The 30 powerful leaders in business 2019

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30T
H
E
POWERFUL
LEADERSI N B U S I N E S S
VOL 3
ISSUE 11
March 2019
Editor's Choice
Emotional Intelligence for
Highly Effective Leadership
Editor’s Viewpoint
Tactics that Elevates
Remote Team Management

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March, 2019
Circulation Manager Tanaji
Research Analyst Eric Smith
Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal
Anish MillerSenior Editor
Karen HollandBusiness Development Executive
Managing Editor Abhishaj Sajeev
Mary D'SouzaBusiness Development Manager
Suhel, Nilam, RyanContributing Editors
Art & Design Head Amol Kamble
Art & Design Assistant Poonam Mahajan
Visualiser David King
Paul BelinCo-designer
Art & Picture Editor Mayur Koli
Marketing Manager Sophie Smith
Technical Consultants Amar, David, Robert
Technical Head Jacob Smile
Assistant Technical Head Pratiksha Patil
SME-SMO Executives Gemson
Digital Marketing Manager Alina Sege
Assistant Digital Marketing Manager Prashant Chevale
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Editor’s Note
Tuning the
Leadership Tools
he world of business, a profound ecosystem
Tencompassing the ambitions and aspirations of
individuals set out on an entrepreneurial voyage.
Additionally, this ecosystem shelters an aggressively
intimidating race for success. But, real success can only be
attained through the struggles which an individual withstands
on the path to building an empire. This path inculcates within
us the lesson that success isn’t just about crossing the
checkered flag and arriving first at the finish line, where
sparkling champagne bottles await us, but it is more about
earning loyalty, respect and our identity. The realization of this
path is what reveals that distinguishing line between the
dreamers and the achievers, between those cursing their luck
and those polishing their instruments of trade, and between
mere followers and the leaders.
True leaders know that it is their duty to be the guiding light
for those who look up to them as a beacon of inspiration.
Along with being subject matter experts in their respective
industries, leaders must also exhibit a forte in giving direction
to the organizational vision and mission. Leadership is like a
journey towards unforeseen horizons, sailing uncertain tides of
success and failures, and at the end, the mighty winds
spreading the tale of your profound victory.
With the agenda of discovering and featuring such exceptional
leaders, and considering their ardent demonstration of
leadership traits, Insights Success brings to you, this
comprehensive list of “The 30 Powerful Leaders in
Business.” Delve into the inspiring stories and lessons from a
list of significant entrepreneurs featured in this issue and reap
the fruits of motivation. Also, flip through the CXOs and
articles penned by industry experts and our editorial team, and
relish a brief taste of various industrial sectors and
technologies.
Bon Appetite!
"Leadership demands determination and profundity,
and in return, it delivers unprecedented success."
Abhishaj Sajeev

30
Can You Really See
Your Customers?
Astute Thoughts
Refusers welcome!
Expert’s Opinion
1210
16
Inspiring Leadership,
Delivering Simplicity
Akash Agarwal
A Budding Trailblazer
of Logistical Arena
Alvin Ea
58
CXOSTANDPOINT
A Bibliophile, Creating waves
in the ‘Patenting Vertical’
Ann Chapman
A Compassionate Leader
Nurturing Human-
Centered Environment
Brett Caldon
22

28
A r t i c l e s
Emotional Intelligence for
Highly E ective Leadership
Editor’s Choice
18
Tactics that Elevates Remote
Team Management
24
CONTENTSCONTENTS36
34
Serial Entrepreneur with
the True Thrill of Success
Dr. Srinivas
Kilambi
A Leader Who Changed
the Data Centre Training
and Audit Industry Forever
Edward Van Leent
A Decorated Frontrunner
of the Sales Vertical
Chad Burmeister
A Conﬁdent & Creative
Entrepreneur In Pursuit
Of Innovation
Gary Olson
38

42
A Revered Technocrat,
who is On a Mission to
Transform Citizen Lives
Mike Walsh
Leading the Automation
Revolution
Moises Pontremoli
An Epitome of
Entrepreneurial Brilliance
Paul Luen
A Towering Professional
of Technological Sphere
Robert Ross
At the Helm of
a Global Ascension
Jos Burger
Fortifying Organizations,
Contributing for Change
Larry Pfeifer
Making a Di erence in the
World of Risk Management
Tim Grace
Reforming the Global
IT Ecosystem
Vishal Barapatre
Enabling Mobility,
Connecting the World
Jin-Ni Gan
60 6664
4644
50 5452

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AkashAkashAkash
AgrawalAgrawalAgrawalInspiring Leadership, Delivering Simplicity
The very core of leadership is to make an impact,
leave footprints, and to pass on its eternal ﬂame to
the ones born from it. What good are leaders if
exploiting people is their agenda, and what good can
leaders not do when the power of positive persuasion is
bestowed upon them? Coming to the kind of leadership
that’s required to run a company right from scratch to glory,
it could be safely said that Akash Agrawal, the
Co-founder and CEO of Sahaj Software Solutions, is an
ideal representation.
Akash has been in the IT industry for over two decades now
and displays the same level of proﬁciency. He started his
career with some of the major global IT Services
Companies like HCL, Infosys, Aditi and ThoughtWorks. He
started off as a Java developer and went on to do projects in
the ERP space. Akash has played the role of Managing
Director and COO for ThoughtWorks India and grew the
company's India operations from 250 people initially, to
about 850 people by the time he left.
In 2014, Akash started Sahaj Software Solutions along with
four of his colleagues from ThoughtWorks. “The idea of
Sahaj was very straight forward, we wanted to create a
company which is all about its people and tries to reduce
exploitation of its people and clients. At the same time we
realized that in the last 20 years, very little innovation has
happened in the IT services space,” states Akash.
Considering this as an opportunity, Akash and his team at
Sahaj, used this opportunity to create a disruptive and
innovative IT Services company, which came up with its
own unique delivery methodology, backed by a strong
people culture.
Exhibiting Expertise
The Sahaj Software delivery model reduces wastage in
software delivery by more than 50%. The company delivers
complex technology projects and products much faster and
with a minimalistic, but high powered technology team.
Broadly, Sahaj is a premium technology consulting
company and offers Custom Development, Product Design
‘True leadership
lies not in creating followers,
but in creating more leaders.’
AkashAgrawal
Co-founderCEO
10 | MARCH 2019

and Technology Advisory.
Sahaj takes pride in delivering simple
solutions to complex business needs.
Akash evidently comprehends that
designing and developing a simple
solution needs in-depth understanding
of clients’ problems, the ecosystem,
years of experience, knowledge of the
best practices in order to come up with
intuitive designs and technical choices,
and finally like that of an artist, a
knack for drawing the best solutions.
All these requirements most certainly
need a different set of people, and what
better an example than team Sahaj?
The Sahaj team collectively has the
experience of taking multiple start-ups
from an idea stage to market stage in
about 2-4 months. Such product design
and development engagements start
with a short 2-3 day discovery, ideation
and product design exercise, followed
by service / experience design going in
parallel with development, managed in
short iterations that are typically 1
week long. Each iteration ends with an
evolving version of the working
product, facilitating feedback at the
end of each stage.
Sahaj helps its customers make
appropriate technology and process
choices. It also helps them define their
technology roadmap for new business
strategies, new product architectures in
the evaluation of existing or new and
innovative product ideas to assess the
technical robustness of existing
solutions. The company’s
recommendations are based on years of
collective experience, its passion for
solving complex problems as a team
and passion to find simple solutions.
Staying Inspired, Staying Successful
Akash’s goal in life is to keep learning,
experimenting and building something
that can inspire others. Whereas, his
biggest source of inspiration is his
partner, friend, the guardian of his
values and mentor, his wife Nidhi.
“She has been a perpetual source of
inspiration for me. Her ability to keep
fighting all odds, keep calm when in
deep trouble, ability to think out of box
and above all motivate people around
at all times, has been the biggest
inspiration for me,” Akash expresses.
There have been times in Akash’s life
when he felt lost or broken in his
journey. His approach towards
surpassing such times has always been
going back to the drawing board and
trying to rehash everything, and also
the ceaseless support of his wife.
Success for Akash is not the growth of
the company or the idea, but in the
growth of people who believe in that
idea. According to Akash, a leader is
just not about the idea but more
importantly about the people who
believe in the idea. Akash knows, if the
people who are on the journey have
learnt, and grown then that’s success.
“A leader’s best asset is the ability to
influence and inspire others. If a leader
is not able to inspire others then that’s
job half done,” says Akash.
Bequeathing Excellence
In his advice to the budding
entrepreneurs, Akash states, “I am still
in the learning process of
entrepreneurship, but one thing that I
can say is have an unwavering belief in
the team that you build for your
venture. Spend good time in making the
right choices when you build the initial
team. In my mind entrepreneurship is a
team sport. Every member of the team
has an important role to play in the
game. And also play to enjoy the
experience and not only win it.”
Concluding his perspectives and
opinions on leadership and inspiration,
Akash talks about the future roadmap
for himself as well as his company. He
says, “Ten years is too long a time.
I believe in taking life as it comes.
However, I do see myself helping
young leaders and playing more of an
advisor and a coach kind of a role in
the years to come.”
Akash and his team of experts aim at
redefining the entire premium software
services space and establish Sahaj as
the Market leader in that space. After
establishing the company in India, US,
now they are looking at setting up an
entity in UK and also have Singapore
next on the cards.
“A great leader
is one who
inspires others
to be a leader,
to believe in
something and
lead others, to
grow others and
to create a
movement.”
POWERFUL
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11MARCH 2019 |

