IT Awards Blog

Weili Dai, president and co-founder of Marvell Technology Group, was named Technology Innovator of the Year in the the 2012 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world's top honors for women entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organizations they run.  (The final entry deadline for the 2013 edition of the awards is September 25.) Here we look at some of her remarkable achievements.

Weili Dai has the distinction of being the only female co-founder of a global semiconductor company. The Chinese-born, U.S.-educated—and self-described geek—co-founded Marvell Technology Group in 1995. With more than 7,000 employees worldwide and annual revenues in excess of $3.4 billion, Marvell is now one of the world's top fabless semiconductor companies.

Foundation for Success

Dai has a strong belief in principles and values, which she maintains are essential for success. Dai states: “Passion and Integrity are the foundations for all success; Fair and Care are the principles for all successful leaders.” Dai brings this philosophy to her work at Marvell. 

Under Dai’s leadership, Marvell has brought many groundbreaking innovations to market that have made a tremendous impact on the world of technology and the interconnectedness of people. Dai’s personal passion and commitment to empowering people around the world with innovation and technology has taken hold at Marvell, serving as the cornerstone of the company’s culture and values. “Success is a team effort. The credit goes to the whole ecosystem: our customers, partners, and the Marvell team,” says Dai.

Business Mission

Dai serves as the public face of Marvell while helping chart the company’s business strategy. Marvell designs semiconductor solutions that power digital storage, mobile devices, infrastructure and networking equipment, and Smart Home solutions. Marvell’s semiconductor solutions–Dai refers to them as “the guts of electronic products”—power devices for some of the world's most powerful and high-profile brands in the technology sector.

Dai firmly believes in the notion of the “connected lifestyle.” Marvell’s goal is to provide solutions that enable people around the world to access interactive content on any screen of any size for the always-on, always-connected lifestyle globally. Dai maintains that the new era of the digital lifestyle is increasingly making the world better connected and enabling better lives for all. She sees even greater opportunity ahead.

Advocacy for Women in Technology

Dai feels that having more women in technology would have an even greater positive impact on the next generation of technology products. Dai states that while the current technology revolution is primarily centered on function, women are often strong at meshing function and design for ease of use and a beautiful look and feel. She also notes how women can bring a unique set of problem-solving skills and fresh thinking to today’s technology challenges in day-to-day life.

As such, Dai has become a leading advocate of increasing the number of women in engineering jobs and corporate leadership positions. In addition to receiving her Stevie Award for Technology Innovation, Dai was recently named one of 11 women honored by the California Assembly with its "Breaking the Glass Ceiling" award, which recognizes female pioneers in science, civil rights and government. Dai’s accomplishment is a step forward for all women who might want to pursue a career in science and technology.

An Active Philanthropist

Dai is the face of Marvell's global civic engagements including a major partnership with One Laptop Per Child, an organization that provides low-cost laptops to children in developing countries. She is also a member of the executive committees for TechNet and Bay Area Council; sits on the board of the disaster relief organization, Give2Asia; and was named to the prestigious Committee of 100, an organization representing the most-influential Chinese Americans. Dai’s latest project turns existing public school laboratory spaces into tech labs with the capability of writing new software and creating new hardware.

Dai graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in computer science and she continues to support her alma mater both financially and with her time. In recognition of her generosity, UC Berkeley established Sutardja Dai Hall, which is home to the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS). Dai was selected as the first woman commencement speaker at the University of California, Berkeley, College of Engineering graduation ceremony on May 12, 2012.

About Weili Dai
Weili Dai is one of the most successful women entrepreneurs in the world today. Widely considered a technology visionary, she is the co-founder of the global semiconductor company Marvell, and since it began in 1995, she has helped Marvell's rise to become one of the top semiconductor companies in the world. Dai has held a number of significant positions within Marvell: she has served as Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President, and General Manager of the Communications Business Group. She has also been a Director of Marvell Technology Group Ltd. and Corporate Secretary of the Board. Prior to co-founding Marvell, Dai was involved in software development and project management at Canon Research Center America, Inc.  Dai has become a driving force in expanding access to technology in the developing world and an ambassador of opportunity between the US and China, particularly in the arenas of education and green technology. She has become a powerful advocate for the better use of technology to improve the human condition.

For her contributions to technology and society, Newsweek named Dai one of the "150 Women Who Shake the World."  She was recently profiled by CNN International for the Leading Women Series, and Forbes Magazine lists Dai as one of the "World’s 100 Most Powerful Women".

Dai holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley.  She is the proud mother of two sons: Christopher and Nicholas are Electrical Engineering graduate students at UC Berkeley and are currently PhD candidates.

