What was your first job and what did you learn from it?
My first job was an ATM coordinator at a bank, where I had to balance all the ATM banking transactions for the city every day. I did this when the personal computers just came out using Lotus Notes Financial package! I learned how powerful technology can be. I loved it! I knew at that point, technology was going to be a big part of my future and realized how much potential I would have by incorporating it into my career choices!

Who is your hero, mentor or person you most admire? Why?
I don't think you can ever have too many heros! My parents, who have passed away, were both my heroes! My father for his business sense and professionalism and my mother for helping me build self-esteem and confidence. My mother especially taught me no matter what position you are in, to treat people as you want to be treated. All-important attributes for being a successful career woman. I have also had a few inspiring women in my life within the technology sector. One, Diane Hessan, president of Communispace, has been my mentor and has guided me through many tough personal and business situations. She has a great work/life balance and is a wonderful example of how women today can have balance in their life and still be very successful. Another has been Karlin Bohnert, our CTO at one time, whom I reported to. Karlin pushed me in areas that I needed to be pushed in and gave me the empowerment to fail forward and learn how to bounce back, one of the most critical challenges of your career! She also taught me the importance and the power of communicating to your executive sponsors to keep them continually engaged.

What is your favorite book?
"On-Demand Learning" by Darin Hartley (I was a contributing editor-ha!).
"Emotional Intelligence" by Daniel Goleman.

I have learned in my career that emotional intelligence (EQ) is just as important, if not more in certain situations, as IQ. Having a high level of emotional intelligence enables you to form valuable partnerships with all levels within an organization, create team dynamics and most importantly gain results and successes! You can get things done much more effectively if you know how to work well with people.

What advances in your field do you envision over the next 10 years?
It is a very exciting time within the learning field. Companies are finally committed to building internal learning organizations and understanding how they are a competitive strategic advantage to their overall business plan and objectives.

In the learning field, I believe e-learning (online learning/distance learning, online synchronous/asynchronous events, virtual classrooms/Webcasts, etc) will continue to play a big role in the learning field. It will not completely replace face-to-face, instructor-led learning, however, will be an excellent venue for geographically disbursed learning and an accessory to other learning programs/delivery methods. Blended learning is very hot right now and will continue to gain leverage in the learning field. Total integration of a learning management system with various delivery methods and total tracking of associate's learning programs will play a key role in the overall infrastructure of learning organizations. It will help revolutionize learning and enable us to have true just in time learning, anytime, anywhere, on only what we need.

In technology in general, wireless technology will continue to be a strategic element of our future communication plans. I also look for bandwidth to be more efficient with applications so that they can minimize the bandwidth needed to do robust transfers of information, pictures, multi-media, etc. This will enable just in time learning to have endless boundaries of delivery.

Other important key concepts around technology strategies are: personalized portals, knowledge management, platform-independent applications, common solutions/standards, integration and Web-enabled applications are all key elements to our future in technology.

What do you see as the single most interesting element of your work?
The single most interesting element of my work is watching our talent grow and add value to our organization, our productivity and our bottom line from the learning programs we developed for them. I also very much enjoy the strategic challenges of understanding all of our brands top objectives and to develop personal learning programs, road-maps, certifications to enable a more effective delivery and execution of these critical business objectives.

What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment?
Overall Š my greatest accomplishment is raising two beautiful daughters and being a good wife to my husband! Having a family and being a working mom has taught me how to work better, smarter and faster!

In my work Š I would say my greatest accomplishment was taking a small training operation for one company and expanding it into an enterprise learning center for 12 companies. Recently we have just been chosen #36 in the Top 50 Internal Training Organizations in the country, we have been benchmarked as best practice in the country and have been previewed in several magazines (including Fast Company) over the last years for the programs we have developed! I am on the speaker circuit for many learning /e-learning conferences. We've come a long way and it feels great!

What was your greatest challenge and what did you learn from it?
Y2K! We (LTS) took the Y2K challenge and created an opportunity for the Limited, Inc and IBI brands. We not only solved the actual Y2K problem, but also created common enterprise programs/solutions that enable us to work better, faster and smarter as a multiple brand organization.

Along with this came the challenge of building the Learning Center to support the new common systems. It's been the most rewarding challenge I have ever had but also provided me endless opportunities to fail forward and continually refine my personal skills as well as the Learning center's service, programs and deliverables. From this I learned the importance of piloting new programs and continually hindsight what you have done and incorporate those lessons learned to maintain leading-edge programs. I also learned the importance of building partnerships within your business and creating good team dynamics that enable you to get through the rough time

What strategies do you use to maintain balance in your life?
My strategy to maintain balance in my life is prayer. Many times I turn my troubles over to God and let him take care of them, so I can concentrate on areas in my life that I have control over improving! I also don't just "talk the talk," I "walk the walk" about balance. We all know that one of our top recruiting tools in today's world is work/life balance. If I only speak it and don't live it, what example am I demonstrating as an executive? I force myself to walk out every day (almost) on time, which forces me to work smarter and be more effective!

What advice would you give to young women who want to enter your field?
Learn all you can! Experiment all you can! It's cool to be curious. Choose a mentor to help you get there. Find someone that you respect and talk to them about the steps they took to get where they are! Use the Internet. It is an incredible resource to get information and share knowledge with others. Join as many groups like WITI that you can to network, meet your future mentors and understand the opportunities that you have in science and technology. But most of all Š believe in yourself. You can do anything you want to do. Ask for what you want and you will get it.