ALVIN EA:
A Budding Trailblazer of Logistical Arena
With the vision of saving time
and resources for hauliers,
while improving visibility
and reliability for end customers, one
entrepreneur thought out of the league,
and crafted a brand new eco-system to
overhaul logistics operations.
Alvin Ea is that trailblazing leader who
is on a mission to bring value to the
various stakeholders within the
container trucking space. He is the
Co-founder and CEO of Haulio,
which provides a revolutionary
collaborative B2B platform to get
containers moved.
Mesmerizing Entrepreneurial
Journey
Alvin started his logistics profession
through his family business HUB
Distributors Services, a local SME 3PL
firm in Singapore since 1988. He
decided to start the company’s
container haulage arm in 2013, and
from there built it up from scratch –
from a fleet of 1 to 15 trucks – in the
span of 3 years.
“The process was painstaking, as I
built it through the traditional way. It
wasn't easy meeting the expectations of
customers and juggling the demands of
an unpredictable job that lacked
operational stability,” asserts Alvin.
After years of toiling in the traditional
logistics industry, Alvin understood the
importance of technology and observed
the likes of eCommerce companies
changing the entire landscape in
ridiculous speed.
He was very happy with the
remarkable growth of his company but
wanted to do something different. He
was tired of trying to make a change to
solve his own company’s daily
struggles, when in actual fact these
problems resonate with the rest of his
other “friendly competitors”. The
turning point came when Alvin met
Sebastian Shen, the co-founder of his
company, who had the same grand
vision as him – to change this
traditional industry through
technology.
Haulio’s Offerings
Alvin’s company offers a web-based
platform that bridges the information
gaps across the industry today by
simply matching demand to supply.
“Due to the consolidation of vessels
upstream and increasing vessel sizes,
there is an increased volatility in spikes
and troughs of shipment. Haulio helps
to even out haulage resources through
the sharing of resources,” added Alvin.
As the CEO of Haulio, his goal is to
maximize haulage resources through
industry level sharing to improve job
productivity and asset utilization. He
also gives equal emphasis to add value
to end customers by providing real-
time visibility and reporting of fleet
operations.
Further, Alvin continuously pushes his
team to read widely and to document
their learnings. He wants each of them
to grow with Haulio – be it as a UX
researcher, a product designer, a
software developer or a marketer.
“I hope that through Haulio, they will
build and develop into professionals in
their respective fields,” stated the
CEO.
Alvin’s Biggest Feat
Alvin considers his biggest
achievement till date with Haulio is the
validation of the work that he is
contributing. He cannot emphasize
enough about the role that the trucking
community plays in the industry and
by seeing the impact that they have on
the industry regardless of the size of
the customer, is what drives him
forward.
“A notable achievement would be
getting one of the largest Port
Operator in the World to be our
investor and client where we managed
to develop on a project that was once
their “Innovation of the Year” and
servicing a contract with them from the
start of our incubation till today,”
stated Alvin.
Viewpoint on Leadership and
Entrepreneurship
Alvin believes that a leader should lead
by example. As the leader of the
company, “I represent the core values
that the company stands for and the
best way to set the culture is to be the
one who display the values within,”
added Alvin. Moreover, walking the
ground and getting to interact and
know more about his colleagues is
another way which he uses to influence
employees in a positive and interactive
manner.
12 | MARCH 2019

For budding entrepreneurs, Alvin has a piece of advice.
He says, be the change you wish to see in this world.
There is no problem too big to solve. He has already
stepped into a highly fragmented industry like haulage
to try and make a difference. According to Alvin, there
will be many walls and obstacles that will come your
way, just learn to deal with them, one at a time. It
always seems impossible until it’s done, reﬂects Alvin.
Alvin’s Take on ‘Challenges’ and ‘Future Outlook’
Alvin considers that the biggest obstacle that occurs in
most of the businesses is of longer conversion cycles.
He explained, to effect reformative changes in the
traditional industry like haulage needs longer time as
more time is needed to change the mind-sets and
business processes.
Furthermore, he added, there are also many
stakeholders and departments involved, each with
differing agendas - the challenge will be to get
companies to fully adopt the changes and move towards
a digital platform for the booking and execution of their
daily Container Haulage requirements.
On recalling his future lookout about the industry, Alvin
said many interesting things. “I see Haulio as the future
of haulage – this is what haulage SHOULD be. Haulage
today is still stuck in the 80s, and this needs to
change,” concluded Alvin. “I hope that in 10 years,
haulage will be digitalized, with Haulio leading or
partnering with others, to bring this change.”
I AM CONNECTING
CONTAINERS TO
CONSUMERS FOR
THE BETTERMENT
OF EVERY
STAKEHOLDER
AlvinEa,Co-founderandCEO
POWERFULPOWERFULPOWERFUL
303030LEADERSLEADERSLEADERS
INBUSINESS
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16MARCH 2019 |

ANNANNANN
CHAPMAN
A Bibliophile, Creating waves
in the Patenting Vertical'
Patenting is an important
activity to secure intellectual
property and sell goods
abroad. A good patenting solution
every organization needs to exploit
the commercial value of IP and
scientific information throughout the
innovation process. Ann Chapman
is providing such leading-edge
patenting solutions that can connect
to the target audience in a rightful
manner.
Ann is a bibliophile who loves
written words and languages. She is
the Managing Director and
Co-founder of Minesoft who always
finds new ways of crafting innovative
software solutions concerning
patenting requirements.
Dissemination of information and
knowledge is what always inspires
her.
Ann began her career working with
renowned publishing company,
Thomson Reuters (then known as
International Thompson) and was
sent all over the world to visit clients
and secure business. Later, she
moved to another US publishing
company (Ziff Davies Group) in the
field of business information
(companies and markets). After some
time, she returned to patents and Sci-
tech publishing with France Telecom
Group.
After gaining vital experience of the
professional world, she ultimately
took the plunge into the
entrepreneurial world. As a
businessperson, Ann gives special
attention to Marketing, PR and
Finance operations to a great
level. Besides these, she is very
much active in developing the
skill sets and management
team to boost organizational
efficiency and productivity.
Ann Chapman
MD Co-founder
16 | MARCH 2019

She gives special credit to her husband
Ophir Daniel, a seasoned professional
for her remarkable success as the MD
of Minesoft.
Ophir drives innovation through
product design, development and IT
infrastructure. He is a genius innovator
who has a new idea every day. He grew
up as an engineer on a kibbutz in
Israel, a big collective farm with
advanced manufacturing facilities.
Rahman Hyatt, Board Director, is
another key person at Minesoft, who
has assisted significantly towards the
growth of Minesoft.
“We also have a highly motivated and
hardworking team that is comprises of
adept professionals. In my opinion, a
company needs a variety of assets for
prolonged success and it is the role of
the leader to enable others to fulfil
their potential too,” asserts Ann.
Minesoft’s Illustrious Offerings and
Remarkable Feats
With leading corporations, patent
offices and law firms among its
customers, Minesoft has come a long
way from its humble beginnings. It has
achieved this without taking on outside
investment but instead in always being
forward thinking in growing the
company’s network and locating new
partners.
Minesoft’s history spans over 20 years
of innovation and development – an
achievement in itself. In 2003,
Minesoft RWS launched PatBase, a
new searchable database of patent
documents designed by experts in the
complex art of the patent information
research. Since the first critically
acclaimed public demonstrations in
2003, PatBase has gone on to attract
over 70,000 users worldwide.
“Whilst we are probably best known
for PatBase, a professional patent
search and analytics system, we have
clients so far spread that many never
search at all,” stated Ann. “ For
example, legal operations professions
who may be paralegals or the like
require access to clean data but for
entirely different purposes.”
In 2009, Minesoft won the prestigious
Queen’s Award for Enterprise for an
outstanding achievement in rapidly
growing export markets in the field of
Intellectual Property (patent)
information – a tribute to the
international success of PatBase and to
the dedication of the development,
sales and support staff behind it.
Minesoft has expanded its portfolio of
innovative patent information products
to include PatBase Express,
PatentOrder, Patent FamilyPortal,
PatentTracker, Legal StatusTracker,
CiteTracker, Chemical Explorer, Pat-
KM and PatBase Analytics. This
continuous innovation was
instrumental in Minesoft being
awarded the Queen’s Award for
Enterprise for a second time in 2015.
The Award was given for an
impressive, sustained growth in
International Trade, the company
having demonstrated an outstanding
achievement in rapidly growing export
markets in the field of Intellectual
Property (patent) information.
The company has introduced a new
product called PatDocs in late 2018
which provides fully automated patent
family trees, the ability to instantly
create a fully filled in SB-08
information disclosure document
(ready for PTO submission), the ability
to download any number of patent
PDFs (in bulk or individually) within
seconds and the ability to create a
sharable work product between
colleagues or between inside and
outside counsel.
Uniqueness of the Company
Minesoft is a renowned patent solution
provider that has partnered with the
World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) in the ASPI
programme. It provides researchers in
developing countries free or low-cost
access to sophisticated tools and
services, like PatBase, for retrieving
and analyzing patent data to help drive
innovation worldwide. Minesoft has
been providing industry with reliable
and powerful solutions to access the
technological and scientific
information that is often only available
in patents for the past 20 years.
“We invest a lot of time and effort in
the design and development of exactly
the type of search tools our User Base
requires to handle the multiplicity of
data and sources – based on the
feedback we receive,” added Ann.
“Giving unfettered access to this data
helps to drive innovation worldwide
and make big advances in the scientific
and technological landscapes whether
it’s a new pharmaceutical drug or
technology for electric vehicles…
building on these ideas can change the
world for the better,” stated Ann.
Future Endeavour
Minesoft is working on developing a
new search engine that should be
released later this year. Moreover, the
company is ready to develop some neat
new functionality in areas like natural
language searching and semantics.
“We will also develop the area of
automated translations and
landscaping analysis. In the coming 10
years, Ophir and I will continue to
travel widely to learn about our globe
and help develop new technologies for
the future,” concluded Ann.
“Nothing is static and embracing change is an advantage in business
life but keeping focus on the bigger picture helps me personally”
POWERFUL
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17MARCH 2019 |

EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCEFOR
HIGHLYEFFECTIVELEADERSHIP
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is not a new concept and it is widely known that people with
high Emotional Quotient (EQ) are more likely to succeed in their careers. A leader’s
emotional intelligence can have an extensive impact over their relationships at work, how
they deal with their teams, and how they cooperate and interact with people in the working
environment. Sometimes, they have difﬁcult conversations as a part of the job. They have to
discuss on employee’s less satisfactory work performance, to tell the team that they need to work
extra time, or announcing an unpopular change. All such issues are simply parts of the leader’s
job. Such tough conversations often lead to affect the emotions and feeling of themselves and the
people they speak with.
An Indispensible Trait for Leaders
Research has demonstrated that the most effective leaders have more competence in emotional
intelligence. EI is especially important for the leader when things get tough. Whether it’s an
urgent deadline for an important project requiring everybody to stay late in ofﬁce or a colleague
has lost concentration or drive for work. At that time, leaders have to take intelligent steps and
have to keep everything and everyone on track. Leaders who are emotionally intelligent
When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures
of emotion- Dale Carnegie, a renowned American writer and lecturer
18 | MARCH 2019

