Arriving here
Like many others, I joined Intec through acquisition when Intec acquired the Software Services Division (SSD) of ADC. During the acquisition, I stayed on to be part of the mainstream again. We had put so much time and energy into being acquired that I wanted to see how it turned out. My role dates back to when I joined Saville Systems in 1997. Saville was acquired by ADC and Intec acquired SSD from ADC in August of 2004.
I have a BSc in Computer Science and began my career as a COBOL/CICS programmer. I followed what was then a traditional progression and became a system analyst, team lead, project manager, program manager, etc during the 1980s through to the mid 90s in the banking sector. Banking is very process and procedure orientated. It is very structured and hierarchy centric. I learned a great deal about “techie” people, customers and programs. After the birth of our second child, I was enjoying the Canadian benefit of having a full year off work and the fun of maternity leave. While off, I interviewed with Saville simply because some folks that I knew were working there and they approached me to interview as they were really enjoying it. I had no intention of leaving the banking sector or maternity leave. The VP that interviewed me was smart, barefoot and funny. Her name was Denise Samuel and she offered me the job on the spot.
I am responsible for Intec Convergent Billing (Singl.eView) deployment & support in North America. My role includes the services development & support teams, global data migration team, Service Bureau and training. Intec has proven extremely successful at selling Singl.eView, so my role has evolved to include a Tier 1 customer base which brings a completely new and unique set of operational criteria for our projects and people. We are also continuing to work with the Centre of Excellence to use offshore teams effectively.
The Intec culture is very dynamic and change is constant. The environment was much more clearly a product company with regional structures before the Singl.eView acquisition. It is interesting to watch and contribute to the impacts of the Singl.eView model.
My job is all about working with people and it is what I enjoy the most.
Outside Intec
This year, my husband and I will have been together for 20 years. We are married with two terrific kids. I’m on the board of a non-profit charity that is called the Parent Education Network. It helps build better communities through a focus on teaching parenting skills. I read every parenting book I can find, attend and deliver various parenting seminars and spend every free moment applying what I’ve learned in our own home. We also volunteer time with various local organisations. We love to travel and our girls have been through Asia, Europe, the Caribbean and, of course, North America (including coast to coast in Canada).
When I was in banking, IBM decided to create a world class banking system. We had a joint venture with some banks around the world, ourselves and IBM. It was a massive project and after years and years of working together, the banks eventually chose not to partner due to competitive reasons. But while the project was on, it was extremely interesting and used what was, at the time, state of the art project methodologies.
Also in my banking days, toastmasters was a very popular programme for public speaking confidence. I never took the toastmasters course but we used to have annual meetings where the senior managers had to do skits. The staff suggested topics and we basically had to improvise. It was an interesting team building and “think on your feet” experience.