Credit: Channel Asia / IDG
Channel Asia is proud to announce the winners of the new-look Women in ICT Awards (WIICTA), honouring female excellence within the technology channel following an industry-defining celebration across Southeast Asia.
Played out virtually in front of more than 520 attendees -- the largest audience for a gender diversity and inclusion (D&I) awards program in ASEAN -- the entire ecosystem came together under the Channel Asia banner to set the industry benchmark for female achievement and accomplishment.
With a record-breaking community participation -- backed by vibrant, energetic and spirited social interaction -- and a record-breaking number of submissions, 2021 was the year WIICTA went mainstream in Southeast Asia.
In total, 160 finalists (150 individuals and 10 companies) were honoured as finalists from a pool of more than 65 organisations and over 220 nominations, spanning partner, vendor and distributor businesses.
Following an intensive judging process -- selected by an executive panel of more than 45 industry leaders -- 17 winners were selected across eight categories, in addition to six Highly Commended acknowledgements.
“To all our finalists, highly commended and winners, congratulations from Channel Asia,” said Cherry Yumul, vice president of Strategic Partnerships and Innovation at IDG. “You should all be proud of this grand display of ASEAN ingenuity and we are honoured to recognise your achievements.”
In total, WIICTA honoured the channel across eight categories, spanning Innovation, Technical, Entrepreneur, Graduate, Rising Star, Shining Star, Achievement and D&I Champion (Company and Individual) awards.
All career stages were in the spotlight from graduate-level entrants to well-established CEOs, in addition to inspiring entrepreneurs, creative thinkers and technical experts, as well as talent rising through the ranks and consistent high-performing individuals. This was also supported by both individual and company champions of D&I initiatives.
Within this standout group of finalists, female leaders were located across the entire region, spanning Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
“For our winners, we are thrilled and consider this a significant statement as you own your rightful place in the technology industry,” Yumul added. “We hope this recognition means a great deal to you personally but also your leaders, mentors and family.
“After all, behind anyone's success is a village of enablers and cheerleaders. May this inspire other women in our community to amplify their narrative and showcase their achievements.”
Credit: Channel Asia / IDG Advancing women in tech
Channel Asia has celebrated gender diversity and recognised female excellence across the ASEAN channel since first launching WIICTA in 2019, acknowledging the achievements of a talented group of female front runners who have become influential figures across the local industry.
This has been further supported by State of Gender Diversity in the Tech Channel, a new research initiative designed to examine D&I progress across the technology channel.
Delivered to a jam-packed virtual audience, this in-depth survey focused on the three core pillars of D&I, spanning Tech Industry, Workplace and Personal Experience.
In an industry-first for the channel, research was open to female, male and other gender identities, welcoming submissions from CEO to graduate levels across all company sizes, industry segments and locations. Questions were designed to be fielded by participants across different age groups, cultural backgrounds and job functions -- spanning management, sales, operations, technical and marketing roles -- irrespective of industry tenure.
The aim was to independently and confidentially source a range of perspectives industry-wide, aligned to the collective goal of moving the conversation forward in relation to D&I within Southeast Asia.
The launch of State of Gender Diversity in the Tech Channel represented a landmark moment in the industry, with IDG -- as the world’s leading tech media, data and marketing services company -- the first independent outlet to open such dedicated research in ASEAN.
Also in the spotlight was a power-packed line-up of CIOs and technology leaders sharing executive career advice and guidance.
Housing a blend of iconic global and local brands, the channel received first-hand accounts of inspirational stories of individual growth and success from the top technology decision-makers at Coca-Cola, DHL, HGC Global Communications, Essilor Group and Ingram Micro.
Delivered via a series of 10-minute Power CIO Talk addresses, leading executives documented standout career achievements, how to overcome adversity and authentic advice for both established and aspiring female leaders across ASEAN.
Channel Asia congratulates all winners, highly commended and finalists and thanks all organisations and individuals for supporting this initiative.
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.
-- presented by Vicki Batka - Vice President of Partner Sales APJC, Cisco
COUNTRY:
Finalists:
- Citra Nudiasari - Abyor International (Indonesia)
- Gigi Lariosa - Aruba Networks (Philippines)
- Jacqueline Chay - AsiaPac (Singapore)
- Olivia Zhang - CrowdStrike (Singapore)
- Ai Kiar Ang - IBM (Singapore)
- Imane Jamal Eddine - Microsoft (Singapore)
- Vivian Tan - Rhipe (Malaysia)
- Jeane Claudine Bernardo - Sophos (Philippines)
- Shirley Zhang - Veeam Software (Singapore)
- Cherlyn Koay - VMware (Singapore)
Winner: Ai Kiar Ang - IBM (Singapore)
Ai Kiar wins this award for bringing AI solutions to life as a technical expert and industry thought leader within the manufacturing sector, operating as an IBM-certified Black Belt specialist with deep industry knowledge across Southeast Asia.
In leading the IBM Global Emerging Technology Initiative, Ai Kiar is pioneering exploratory research efforts designed to scale new solutions in manufacturing, with a specific focus on the deployment of digital twin, mixed reality, cloud, 5G and hyper-automation offerings.
REGIONAL:
Finalists:
- Kerri Lampard - Cisco
- Yvonne Singleton - Commvault
- Jane Ng - ESET
- YeongEun Min - Google Cloud
- Evelyn Lim - Hewlett Packard Enterprise
- Jamie Neo - HP
- Sandra Lee - Kaspersky
- Nuraini Kurnia - Palo Alto Networks
- Jyotika Singh - Tech Data
- Jessie Chong - Trend Micro
- Anubha Pandey - VMware
Highly Commended: Jamie Neo - HP / Anubha Pandey - VMware
Winner: Yvonne Singleton - Commvault
Yvonne wins this award for creating operational excellence at Commvault through a commitment to operational innovation, underpinned by the creation of a singular platform to maximise internal data and enhance go-to-market efforts.
Developed through Power BI in under two months, Yvonne’s outside-of-the-box approach to overcoming the challenge of obtaining and analysing data has helped enhance sales cycle capabilities, resulting in improved win rates and bookings -- resulting in EMEA and global deployments emulating Asia Pacific.
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