19MARCH 2019 |
Editor’s Choice

encourage safe environments and open organizational
culture, where employees feel comfortable to share their
individual opinions. Such leaders plan the most
appropriate ways to introduce and carry out the change in
organisation.
When Leaders Aren’t Emotionally Intelligent
Leaders with low in emotional intelligence tend to act out
in stressful conditions because they’re not able to manage
their own emotions. They might be inclined to behaviours
such as, yelling, blaming, and being passive aggressive.
This can make a much more upsetting condition, where
co-workers can’t communicate freely with the leader and
trying to prevent themselves from the next outburst. This
will lead to create an unhealthy work environment and
inhibit collaboration.
When leaders can’t control the feelings and emotions of
their own, the co-workers tend to feel nervous about
contributing their idea for fear of how the leader will
respond. Most leaders deal with conflict, and those who
don’t understand others’ emotion may find it difficult to
recognize and understand the problems and deal
effectively with its resolution.
Work on EQ to Boost the Performance
Self-Assessment and Self-Regulation
Recognize and manage one’s own emotion, strengths,
weaknesses, values and drivers and understanding their
effect on others. An effective leader needs to know when
he or she is feeling anxious, furious, disappointed,
frustrated, proud, or sympathetic. Manage those emotions
to best meet the demands of the team. Recognizing those
feelings at the time is essential because it allows the leader
to consider whether they are appropriate for the situation,
and whether they signal something that needs to be dealt
with. Also, the leader who can see or feel the wrong or
negative emotions are coming out; there are better chances
of controlling it and routing that energy in more vital
direction.
Recognising and Regulating Others’Emotions
Observing and dealing with other peoples’ emotions lie at
the heart of effective leadership. It is called the ability to
precisely pick up on emotions in other people. In team,
different people have their own plans and to cope up with
those differences to achieve united goal requires emotional
adjustments. But a good leader reads how individuals in
the entire team are feeling on the basis of subtle cues as
well as interactions and figures out how to inspire
productive participation. It becomes easier for the leader to
listen to what other people are saying clearly and without
judgment, which leads to develop effective team work.
Compassion
Understand how co-workers may feel or react on a certain
situation and show empathy for workers’ fates and needs.
The more one can relate to others, the better understanding
may build that helps to motivate them. In short, this shows
that the leader cares about the team and can successfully
achieve the team’s goals. Leaders high in EI show
empathy when they need to and willing to put him/her in
other people’s shoes; it is an incredible method to perceive
what it will take to get the team motivated.
Before you are a leader, success is all about growing
yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about
growing others.-Jack Welch, a Famous American Business
Executive and Author said rightly.
A great leader always behaves in a way others will
respond to positively toward getting things done both
individually and collectively. To become a highly effective
leader, one doesn’t need to develop a robot and turn your
emotions off but it is required to focus on the development
of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. Being an effective
leader is about having the technical skill, strategic
thinking, and knowledge but being a highly effective
leader also requires emotional intelligence.
20 | MARCH 2019

Brett
Caldon
A Compassionate
Leader Nurturing
Human- Centered
Environment
With more than twenty-five
years of experience in
financial services and
leading organizations, Brett Caldon
follows these wise words of Steve
Jobs. Currently, Brett is the CEO and
Co-founder of Workgrid Software.
Let’s reflect on the inspiring story of
this passionate entrepreneur.
Brett started his career in a large
Fortune 100 firm. During mid-90s, the
time of tough job market conditions, it
was hard to get a job in the recession.
But he got an opportunity to enter the
financial industry during that time.
Brett always wanted to be in the field
of technology, but according to him, he
was fortunate enough to get diverse
opportunities that compounded over
time and has allowed him to succeed in
bridging the technology and business
landscapes.
He asserts, “Taking risks and
embracing opportunities even with
uncertain outcomes has been a major
factor in my development.” He
continues, “Keep a mindset to grow
and don’t be afraid to challenge
yourself and accept the results, for
better or worse, and be authentic in
your intent, carry that forward and
build on it.”
About the Company
Backed by Liberty Mutual Insurance, a
leading Fortune 100 global insurer,
Workgrid Software is not a typical
technology startup. The company
focuses on building intelligent
workplace software solutions that are
purpose-built for an enterprise, by an
enterprise.
The Workgrid Assistant, Workgrid’s
premiere product, provides a unique
platform that integrates with all the
common systems and tools found in
the workplace from HR, expense
management, business applications,
office productivity, benefit
applications, calendars, and even
custom applications to aggregate
employee tasks, approvals, and need-
to-know information into a single,
modern consumer-like experience.
At the core of the Workgrid Assistant is
the Workgrid Chatbot, which provides
personalized information and
suggestions to employees based on
their role, location, user preferences,
and conversational history.
Brett’s Views on Leadership
According to Brett, leaders are those
who understand diversity in
approaches, skill sets and behaviors -
“We don’t hire the smartest people to tell them
what to do; we hire them so they can tell us
what to do.” – Steve Jobs, Former Chairman,
CEO, and Co-founder of Apple Inc.
Brett Caldon
Co-founder, and CEO
22 | MARCH 2019

whether it’s strategy, execution,
mentoring, building influence,
championing their people, etc. Brett is
a strong supporter of servant leadership
and has the ability to listen, empower,
have empathy, and remove obstacles.
He believes in providing a continuous
learning environment, where team
members can learn and grow from new
challenges and where innovative ideas
can flourish.
Overcoming Obstacles
Like many leaders, Brett has faced his
fair share of hurdles, but he’s managed
to turn many of his challenges into
successes. One challenge he faced
early on with Workgrid was the
positioning of the brand. It was
difficult to define, while maintaining
the balance between the backing of a
Fortune 100 company in a non-
adjacent industry, and educating
customers on the value proposition
Workgrid provides.
Brett and his team had developed
various strategies to overcome this.
They put in a significant amount of
time and effort collaborating with
companies across multiple industries
and discussing the value proposition of
solving for the pain points that exist in
the enterprise digital landscape. It was
more about building trust with
potential customers beyond the
solution offering.
Brett can attest to when you start a
new venture with innovative products
and services, you hit new hurdles every
day, but these challenges help you
learn and enable you to move forward
successfully.
Awards and Achievements
Brett asserts, “I feel my biggest
achievement is the culmination of all
the failures, successes, learning, and
experiences throughout my entire
career. That has allowed me to be in
the position I am today.” While getting
Workgrid off the ground, Brett and his
team have been recognized by several
prestigious industry awards such as,
· Agenda18 Digital Edge Award by
IDG
· 2018 Digital Workplace Award by
Digital Workplace Group
· 2018 Intranet and Digital
Workplace Award by Step Two
Designs
· Gartner’s Eye on Innovation
Award 2018
Preparing for the Future
Brett’s future plans include a focus on
the growth and evolution of Workgrid
Software. He is planning to expand the
product portfolio to continue bringing
new solutions to other enterprises.
Moreover, he wants to build the brand
to where Workgrid is among the most
trusted and valued technology partners
in the B2B space.
Brett’s Piece of Advice to Young
Entrepreneurs
According to Brett, the idea is just one
percent of the entrepreneurial journey.
He advises, “You need to understand
the whole picture and own it entirely.
You don’t have to journey on your own,
but you need to be willing to invest in
learning and doing things to succeed
that will stretch your boundaries.
Embrace it.”
He further says, “Be open to
opportunities that arise. Continuously
learn. Pay attention to what’s
happening around you and don’t be
afraid of pivoting, even if you have to
give up on something you’ve invested
in. Don’t hold on to a mistake just
because you spent so much time and
effort making it. Learn from it and
apply that learning to what’s next.”
POWERFUL
LEADERS303030T
H
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INBUSINESS
“I feel my
biggest
achievement
is the
culmination
of all the
failures,
successes,
learning,
and
experiences
throughout
my entire
career.”
23MARCH 2019 |

Tactics that Elevates
MANAGEMENT
REMOTE TEAM
In today’s digital world, more
companies are hiring remote
employees to get the talented and
skilled employees from worldwide.
Employees nowadays prefer to work
remotely and many leading
companies offering this opportunity to
gain more productivity. Adding such
remote employees to the team has
some challenges. Remote work has its
pros and cons. The best part about
working remotely is that a person can
work from anywhere. It is ﬂexible and
saves cost at the same time remote
employees have less interaction with
the team members. Communication
gap is one of the biggest challenges
while managing a virtual team. It is
the responsibility of the leader to
bridge these interpersonal gaps and
take several steps to connect remote
team.
Set Clear Goals
If the goals and outline are clearly
deﬁned with the remote employees,
then it will help them to perform the
task quickly in prescribed time
boundaries. As a manager and leader,
it is important to discuss the
24 | MARCH 2019

