- Kyndryl
- Linktech Australia
- Logicalis
- Orro Group
- OutcomeX
- Patient Zero
Winner: Insight Enterprises
Last year, Insight doubled the number of women it hired for technical roles and has made multiple sponsorships and investments in female technology initiatives. The systems integrator has a 10-step plan for action around cultural sensitivity, awareness, opportunity building and engagement with First Nations’ businesses. It has also implemented Mental Health First Aid Training to support a peer in need.
Vendor / Distributor:
- Arrow ECS
- Cisco
- Dicker Data
- HPE
- Lenovo
- NetApp
- Nextgen Group
- VMware
Winner: Dicker Data
Dicker Data boasts a strong ratio of male-to-female employees, as well a cultural diversity spanning 20 languages and a multitude of nationalities. It has spearheaded maternity return-to-work and flexible policies since 1978 and strives to ensure every hiring manager is provided with a diverse range of candidates for each open position. Its senior management team is also on track to hit 50/50 gender parity.
D&I CHAMPION – Individual
This award recognises an influential individual who actively drives diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives 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:
- Emma Gin - Accenture
- Larissa Lefevre - Atturra
- Cassandra Eastham - Blue Connections IT
- Niamh McPherson - Deloitte
- Ffrances Lawes - InfoTrust
- Michelle Pallas - KPMG
- Tanur Parira - Logicalis
- Demelza Green - Patient Zero
- Tenille Windsor - Truis
Highly Commended: Emma Gin - Accenture and Tanur Parira - Logicalis
Read more: WIICTA Award nominations close today October 25 - so nominate now!
Winner: Niamh McPherson - Deloitte
Niamh wins this award for her role in coaching and mentoring at Deloitte, especially at leadership level. She has drastically improved female representation on her team, building it up to 45 per cent women out of 360 people. In 2020, Niamh launched Asia Pacific Women in Tech webinars, leading volunteers from across the region to host events for International Women’s Day, International Day of the Girl and Ada Lovelace Day.
Vendor / Distributor:
- Daniela Figueiredo - Arrow ECS
- Kim Gascoigne - Cisco
- Rika Schoening - Google Cloud
- Pia Rueda - Lenovo ANZ
- Sinead Fitzgerald - Microsoft
- Sally McIntosh - Nextgen Group
- Sharon McManus - Rackspace Technology
- Eloise Lloyd - Salesforce
- Zeena Skelly - Tech Data
- Nbeela Shauab - Veeam
Winner: Sally McIntosh - Nextgen Group
Sally has led the strategic direction of the company’s diversity and inclusion policies. Under her guidance, Nextgen’s staff encompasses 42 per cent women and two-thirds of regional managing directors are women across Asia Pacific. Having been promoted to head of talent and diversity in 2019, Sally “jumped in at the deep end” and implemented a Group-wide COVID-19 plan, focused on welfare, individual engagement, team spirit, retention and performance.