About Marvell Technology Group Ltd
Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) is a global leader in providing complete silicon solutions enabling the digital connected lifestyle. From mobile communications to storage, cloud infrastructure, digital entertainment, and in-home content delivery, Marvell's diverse product portfolio aligns complete platform designs with industry-leading performance, security, reliability and efficiency. At the core of the world's most powerful consumer, network, and enterprise systems, Marvell empowers partners and their customers to always stand at the forefront of innovation, performance, and mass appeal. Marvell is committed to enhancing the human experience by adding value to people’s social, private and work lives and providing people around the world with mobility and ease of access to services. For more information, please visit www.Marvell.com.

tmg-e*media, inc. of New York  received a Stevie Award for Smartphone or Tablet App of the Year in the 2011 Stevie Awards for Women in Business.  (The 2012 edition of the awards will open next May - join the mailing list to learn when entries open.)  Many of the Stevie Awards competitions have tech awards categories.

Anna Murray, principal of tmg-e*media, inc. and key technical consultant to Little Brownie Bakers, served as technical strategist in the development of the Stevie Award-winning Little Brownie Bakers mobile application. The app allows consumers to search for Girl Scout® Cookie sales.  Users can type in their location using their phone’s GPS feature to view a list of upcoming Cookie Booth Sales, an activity organized by Girl Scout® troops and councils at local venues such as a malls and supermarkets. The app has been used by hundreds of thousands of people to find Girl Scout® Cookies.

Anna is a recognized authority on technology and Internet strategy, and has provided us with a technology tip that may be equally relevant in other fields:

The Pile of Snow

It’s an icy day with snow piling up outside. Someone presents you with two choices of task. You could

(a) Stay inside and sort out the mess in your jewelry box, or

(b) Go outside and shovel the walk.

Who wouldn’t choose (a)?

Then, five hours later, you’re still sitting cross-legged on the floor, a straight pin in each hand, trying to pick apart a Gordian knot containing a brooch, three necklaces, and four dangle earrings. The shoveler finished hours ago and is sipping hot chocolate while watching football.

Software Development Rule: The Pile of Snow Is Always Simpler.

Developers by their very nature avoid tasks that seem boring and laborious. You write programs to do the heavy lifting! So rather than spend an hour doing data entry, a developer will opt to write a program that does it for him. He’ll argue: “The program can be re-used.”

But what if it isn’t? I’m amazed by the number of times “re-use” never happens. Furthermore, what if the simple just-write-a-script tasks ends up in a five-hour jewelry box disentanglement? Leadership needs to be on the lookout for when tech folks simply need to shovel that pile of snow.

Management themselves are often attracted to whiz-bang. Who wants to hear about a boring, low-tech approach that saves $3,000? Is that why I have all those cool, tattooed tech guys in the basement talking about things that I don’t understand (but pretend to)? No, I want to hear about a $50,000 tech investment that will increase sales 400%! That’s the pitch I listen to!

But six months into a tech project now vastly over budget I may look longingly at the shovel.

So, beware. And ask yourself, what unglamorous “pile of snow” tasks and initiatives are you and your tech folks avoiding?

About Anna Murray

Anna Murray has more than 20 years of interactive technology and marketing experience and is a nationally recognized expert for her ability to implement technology and Internet strategy. She began her career working for news organizations including ABC News before founding the interactive agency, e*media, in 1996. In 2004, e*media was acquired by the Technology Management Group to form tmg-e*media, Inc. where she now serves as President.

Anna is recognized as a dynamic thought leader who works with many nationally and internationally prominent clients crafting and leading their technology initiatives. Her expertise includes media, pharmaceuticals, consumer packaged goods, technology, non-profit, and ecommerce companies. Her client list includes Slate, The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, Salvage Sale, SkyMall, Time Out New York, Kellogg Corporation, The National Institutes of Health, Toll Brothers, and Summit Business Media.

Anna graduated Summa Cum Laude from Yale University and has a Master’s Degree in Journalism from Columbia University. She is a highly sought after speaker and has presented for numerous industry organizations including: Ad:Tech, Jupiter Media, the Direct Marketing Association, DrupalCon, and the Yale School of Management. Anna contributes articles for Marketing Sherpa, Retail Wire, Small Business News, and others. She is also the author of the “CPG eMarketing Guidebook: Stop Wasting Money & Get Measurable Results” (Marketing Sherpa, August 2003), and a board member of the International Women’s Writers’ Guild.

Anna maintains a blog, Content is Queen, and also contributes to Open Salon with a blog on New York’s Upper East Side.  She can be found on Twitter @tmgemedia and LinkedIn.

About tmg-e*media

Founded in 1989, tmg-e*media, inc. helps customers leverage technology to achieve business goals. With its powerful combination of innovative thinking, leadership, and experience, tmg-e*media provides end-to-end technology consulting.

The American Business Awards have a slew of new app awards categories.  Will you be entering?