25MARCH 2019 |

expectation clearly with them such as work hours, availability, communication system, key project, and deadlines.
The team mates who works in the different country with different time zone especially with them discuss work
schedule clearly. This will help the employees to follow the schedule and they can timely complete the work. A
manager can conduct virtual meetings to discuss the goals and work schedules with the virtual team mates. Such
transparency will help to maintain a positive relationship between leader and team mates.
Right Communication System
How important is to have a good communication system when your team might be spread across multiple cities or
maybe countries? The office team meets and interact on daily basis during official meetings, can ask questions
during lunch break or casually talk with a coworker at any time. But for the virtual team, who cannot meet
personally on daily basis, it is necessary to have clear interaction.
Video chat
Some communications can be handled over the voice call or emails but some communication needs to handle only
with video call or chat. Especially with virtual employees who aren’t physically present in the office, the video chat
is a perfect alternative of face to face communication. Video chat would be even better as it gives more visual signals
of what is going on with the other person. It makes the remote team feels more real about the company’s culture.
Many apps are available for quick real-time interaction.
Screen Sharing Tools
Several tools are available that enable to share the screen with another person so that a person can see exactly track
and view remote employees screen. These tools also allow controlling the other computer remotely. Many of such
tools are available for small teams, including TeamViewer and Join.me. These tools provide real-time updates
regarding the screen and make project management easier.
Team Chat Apps
In this instant chatting and sharing period, it is essential to have a chat room open for each team in the business. The
team members can easily leave messages for the team that they are a part of. Virtual team members can receive
prompt reply on important issues and it makes them feel connected with the whole team. Team chat apps can be used
to brainstorm, pass files back and forth, compare notes on new releases, and many more. It is a place to talk about
anything, work-related or not which helps to synchronize the remote team.
Use Time-Tracking Tools
To keep the track of remote employees’ performance is a cumbersome task for the manager. But with the use of time
tracking software and tools, the clear data on the work time can be gathered. Such tools provide accurate login and
log out timing and at the same time, unproductive activities can be spotted easily. Attendance software provides
accurate time reports which help the manager to track the timings of the remote employee and measure the
performance. The App like Due time tracking which allows tracking the idle time of the remote employee, many
such apps like Harvest, TopTracker, RescueTime and more which are effective time-tracker tools for freelancer
employees.
Gone are days when remote working was considered as a low salary employment option. With the change in trend, it
has now become a full-time career. Today, technology gets the same job done wherever the person is in the world.
Managing a remote team is a big deal, to get done assignment on time, keeps track of the work and building a strong
relationship with them. Moreover, it is very important to have loyal, hard-working and productive employees that
will help to reach the company vision. Companies are trying to get into this changing scenario to keep up with the
changing need of their employees and to adapt to talent from different parts of the world.
26 | MARCH 2019

S
uccessful entrepreneurs are passionate and
dedicated. They are characterized by an unrelenting
zeal to succeed. Such leaders have a creative streak
and an unrelentingly strong work ethic. One such
dedicated and goal-driven leader is Chad Burmeister, the
CEO of ScaleX.ai and BDR.ai.
Chad has been a salesperson his entire life. In his early
childhood, he used to sell candy on the bus on the way to
school. Over time, he evolved into a seasoned professional
and has held various positions in sales and marketing with
renowned companies like FedEx, Cisco-WebEx,
RingCentral, and ConnectAndSell. After having an
experience of over 25 years in the marketing domain,
Chad discovered that he was not destined to be conﬁned to
rules and regulations and to operate within a “box”. As a
result, he ventured out to start his own company. In 2004 –
2006, even before “digital sales” had attained prominence,
Chad launched Tele-SalesForce and signed nearly 50
clients to help them with telemarketing and appointment
setting. “Over the last 10–15 years, the world has
changed. It turns out, optimizing multiple channels of
communication from phone, email, social, video, and
more, has become important (and complex)!” says Chad.
Subsequently, he launched ScaleX.ai in 2017, and more
recently, BDR.ai in 2018. ScaleX.ai takes care of the entire
Sales Development Representative (SDR)/Business
Development Representative (BDR) role, powered by
artiﬁcial intelligence. For about the same cost a full-time
BDR, the company delivers 10,000 sales activities per
month (10X more than a typical SDR or BDR), and
typically delivers between 10–50 meetings/month. BDR.ai
is an offshoot of ScaleX which takes care of the entire
digital outreach strategy on behalf of a quota carrying
salesperson. BDR.ai sources 1,000 leads/month from
Chad
Burmeister:
A Decorated Frontrunner
of the Sales Vertical
Chad Burmeister, CEO
28 | MARCH 2019

POWERFUL
LEADERS
INBUSINESS
303030T
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leading data providers, and then
executes 100 emails/day and 100-200
social selling activities/day for about
rd
1/3 the cost of a dedicated BDR.
Tackling Challenges with a
Game-Face on
The turning point for Chad’s career in
sales came when he was fired from his
first job out of college. He was a born
introvert, and it showed. He had to
overcome numerous hurdles to make
it to the pinnacle of success. Over
countless years of practice and hard
work, Chad was able to become a
“learned extrovert” and an incredible
sales leader. His hard work paid off as
it turned him into an outstanding
individual. “The outward facing part
didn’t come natural though, even
though many who know me would say
they had no idea. Hard work beats
talent every time,” he adds.
Chad believes in looking at every
challenge in the eye and transforming
them into opportunities. Finding
technology partners who will partner
in a way that is meaningful for their
clients has been a challenge. It has
taken several attempts – many
successes, and a few failures. Chad’s
team of world-class operations
combined with great sales and
marketing allows him to listen and
deliver to the clients, and pivot to
what is meaningful in the market.
A Dedicated Leader
Chad is a firm believer in working
hard and playing hard. He believes
that as one works hard to achieve their
desired objectives, they should also
spend some time to celebrate their
achievements. “My goal is to build a
company that drives so much
economic value that I can afford to
ride off into the sunset with my wife
and enjoy flying my children to unique
“ports of call” in Europe, Asia, and
all over God’s great planet!” says
Chad. He believes in empowering his
employees by understanding their
goals and desires, and then helping
them to achieve the same.
Ensuring Employee Growth and
Empowerment
The company relies on Gong.io to
capture call recordings that are
integrated automatically into
SalesForce.com. This allows Chad to
have 1:1s with sales reps, as well as
customer success, to provide
appropriate call coaching. He has been
a firm believer of the notion – “coach
to neutral elements”. He says, “If
someone isn’t doing something right,
don’t say they are doing it wrong.
Show them the proper behavior then
coach to neutral elements”. Chad also
recommends that sales people read
great books like Gap Selling, by
Keenan, which will motivate them to
improve themselves and enhance their
performance.
Winning Laurels on the Road to
Glory
Under the insightful leadership of
Chad, ScaleX.ai has won numerous
accolades. It has achieved various
noteworthy landmarks throughout its
illustrious journey. In 2018, ScaleX.ai
won two awards – Top 20 Sales
Management Application and Top 50
Most Admired Company of the year by
two respectable organizations. “The
thing I’m most proud of – 50 new
clients in 2018, and 20 already by the
end of January, 2019!” he adds.
Words of Advice for Up-and-
Coming Entrepreneurs
In the years to come, Chad plans to
participate in some sales related
businesses, but more from an advisor
point of view. Chad feels that
emerging entrepreneurs should stay
with a company for at least a while
early in their career. They should learn
the basics and hone their skills.
Constantly working on improving
their skills will be beneficial for them.
He advises them to find business
problems that need to be solved. They
should attend events that encourage
and promote entrepreneurship. This
will nurture their knowledge about
business and entrepreneurship. Chad
concludes by saying, “Find a mentor.
Work hard, play hard!”
“If someone isn't
doing something
right, don't say they
are doing it wrong.
Show them the
proper behavior
then coach to
neutral elements.”
29MARCH 2019 |

CanYouReallySee
YourCustomers?
About the Author
Shiva Kris is
currently working as
Chief Technology
O ﬁcer at Ad2pro
Group.Prior to this,
he has worked at
Yahoo!,Hyperion
(Oracle) and [24]7.ai
in US and in India.
He has more than
20 years of rich
experience in
engineering,product
and program
management,data
science.Shiva is
passionate about
technology,
especially AI and
big-data.
Shiva Kris
Chief Technology O cer
30 | MARCH 2019

he more data we get about our
Tcustomers, the more we realize
we don’t really know them.
Because there’s no way to put all that
information together and see them in
one 360-degree view. Some tech
providers and marketing consultants
promise a view of the customer
journey, but it’s really partial at best.
Businesses are spending more and
more resources, and depending more
and more, on a wide range of digital
innovations aimed at increasing
convenience, intensifying experiences
and tracking involvement with brands.
AI, AR, and VR lead most
conversations and conferences, and
investment keeps escalating.
According to recent research by
Accenture, one-third of companies are
planning to increase their innovation-
related investments by more than 50
percent, as worldwide spending on
technology and services to enable
digital transformation reaches
approaches $2 trillion by 2022.
Similarly, ADWEEK published a
summary of leading applications. And
Gartner published a spend survey
showing that 63% percent of CMOs
expect their innovation budgets to
increase in 2019.
At this rate, you’d think we are making
quantum leaps in marketing efficiency
and customer development. But all the
investment is actually falling short of
the grand expectations that B2C and
B2B technologies have created.
The biggest problem, despite years of
focus, is the inability of organizations
to establish the user’s identity across
the ever-increasing channels, devices
and data sources. Forrester recently
confirmed that the ability to establish
users across data sources remains a
top-priority problem for businesses.
In other words, we still can’t really see
our customers. No amount of what
magic from the Internet of Things
toolkit can overcome this fundamental
problem.
So what good is it to advance
marketing innovation if we don’t know
who we’re marketing to?
If we don’t establish user identity, we
can’t accurately profile behavior across
channels or journeys across multiple
sites. That makes it impossible to
budget and communicate optimally to
the right audiences, particularly for
those companies that have many
distinct brands with offline presences.
What’s more, it compromises the
quality of automated experiences they
can offer customers.
When you can see your customers, it’s
transformative. Unlocking the profile
and journey of users showed a show
company it was misdirecting its
marketing at 20- to 25-year-old men
when married women were actually
buying for their husbands and sons.
But the overwhelming majority of
marketers end up like the growing
digital commerce electronics company
that still struggles to find what its
consumers are doing just before
landing on their website. Were they
searching on Google or commenting in
Facebook? Were they making mobile
purchases, and what banks and
payments systems did they use?
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to seeing
customers is the irony of the FAANG
proprietary systems we now refer to as
walled gardens. While they allow
marketers to operate from
unprecedentedly clear vision on their
platforms, the customer vision stays
inside the wall. The user data provided
by platforms amount to a pinhole
vision; typically, small cohorts of users
specific to channels rather than a 360-
degree spectrum of behavior across
digital, offline and real-world action.
DSPs, CRMs, and DMPs all provide
value, but none deliver a unified user
view in a cross-media, cross-channel,
cross-device, online and offline arena.
Many third-party sources readily offer
a list, but by the time that data has been
segmented, joined, uniquified and
optimized for user identity, weeks pass
by and the prospect has long
disappeared from the business radar.
But what if we had one universal user
ID system? Using blockchain, it would
be possible to establish and maintain a
single view of user identity that
evolves with activity. By consolidating
the various user tracking pixels, event
emanating scripts and other first-party
data generators, we could unify first-
and third-party data. We could see
customers across platforms and
technologies.
It’s possible. Privacy concerns can be
satisfied with anonymized data and the
security of blockchain technologies.
And the intensely competitive walled
gardens can come to realize it’s
essential to the growth of their
businesses when marketers give them
no choice. Because in the years ahead,
marketing innovation and business
growth will depend on how clearly and
completely we see our customers.
Astute Thoughts
31MARCH 2019 |

