GET TO KNOW
What style of management
philosophy do you employ with
your current position?
I have seen and been a part of so many
management styles throughout my career
and have adopted the right ones that work.
Trust, empathy, assertiveness, constructive
dialogue, guiding and collaborating are
some of the key attributes I apply. This for
me creates the right environment for the
colleagues I lead to be empowered and to
be confident in their decision making. It
has proven to be very successful and helps
develop mutual respect between team
members and leaders to achieve the desired
business and personal goals.
What do you think is the current hot
technology talking point?
Dealing with education continuity. The
scale of the COVID-19 shutdown has been
monumental, with UNESCO stating that thus
far some 188 countries have implemented
nationwide closures, which impacted more
than 91% of the world’s student population
(about 1.5 billion learners).
Much like the business world that has
been forced to innovate to stay afloat,
educational facilities across the globe are
accelerating their Digital Transformation
initiatives to mitigate the impact of the
closures and facilitate the continuity of
education through remote learning. This is
where an education technology and services
company such as Blackboard can play a
crucial role in supporting higher education
institutions in South Africa for example to
quickly transition to digital teaching and
learning modalities, as they implement their
COVID-19 contingency plans.
How do you
deal with
stress and
unwind outside
the office?
Business never
stops, education is
a really enjoyable
sector to work in
and I like to think we
are open 24 hours a
day for our customers
and partners to reach
out to us. A good run each evening helps
deal with unwinding for sure.
If you could go back and change one
career decision what would it be?
On reflection I would not change any
decisions I have made with regards to my
career as each step taken has broadened my
skills, knowledge and expertise to enable me
to be positioned where I am today to add
value to the business.
What do you currently identify
as the major areas of investment
in your industry?
Innovation is key. The steps in our journey
at Blackboard reflect the success we’ve had
in migrating clients from self-hosted and
managed hosted environments to SaaS and
our unwavering commitment to support
and migrate the balance of our client base
over time. Over the last few years, we’ve
been laser-focused on moving clients to the
cloud, delivering innovation within existing
products and through new technologies and
simplifying our business as we move towards
being a fully SaaS business.
What are the region-specific
challenges when implementing new
technologies in the MEA region?
Through our on-going conversations with
clients in the region, Blackboard is able to
understand our clients’ specific challenges.
We have learned that above all, institutions
are looking to train faculty to effectively
leverage the technology, and to ensure the
content they deliver online is engaging,
accessible and inclusive.
“
EACH STEP TAKEN
HAS BROADENED
MY SKILLS,
KNOWLEDGE AND
EXPERTISE TO
ENABLE ME TO
BE POSITIONED
WHERE I AM
TODAY TO ADD
VALUE TO THE
BUSINESS.
What changes to your job role have
you seen in the last year and how do
you see these developing in the next
12 months?
The biggest shift in the last year is really the
last three months of COVID-19, really we live
in unprecedented times with business travel
ceasing, face to face meetings have stopped,
shifts in budgets.
The next six months will be spent ensuring
focus and support for the customers and
partners as well as internal teams at
Blackboard to ensure everyone is safe,
current projects and programmes remain
on track to be delivered and we remain
focused on delivering value during these
challenging times.
What advice would you offer
somebody aspiring to obtain
C-level position in your industry?
It is a great sector to work in so I would
advise to focus and develop the deep
knowledge and understanding of the
education sector as a must, there are so
many unique attributes to understand. Be
humble, work on your leadership attitude
towards people, customers, business and be
aware of the culture. All the rest should fall
into place. •
80 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com