March is Women’s Role in History Month as provided by Proclamation 227, s. 1988. Women today are making their mark in history, in the competitive Philippine business community and the dynamic Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) industry having a 2016 forecast of $25 billion in revenues and 1.3 million direct employees.
Women making their mark in business and the IT-BPM industry include:
Maria Cristina G. Coronel (Beng), president of Pointwest Technologies, president of the Healthcare Information Management Association of the Philippines, and director of the Philippine Software Industry Association. She is a cum laude graduate from the University of Santo Tomas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering; established Pointwest, an IT-BPM company that is fully Filipino-owned and global in standards. The company has its headquarters and delivery centers in the Philippines, and offices in Western and Midwestern United States.
Karen Batungbacal, executive general manager of the QBE Group Shared Services Centre, effectively running the entire Philippine branch of the company. She took Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, first in De La Salle University but finishing it in the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, United States. She pursued postgraduate studies at Princeton University finishing with a master degree and doctorate units.
Together with other leaders of the industry, they formed an industry association to become the channel between foreign IT-BPM companies, the Philippine government and local industry that would become the IT and Business Process Association Philippines (IBPAP), where she held the presidency for five years.
Marie Grace Dimaranan is an accomplished animator, conceptual artist, and creative director with over 25 years of experience in digital art. A fine arts graduate of the University of Santo Tomas, Dimaranan started as a graphic designer and conceptual artist. She was elected as president of the Animation Council of the Philippines Inc. (ACPI) in 2013 and is a consistent member of its board of directors. Currently, she is the vice president of ACPI and CEO of Top Peg Animation & Creative Studio Inc., one of the most stable studios in the Philippines involved in production of quality animation.
Haidee Enriquez, vice president for Global talent acquisition at Sitel, has years of management experience in the human resources/operations for the IT-BPM industry. She was bestowed the honor of Associate Fellow in People Management by the Philippine Society of Fellows of the People Management Association of the Philippines. She completed training in general management at Harvard Business School.
She is part of a company that has over 30 years of industry experience and 61,100 employees, operating in approximately 108 facilities in 21 countries, supporting client customers in 62 countries across North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific in 40 languages.
Ivic Mueco, senior vice president and country manager of Convergys Philippines Services Corp., is responsible for the management of over 30 operating sites in the country. She joined Convergys as head of operations and was instrumental in leading the business to grow from 800 to more than 55,000 employees today.
Prior to joining Convergys, Mueco served as a business unit director at eTelecare International where she was in charge of program, operations and resource management. Previously, she served as general manager for Datacom IT Services SEA Pte. Ltd., an outsource provider to companies based in Singapore.
Myla Rose Reyes, vice president for health-care operations at SPI Global, is responsible for strategic implementation and operations management. They provide back-office services for medical billing, physician coding, ACO services and other health information-management services that can be performed offshore. Reyes is a Board of Trustee of the Healthcare Information Management Association of the Philippines and was formerly its president.
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The industry is fortunate to have extremely accomplished women working in its core. Every day we see other women join them not only to build a career for themselves but to help establish the Philippines as the number one location for IT-BPM.