Dr. Srinivas
Kilambi:
SerialEntrepreneurwith
theTrueThrillofSuccess
“I believe in
achieving
excellence in
your chosen
ﬁeld or
profession.
Success
always is a
corollary and
follows
excellence like
a shadow.”
INBUSINESS
T
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Dr.SrinivasKilambi
FounderCEO
34 | MARCH 2019

e is a Ph.D. in Chemical
HEngineering, a CFA and a
Serial Entrepreneur. He has
also worked at C-level for two
corporates with $70B in annual
revenue as well as for the prestigious
Fortune 100 companies. Having great
experience in the world of
entrepreneurship, with strong academic
background did not mean that he did
not go through struggles. There might
have been constant hurdles but the
other constant was the determination to
get through them and rise. Dr. Srinivas
Kilambi’s journey of to flout the odds
has been a colorful one!
Dr. Srinivas began his career in late 80s
as an entrepreneur with the vision to
introduce India’s first biochemical
plant and received the country’s best
entrepreneur award for this project. He
then moved to the US to pursue MS
and Ph.D. in chemical engineering.
Two of his Ph.D. patents have been
acquired by NY based private equity
firm and both companies went IPO in
1996 and 1997. He got married to Jaya
Kilambi, was the turning point in his
life. His wife supported him to
complete his CFA, MS, and Ph.D. and
helped him to start the companies,
taught him the greatest virtue of
patience and love. In 2014, Dr. Srinivas
started DXI along with Dr. David
Dodds.
How He Started Out DXI
Dr. Srinivas talks about some important
aspect of DXI’s inception, “The
Company was founded more by
accident or necessity than choice. The
two of us were working on a renewable
materials project and were looking for
some equipment and materials on
many online sites. We never could find
what we were looking for and even
though we searched extensively”. He
continues, “However, no sooner had we
exited the site in sheer frustration, we
received several calls and survey
questionnaires asking us to inform the
sites as to how we felt. We were
shocked, and we realized that the sites
had no clue about our experience and
satisfaction levels and they assumed
that since we spent a lot of time on site,
we were quite satisfied, and we were a
step away from buying online.”
This is how he decided to find a better
way to understand user experience
(UX) rather than through surveys. After
six month’s intensive brainstorming
they started ambitious project to
mathematically convert a very
subjective ‘Consumer Engagement and
Experience’ into an objective number.
DXI’s mission and capabilities have
evolved over a period of time. It has
moved from initially an UX/DX tool
kit for digital experience to an UX/DX
Solution to a Conversion Rate
Optimization (CRO) solution to now as
a being benchmark index for
‘Consumer User Experience’.
Moreover, the company has also
applied the underlying technology
engine into verticals like
manufacturing productivity index, HR
attrition index, healthcare predictivity
index, airport customer satisfaction
index etc. In summary, the company
offers two distinct products namely a
‘Consumer Intelligence Index’ and
‘Business Intelligence Index’.
An Avid Learning Attitude
Dr. Srinivas is inspired by Bill Gates
and Warren Buffet who have not just
achieved excellence in their chosen
professions but have also been chosen
to give back most of their wealth to
noble causes and improvements in
global human life standards. He looks
at life from a very holistic position and
excels as an individual in multiple
disciplines namely entrepreneurship,
innovation, and philanthropist.
He has been recognized and honored
with several prestigious awards. He has
won ‘TAG 2011 award’, ‘TiE Global
Award in 2010’, ‘TiE Southeast
Entrepreneur award in 2009’, ‘Frost
Sullivan Most Innovative Green
Technology in 2010’ and more. He was
one of the WEF 2010 finalists for the
most innovative technology. Moreover,
he has been recognized as ‘Youngest
CEO of Reliance India’. During his
academic journey, he has accomplished
some significant places by securing
second rank in CFA India and did one
of the fastest PhDs in UTK.
His Definition of Success
Effective execution of plans is the most
important part to achieve the goals.
According to him, a great idea is
necessary for successful startups but
success of the business totally depends
on the execution of that idea. A great
idea is only worth 10-20%. Success is
90% execution of a great idea. His
approach for accomplishing goals in
life is to follow and execute the
fundamentals very closely. Breaking
down goals into simple fundamentals
enables a much easier execution.
He asserts, “Success always is a
corollary and follows excellence like a
shadow. I believe in measuring success
through quantifying the level of
excellence you have enabled in others’
lives or to the environment or humanity
and not just in monetary terms of
revenue generated.”
His advice to the budding
entrepreneurs is, to follow your dream
from a holistic purpose, chase
excellence as success will definitely
follow and be 100% innovative.
Finally, entrepreneurship is 100% full
time effort and passion and is not a part
time hobby.
35MARCH 2019 |

Edward
Van Leent
Exceptional leaders are
dedicated, honest, and
confident. They have an
indomitable will to overcome
insurmountable odds and lead their
team towards success and deliver
services which add value to their
customers. Such leaders are
inspirational, possess excellent
communication skills, and have an
innovative streak. One such pioneering
leader with an undeterred will to
succeed and make a mark in the
industry is Edward Van Leent, the
Chairman and CEO of the EPI
Group of Companies (EPI).
Edward pursued his education in
economics, electronics, and electrical
engineering. After leaving school, he
gained work experience in designing
chips and printed circuit boards. From
there on, he joined the world of
Computer Aided Design and Computer
Aided Engineering (CAD/CAE).
Eventually, he moved into high-
availability computing environments,
through which he entered into the data
center domain. Then, Edward was
hired by EPI to setup the Asia business.
Two years later, he ascended to the
position of Chairman and CEO of the
company. Edward turned the
organization around from a data center
design and built organization and
transformed it into a data center
services company. From there, the
company quickly grew into the largest
data center training and audit
organization in the world which
currently has nine offices covering all
continents and having a large partner
network.
Conquering Challenges to Attain
Excellence
Under Edward’s visionary leadership,
EPI overcame many challenges from
being an unknown company from
Europe trying to establish itself in Asia
and other continents, as well as moving
from a design and built company into a
data center services company. As a
result, the company had to transform
completely in terms of their
positioning, services, marketing,
processes, competences, and so on. “I
was lucky in that in one of my previous
organizations, we had to move the
company from a hardware
organization into a solutions-based
organization which had a major
impact,” says Edward. The lessons
learnt there made it easier for him to
carry out the transformation at EPI.
Ensuring Development with
Effective Communication
Edward believes that direct
communication is essential to make
sure everybody understands the big
picture and comprehends the reasoning
behind the decisions he makes. He
says, “I always find that if you make a
decision and indicate to the staff why
you made it, highlighting both the good
and bad reasons it makes it easier for
them to understand and accept the
decision”. Edward believes that the
challenge is always when one has
information which they cannot disclose
yet, for some reason, and they have to
take a decision without prior
explanation to the staff. It could lead to
the staff not fully understanding why a
decision is made.
A Result-Focused Entrepreneur
Edward has a clear perspective for
himself and his team. He is focused on
the goals and objectives of the
company. He says, “I believe it is one
of the most single important thing to do
being in a management position which
is to make sure that everybody
understands where the organization is
heading and what is expected of
everybody and what role they play in
the total scheme of things”. Edward is
of the opinion that it is important for
everybody to understand how they
contribute to the overall success of the
company. “I am blessed with having an
amazing team”, he adds.
Edward’s source of Inspiration
Edward believes in making the most
out of life and to always do the best
one can. He takes inspiration from his
previous managers as well as Lee Kuan
Yew, the founding father of Singapore.
Edward moved to Singapore in 1997
and he admires the country for the way
it transcended from where it was to
where it is today. He says, “Lee Kuan
Yew changed this country in a mere 30
years from what people called at that
time “a swamp” to a first world
A Leader Who Changed the Data Centre
Training and Audit Industry Forever
36 | MARCH 2019

“It is not about
hours people
work but it is
about the
output/value
they can create”
country and keeping harmony in a multicultural
environment. He was a focused leader and although not
everybody always agreed with his ideas and way or
getting things done, the results of his achievements speak
for itself”. He gathers inspiration from various videos
where Lee Kuan Yew provides his amazing insights and
views on life and the world. Edward believes that Lee
Kuan Yew was, without a shed of doubt, an amazing
leader putting Singapore on the world map and one the
world will probably never find again.
Remarkable Accomplishments
Throughout his illustrious career, Edward has achieved
many noteworthy landmarks. There are many
accomplishments which he fondly looks back at from a
work perspective. He has achieved various accolades
throughout his celebrated career. These include getting his
first management job, winning his first big award – the
‘Chairman Achievement Award’ at Mentor Graphics, and
achieving the position of Chairman and CEO at a
relatively young age. “The ultimate position of being a
CEO is which so many aspire but yet so little people
realize what it entails. It has been a very exciting and
rewarding career and life”, he says.
Advice to Budding Entrepreneurs
Edward recommends emerging entrepreneurs to focus and
work hard to achieve the desired goals. He suggests them
to listen to customers and always look at how to help
them with their business. “There are three steps every
entrepreneur should think about. First of all, have a good
strategy, make sure you have an operating model in place
to execute the strategy and finally, make sure you hire the
best people you can to make it all work”, Edward
concluded.
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Edward Van Leent
Chairman and CEO
37MARCH 2019 |

he successful entrepreneurs are not just the
Thardest working, they are the most
innovative. One of those successful
innovative entrepreneurs who think differently is
Gary Olson. He is one of these tech- savvy
entrepreneurs constantly looking for innovative
solutions to solve problems. Just like every
entrepreneur, he also has a different story about why
he decided to start a business. Let’s take a closer
look at his insightful story and remarkable aspects of
his life.
Start of Something Extraordinary
Gary has always been interested in new technologies
with an innate curiosity on understanding how
things work. He never thought his engineering
degree in computer design would lead to his career
in the media industry and then become the basis for
his interest in bridging the gap between broadcast
and computer technologies. His father was a small
business owner. This guided Gary to work for
himself and become his own ‘Boss’. Gary is one of
the few people who never worked for anyone else in
his professional career. Currently, he is a Principal
of GHO Group and leading the company as
strategist, designer and project manager for a variety
of communication and information technology
projects.
Gary is considered one of the Thought Leaders in
the media technology industry and provides services
as an IP Broadcast Media Technology Designer.
He is a successful author with his book ‘Planning
and Designing the IP Broadcast Facility - A New
Puzzle to Solve’ an industry standard. He regularly
publishes articles providing knowledge and
Gary OlsonA Conﬁdent Creative Entrepreneur
In Pursuit Of Innovation
Gary Olson
Principal of GHO
38 | MARCH 2019