Ruvi Kitov is the CEO and Co-Founder of Tufin Technologies in Ramat Gan, Israel, which won the Stevie Award for Most Innovative Company of the Year in the Middle East and Africa in The 2010 International Business Awards. The entry deadline for the 2011 IBAs is June 30.

What do you think are the top Best Practices in network security?

One, always audit everything in your network twice. Every change needs to be verified and audited to insure that it stays within compliance and was designed and executed in the most effective and secure way.

Two, only allow what you need into the network. Whether it’s user access or firewall rules, the default behavior must be “deny all” and should allow only what is needed.  All too often new security guys block what they don't want yet allow everything else. You'll never win this battle.

Three, secure your network management. We often neglect our network management accounts and access paths with our security devices.  These accounts need to have strong passwords, and the passwords must be rotated with full audit trails on their usage.

Four, train employees on security and its implications to the company. Your employees and customers are the ones who are most at risk of circumventing your security if they don't understand why it is there. They are also the easiest targets for criminal activity.

What item of news recently caught your eye and why?

The recent hack into RSA that has had a wide security impact. Many tokens used by banks for online transactions by individual account holders are now potentially at risk as a result of this breach, and it may have an even larger potential impact than the recent Sony hacks.

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?

When I was younger I wanted to be a psychologist or a filmmaker.

What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates?

Dedication, flexibility, and openness.

What do you think is the worst bad habit to have at work?

The worst habit at work is engaging in office politics and gossip. When your state of mind is “what’s in it for me?” your accomplishments will be mediocre, and you will ruin the atmosphere for other people working with you.

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?

Although Tufin is doing well, we have a long way ahead of us on the path to becoming a significant vendor in the security space. I’m inspired by the brilliant people working at Tufin and by the excitement of customers whose problems we solve.

About Ruvi Kitov
Ruvi Kitov is CEO and Co-Founder of Tufin Technologies, a global provider of firewall operations management solutions. Since Tufin’s founding in 2003, Ruvi has led the company’s operations through a successful growth and product-development period, quickly gaining many of the world’s largest corporations as Tufin customers. Under Ruvi’s leadership, Tufin has attained consistent profitability, while quickly gaining recognition as an industry innovator that prioritizes customer service and reliability.

With more than 12 years of deep industry experience, Ruvi previously served in key project management and development roles at Check Point Software, where he led the design and implementation of core technologies. He graduated Cum Laude with a degree in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park.

About Tufin Technologies

Tufin™ is the leading provider of Security Lifecycle Management solutions that enable companies to cost-effectively manage their network security policy, comply with regulatory standards, and minimize IT risk. Tufin's award-winning products SecureTrack™ and SecureChange™ Workflow help security operations teams to manage change and perform reliable audits while dramatically reducing manual, repetitive tasks through automation. Founded in 2005 by leading firewall and business systems experts, Tufin serves more than 700 customers in industries from telecom and financial services to energy, transportation, and pharmaceuticals. Tufin partners with leading vendors including Check Point, Cisco, Juniper Networks, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, F5, Blue Coat, McAfee, and BMC Software, and is committed to setting the gold standard for technological innovation and dedicated customer service.

For more information visit http://www.tufin.com, or follow Tufin on:

    * Twitter at http://twitter.com/TufinTech

    * LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/companies/tufin-technologies

    * Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Tufintech

    * The Tufin Blog at http://www.tufin.com/blog

    * The Tufin Channel on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/Tufintech  

What do you think of Ruvi's list of best practices?

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What are your top tips on how technology can be used to improve business?
Technology can be used to improve business by allowing organizations to communicate in ways not available in the past due to the poor quality, lack of availability, or high cost of equipment. Emerging telepresence services now offer an alternative to face-to-face meetings that still provides a rewarding exchange of information while cutting down on the time and money spent on travel.

Using technology to support virtual training is another benefit for businesses that need to refresh the skills of a global workforce yet do not have the funding to have employees travel to a central location. New techniques such as whiteboarding, polling, breakout rooms, and more make online training sessions truly interactive. The end result is a collaborative and engaging session that accomplishes the task at a much lower cost and without requiring the resources to travel.

What item of news recently caught your eye and why?
The way Facebook, Twitter, and other social media were able to influence political change in the Middle East. Social media is changing the identities and lives of young people who have not had a voice in the past. The speed with which information is shared—and the ease of access to a network of people from different walks of life—quickly brings people together and enables them to pursue common goals. Organizations must recognize the enormous impact these tools will have well into the future.

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
I’d like to be the owner of a bookstore because there is nothing better than a good book!

What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates?
Personal accountability is paramount, as is leading by example and setting the tone for the necessary structure and discipline of a team’s environment. Equally important is building trust and respect by engaging in open and honest communications.

