Stream: Wellington B
Time: 14:15 - 15:00
Technical expertise is important, but some of the most impactful career opportunities come from how we connect, collaborate, and contribute beyond our day-to-day roles. Advocacy isn't just for speakers, influencers, or community leaders—it's for anyone who is passionate about sharing knowledge, helping others, and making a difference. In this engaging, story-driven session, you'll hear multiple perspectives on advocacy, personal branding, and professional growth from individuals with different backgrounds, personalities, and career journeys. Through real-world experiences, we'll explore how communication, empathy, community engagement, mentoring, content creation, and knowledge sharing can help build credibility, expand your network, and create new opportunities. Attendees will learn how to: • Identify authentic ways to advocate for technology, ideas, and people—regardless of role or career stage. • Leverage their unique strengths, personality, and communication style to build influence and visibility. • Grow a professional brand through community engagement, mentoring, content creation, and knowledge sharing. • Better understand and collaborate with people who have different learning styles, motivations, and perspectives. • Turn everyday experiences into opportunities for leadership, connection, and career growth. • Create a personal action plan for increasing their impact within their organization and professional communities. Whether you're looking to grow your influence, strengthen your professional brand, contribute to technical communities, or simply find new ways to make an impact, you'll leave with practical ideas, fresh perspectives, and actionable steps to help you champion technology, support others, and advance your career—on your own terms. Note: Additional speakers will be added, if accepted.
There is currently no attachment for Advocacy in Action: Stories, Perspectives, and Paths to Professional Growth
The key lesson that I’ve learned in my career is that trust is the foundation for any strong relationship. I treat our customers with respect and listen to them in order to deliver solutions that address their business challenges. My success in the mainframe ecosystem over the years can be largely attributed to this value, building partnerships based on trust. I do my best to stay true to my word and love working with teammates, partners, and customers who adhere to this same ideal. Although this approach has been successful, I never rest on my laurels. I’ve been described as both passionate and demanding. As a result, I expect myself and those around me to strive toward continuous innovation. I am a champion of the zSystems mainframe, its ecosystem of operating systems, business partner community, and customer base. I frequently present at conferences and events about the resiliency, security, and availability of the mainframe platform. For years, I led the team at 21CS as the CEO to follow these same values—but in my current role as Chief Technical Officer, my focus is on working with customers, building relationships, conducting client-facing activities and being the best IBM partner I can be. Because of my background, I fully understand customer needs, along with the technology—and I use this expertise to tie technical concepts and business needs together to concept solutions equipped to solve the challenges our customers are facing today. This makes me a strong ecosystem and partner advocate within the mainframe community.