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education to the media industry with a
considerable following reading his
articles on ‘The Broadcast Bridge’ and
LinkedIn, including webinars and
online courses.
At the beginning of his career, he
solved interesting challenges that
typically bring together computer and
video technologies. He was involved
in the efforts to introduce Teletext into
the US market and was the part of the
team that created the first interactive
satellite video conference network and
launched the first satellite business
television network. Gary was part of
the team launching the first video fiber
network for Teleport communications.
When he was asked to design a new
televised shopping network, he saw
this as the opportunity to start his first
company entering the world of
entrepreneurship, designing and
launching a new satellite and
television cable networks.
About GHO Group
The GHO Group is an independent
consulting firm that specializes in
planning and designing media
production facilities for broadcast and
cable companies, corporations,
educational institutions, and cultural
organizations. It provides unique,
practical and cost-effective solutions
to the challenges faced while building
new facilities or implementing new
technology strategies. GHO builds the
bridge between technology and
business, converts vision from its
initial concept to final implementation
whether it is traditional media, a Web,
smartphone, eBook, portable media
player, or anything in between.
His Mantra of Success
A strong leader builds a strong team
and such a leader always keeps the
goal in the mind. As a leader, Gary
recognizes the strengths in people and
encourages and empowers their
development creating a strong team to
solve problems. He says, “One of my
responsibilities on many of my
projects is to help the new senior
management with change. I explain
that a large organization is like a
pyramid, if you are at the top you can
see what’s happening across the
organizations and manage.” He
continues, “If the pyramid is upside
down because the manager is also
doing everything they are crushed by
the weight of the organization. My
colleagues embrace the concept and
became successful change managers.”
Gary has also faced challenges, but he
turned his hard hitting challenges into
powerful victories. For him, building
the first commercial television
broadcast networks in six Central
European countries was challenging
as well as a ‘once in a lifetime
experience’.
His best piece of advice to budding
Entrepreneurs “Entrepreneurship is
doing everything that needs to be done
to be successful. Behaving like an
executive when there’s no real
business is a recipe for failure. Not all
entrepreneurs make good CEO’s.
Know your own strengths - maybe the
right thing to do is hire one.”
Gary on Future of GHO
The company is going through a
changing phase now, moving into
artificial intelligence and into a new
industry sector of Public Safety and
National Security. It is applying
extensive media knowledge to an
industry overwhelmed by video and
struggling to analyze it for useable
information in the prevention of
incidents and attacks. GHO is looking
forward at the role artificial
intelligence will play in the industry
and how other industry sectors are
using media requiring broadcast
knowledge and expertise to assist
them as they produce more and more
media.
“When you are asked
if it can be done, always
say YES, then figure it out
and get it DONE.”“
39MARCH 2019 |

n our sublime strife for progress, we often
Idisregard the fact that passion acts as a
catalyst to the composition of our success
and as the fuel to our fire wherein the creation of
transcendent ideas take place. To leverage this
passion, and turn it into profits and goodwill, is a
quality which an efficient business leader
possesses. One such passion driven leader, who
has marked her presence in the micro-mobility
sector of Asia, is Jin-Ni Gan, the Founder and
CEO of Telepod.
Shortlisted as a nominee of Forbes 30 Under 30
(2019), Jin-Ni has always been a visionary leader.
She has fostered strong track records for Telepod
by establishing partnerships with governments
and industry players to develop an international
presence, thus being recognized as one of the top
8 micro-mobility players to watch by The
Information. Jin-Ni holds a Bachelor of
Mechanical Engineering (Hons.) with Minor in
Entrepreneurship from Nanyang Technological
University and a Master’s in Transportation
System Management from National University
of Singapore.
As a leader, Jin-Ni measures her success by her
team’s performance and cohesiveness. In her
opinion, a leader’s best asset is empathy. “It’s
about being able to understand the challenges
that your staff faced and communicating about
problems and solutions clearly; It’s about being
able to understand who you are serving and what
are their pain points,” states Jin-Ni.
In the coming years, Jin-Ni envisions to be a
successful serial entrepreneur and also a nurturing
mother to either her own kids and/or many more
young JinNi(s) out there.
The Making of a Pioneer
Jin-Ni recalls, growing up in the suburb of Kuala
Lumpur, she was deprived of freedom to head
wherever and whenever she wanted to. Public
transportation was lacking and the only way to
get out of home was by car, and as a kid she
couldn’t drive. That sparked her interest and
passion to improve transportation system over the
years. After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree
Jin-Ni GanEnabling Mobility, Connecting the World
Jin-Ni Gan
Founder CEO
“Do not let perfection
stop you from being
EXCELLENT.”
42 | MARCH 2019

in Mechanical Engineering, she
worked in Singapore Mass Rapid
Transit (SMRT) for a couple of years,
in a field where female engineers were
a minority.
During her SMRT days, she had the
opportunity to work on some exciting
projects and was also awarded the
CEO Service Leadership Award, but
she felt like her potential wasn’t being
utilized efficiently. Subsequently, she
made a life-changing decision to quit
the SMRT job, picked up mobile app
development skills, and also took up a
part-time Master’s in Transportation
System Management and started
Telepod concurrently.
Jin-Ni feels blessed to have been able
to assemble a team of skilled
enthusiasts who are disrupting the
transportation ecosystem with
Telepod’s smart scooter sharing system
which is powered by an in-house
patent pending Proxima technology.
“I have learned so much along the
journey and am inspired to encourage
and enable more micro-entrepreneurs
through the new platform which
Telepod is about to launch,” states
Jin-Ni. Through operating a sustainable
business model and the exciting new
platform, she hopes to be able to help
the billion other kids who are just like
her when she was young, to live a life,
because Jin-Ni is of the opinion that,
if they can’t go where they want to go,
they can’t do the things they love to
do.
Telepod, being a forerunner in the
e-scooter sharing space, is the longest
standing as well as the most-
experienced e-scooter sharing operator
in the continent. Telepod, is solving the
last mile problem which is the distance
that is too far to walk, yet taking any
other modes of transport would not
make sense, because it takes almost the
same time as walking. The
organization also provides insightful
advises for policies and regulations
that allow the urban mobility to
flourish as a part of the transportation
ecosystem.
Advocating Progress
At Telepod, the team practices a
culture which Jin-Ni summarizes in
four letters, viz. ‘AERO’. To break it
down, ‘A’ stands for acknowledgment,
wherein the team emphasizes on
comprehending the fact that the first
step to solve any problem is to first
acknowledge that there are issues to be
resolved. Further, ‘E’ means to express
after acknowledging ‘why each party
did what they do’ and ‘what each party
is unhappy about’. ‘R’ stands for
rectifying the issues and problems by
being logical and discussing the
solutions and to conclude, ‘O’ stands
for omitting the occurrence of the
deciphered issue or misunderstanding.
The team practices AERO session
when necessary and anyone in the
company can initiate a session. The
organization also follows a half-yearly
performance review, wherein Jin-Ni
would personally speak with each and
every individual in the management
team to align everyone’s goal and
progress. Additionally, there are also
the End-of-Week (EoW) emails which
are sent weekly by each Head of
Department for a quick update/sharing
and make intervention if goals or
values are seem to be straying.
Surpassing Adversities
Talking about the challenges she faced
while taking the organization to heights
of success, Jin-Ni says that in the
beginning, Telepod and its co-founders
were nobody. “As harsh as it may
sound, the reality is – many of the
investors do have higher preference for
the ‘brand names’, i.e. graduates from
Ivy Leagues or working experiences at
one of those startups that are going or
went through exponential growth,”
Jin-Ni expresses.
Time and again, Jin-Ni and her team
proved these people wrong, and today
Telepod has become the longest
standing e-scooter sharing operator
with an exponentially growing user
demand, to a point that its supply could
not cope.
The organization’s persistence and
willingness to execute at a fast pace
despite an imperfect product, which
was sufficient to test the market and
helped in ceaselessly improvising, has
brought it this far. “The ability to
iterate at breakneck speed, I would say,
is the biggest edge any startup would
have over a large organization,” Jin-Ni
expresses.
On The Trophy Shelf
Following is a list of achievements in
Jin-Ni’s and her organization’s ledger
of success:
· Being invited to be a panel speaker
at Bloomberg as it demonstrates the
impact and influence Telepod has
created in the industry,
· Bringing Telepod’s products as far
as United States and Chile through
its partnerships.
· Governments’ adoption of
Telepod’s ‘dockless-station’
methodology as a requirement to all
micro-mobility sharing operators in
Singapore for controlling of
indiscriminate parking.
· SMRT’s investment in Telepod
which speaks heavy about how
values are aligned in terms of
serving the public transportation
space.
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At the Helm of a Global Ascension
he prominence of 3D printing
Tin this tech driven era is
significantly revolutionary and
a promising one as well. It is safe to
say that the sphere of 3D printing
possesses the potential to drive itself to
a point where it could aid a plethoric
development. The application of this
technology in the disciplines of
construction, pharmaceutics, robotics,
and other conventional industries,
evidently justify the transformation
which 3D printing can bring to
businesses and equally to the common
public. The organizations leveraging
this potential are ceaselessly enabling
and empowering its optimum
application in every possible place.
One among such organizations is
Ultimaker, a 3D printer manufacturing
company based in Netherlands. The
company has been in operation since
the year 2011, and through the years
has developed to become an
unparalleled brand in the market,
creating powerful, professional and
accessible desktop 3D printers. This
commendable global ascension of
Ultimaker is being avidly led by a
comprehensive, proficient and
intellectual driving force named Jos
Burger, the CEO.
From everything around telecom,
software, computer-related design
business and all kinds of ventures, Jos
has had a prolific and hands-on career
in European and US companies,
expanding over 25+ years, instilling an
admirable number of feathers in his
hat. He has had his own startups, been
in venture capital, private equity, and
also been helping a lot of IT and tech
companies to expand in the US and
also in the European marketplace. Jos
has been known in leading and
supporting start-up and later stage
Jos
Burger
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Jos Burger
CEO
44 | MARCH 2019