What do you think is the worst bad habit to have at work?
Organizations are really about the people. One of a leader’s main responsibilities is to develop a solid team with a diverse set of skills and capabilities. The worst bad habit for a leader to have is to be threatened by high-potential employees in the organization and as a result not devote time and energy into further developing those employees to achieve the highest levels in the organization.

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
Watching an organization grow and develop a unity of effort. It is truly about teamwork, and I am inspired to watch teams come together to achieve the impossible. It is rewarding to be a part of that journey and to know that you were a part of creating the environment that made a real difference in what the team was able to achieve.

About Sheri Thureen
Sheri Thureen is Vice President of Enterprise Business Transformation within CSC’s North American Public Sector—Defense.  She has 23 years of information technology experience, including 18 years ERP experience.  Thureen has extensive business and project-management experience and has led numerous projects involving ERP implementations, business reengineering transformations, infrastructure upgrades, and sales and marketing initiatives.  She has worked on global projects spanning Europe, Asia, and the United States.

Prior to her current assignment, Thureen managed the Enterprise Business Solutions Division within the CSC Defense Group.  She also managed the Logistics Modernization Program (LMP).  This program successfully delivered global logistical modernization to the United States Army in support of the Army Materiel Command’s global logistics network. Under her direction, CSC’s solution became one of the largest fully integrated supply-chain, maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) solutions in the world.

About CSC
CSC is a global leader in providing technology-enabled solutions and services through three primary lines of business. These include Business Solutions and Services, the Managed Services Sector, and the North American Public Sector. CSC’s advanced capabilities include system design and integration, information technology and business process outsourcing, applications software development, Web and application hosting, mission support, and management consulting. The company has been recognized as a leader in the industry, including being named by FORTUNE magazine as one of the World’s Most Admired Companies for Information Technology Services (2011). Headquartered in Falls Church, Va., CSC has approximately 93,000 employees and reported revenue of $16.2 billion for the 12 months ended December 31, 2010. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.csc.com.

Want to win technology awards in The American Business Awards or another Stevie Awards competition? Check out our free tipsheet, 10 Tips for Winning Technology Awards in the 2011 Stevies.

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We've just published our latest tip sheet, called 10 Tips for Winning Technology Awards in the 2011 Stevie Awards.  Get it here.

There are many opportunities for technology professionals - engineers, developers, programmers, analysts, managers, and more - to be recognized in the Stevie Awards, the world's premier business awards programs.  This brief tipsheet will outline the 10 best ways that technology professionals can be honored in the four Stevie Awards programs in 2011.  The programs are

• The American Business Awards
• The International Business Awards
• The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service
• The Stevie Awards for Women in Business

There are categories to recognize IT departments, teams, and individuals, categories for work such as new products and services and web sites, and much more.  This tipsheet will help you to choose the categories and competitions in which you'll have the best chance of winning a 2011 Stevie Award.

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Todd Crowder, Director of Customer Care with Vision Solutions in Indianapolis, Indiana will chair and form the final judging committee for the support awards categories in The 2011 American Business Awards. The support awards categories recognize achievements in all administrative support, production support, security, maintenance, research, etc. functions.  Basically the people who rarely if ever get a pat on the back.

Last year Todd was Director of Worldwide Technical Support for Double-Take Software when they won the Stevie for Support Department of the Year in The 2010 ABAs.   You can read their Stevie-winning nomination here.  Since that time Double-Take Software was acquired by Vision Solutions.

More judging committee chairs will be announced soon.

Support awards categories include the following:

Support Team of the Year

Support Staffer of the Year (for all non-executive support personnel, including office managers, administrative assistants, secretaries, maintenance professionals, etc.).

FYI, Support Staffer of the Year is one of the few categories in the ABAs that doesn't require payment of an entry fee with a nomination.

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Sheri Thureen, Vice President for Enterprise Business Transformation with CSC in Avondale, Pennsylvania, will chair and form the final judging committee for the information technology awards categories in The 2011 American Business Awards. 

The ABAs are the top business awards program in the U.S.A., open to all organizations nationwide - large and small, public and private, for-profit and non-profit.  The entry deadline is March 31, but late entries will be accepted through April 27 with payment of a late fee.

Sheri Thureen's group at CSC won the Stevie Award for Information Technology Team of the Year in The 2010 ABAs.  You can read their Stevie-winning nomination here.

Preliminary judging will begin in early April and will determine the Finalists.  Final judging will be conducted in late May and will determine each category's Stevie Award winner from among the Finalists.

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Congrats to 2010 Stevie winner Anyck Turgeon, winner of the 2010 Stevie Award for IT Executive of the Year in IT awards categories of The 2010 International Business Awards, on being named Chief Executive Officer and Chief of Information Strategy and Security of CoreClean Group.

Read the full-text of Anyck's Stevie-winning nomination here.  Anyck won the award for her work as Chief of Information Strategy and Security with Crossroads Systems of Austin, Texas.

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