companies in volatile, challenging
markets through the growth phases of
their business life cycles.
Enabling Empowerment
Coming to the company, Jos has been
spearheading the company’s progress
since 2014. At Ultimaker, what Jos and
the team are really doing is facilitating
the transition from, central
manufacturing to local digital
manufacturing. The company enables
engineers all over the world, and
people in industrial environments to
produce locally whatever they need.
Jos expresses that it is not only his
passion but the passion of the company
too, to achieve this motto. “Ultimaker
basically enables professionals locally,
wherever they are, to produce the
parts, the components, the products,
tools, everything they need to keep
innovating every day,” states Jos.
It is apparently evident that Ultimaker
is on a growth-spree in the 3D-printing
space. The company is heavily focused
on supporting all kinds of companies
globally, with the partnerships of all
kind of material partners and chemical
companies, to offer a platform to the
market where every engineer, every
producer, everyone who’s responsible
for a specific part of the production
process, or the life cycle of the product
is able to take its platform, its printers,
its software, and the right materials to
produce what is needed. The key
aspect of Ultimaker is that it not only
controls the hardware but also the
software that is needed to tell the
machine how to behave relatively to
the material that’s being ridden through
“Ultimaker helps the world's businesses to ride
the wave of change, to design digitally and
to manufacture locally by enabling professionals
to produce exactly what they need, when they need it.”
the machine. “This aspect gives a lot of
flexibility for Ultimaker in the market
to support all kind of use cases in a
wide variety of industries, whether it’s
aerospace, automotive, medical,
education, you will find us
everywhere,” Jos expresses. Thus, in
that sense, the company positions itself
as a utility company in the 3D printing
space across all kinds of geographies,
all kinds of applications, all kinds of
industries and facilitating a wide
variety of people in accomplishing
their tasks and goals.
Redefining Benchmarks
Commenting upon his source of
inspiration which drives him to be a
leader, Jos implies considerable
amount emphasis on the people he
works with. He comprehends the fact
that him and the company are in an
extremely interesting market, with tons
of opportunities, and every day he feels
inexplicably motivated by the
enthusiasm and the intellectual
capabilities of his colleagues and
subordinates.
Elucidating his perception of the
challenges one faces during an
individual’s career as well as those of a
company in a competitive market, Jos
states, “It’s basically all about
overcoming all kind of perceived
hurdles, it’s about forcing yourself to
do things, to learn things, that may be
out of your comfort zone, and if you do
that, then the challenge is turning into
an asset.” Further, on a company level,
he emphasizes on hiring and retaining
the best people, getting the right
product-market fit, having enough
funds to execute, a little bit of luck,
and timing, are key aspects and define
the success of a company in
overcoming its challenges.
Passing the Scepter of Knowledge
In his advice to the aspiring
entrepreneurs and business leaders in
the 3D printing space as well as others,
Jos asserts, “If and when you start a
new company, make sure that you
really have something to offer that is
disruptive enough to justify its
existence and is able to attract the
funds to grow your company.”
Jos expresses that he has seen too
many people trying to do the same
thing and many others not offering a
real solution but merely a feature or an
aspect. Thus, according to him, to be in
this business, being very careful, being
very thoughtful, and making sure to
have a disruptive offering that can be
sold globally to a relevant marketplace
is of utmost importance.
The aforesaid aspects do lucidly
exhibit how Jos is a distinguished
leader and particularly this one aspect
of his personality, which is about
inculcating and sustaining humor and
irony, makes him, in an unconventional
way, a person who has his priorities
sorted. “I think if you don’t have irony
and if you can’t play with that then you
have an issue with your personality.
I’m probably a typical straight Dutch
shooter, I always aim for big laugh and
I love to be ironic. But again, I’m a
humble guy so you should probably ask
someone else,” concludes Jos.
45MARCH 2019 |

LARRY
PFEIFERFORTIFYING ORGANIZATIONS,
CONTRIBUTING FOR CHANGE
In the era of everything-digital, the primary concern,
equally for end-users and organizations is the
protection of data. As promising as the digitalization of
sensitive information seems to be, it is also equally prone to
an overabundance of threats. Organizations dealing with
and in information technology and related aspects are the
most familiar with the gravity of these threats, and one
leading industry expert of the enterprise security discipline,
is of the same opinion. This is Larry Pfeifer, the President
of Consortium Networks. Conveying his perspective
about the current scenario of the industry, Larry says that
the enterprise security market, as it stands today is booming
with a plethora of solutions and product offerings; so are
the threats, vulnerabilities, and alarming instances of
devastating breaches. Pertaining to this, Larry expresses
that identifying the right solution has evidently become
more of a ’fill in the gaps’ puzzle, wherein Chief
Information Security Officers (CISOs) are burdened with
the tasks of separating ‘the noise from the signal.’
Larry is also of the opinion that heavy market competition
tends to overwhelm, and at times, confuse enterprises into
making nonessential and risky investments. While a one-
size-fits-all solution may be idealistic, achieving a robust
cybersecurity strategy not only demands cross-departmental
participation within an enterprise but also, a ‘beyond-
enterprise’ community-level engagement among CISOs and
other enterprise leaders. Moreover, as threats build up on
the horizon, the line of defense shouldn’t be dictated solely
by the solution provider, but also by a rightly informed
CISO. This is where Consortium Networks helps
companies realize their enterprise security needs with its
revolutionary collaboration platform for security experts.
Advocating Innovation
Built upon the proven notion of crowd-sharing
intelligence, Consortium Networks’ portal provides
real-world feedback and data on tools meant for
physical and cybersecurity product offerings in the
market. In contrast to the hugely prevalent, biased
reviews from paid analysts and consultants,
Consortium Network’s platform fosters a learn-from-
peers approach to help security experts and enterprise
leaders address the predicaments associated with
choosing the right security solution for their
enterprise. “The whole idea is to reduce the risk and
get the truth about all the products that are out there,
including diving past the power points, the proofs-of-
concept and actually sharing what people are using,”
states Larry.
46 | MARCH 2019
Larry Pfeifer
President

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“We implement technology
solutions that best fit your
company’s needs”
Heroes, Childhood Leukemia and Lymphoma Foundation
(CLLF), Alstom Foundation, Teen Challenge, as well as
Feeding Foundation for the homeless.
Triumphing Challenges
The biggest challenge for Consortium Networks while
establishing its position in the marketplace was keeping up
with the growth of the business without any disruption with
the level of service and personal touch it delivers to its
customer base. “Our great team of employees put on
multiple hats to help ensure we continue the endurance of
customer service and have been an integral part of our
success as a company,” says Larry.
It is considered that, to efficiently resolve any issue, the
team at an organization has to be efficient and be
collectively responsible for devising a successful solution.
Similarly, the team at Consortium Networks considers it
important that its members mentor each other with any
obstacle so that it can learn from each other’s experiences
and mistakes and grow from them. Larry comprehends that
honesty is important, so any news or information that will
impact the company is presented to the team to work
through any questions or concerns.
Attaining Zeniths
When it comes to achievements and accolades, Consortium
Networks has studded its hat with many feathers. There are
many achievements to be noted but Larry emphasizes on
instances like, when a mother and wife of a fallen FBI agent
approached him to thank the company for helping their
family after her husband departed. “That was emotional for
me and helps further validate that we are truly doing
something different,” he says.
Larry also recalls how a CISO stood up at an event,
unsolicited, and said openly that she thought Consortium
Networks was a different kind of company based on its
values and what it does to help, and that she would work
with them anywhere.
Beholding Progress
Consortium Networks aims to keep doing the same thing
it’s doing now, but just in more places. “I love what we do
and we are making an impact and having fun at the same
time,” states Larry. The company is releasing some
products this year. It has decided to release two products for
free to its customers. First is a No Cost cloud-based threat
intelligence aggregation platform. The organization figured
a way to help companies operationalize threat intelligence
even if they don’t have a team to do so. Second, it will be
releasing a cloud-based DNS filtering solution at no-cost
again. The organization found out a way to significantly
reduce spam and modern malware through DNS filtering.
“This is really going to help a majority of our customers
protect themselves with little impact to their environment,”
Larry asserts.
When asked upon his company’s mission and source of
inspiration, Larry expresses, “Two of our key values are
integrity and altruism. A percentage of all our profits go to
charity each year.” Having helped many enterprises attain
robust security decision-making, Consortium Networks
continues to expand its capabilities to tackle some of the
prevalent issues in the enterprise security arena. The
company plans to make its platform more interactive so as
provide real-time answers to user queries. In parallel, the
company has in its agenda the task of addressing the huge
shortage of skilled employees in the space by spurring up a
mechanism to match skilled professionals with companies
in need. “We want to help people. That could mean
customer, vendors or just people that need help!” adds
Larry.
The organization also incorporates charitable donations in
its activities and marketing events which aligns to its core
value of giving back and helping people in need. Over the
past few years, the company has contributed to FBI Fallen
47MARCH 2019 |

MIKE WALSHA REVERED TECHNOCRAT,WHO IS ON A
MISSION TO TRANSFORM CITIZEN LIVES
There are many entrepreneurs who are leveraging the
power of technology to transform their fortunes.
But, only few are utilizing it to make a difference in
a common person’s life. Mike Walsh, CEO and President,
MetroQuest, is one such trailblazing technocrat, who is
leaving no stone unturned, empowering governments to
meaningfully engage with citizens and involve them in
planning their communities … to ultimately help people
live better lives.
Mike is a software engineer, who has over 20 years of vital
experience in designing and developing computer-based
learning and communication tools. He is the chief architect
of MetroQuest’s software-as-a-service public engagement
solution. MetroQuest online surveys both educate the
public and collect informed feedback about important
transportation and land use planning projects that directly
impact people’s quality of life. Transportation agencies,
local government and planning firms engage thousands to
ensure that plans for the future will meet the viable
expectations of citizens.
Mike’s company helps government agencies and planning
firms do a better job of involving the public in planning for
multi-billion-dollar public investments. “MetroQuest began
in 1997 talking to folks about different regional growth
options; now we help millions of people participate in
planning the places where they live, making those places
better, more accessible, and increasingly sustainable,”
stated Mike.
With an annual subscription, organizations like the Chicago
Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), AECOM, and
the North Carolina Department of Transportation
(NCDOT), use MetroQuest to build online surveys that
educate the public about planning alternatives, collect
quantifiable input, and deliver actionable insights to inform
and build public support for better transportation networks
and more livable communities. “While attendance at public
meetings across the nation continues to languish,
government agencies and firms are engaging thousands of
people online with MetroQuest surveys,” added the CEO.
About the Company
Vancouver-based MetroQuest was started some 20 years
ago to solve a problem that was not well understood at the
time. Better land use and transportation options enhance
everyone’s quality of life, foster economic vitality and
improve mobility for all people. But there was hardly any
solution that helped bridge the gap between urban planners
and citizens to facilitate collaboration and engagement.
Mike and company cofounder Dave Biggs recognized the
need for better public engagement tools and founded
MetroQuest.
MetroQuest, like many other innovative technologies,
invested in considerable education of the market to find
early adopters. Today, MetroQuest is the leader in helping
agencies, from cities and Metropolitan Planning
Organizations to State Departments of Transportation, to
plan better transportation networks that move more people
between their homes, work, education, healthcare and
entertainment.
Mike’s Life Before MetroQuest
Mike believes diverse education with meaningful work
experiences have helped him to shape his personality and
career at large. During his two-decade-long challenging yet
inspiring professional journey, he gained critical experience
and skills in renowned organizations including technology
giant IBM.
He is an engineering graduate who also completed an MBA
and subsequently pursued further education in
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“I 'D LIKE TO CONTINUE
TO LEVERAGE THE
POWER OF INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY TO HELP
PEOPLE LIVE BETTER
IN THRIVING
COMMUNITIES”
sustainability. “While learning about environmental impact
assessments at business school, I can recall thinking that
there was an opportunity to use the power of computers to
help the process,” added Mike. “This idea became more
tangible while studying sustainability. Fortunately, aspects
of all these experiences were vital to the creation of
MetroQuest.”
Mike’s Take on Leadership
Mike stated that a good leader always thinks about his or
her team first and is ready to go an extra mile to let them
flourish in their work. “Having people who you trust to
manage aspects of the business, letting them succeed and
fail, and watching them grow is the best indication that
things are on track,” added Mike.
Recruiting, retaining and empowering talented folks and
keeping them aligned with the business objectives (in a
hassle-free and friendly manner) helped establish Mike’s
style as a revered leader in his organization.
Mike’s company uses online HR software to help manage
various critical processes, including goal setting and
performance evaluation. The company has a set of core
values that align with Mike’s own values.
“MetroQuest has crafted a strong corporate culture, based
on a clearly articulated vision, mission, and values, to
ensure smooth transactions of its business operations,”
asserts Mike.
The Turning Point
Some time ago, Mike decided to pivot MetroQuest to a
software-as-a-service (SaaS) company. However, to
implement such a transformation was no small task. It
required proficiency in many areas including technology,
management and more. And now, as the company is a
growing SaaS company, Mike believes he was absolutely
right in making that decision. “Guiding that transition is my
biggest achievement,” stated Mike.
Mike also gave advice for the budding entrepreneurs. He
encouraged young entrepreneurs to take advantage of every
opportunity to diversify their skills and knowledge. He
further added, surrounding yourself with people who offer
different skills and perspectives can help entrepreneurs
reach farther.
On speculating on the company’s future, Mike revealed
many interesting details. He said and concluded, “I hope to
see MetroQuest become an indispensable public
engagement tool for all government agencies as well as
planning and engineering firms, providing everyone access
to inclusive planning of better places for all of us to live,
work and play.”
Mike Walsh
CEO President
51MARCH 2019 |

The art of leadership is practiced by many, but only
mastered by a very few. To assume responsibility,
exhibit expertise, and personify compassion, is
what it takes to be a celebrated leader. One such individual
who retains these qualities is Moises Pontremoli, the
founder and President Director of PONFAC, a Brazilian
Machine Vision Automation Company. Being a prolific
leader, Moises displays expertise over the industry through
leading the innovation his organization ceaselessly caters
to.
Elucidating his academic qualifications, Moises holds an
Undergraduate Degree in Electrical Engineering, a Master’s
Degree in Industrial Automation, and multiple MBA
degrees in Business Administration, Business Intuition,
Business Identity and a specialization in Business
Management.
Talking about his mission in life, Moises expresses that
firstly, his roles as an individual, a father and a leader, have
shown him that we are solely responsible for our destiny.
He comprehends that everything that works out, is our
responsibility, and everything that goes wrong is also our
responsibility. Moises states, “If we want to find a culprit to
inflict the blame for our mistakes, we will always find one,
but if we want to be more, we must understand that we have
to be both, the protagonist and the antagonist of our lives.
We can reach wherever we wish, as long as we are willing
to pay the price to achieve our goals.”
Secondly, as a driver of PONFAC, Moises is on a mission
to seek the supply of more and more Products and solutions
that enable more efficiency and quality of life for his
company’s customers and their customers. For this, Moises
and his team at PONFAC work with innovation to seek
solutions which achieve these goals. Since 1997, PONFAC
has developed comprehensive solutions for automated
visual inspection (artificial vision) oriented to industry,
retail and urban environments. The company aims to
improve its customers’ performance with innovation and
intelligence in image processing. PONFAC’s competitive
advantages include self-innovated technology, round-the-
clock innovation, international partnerships, numerous
successful use cases and rapid return on investment, and
presence in several vertical markets.
The Onset of Excellence
Moises’s career has always been based on certain
fundamental aspects that can easily be seen in his
curriculum and professional performance. Constant
training, constant self-criticism, self-accountability for his
results, have been the fundamental driving forces of his
professional and personal journey. “Just because I want to
be responsible for my destiny and inheriting a legacy form
an entrepreneur father, this has always been my goal, since
MOISES PONTREMOLI
LEADING THE AUTOMATION REVOLUTION
Moises Pontremoli
Founder President Director
52 | MARCH 2019

the Faculty of Electrical Engineering,” says Moises.
The turning point for Moises and his team was while
developing the fruit picker for the company that involved
three main technologies, viz. image processing, industrial
automation, and fruit transport. During the development of
this machine, they learned the harsh feathers that the needed
technologies, which the company takes care of every detail
to study and collect the necessary information, had already
been optimally developed. The fruit transport technology
which wasn’t paid due attention to because it seemed
dominated, was where the company had the greatest
difficulties and budget overflow.
One of the conclusions that the company derived was that it
acclimatizes to all the upcoming challenges for PONFAC.
“Everything seems easy when it’s the other one that does. If
we don’t take care of the details, they’ll be our limiters,”
states Moises. Another conclusion was that all the team
members are angels of a single wing, and to fly they have to
embrace. “This is a verse of Luciano de Crescenzo, an
Italian writer who inspires us to take the partnerships as a
basis for advancing faster and getting farther,” Moises
expresses.
Outlasting Adversities
The primary challenge for PONFAC is that it is in a limited
market (Brazil), with a smaller scale than its global
competitors. “To overcome this limitation, we are moving
precisely in innovation, so that we can have solutions that
can be replicated in the global market, increasing our scale
and our competitiveness,” states Moises.
Commenting upon the approach, in which he is guiding his
team to tackle such difficulties, Moises states, “Because I
believe that each of us has to take responsibility for our
goals, I work with my team so that each of them also sets
their individual goals and often reviews and presents the
solution plan when necessary.” Moises is of the opinion that
by doing this, everyone can be enables to always sense
what is limiting their progress, plan how to overcome those
limitations, and grow as professionals and leaders.
From Local to Global
Talking about PONFAC’s accomplishments, Moises says,
“We have a client, Gunnebo that is a leading Swedish retail
loss control company which had a need for a Brazilian
customer of theirs, a supermarket, which needed to innovate
to decrease losses in the front of the POS. They had already
had a non-successful experience with a competitor of
PONFAC. They had indications of our model of innovation
in image processing that is based on win-win partnership
with our customers. They decided to invest in one more
attempt, this time with PONFAC. The success was absolute
for both companies and for the market, bringing an
innovative product that controls the loss in the POS of
supermarkets, already placed in thousands of points in
whole of Brazil while planning to soon expand to the other
countries and other innovations in development to continue
innovating and improving the efficiency of Gunnebo’s
customers.”
Passing on the Keys to Success
In his Advice to the future entrepreneurs, Moises says,
“Take responsibility for responding to your results and
constantly analyze what was right and what was wrong.
Understand the limitations that caused the errors, and plan
quickly and constantly how to override these limitations.
Understand that with the current speed in which the world
changes, you become much more agile and competent with
partnerships than trying to do everything yourself.”
Moises’s future endeavors include internationalization of
PONFAC, creation of other companies with similar values,
and sharing with new entrepreneurs his experiences so they
can get farther and faster with their ventures.
We improve
our Customers’
Performance
with Innovation
and Intelligence
in Image
Processing
‘‘ ‘‘
POWERFUL
LEADERS303030T
H
E
INBUSINESS
53MARCH 2019 |

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